We are in Singapore for an 8 hour layover. The flight from San Francisco to Singapore was very, very long. The kids were amazing, though. We boarded our flight at midnight (PST) and arrived in Hong Kong for a one hour stop somewhere around 7 am their time, at which time we got off just long enough to stretch our legs and buy each of us a Starbucks. Then back onto the same plane for the leg from HK to Singapore.
During that total of 15 hours (with the time-zone changes) on the flight, we never saw even one fleck of daylight as we were chasing the night the entire way. We kept lifting the window shade to “see” what time it was outside but they sky remained pitch black the entire 15 hours. The flight was full so we had little room to move and walk and the lines for the bathrooms were typically 3-4 people long. It really was fine that we didn’t have much wiggle room because the airline provided oodles of movies, video games, TV shows, etc. on the TV screen at each seat. Of course, the kids had their chapter books and iPods and card games, too. This was the most dreaded leg of our trip and it went really, really well!
We wanted to get out-and- about during our 8 hour layover so we spent a good 45 minutes signing up for a free bus tour. The man copied down information from our passports and boarding passes for each of the 14 of us and then told us we had about 2 hours until the tour left. We went upstairs to eat (Subway for the kids, Indian food for the adults) and came down about an hour-and-a-half later. We had missed the tour! Not just by a few minutes, but by a good 30 or more. There has obviously been a breakdown in communication somewhere along the way. That was the deciding factor that determined what our plan was for the day and we are now sprawled all over the Singapore airport floor taking naps. Don’t worry…you have never seen any place, anywhere so clean as the Changi Airport. It is unbelievable how clean it is!
During that total of 15 hours (with the time-zone changes) on the flight, we never saw even one fleck of daylight as we were chasing the night the entire way. We kept lifting the window shade to “see” what time it was outside but they sky remained pitch black the entire 15 hours. The flight was full so we had little room to move and walk and the lines for the bathrooms were typically 3-4 people long. It really was fine that we didn’t have much wiggle room because the airline provided oodles of movies, video games, TV shows, etc. on the TV screen at each seat. Of course, the kids had their chapter books and iPods and card games, too. This was the most dreaded leg of our trip and it went really, really well!
Somehow (and my brain is too tired and too limited to figure it all out) we skipped Monday and are now enjoying Tuesday, March 6th – Michael’s 15th birthday. We will officially celebrate it in Bangladesh. (I’ll have the cook make him a cake!)
We wanted to get out-and- about during our 8 hour layover so we spent a good 45 minutes signing up for a free bus tour. The man copied down information from our passports and boarding passes for each of the 14 of us and then told us we had about 2 hours until the tour left. We went upstairs to eat (Subway for the kids, Indian food for the adults) and came down about an hour-and-a-half later. We had missed the tour! Not just by a few minutes, but by a good 30 or more. There has obviously been a breakdown in communication somewhere along the way. That was the deciding factor that determined what our plan was for the day and we are now sprawled all over the Singapore airport floor taking naps. Don’t worry…you have never seen any place, anywhere so clean as the Changi Airport. It is unbelievable how clean it is!
The next leg is sometime after 8 pm tonight and we will be flying right into Amar Shonar Bangla! I am really, really excited – and nervous. What if it is vastly different? What if I hate it? What if my family hates it? All of these are thoughts racing through my head today as we wait to board that plane that will take me back into Bangladesh.
More soon…
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