Singapore
Our adventure began before we ever left New Jersey. We were scheduled to take the flight from JFK to Tokyo on Wednesday AM Feb. 10 and transfer to Singapore and to stay with our friends the Marston's in Darien the night before. On Monday Pinky found out from Maureen Marston that they were leaving on flight AA 167 on TUESDAY, not Wednesday. The third couple with us, the Winston's, were leaving from Phoenix, all on Tuesday. Additionally, we were exposed to the threat of a weather warning for another blizzard on Wednesday, which would have clearly impacted on flight we had booked. Pinky contacted the airline to move our flight to Tue. but was told we would be liable to $250/ticket + difference on ticket cost, or all told more than $900. When I returned from the office later in the afternoon I reviewed our plight with Pinky and decided to try again and plead for mercy in light of the impending snow storm. I told AA's Jill that if she moved our flights, there would be two fewer problems for the airline during the snow. As luck would have it, Tuesday's flight from Kennedy was virtually empty, and upon checking further there was room on the transfer from Tokyo to Singapore! Jill proceeded to rebook our flight at no cost, and Pinky had to adjust by packing and leaving for the Marston's on Tuesday evening. Disaster averted!
After a pleasant though brief late Monday evening with the Marston's at their home in Darien, we travelled together to catch the 11:30 AM Tuesday flight to Tokyo. We could only read about the snow at that point! Our flight was 14 hours to Tokyo, layover 2 1/2 hours, and Japanese Airlines flight south to Singapore 7:40. Our total travel consumed 24 hours, and we arrived at the Fairmont Hotel around 1:30 AM Thursday Feb. 12.
Singapore time is 13 hours ahead of New York, and it has taken us a few days to sort out what time it is and where. We are grateful to have made it here when we did. I heard there was nearly a foot of snow by 4 PM on Wednesday, and I can only imagine what problems we would have been in for had we not been able to change our flight. As to why we were booked on Wednesday while the Marston's and Winston's were booked on Tuesday is a subject to another story.
The hotel is 5 star in the Singapore‘s downtown, an incredibly energetic, dynamic city with controlled traffic, much construction, virtually no unemployment, shopping centers everywhere, hustle and bustle, diversity of neighborhoods and restaurants, and temperate climate. I suspect that Singapore' healthy economy and active progress are due to low taxes, lack of labor unions, absence of entitlements, government assistance for public housing, and favorable banking rules that attract banks world wide. We are 1 1/2 degrees above the equator, so the days and nights are both 12 hours long. Breezes mitigate somewhat the high humidity. We have toured the city using Hippo tour, which we can catch and drop off at many locations throughout. Highlights include a 165 meter ferris-like wheel with closed compartments and slow revolutions to view the city and harbor, inner harbor boar ride, botanical gardens chucked full of orchids, and pink gin at the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel located across the street from the Fairmont.
We disembark on the Seabourn Pride at 5 PM
Our adventure began before we ever left New Jersey. We were scheduled to take the flight from JFK to Tokyo on Wednesday AM Feb. 10 and transfer to Singapore and to stay with our friends the Marston's in Darien the night before. On Monday Pinky found out from Maureen Marston that they were leaving on flight AA 167 on TUESDAY, not Wednesday. The third couple with us, the Winston's, were leaving from Phoenix, all on Tuesday. Additionally, we were exposed to the threat of a weather warning for another blizzard on Wednesday, which would have clearly impacted on flight we had booked. Pinky contacted the airline to move our flight to Tue. but was told we would be liable to $250/ticket + difference on ticket cost, or all told more than $900. When I returned from the office later in the afternoon I reviewed our plight with Pinky and decided to try again and plead for mercy in light of the impending snow storm. I told AA's Jill that if she moved our flights, there would be two fewer problems for the airline during the snow. As luck would have it, Tuesday's flight from Kennedy was virtually empty, and upon checking further there was room on the transfer from Tokyo to Singapore! Jill proceeded to rebook our flight at no cost, and Pinky had to adjust by packing and leaving for the Marston's on Tuesday evening. Disaster averted!
After a pleasant though brief late Monday evening with the Marston's at their home in Darien, we travelled together to catch the 11:30 AM Tuesday flight to Tokyo. We could only read about the snow at that point! Our flight was 14 hours to Tokyo, layover 2 1/2 hours, and Japanese Airlines flight south to Singapore 7:40. Our total travel consumed 24 hours, and we arrived at the Fairmont Hotel around 1:30 AM Thursday Feb. 12.
Singapore time is 13 hours ahead of New York, and it has taken us a few days to sort out what time it is and where. We are grateful to have made it here when we did. I heard there was nearly a foot of snow by 4 PM on Wednesday, and I can only imagine what problems we would have been in for had we not been able to change our flight. As to why we were booked on Wednesday while the Marston's and Winston's were booked on Tuesday is a subject to another story.
The hotel is 5 star in the Singapore‘s downtown, an incredibly energetic, dynamic city with controlled traffic, much construction, virtually no unemployment, shopping centers everywhere, hustle and bustle, diversity of neighborhoods and restaurants, and temperate climate. I suspect that Singapore' healthy economy and active progress are due to low taxes, lack of labor unions, absence of entitlements, government assistance for public housing, and favorable banking rules that attract banks world wide. We are 1 1/2 degrees above the equator, so the days and nights are both 12 hours long. Breezes mitigate somewhat the high humidity. We have toured the city using Hippo tour, which we can catch and drop off at many locations throughout. Highlights include a 165 meter ferris-like wheel with closed compartments and slow revolutions to view the city and harbor, inner harbor boar ride, botanical gardens chucked full of orchids, and pink gin at the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel located across the street from the Fairmont.
We disembark on the Seabourn Pride at 5 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment