Day 25 – Exeter Heathrow
Singapore
April 28, 2005.
It’s our final day in Europe and England - sad. The three weeks have gone by
incredibly fast
and we have seen some amazing sights. Today was a long day for both of us. Our
wakeup call was for 03:15 as we had to catch the 04:45 coach to London’s
Heathrow Airport. We had coffee and juice with Bob and Rosemarie and then headed
off to the bus station in Exeter. The bus left right on time and we were at the
bus terminal in Heathrow at 08:10. The bus terminal is in the middle of the five
terminals at Heathrow, so it’s an easy 10 minute underground walk to Terminal 3,
where our flights were leaving from. Check in was fast, and again there was no
lineup for security.
We spent three hours in
Singapore Airline’s Kris Lounge. Great place to relax, enjoy something to eat
and have a drink. Singapore Airlines provides free wireless service in the
lounge, which was a nice touch. Nancy spent an hour wandering through the duty
free shops and managed to get rid of our remaining British Pounds without any
trouble.
We managed to pick up two
bottles of Billecarte-Salmon champagne in the duty free store. This is a little
known, but highly regarded French champagne. Somewhere in the past I must be
related to the family that runs the vineyard, so we buy bottles whenever we can.
It’s very hard to get in Canada. Nancy and I had it at our wedding dinner four
years ago and again at the same restaurant a year later. It was available in the
dining room of the Imperial Hotel in Vienna for 365 Euros (about $700 US), but
we passed on that one. Then on Wednesday night it was on the wine list at the
hotel in Exeter where we had dinner with the Stanley’s. Much more reasonable at
40 pounds ($80 US), so we splurged on our final night. In the duty free shop its
40 British pounds so we’re bringing home two bottles to celebrate breaking
ground for our new house.
At noon I boarded SQ 317 for
the long trip to Singapore, while Nancy was on AC 857 to Toronto an hour later.
We’ll meet up on Tuesday afternoon next week when I fly home from Asia.
 The
flight to Singapore is just over 11,000 kilometers and takes 12 hours. That’s
like flying from New York to Los Angeles and back non-stop. A long time to sit,
but fortunately I’m up front where they still know how to treat you royally. My
big seat goes all the way back flat and has a large screen TV, great music and a
power outlet for my notebook. Technology is wonderful; front my seat I was able
to connect to the Internet (for a reasonable fee) and send e-mail from 39,000
feet.
The flight routing takes you
east over the North Sea, Holland, Germany, part of Russia, Iran and then over
northern India. As I write this we’ve just left Pakistan and are flying over the
Bay of Bengal. From here you fly over Thailand and then down to the island of
Singapore. We’re flying at 37,000 feet at a speed of 977 kilometers per hour.
We’ve got a tail wind of 89 km per hour.. Once I get to Singapore, at 7 am on
Friday, I have a two and half hour layover and I will then take another plane
for 5 hours to Perth, Australia, which is on the west side of Australia. I’ve
been to Sydney on the east side but never to Western Australia. I’ll be spending
three days with old friends before I fly home on Monday afternoon.
There are 12 seats in 1st
class and three flight attendants, so you get really well looked after. Had a
great lunch and then slept for about 6 hours. They cook breakfast on the plane,
so I had fruit, fried eggs, sunny side up, orange juice, and of course, a
cappuccino.
12 hours after leaving
London, Heathrow airport we’re on the approach to Singapore and it’s a new day.
Tomorrow I’ll share with some information on Western Australia and the City of
Perth.
The first picture today is
the restored inn where Bob, Rosemarie, Nancy and me had dinner last night. The
second picture is me working on e-mail on the flight to Singapore. Note my
classy Gevenchy pajamas supplied by Singapore Airlines.
J
Stay tuned for Day 26 in my
“Around the World in 30 Days” saga.
Alan Salmon
eClub One
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