Brisbane to Singapore

I was up at 6:00 am and walked 35 minutes, picking up the papers on the way home. From there it was a matter of tidying up some loose ends around the house, eating breakfast, completing packing, and I was ready to leave. Majella completed her morning sudoku and crossword over breakfast, cleaned up, packed, and then needed to go to town for some last minute shopping. We were in town at 8:20 but the shops did not open until 8:30. Once that business was done we returned home, packed the car and headed off to Brisbane at about 9:00 am.

Jane, Emily and Sam were out doing some last minute shopping when we arrived at the Batham’s place around 10:30 but they soon returned. We had a cup of coffee while Jane wrapped a couple of gifts and Sam did some last minute preparation. Some time after 11:00 we loaded the bags into Jane’s car and crammed the six of us in with them. Sam had managed to leave his camera and memory card in the house where he had been doing a last minute download of old images. Fortunately Jane remembered just before we headed off and we managed to get away with everything on board.

Emily drove us to the airport with the benefit of 3 back seat drivers – Majella, Sam and Joel. Jane was in front, instructing, and I was way back in the spare seat – too far away to have any impact. We arrived at the airport early enough not to have a long queue and were checked in before 12:30. We sat down to have a cup of coffee and a bite to eat – airport takeaway – for those who wanted it while we waited for Lea to come from work to farewell Sam. Lea arrived sometime after 1:00 and, after farewells all round, Majella, Sam and I headed down to pass security and customs, Lea headed back to work, and Emily, Jane and Joel headed for the coast to visit Hannah. Just as I arrived at the security point my phone rang and I was cautioned not to answer it. It rang again before we reached customs. Both times it was Jane and we began to think we might have forgotten something. Once through the formalities I called Jane but it was just that they had wanted to check if they might be able to wave to us again. By that time they had given up and were on the road.

After some more sitting around we boarded and departed on schedule around 2:45 pm. The entertainment system on the A330 kept us all entertained for the 8 hour journey during which we were fed twice.

We landed at Singapore around 8:30 pm local time, made the shuttle ride from one terminal to the other and cruised the shops to fill in some of the 3 hour wait for our next flight. Sam was hungry but opted for Burger King in preference to any of the more exotic local fare available.

Eventually our gate for the next flight opened and we passed security to spend more time waiting. It’s been a long day, close to 19 hours by now, mostly spent sitting. I hope the seats on our next flight are soft and comfortable.