Day 91 Singapore & Day 92 Home Sweet Home

 The flight from Barcelona to Singapore, 14 hours, seemed to go relatively fast.  Our flight left Barcelona around 11am Saturday and with the time changes we arrived into Singapore at 7am Saturday.  We were feed a four course lunch and breakfast on board our flight and as per usual Singapore Airlines standard, they were standout meals.  After lunch, that with the time change was probably dinner, the lights were dimmed in the cabin and our beds were made ready for sleep.  I watched a movie for a little while but then took a sleeping tablet and slept right through until the steward gently shook me awake for breakfast. 

Changi Airport is very easy to negotiate and after immigration and picking up our suitcases from the carousel it is an easy walk to the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport.  By this time it was around 8am and we had asked for an early check-in - thank goodness.  Showers were the first thing on the agenda and Philip then lay down for a nap (no sleepers for him!).  I stayed awake, determined to adapt to the time change that was actually quite easy.  Mind you, by 5pm that evening,  I was ready for bed!

We filled our day in Singapore by exploring the Jewel Centre at Changi Airport and then Orchard Road. Jewel Changi Airport is a multi-use complex featuring shops, restaurants and the Rain Vortex, the world's tallest indoor waterfall, and the Forest Valley that is a terraced indoor garden with a vast collection of plants.  The Singaporeans really know how to build exquisite gardens.

After exploring the vast complex we found a place to eat lunch.  It was a Singaporean style Teppanyaki where you grilled your protein on a grill plate set over coals.  The sides included were Miso Soup, Garden Salad, Carrot and Daikon Salad, Potato Salad, Kimchi, Tempura Mushrooms plus condiments.  It was in fact a very light lunch but so delicious.

We hired a taxi to take us into Orchard Road but as soon as we arrived we knew we weren't going to stay very long.  It is the Singapore Formula 1 weekend and the streets and malls are jam packed with people.  After being jostled around for around an hour we decided to head back to the quiet of our hotel.  It was only 4pm but we headed to the restaurant/bar and ordered beers and pizza for an early dinner.  It certainly wasn't the best pizza we had ever eaten but good enough.  We were back up in our room by 5pm and in bed by 5.30!  Surprisingly we slept right through until our alarm woke us at 5.00am to prepare for our flight back to Cairns that was scheduled to leave at 8.40am.

The flight with Singapore Airlines was on point again and I can't recommend this airline enough.  The stewards are exceptional and nothing is too much trouble.  The ample food is as good as any five star restaurant and beautifully presented.  This scallop, prawn salad with a little tomato concassé was a standout entree.

We touched down in Cairns around 5pm and had no problems getting through customs but were singled out to have our luggage go through another screening.  We had nothing to declare so it was an easy process.  As we made our way to the taxi rank we could see that this might be problematic as there were around a dozen people in front of us so I made the quick decision to call an Uber who was there in under 10 minutes.  The taxi queue had not moved so it was a good decision.  As we pulled up outside our apartment and unloaded the luggage we made the devastating discovery that we had left behind my large tote that held my laptop and my jewellery!  Our hearts sank when we realised that we had left the tote behind in the luggage trolley basket beside the Uber pick-up.  A frantic call to Cairns Airport and a lovely lady said that they would go and look for it straight away (mind you it was around a half hour since we left the airport) and she would ring me back.  In the meantime Philip got the car going (he had disconnected the battery) so that we could drive back to the airport.  We received the phone call on our drive back into town to say that security had found the tote where we had left it and it was in safe hands.  Whhhhewwww!

We finally arrived back into our apartment (with ALL our luggage) and sat down to watch the Broncos win the grand final.  What an eventful end to our holiday that I will summarise in my next post.

PS

I think we must have the best cleaner in the world.  Not only did we have a beautifully clean apartment to come home to but Sevim left us this cute welcome home.

Plus our fridge was loaded with enough food to see us through until we can get to the shops tomorrow.

Thanks Sev. You don't know how much it is appreciated! 😘