Day 45/46 Monday 30 September -Tuesday 1 October

The alarms went off in unison at 4am, and knowing there was no snoozing we quickly got up, showered, quietly crept downstairs, made a coffee, grabbed our packed breakfast, retrieved our suitcases and went out into the peaceful night (early morning) to our waiting taxi. Once out of our suburb there was a reasonable amount of traffic and one particularly entertaining fellow traveller in the next lane. The passenger was very drunk and somewhat sick – barely holding it together sitting there with the window open. I made comment that he didn’t look in too good a shape and I bet our driver was happy he was not in his car. Our driver laughed and said yes, he is in a Uber. RAWL. When we passed each other again a little later there was a trail of vomit on the side of the car…. ewww!

20 minutes later we were deposited at the airport. Check in went smoothly also our passage through customs, onward to the customary brief browse and shop for perfume and Portuguese liquer for €3.50, before we were bussed onto our A321 Air Portugal plane (TAP). It was very full and they really have very little room so you do feel like the proverbial Portuguese sardine. Despite this I could barely keep my eyes open – the early start, an unsettled sleep (hormones) and the usual travel narcolepsy combined to result in me having my eyes shut in deep rest most of the 2.5 hour flight to Frankfurt. Sleep was elusive but I could do little else other than rest my eyes and sit tight. The budget European airlines are cheap but offer very little – no entertainment, hard non reclining seats and yukky little snacks. Really like a city bus in the air, not an intercity bus!

We only had 50 minutes to transit at Frankfurt and were advised at the time of booking that our bags would not likey make the transfer and that Frankfurt was HUGE, so no dallying at change time. The TAP plane was a little late getting off so we were anxious we wouldn’t make our flight, never mind our bags. And possibly be further delayed by having another bus to the terminal situation instead of direct docking especially as we were bussed on.

Fortunately we did dock at the terminal and set about quickly finding out which wing of the terminal we were on and what gate we needed to be at. What a relief to find that we were departing at the same terminal, however we were not out of the woods yet due to the expansive airport. We had arrived at A43 and we had to get to B46. This meant any sleepiness was quickly shaken off as we set off as fast as we could; in and out of people like dodgem cars and I even ran a bit on the moving walkways at one point. And then it happened; the smell of German sausage and bretzels wafted up the halls to my nostrils like a sweet scent to a hungry fox. Oh my, that was torture; I began to wish that the plane would be delayed so we could have a wurst.

My wish was not granted exactly, but we did get to our gate in great time and there happened to be a cafe stand nearby. Hallelujah! Enough time to buy and devour a beef and a bratwurst curry wurst, along with water and iced tea to try and increase our hydration for the long haul. Despite the rush we had enough time to fully enjoy the meaty and flavoursome deliciousness that is part of our DNA.

Whilst we have had some nice food this holiday, it generally has been quite simple in flavour and I have missed the finer more complex flavours of previous experiences. Now a good German sausage is a very fine art. Paired with the weird but oh so good curry wurst sauce it was a very culturally appropriate, comforting and fortifying meal before our now 12 hour flight to Singapore.

Our plane is a A380 and we have the last rear seats on the top floor chosen for a new experience. Economy this time unfortunately, however, the larger seats and bit of extra space are a huge improvement on our ‘internal’ European flights – Air France, Alitalia, and TAP. We were a little delayed taking off in the end departing at 1pm instead of 12:30 Frankfurt time, but it was not a big deal as its going to be a long long day anyway, arriving Singapore local time 6am Tuesday morning.

When we first took off I keenly looked out the window and took a bit of video as my mum came from a town very close to Frankfurt. I will show her when I get home, you never know I may have flown over it. I have yet to visit here, but it definitely is on the list next time. (Post script – I showed mum and she felt likely it was the right direction and area from where she came from. I am so glad I videoed it as it was a lovely memory we shared shortly before she passed away recently. Mum loved my travel blogs and I believe she is still reading them in heaven and will keep a keen interest in future trips as she is with me in spirit and in my heart).

Our flight was good and I got a little cat nap, but it is hard to get decent sleep flying into the day. When we arrived in Singapore the day looked grey and the sun just rising (feature photo on this post). On disembarkation all of a sudden I felt a bit unwell – like a vertigo, motion sickness type feeling and a bit faint. We continued on taking the very good city train into town whilst I relied on Vern to help me with balance as I felt too weird to negotiate the escalators, steps or too much walking by myself unaided.

It was only two changes of the train before we arrived at our hotel, which was right above a train stop. Check in was a bit tedious at the Stamford, and I feeling tired and unwell I just wanted to lie down horizontal. We had been up about about 20hrs, with only 4 hrs sleep the night before and keen to freshen and rest. Our room was not ready, but for $150 extra we could have an upgrade and free exclusive top floor happy hour and breakfasts which was available now. Sounded like a good plan.

We dumped our bags and made our way to the lounge before breakfast ended as quickly as my unsteadiness would allow. The food was not as fabulous as I expected from the 5* hotel especially given our experience at the Pan Pacific the last two trips, but slowly and surely with several cups of coffee and tea in my system and some healthy fruit and food I started to feel better. Once we had eaten our fill we headed back to our room, had a wonderful travel cleansing shower, and fell into the super king single beds (moved together) for a deep and restorative 6 hour sleep.

We only have two nights and another full day in Singapore and whilst there is always more to see, do and eat here, our stopovers are planned to help us get back into the southern time zone so we dont mind staying in and making the most of our splurge hotels. Accordingly, we slowly rose had a cup of tea which is a really nice Singapore brand, another shower and headed upstairs for happy hour and canapé without overdoing it so we could enjoy a nice meal to follow.

We stayed in house as being an Accor member I get 50% off meals. We ended up choosing an international buffet which was nice, however, again it was not a patch on the Pan Pacific buffet which is almost worth coming all the way to Singapore for – trust me! My vertigo or unwellness had completely disappeared except of a bit of a headache, which was great as being sick on holiday with something strange is neither pleasant or relaxing.

We bedded down again and enjoyed the gorgeous coloured twinkling view of the city and harbour under the velvet sky before slipping easily into another very restful sleep.