Tag Archives: Airports

Asian adventure day 57. The long (long) way home…

10 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in Air Travel, Airports, Photography, Singapore, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

08:45. (Singapore time)

I’m now at Changi airport waiting for my flight to Doha. Changi’s always been on of the world’s best airports when it comes to facilities. Rather than being confined to the usual regimented rows of airport seating I’m relaxing in a single seat recliner with a table fitted with power sockets. I’m sat next to a large garden water feature, complete with fish to watch if you want to pass the time!

To give the Qatar airport staff credit. I was dealt with by a lovely young woman of Japanese extraction who heard my tale of woe regarding booking and immediately took me to a desk and found me window seats on both flights. I’d have thought they’d have all been taken but I expect I’m not alone in having problems checking in via their website!

I was looking forward to coming home but now the news has broken that the shitshow we call a government has postponed building sections of HS2, the new high-speed railway on cost grounds. The idea that a 2 year delay will save money is the stuff of fantasy, but it does show just how economically incompetent they are. They’ve already wasted hundreds of millions on the project with dither and delay which has led to plan revisions and more waste. I really can’t wait to see the back of this lot.

No doubt I’ll be blogging about this at greater length when I get back to the UK and there’s no travel tales to regale you with, In the meantime, I’m going to relax, enjoy the facilities at Changi and enjoy my flights. I’ve a rapid transit in Doha so there’ll be no time to blog there. What I won’t be doing in Changi is enjoying a drink. Apart from the fact it’s far too early this is one expensive airport. Here’s the bar prices. $21.50? That’s £13.35 a pint!

There’s no Wetherspoons full of drunks here…

The next you’ll hear from me us when I’m back in the UK. Dawn (blizzards in the Pennines permitting) is coming to Heathrow to meet me. We’re having an overnight in a hotel before travelling home together, so don’t expect to hear from me later today, even though I do arrive back in the UK this evening!

10:30.

Oh, shit! We’ve just been told our flight is delayed by at least an hour, so that’s my connection in Doha almost certainly missed (I only had 80 mins to connect). I’ve been told I’ll be put on the next available flight to Heathrow, but at this stage I’ve absolutely no idea when that will be.

12:45.

I’m still at Changi airport. The Qatar staff had promised at 12:00 update. This has now slipped to 13:00. Looking out I can see our plane on the tarmac with the cowlings around one engine lifted. That means we’re going to be delayed for several hours yet. It also means I can kiss goodbye to getting back to the UK today. The last flight from Doha arrives at Heathrow at 22:00, two hours behind the one I should have been on. The maths simply don’t stack up. I await the 13:00 update with interest…

17:00.

The 13:00 update was to move the time of the update to 15:00. It was clear by now this was no minor problem. Shortly afterwards we received the news that the plane was was being rescheduled – to 04:00 tomorrow. We were all to be taken back into Singapore where we’d be put up in a hotel until coaches came to collect us at 01:00. This meant going back through the faff of immigration and filling out online passport checks first, then collecting our baggage and jumping into taxis to take us to our hotel, the £200 a night Grand Park City Hotel, not the sort of establishment I’d normally stay in on my own unless I was on a press trip!

Dinner (on Qatar) is at 18:30. In the meantime I’m going to relax for a bit and enjoy the luxury.

17:15.

Whilst I was writing this I had a phone call from the airline. They’ve pulled out some stops and rebooked me on a direct flight from Singapore to London with Singapore airlines. Now, instead of arriving God knows when, I’ll be in London at 05:55 tomorrow morning. Still later than arriving today, but a lot better than having to change at Doha and get a flight whenever.

19:15.

The saga continues! I’ve just received an email from Singapore Airlines to say my new flight (SQ322) is delayed! Instead of leaving ay 23:45 tonight it will now depart at 02:10 on the 11th. I’m really not bothered as it means I land at a better time – 08:20, which means Dawn gets a lie in at the hotel!

23:45.

I have this feeling of Deja Vu! I’m back at Changi airport only this time it’s terminal 3 not 1. 3 is rather like having an airport tacked on to the side of a shopping centre. Admittedly, there’s some interesting architectural features and lots of planting, but – it’s still a shopping centre.

Having been fed and watered at the hotel earlier I’m fine so resisted all the temptations. To be honest the price of local dishes isn’t bad. It’s the Western stuff thats ‘chingy’. But, right now I simply want to get on that plane and head home.

00:35.

Still waiting for the call to head through security to the gate. Apparently (in contrast to the size of the rest of the airport) the holding area’s small. In an effort to stay awake I went for a long wander into terminal 1 where I was earlier. Changi’s a truly International airport. There’s folks from all corners of the planet here. Quite a few have bedded down as their flights aren’t for ages. No-one bothers them. It’s a marked contrast to the last time I spent a night at Stansted before catching an early morning flight. The airport had security going around harassing anyone who tried to get in a horizontal position as it was ‘forbidden’. I’ve ensured I’ve never used the airport since.

Don’t try this at Stansted. But don’t expect any carpet either.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Arrival…

11 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in Air Travel, Airports, Singapore, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

The time’s 10 past midnight here in Singapore. Despite the fact I’m tired after such a long trip from the UK I’m also elated to be here so I wanted to get a few memories down in a blog whilst they’re still fresh in my mind.

My flight from Doha was another good one. Rather than the Boeing 777 I’d expected we flew in an Airbus A350-900. They’re decent planes. OK, ignore the fact that when they named the company ‘Airbus’, thus destroying any cachet air travel still had, their planes are good and Qatar’s internal fit-out adds to that. I enjoyed having decent backseat TV screens to watch films on and the archive is excellent – there’s just so much to choose from that it’s impossible to find something you won’t enjoy. The crews are very good too. Predominantly Asian (at least on this sector) they’re only too happy to help.

The seven hour flight meant we arrived at Singapore at night but as I had an aisle and not a window seat I wasn’t too bothered. Plus the A350s are fitted with several external cameras which you can view on screen. The lower body camera’s great fun as you come into land because you can watch the nose wheel deploy then hit the runway!

We touched down a little after 21:00 local time but it took a while to get out of the airport. Immigration were good. My biometric passport wasn’t accepted by the machines so I had to join the manual queue but the woman whom I dealt with was polite and efficient and never asked me for some of the more onerous paperwork-checking like Covid certificates, onwards tickets or suchlike. That said, you don’t even get your passport stamped anymore as you’re required to fill out a form online 3 days before you arrive. I’m not complaining. I’ve enough Singapore stamps as souvenirs and I need the space in my passport for all those EU stamps we get thanks to the Brexitshambles (don’t get me started)!

Finding my way to the metro was a bit of a chore as I’ve not done that route for several years, but in the end it was fine, I just had to negotiate the maze of corridors and escalators to terminal 2. I even had enough credit left on my old ‘EZ card’ from 2017 to get me into the city. The difference in public transport is marked. Everyone’s still wearing masks here in Singapore. Plus, you don’t get the same sort of moronic/rowdy behavior out here that you can do in the UK. I had to change at Expo to get the Downtown line to Jalan Besar although that’s an easy cross-level interchange and everything’s well-signposted. My hotel’s almost right across the road from the metro station (apart from the cheapness, it’s why I picked it). The only chore when I arrived tired after a long flight was that they’d put me on the 4th floor – and there’s no lift! You know it’s the sort of place that might generate a few stories when you arrive to find reception dark ‘cos the staff have gone home – but they’ve left you a room key with a note on the desk and the first guest you bump into is a tipsy Indian transvestite…

Duly settled in I decided to nip out for a celebratory beer. Only one mind. There’s a nice little hawkers market two doors down the road which sells all manner of food – and drink. The food prices don’t seem to have changed that much, but I winced when I bought a large bottle of Tiger beer, which cost £4.80 – in a hawkers market! I suspect I’m going to be on a health kick whilst I’m here as a decent meal will cost you half of that.

The eye-watering Tiger! I hate to think how much they’re charging the city-boys at the posh bars in the financial district nowadays…

Beer prices aside it’s lovely to be back. I’m still getting used to that fact but sitting in the hawkers market, watching the world go by made me feel very at home and at ease. Now for a good night’s sleep and a busy day tomorrow…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Neither here nor there…

11 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in Air Travel, Airports, Doha, Musings, Photography, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

02:00 (UK time).

I’m here in Doha airport in between flights. It’s changed a bit since I was last here. I take that back – it’s changed hugely! I’m currently sat in the indoor forest, listening to birdsong whilst a waterfall provides background sounds behind me. It really is quite a place, which is just as well as I’m here for the next five hours!

My flight from the UK was fine. I shared the row with a friendly and easy-going young Indian couple. The stewardesses were excellent and the food was fine. The only problem was when we hit some turbulence and I ended up wearing part of a glass of red wine! As it was 18:15 UK time when we took off there was no point trying to sleep so I watched a couple of films instead, including ones I’d missed at the cinema like ‘Dune’. Based on the Frank Herbert book I read as a teenager it was certainly a visual spectacular and very enjoyable. After that I dipped in and out of a couple of films based on the Marvel comic books but none of them were much cop.

Now tiredness is catching up with me so I’ll head off to a quiet part of the airport where I might be able to get my head down for a couple of hours, ready for the next leg to Singapore. Well, once the call to prayer has finished, it’s just shattered the peace of the airport as it’s piped across the PA system. In the meantime, here’s a couple of shots taken in the airport. I got told off for getting my SLR out, so these are camera phone pictures.

There’s acres of seating here but very few places you can lay down and stretch out without being chided by staff, so I’ve found the Male ‘quiet room’ which is equipped with a couple of dozen loungers and carpeted floor space where such activity is permitted.

04:00 (UK time, 7am Doha time).

I managed to get an hours kip in the (not very) quiet room, then went for another wander. By this time the sun was up and a lot of flights had arrived as the airport was far busier. I have to admit, it’s an impressive place. I couldn’t resist having a trip on the cable operated railway which runs the length of one of the buildings. It’s very swish. I’ll post pics later as I managed to get some SLR shots without being told off! Meanwhile, here’s the sun rising behind my Boeing 777 as it waits for us to board.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

27th October picture of the day…

27 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by in Air Travel, Airports, Musings, Picture of the day, Travel, West Yorkshire

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Work hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind today, mainly because it’s my Birthday and Dawn was determined to make it a good one for me – despite the awful weather we’ve had today which has rendered any idea of a long walk in the country out of the question, unless you fancy pneumonia for a birthday present!

Instead, after a lazy (ish) morning the pair of us went out for lunch to La Luna in Halifax as a rare treat. Due to the madness off this year we can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we’ve eaten out recently, especially as the increased restrictions have meant we’ve had to cancel plans several times.

Despite it being a Tuesday lunchtime La Luna was very busy which was good to see. They’ve stripped out a lot of tables inside but they have another seating area undercover in the arcade outside so they still have enough seats to make the place viable economically. We shared dishes off the small plate menu and mixed a Greek Meze plate with Singapore Crab Springroll (fresh white crab seasoned with chilli, ginger, coriander and served with sweet chilli jam and avocado mayonnaise) and Gambas Pil Pil (pan-fried extra-large king prawns with paprika, chilli, garlic, lemon, parsley & olive oil served with ciabatta). I washed it down with a rather nice glass of Merlot (well, it is winter!) whilst Dawn had a Peppermint tea. The portion sizes meant three dishes was plenty for us and the quality of the food and the presentation was very good indeed. It was such a lovely break from what’s become normal life.

Afterwards we drove over to Wakefield as Dawn wanted to buy me a new waterproof walking jacket, sadly the selection on offer at Go-Outdoors wasn’t what I was looking for but hey ho – we’re not going to buy something just for the sake of it. On the way back the appalling weather caught up with us. Wind and driving rain made the trip back fun to say the least as the cars windscreen wipers went into warp factor 7. The views from the hills above Huddersfield can often be very attractive – but not when rain reduces visibility to a few hundred metres and drops light levels to the equivalent of dusk. Even the giant Emley Moor TV transmitter was lost in the low clouds.

Back at Bigland Towers we’ve settled in for a quiet evening at home in front of the fire although we did decide to take a risk and book a long weekend away in Hexham, Northumberland next month. It’ll be the only time we’ll have this year to get away together and – as it’s an apartment – we’ll be self-contained and independent if any more restrictions kick in. I’ve always wanted to explore parts of Hadrian’s wall and more of the Tyne Valley, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity.

The rain’s battering the window as I write this so we’re both happy to relax and enjoy a chicken stew that’s been simmering in the slow-cooker whilst we’ve been out, which meant we returned home to some delicious smells! We might even stretch to something as adventurous as a play game of Scrabble, or even watch a film. The outside world can take a backseat for once. Anyway, we’re being sociable (at a social distance) tomorrow – so this is our time. After all, I’m only Sixty..X once!

And so to the picture of the day, which has been chosen totally at random by putting a name into the ‘search’ facility on my picture website, and it threw up this…

Here’s the main hall of the old Berlin Templehof airport, just a few weeks before it closed in 2008. Built by the Nazi regime between 1936-1941 it’s an impressive building that a few of us were determined to visit during one of our regular German forays.

The site and associated building have a fascinating history. You can read more about them here. Sadly, I never got to fly in or out of Tempelhof, but I’m glad I saw it before it closed.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

No rest for the wicked…

20 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Airports, Manchester, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Monday 05:15

Sorry for the lack of blogs this past week. To say life is hectic at the moment really doesn’t do things justice! I’m typing this from Costa Coffee in Manchester Airport whilst I wait for my flight to Dusseldorf. I’m heading back to Germany for the second time this month on yet another press trip – this time to have a look at some of the other projects the company are involved in besides the Class 700s for the UK. It’s going to be a hectic (but fascinating) couple of days. Siemens are my hosts & their events always provide plenty of interest. I’m particularly looking forward to learning more about the new Avenio trams they’re building for Doha which will run without overhead wires – a technology that could be very useful in our growing cities.

That aside, I can’t say I’m a fan of kicking my heels in airport lounges – especially this time of morning, but when needs must – at least there’s a welcoming Costa Coffee & free wifi here. The lounge is a melange of people here for different purposes which is reflected in the destinations up on the departure board. There’s business folks like me heading off to locations such as Aberdeen, Dusseldorf, or Dublin, whilst the hen parties & tourists we’re rubbing shoulders with are heading off to Ibiza, Alicante & Amsterdam. Despite the earliness of the hour, terminal three is surprisingly busy. Mind you – that could be just my perception as the place isn’t exactly large. Heathrow it isn’t.

Once I get back I’ve a day at home before heading off to York where I’m volunteering at the Railway Benefit Fund Spring Ball. I’ve a queue of subjects to blog about, so as soon as I have some spare time I’ll get typing. In the meantime, you can keep up with my travels & pictures here:

http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p921265531