Day One, Monday, 3 October 2005 - The Journey Begins!
I wake up immediately when my handphone rings at 3.30am. I feel quite awake despite sleeping only for about 3 hours. Must be the excitement! I get dressed and ready on time--for once! We leave the house at 4.15 and reach Terminal 2 by 4.45. It's really sweet of Mum to send me to the airport so early in the morning. Guess it comes naturally to mothers. She reminds me to not look blur when I'm walking about in New York and says to try not to split up from Yogi because "you never know what can happen in a foreign country". Luckily I'm not splitting up to stay in New York on my own, or she'd firmly object.
She gives me a good warm hug and says to have a good trip. I head to Row 12 to wait for Yogi. Need the loo but can't bring my trolley in so I decide to wait for her and jaga my barang. I take the opportunity to pray and give thanks for the chance to go on this holiday. Can't believe it's happening! I've been waiting for this break, my first holiday paid using my own hard-earned money. That's perhaps the biggest perk of working--being able to pay my own bills and not having to care if I'm going over the spending limit because it's my own money anyway.
Yogi arrives at 5.30, sleepy in a cute Snoopy T-shirt, jeans and boots. After checking in, we have breakfast from Burger King and send emails from a free Internet kiosk. They even have MSN here! No wonder Changi Airport is world class.
I make the stupid mistake of carrying a nail-clipper in my satchel. It has to be confiscated and I feel so stupid! I know Mum's going to be mad about htis but one way to appease her is to buy a new one. What's more, the nail-clipper I brought with me was the best we had in the house! URGH. Just too bad.
Yogi and I get three seats to ourselves, which is just brilliant :) An hour later, we get off at KL International Airport and check out the shops at Duty Free. Nothing spectacular. The onyl noteworthy place is Harrods Cafe, which is obviously atas and expensive ($3+ for a pastry) with small portions.
We enter gate C22 and find out we're at the wrong gate. When we get to C25 (printed on our boarding pass), there's no one there except an MAS stewardess. She asks us where we're going and we find out that the gate has been changed--it was announced over the PA system and we didn't catch it! She says we'll have to run. We panic as the plane is supposed to fly at 9.20 and it's already 9.15! We run like no tomorrow and I'm panting and sweating. Finally we make it to the really crowded gate and don't get to board the plane till 15 minutes later. We could've walked! Never mind, it was exciting and we had a good workout for our next meal.
We're served a deliciously light omelette with spring onion, a small sausage, fruit and banana yogurt (this is quitee nice surprisingly, tastes a little like strawberry yogurt) and a small croissant. I greedily lap everything up.
Am not sleepy despite the lack of sleep. Perhaps it was the running that got my blood pumping. I occupy myself first by finishing the whole of Lonely Planet NY and then watching Alot Like Love and Herbie. Alot Like Love is sweet but way too draggy for my liking. The couple take 6-7 years to actually get together desptie so many brushes. C'mon, get with it man! Herbie's cute though a little nonsensical. I don't know why I like Lindsay Lohan even though she may have a bit of a bimbo image and I certainly don't approve of her weight loss obsession. Maybe it's the freckles and long curly hair. She's a regular all-American-girl-next-door, not too difficult to like such a pretty one!
I get nibbly at around 3.30pm and ask the stewardess for cheese and crackers--one of my all time favourite snacks. Before leaving the plane, they serve us a dinner of the most delicious spinach lasagne I've tasted in my life, a light baby shrimp and rocket lettuce salad, light sponge cake with strawberry jam, bread roll and fruit. The food on MAS is great! I read in the inflight magazine that an MAS chef even flew to Australia to taste a combination of lettuce to create the perfect salad. Wow, I didn't expect MAS to take making salad so seriously! Also did not know it's garnered so many awards. It definitely ranks high on my list for affordability and great value for money. Well done, MAS! The stewardesses also give great service and are attentive to passengers' needs. This is in contrast to what I've heard about SIA stewardesses being partial to Caucasians and haughty with Singaporeans. Only heard about it but never witnessed it. Must be true though if a couple of people have mentioned it.
We get off at Stockholm. From the plane, we see a whole bed of Christmas trees and red brick houses with white trimmings. Postcard picture perfect, must come here one day!
Stockholm's DFS is disappointing. There are only two shops in the section we are in in this quiet, clean and new airport. I get a nice sweet SMS from my boyfriend who wishes Yogi a happy birthday. I also get an SMS from a journalist who's asking for a reply to his query from last week. I tell him go look for my colleague and he says to forget about work and have fun. I answer saying yeah you're telling me and bugging me at the same time, how ironic!
We get on the plane and the first thing they do is feed us! We get two sandwiches--smoked salmon and cream cheese (absolutely yummy!) and roast chicken (left it for later as there was way too much food!), a tub of strawberry ice cream and fruit. Very satisfying though am beginning to feel very piggish! We decide to try our best to stay awake till getting off the plane in order to fight jet lag.
I have a good one-hour nap and don't sleep rest of the flight. Am pretty sure I won't have problems with jet lag. They feed us dinner which is really too much food actually but who can fault an attentive airline :)?
Once we get through customs and claim our baggage, we book a Super Shuttle (US$17 = S$28.39) to Chelsea International Hostel. It takes about an hour to get there as the driver picks up and drops other passengers.
We get a basic, decent and clean but small room with a wash basin, TV and DVD player. It overlooks the courtyard and so can be a little noisy sometimes when guests congregate and talk. I find that my handphone charger is incompatible with the socket, which renders me "immobile" as my handphone battery is low. Yogi's phone doesn't work as it doesn't support a tri-band network. We decide to buy calling cards instead. I gladly hit the bed at 11.40. Been quite sleep-deprived to prevent any jet lag.
She gives me a good warm hug and says to have a good trip. I head to Row 12 to wait for Yogi. Need the loo but can't bring my trolley in so I decide to wait for her and jaga my barang. I take the opportunity to pray and give thanks for the chance to go on this holiday. Can't believe it's happening! I've been waiting for this break, my first holiday paid using my own hard-earned money. That's perhaps the biggest perk of working--being able to pay my own bills and not having to care if I'm going over the spending limit because it's my own money anyway.
Yogi arrives at 5.30, sleepy in a cute Snoopy T-shirt, jeans and boots. After checking in, we have breakfast from Burger King and send emails from a free Internet kiosk. They even have MSN here! No wonder Changi Airport is world class.
I make the stupid mistake of carrying a nail-clipper in my satchel. It has to be confiscated and I feel so stupid! I know Mum's going to be mad about htis but one way to appease her is to buy a new one. What's more, the nail-clipper I brought with me was the best we had in the house! URGH. Just too bad.
Yogi and I get three seats to ourselves, which is just brilliant :) An hour later, we get off at KL International Airport and check out the shops at Duty Free. Nothing spectacular. The onyl noteworthy place is Harrods Cafe, which is obviously atas and expensive ($3+ for a pastry) with small portions.
We enter gate C22 and find out we're at the wrong gate. When we get to C25 (printed on our boarding pass), there's no one there except an MAS stewardess. She asks us where we're going and we find out that the gate has been changed--it was announced over the PA system and we didn't catch it! She says we'll have to run. We panic as the plane is supposed to fly at 9.20 and it's already 9.15! We run like no tomorrow and I'm panting and sweating. Finally we make it to the really crowded gate and don't get to board the plane till 15 minutes later. We could've walked! Never mind, it was exciting and we had a good workout for our next meal.
We're served a deliciously light omelette with spring onion, a small sausage, fruit and banana yogurt (this is quitee nice surprisingly, tastes a little like strawberry yogurt) and a small croissant. I greedily lap everything up.
Am not sleepy despite the lack of sleep. Perhaps it was the running that got my blood pumping. I occupy myself first by finishing the whole of Lonely Planet NY and then watching Alot Like Love and Herbie. Alot Like Love is sweet but way too draggy for my liking. The couple take 6-7 years to actually get together desptie so many brushes. C'mon, get with it man! Herbie's cute though a little nonsensical. I don't know why I like Lindsay Lohan even though she may have a bit of a bimbo image and I certainly don't approve of her weight loss obsession. Maybe it's the freckles and long curly hair. She's a regular all-American-girl-next-door, not too difficult to like such a pretty one!
I get nibbly at around 3.30pm and ask the stewardess for cheese and crackers--one of my all time favourite snacks. Before leaving the plane, they serve us a dinner of the most delicious spinach lasagne I've tasted in my life, a light baby shrimp and rocket lettuce salad, light sponge cake with strawberry jam, bread roll and fruit. The food on MAS is great! I read in the inflight magazine that an MAS chef even flew to Australia to taste a combination of lettuce to create the perfect salad. Wow, I didn't expect MAS to take making salad so seriously! Also did not know it's garnered so many awards. It definitely ranks high on my list for affordability and great value for money. Well done, MAS! The stewardesses also give great service and are attentive to passengers' needs. This is in contrast to what I've heard about SIA stewardesses being partial to Caucasians and haughty with Singaporeans. Only heard about it but never witnessed it. Must be true though if a couple of people have mentioned it.
We get off at Stockholm. From the plane, we see a whole bed of Christmas trees and red brick houses with white trimmings. Postcard picture perfect, must come here one day!
Stockholm's DFS is disappointing. There are only two shops in the section we are in in this quiet, clean and new airport. I get a nice sweet SMS from my boyfriend who wishes Yogi a happy birthday. I also get an SMS from a journalist who's asking for a reply to his query from last week. I tell him go look for my colleague and he says to forget about work and have fun. I answer saying yeah you're telling me and bugging me at the same time, how ironic!
We get on the plane and the first thing they do is feed us! We get two sandwiches--smoked salmon and cream cheese (absolutely yummy!) and roast chicken (left it for later as there was way too much food!), a tub of strawberry ice cream and fruit. Very satisfying though am beginning to feel very piggish! We decide to try our best to stay awake till getting off the plane in order to fight jet lag.
I have a good one-hour nap and don't sleep rest of the flight. Am pretty sure I won't have problems with jet lag. They feed us dinner which is really too much food actually but who can fault an attentive airline :)?
Once we get through customs and claim our baggage, we book a Super Shuttle (US$17 = S$28.39) to Chelsea International Hostel. It takes about an hour to get there as the driver picks up and drops other passengers.
We get a basic, decent and clean but small room with a wash basin, TV and DVD player. It overlooks the courtyard and so can be a little noisy sometimes when guests congregate and talk. I find that my handphone charger is incompatible with the socket, which renders me "immobile" as my handphone battery is low. Yogi's phone doesn't work as it doesn't support a tri-band network. We decide to buy calling cards instead. I gladly hit the bed at 11.40. Been quite sleep-deprived to prevent any jet lag.
posted by goddazz at 4:43 PM
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