3rd & 4th September

The uncertainty of stand by travel helps you appreciate aspects of travel otherwise taken foregranted. On Thursday afternoon we decided to fly on Friday instead of the planned departure on Saturday. It turned out to be a bold move because at 21:35 we were waiting at the gate of flight BA17 to Singapore. As soon as the check-in assistant called our names at the standby desk in Heathrow our cheeks touched our ears. This overjoy and Handbook for butterfly watchers were essential to alleviate the hour delay at the gate and the remaining 3 hours delay on board the aircraft due to an engine problem.

The BA 747-400 is huge compared to my previous flight experiences. We even had a TFT monitor for each passenger which makes me wonder what joys await the wealthy passengers in club class. Apart from sleeping and reading I killed the 13 hours watching parts of Kill Bill 2 and The Laws of Attraction (3 stars) as well as an episode of friends.

We arrived in Singapore at around 20:00 and to play it safe we rode a taxi ($35) from Changi Airport to the Strand at Bencoolen Street. Taxis have a wide variety of additional surcharges depending on the day and time so the price tends of vary accordingly. We could have taken the metro which is much cheaper at $1.20 and, Dhoby Ghaut stop is just a short walk from the Strand. (Dhoby Ghaut has one of its exits in Plaza Singapura, for the sake of those looking for it on a map).

The strand is a basic reasonably priced ($75 for a double room) clean hotel located in a perfect area for shopping. It is just 10/15 min away from Orchard Road and about 5 min away from Sim Lim Square.

Word of the year: Snafus