Last Day in Singapore, Flying Home Tonight

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2nd October 2023

Singapore Airlines delivered our bags to our hotel at 9.30 this morning earlier than expected. Their overall handling of the issue has been excellent.

We could finally change into a fresh set of clothes and after breakfast and shower, we decided we just spend some time in Katong where the hotel is located. It is already 32 C and humid so some time spent in air conditioned comfort is favoured.

There is a large shopping centre, Parkway Parade, only a short distance from the hotel, so we head there. It is a LendLease development and has a good range of food outlets and shopping options. We had lunch there and only ventured back to the hotel at around 5 pm when we needed to catch a taxi to the airport.

There is little doubt that Changi is still one of the World's best airports and check in and immigration clearance are a breeze. we had lots of time on our hands so did a bit of duty free shopping. Alcohol here is up to half the cost of Sydney airport.

By the size of the crowd at the departure gate it looks like we have a full flight and is is a big plane, an Airbus A380. Boarding is on time we are a little delayed leaving the terminal but the pilot said we should make up any lost time.

With a 280km/hr tail wind and a sometimes bumpy ride, the flight took only 6 hrs and 40 minutes. The food was a bit better on this flight, and the seats more comfortable.

Arrival at Sydney highlighted how good Changi is. It took forwver to empty a full A380 of passengers. The kiosk immigration processing system that still requires you to fill in a paper customs and quarantine declaration needs work with long queues lined up at kiosks waiting to get their ticket to allow entry to the electronic passport checking gates.

You can imagine how long the baggage took with such a big plane, but at least we had the comfort of knowing our bags were at the terminal after checking our I - tags location (I have an I -tag in each bag).

Finally we are ready to go through customs and quarantine. The queue to do so snakes around the carousels and up and down aisles, it is difficult to see where it starts. It took an hour to get out to the taxi stand after landing.

Its great to be home after a fantastic trip.

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