Coming home from Singapore is unlike any other flying experience I’ve had, for starters, we had to be at the airport for just after midnight – the most random time to fly, but, I guess that’s just how it has to be to get you back on US soil at a decent hour!
The upside of an ungodly hour-ed flight, was that the queue for security was pretty short, equally were the queues for Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. Colin and Amee needed caffeine, I needed sugar, so we had a midnight, sugar-packed snack, to load us up for the long journey home we had ahead of us.
Boarding was quick, Amee and Michael were sitting in a different section of the plane, so we barely saw them – which, I normally would have fixed by going to visit them. However, this flight, was the first flight I’ve ever taken where I slept for the majority of the time.
I kid you not, the sugar in the airport didn’t touch my tiredness, and out of the 10 hours we were in the air, I slept for 7. That’s seriously unusual for me, I must have been knackered! I got almost a full night’s sleep – normally I’m walking around the cabin, watching TV and buggin’ Col cause I can’t sleep. It was really a miracle! (Either that, or those new neck pillows we bought, really help!)
In the three hours that I was awake on the plane, due to the overwhelming lack of decent entertainment on Singapore Airlines (I mean, come on, Col didn’t even get his traditional Bond film – what the heck is that all about?!?!), I started watching something that Col had encouraged me to try. It’s a show called Episodes starring Matt Le Blanc, playing, well, himself really. It’s a Brit Comedy and I have to admit, at first, I was somewhat apprehensive and expecting to watch a train wreck.
That said, however, I got sucked in pretty quickly and before long, was keeping Col awake with my giggling and laughing out loud. It’s a pretty funny show about the writers of a British Sit Com being ‘picked up’ for airing in the States…check it out if you get a chance!
Our transfer in Moscow was pretty quick, well, mostly cause our time was spent queuing for the ‘Interim immigration’ check, which is nothing short of a pain in the arse and a waste of time. By the time you get through, it’s almost time to re-board the plane.
While we waited, little Michael decided to play with uncle Col’s rolling carry-on case. He was very cute, it was fun to watch his mind work, we helped him learn how to work the handle (”push the button Michael”), he found it hard to understand why it only moved smoothly when it was flipped one way and he even tried to pick it up and put it through a nearby scanner – he’s got this airport malarky sorted!
It was fun while it lasted, though when they pre-boarded Amee and Michael and uncle Col had to take his case back, Michael let loose. He SCREAMED, and onlooking passengers watched in confusion, as mean ole Uncle Col (who I guess they all assumed was his father) took his case back off this screaming toddler and sat down beside me! LOL!
During the second flight, I slept just under four hours (I swear, that pillow has magical powers!!) and for the rest of the time, I enjoyed a few Singapore Slings, finished Episodes, watched Bad Teacher (which should have been titled ‘Bad Movie’, it was pretty crap and I’m glad I didn’t waste cash on it in the cinema!) and I watched a few episodes of Modern Family from season 2 (and fell in love with it!!)
I guess, the difference between these two flights home, and ‘normal’ flights home, was that I slept over half of the 20 hours that we were on the planes. I didn’t walk around as much as I normally do, I didn’t swing my feet up over Col like I normally do and I drank alcohol (cause it was free!) which I also, don’t normally do!
All of these components, contributed to what can only be described as a horrific foot experience. When it was time to descend in to Houston, I went to put on my flip flops, only to be absolutely horrified to discover that I couldn’t get my feet into the shoes – they had swollen to two or three times their normal size!
I’d never, ever had this happen to me before, I was completely astounded, terrified and panicked. I kept pointing my feet at Col shrieking, ‘I’m deformed’, it was horrible!
Thankfully, after a few days of elevated feet and chugging gallons of water, the swelling went down and my feet returned to their normal, pretty selves!
Someone once told me, when you visit a place, always leave something left undone – so you always have a reason to return. In this case, there were quite a few things we didn’t get around to doing, that we’d love to go back and do, the luge, the zipline (hopefully it’ll be open again after the Australian tourist broke his spine on it), the Night Safari, the beaches out on the Island of Sentosa, Marina Bay sands hotel, the casino, my friend Crystal’s curry guy, Smiths fish and chip shop and the Bugis St market…we’ve definitely got plenty left undone.
Singapore, is such a great country, choc-filled with culture (ok, more like three cultures), it’s clean, there are fines for everything, the weather is hot and muggy, the public transportation is fantastic, the shopping is designer and expensive, the food is delicious and plentiful, there’s plenty to see and do and it’s most definitely a worth while vacation!