Singapore to Saigon 14th May

I landed at 5.45am in Singapore on Sunday 14th May, 6 hours ahead of Greece and Turkey (8 hours ahead of the UK). Even though I’d had some sleep, it had been a bit uncomfy and I was not looking forward to my lay over in Singapore. I would ordinarily have hammered the lounge but the thought of drinking any alcohol made me feel sick. My next flight wasn’t until 1.25pm which meant I had about 7 hours to kill. I had a little rest in a quiet spot but wasn’t there long as a load of people came and sat next to me, making a noise. The amount of people who listen to their phone on high volume instead of having earphones in makes me so angry! I do not want to listen to it!
I decided that I would go to a lounge in Changi airport to pass the time on and for a bit of peace. I didn’t drink any alcohol though, which was a first for me in an airport lounge. I just did 3 hours in there and ate some nice food before finding a reclined seat for a nap. I set my alarm and was about to drift off when the guy next to me decided he would have a very loud conversation on his phone, in the quiet area!
At the gate for my flight from Singapore to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), the staff insisted that I put my hand luggage in the hold because the plane was full. This was annoying as I didn’t want to be waiting for luggage at the other end. I decided to take out all my essentials, including my laptop, in case the luggage went missing – I didn’t take any spare clothes out though.
My third flight was uneventful and took less than 2 hours, landing in Saigon at 2pm. It took me 2 hours to get through the very lengthy queues at immigration. I had a little wobble when the official asked where my visa was, I told him I was entering on the 15 day visa exemption, he said “no” and pointed to the visa area, expecting me to go to buy a visa. I knew this was not the case and stood my ground, maybe he was confused or maybe they were trying to get people to spend money on visas they didn’t need.
Anyway, after a few minutes, he let me through but by then the carousel for our luggage had been stopped and my case was not there. Great!

At around 4pm on Sunday 14th May, I found a baggage handler, in Saigon International airport, and tried to ask him where the cases from my Singapore flight were. He said ‘finished’, which was useful! The queue for the lost luggage was rather large so I grabbed a man with a lanyard who looked official, to explain my predicament. He asked if I had checked at the other end of the airport, I hadn’t (obviously) so off I toddled. I found my case sat in a corner, by itself, 10 carousels further along. Brilliant, I would have fresh clothes to wear now!
As instructed by Captain Caveman previously, I went to the domestic terminal to get the taxi and managed to be more assertive than I was last time at this airport. He tried to tell me to get in a different taxi and I said no and chose the one I would get, for myself. It was extremely hot in Saigon and very humid, I was still dressed in jeggings and trainers! The taxi cost less than 250,000vnd and took less than half an hour to get to one of my favourite hotels, The Common Inn, where Captain Caveman was staying. When I arrived he was already there and had been on a mammouth cycle ride with a brewery stop off! I had the luxury of a hot shower (I’d not had one since Friday afternoon) and popped on a dress as we were in a rush to go out. We went to Mad Wine in Thao Dien and Captain Caveman said how happy he was that I was finally here, little did he know I nearly wasn’t! Our friend Andrea arrived, who’d also been on the cycle ride and she’d been a little tired afterwards so wasn’t joining us for dinner. Valerie arrived next for just a drink and we all had a wine or two to celebrate being back in Vietnam. It was really nice to see Andrea and Valerie and I was surprised that Captain Caveman had thought to organise a reunion rather than have a quiet night in – he was even happy to take photos and I knew Steve’s sunglasses would come in handy! There’s always a method in Captain Caveman’s madness though; our flight tomorrow had been changed! It had been brought forward to 8.30am, we needed to be at the airport by 7.30am so it would be an early get up and the promised shopping trip was no more. To further smooth the disappointment of us not being in Saigon very long and Captain Caveman having to be back at work tomorrow at 6pm, he had chose somewhere nice to dine tonight.
To be honest, I could quite easily have gone straight to bed but Captain Caveman was going to be away for the first 4 days of me being in Phong Nha. We went to a place called Arto House in Thao Dien, District 2, which had been recommended by another of Captain Caveman’s cycling mates. We shared a burrata cheese starter which was amazing, then I had duck and Captain Caveman had pasta with lots of mushrooms. The food and the bottle of red wine we shared was so good and it was a great first meal in Vietnam. Our bill came to 1,567,500vnd (£51.73) including the bottle of nice wine. I noticed that Captain Caveman must no longer be suffering with his gout, like he was in December, because mushrooms and red wine are usually triggers for it.
I hardly remember getting back to the Common Inn as I was starting to feel a bit of jet lag. Captain Caveman ordered the car to go to the airport for 5am the next day and we set out alarms. Tonight I would probably dream about sleep!

Lardos to Singapore – 13th May

Saturday 13th May was the day I would start my journey to be reunited with Captain Caveman, in Vietnam. We’d been counting down to this day ever since we booked the flight and we were both excited to see each other again. If this was a film, the next couple of days would more than likely have been very different – but I bet those that know me guessed that it wouldn’t quite work out as planned.
I was still pretty drunk when Michelle banged on my door and shouted that we were late. Neither mine nor Steve’s alarms had gone off when it was due but, luckily, Michelle had woken up. We were all in a bit of a panic as we rushed to get clothes on and get in the car. I don’t remember exactly what the time was but I think it was 5.15am when we set off. It could’ve been later, it didn’t really matter, Michelle was sure we would miss the flight from Rhodes to Athens. While Michelle drove, I checked when my check-in closed and Steve searched for the next flight. Shit, this was not good!! I was still clutching at straws that we would make it – there was no way I could miss my flights from Athens to Saigon via Singapore. My flight to Athens was at 6.30am which we would get to the airport in time for but the check-in opened at 5.30am, boarding was due to start at 5.50am. Steve had booked a ticket with luggage but check-in with hold luggage closed at 5.50am which I would definitely not make. There was a slim chance we would make the hand luggage only, last check-in at 6am – but it was beginning to look very unlikely. My flight from Athens to Singapore was at 1.45pm with a check-in from 10.45am.
We were making as much good progress as we could, the roads were empty but it was still looking like we may get there after the check-in counter had closed. All of a sudden, Michelle stopped the car and got out to be sick – something hadn’t agreed with her, maybe the takeaway. This made me feel rather queasy too and Steve had found another flight. At this point I didn’t care about the price I just needed to get to Athens. The other flight from Rhodes to Athens would just get me there on time, if I was able to change to that one in the case of missing my booked one.
We got to the airport and I didn’t even say bye to Michelle as Steve and I hurried to the desk. The place was empty and the man at the counter had already closed the check-in. I was gutted, super thirsty and a bit tearful.

Even though I had got there before the flight departure time, I had just missed the check-in closing and could not get on the 6.30am flight from Diagoras airport to Athens. There was another one with the same airline later that day, however, that would not give me enough time to check-in for my Scoot flight to Singapore.
Luckily, Steve was great in a crisis; there was a flight with another airline at 8.30am and, while I had gone off to be sick in the toilets (totally blaming last night’s food) he had booked it for me. My credit card wanted to send me an OTP code to my non-working phone so I couldn’t book it but luckily Steve had his card with him and booked it for me – it was not expensive considering the situation (£70) and included luggage. I said goodbye and thanked Steve for his help and a great week with him and Michelle. My first thing to do, as ironically I was too early to check-in for the next flight, was buy a bottle of water. I got 800ml for 1.3 Euro which is a lot cheaper than Dalaman airport. I felt like death and set 2 alarms so that I didn’t fall asleep and miss the check-in for this flight.
A nice lady from the airline came to tell me she was opening the check-in desk and I could go through. I checked in my wheelie case, as I may as well, and had just my lap top with me.
It took all my willpower not to use the sick bag on the flight and I was lucky to have an aisle seat. I made it to Athens looking like I’d been dug up and feeling so hungover that it was ridiculous. I could imagine my Mom saying ‘you are 50, you know’ to tell me off for being so stupid. Incidentally, it was the first flight I’d ever missed in my life!
At Athens airport, I just had enough time to check in for my flights to Vietnam but the Scoot queues were massively long. A man at the front was telling people to form a separate queue for hand luggage only so I got in that and hoped they didn’t weigh my 2 bags. While waiting in the queue, I found that I still had Steve’s sunglasses in my bag from last night. Once through security, I had enough time to change some Turkish Lira in to Euros and it’s a good job I did. There was no time for a lounge but that didn’t bother me.
The Scoot flight to Singapore left on time at 1.45pm, it was fairly full and I had a chatty Aussie fella next to me. I was not so chatty and fell asleep before we’d taken off.
When I woke up, I was hungry (which was a good sign) and the 2 seats in front of me were empty. As it was an 11 hour flight and I really needed to get some rest before meeting Captain Caveman, I moved seats for the extra space next to me. Scoot is a budget airline so you have to buy everything, including a drink of water. Due to the turbulence, card machines were not working and quite a few people didn’t have the correct currency of Euros or Singaporean Dollars. I was so lucky to have the Euros plus some Singaporean Dollars from the way here and I splashed out.
My first meal of the day was a teriyaki chicken and 2 bottles of water for 20SGD (£12 approx), not the perfect choice but they had ran out of my first two choices.
The seats on Scoot aren’t too comfy but my former neighbour said thanks to me for moving as he was now enjoying the extra room next to him too, I had another nap as there’s no entertainment system either.
By 7pm, I was hungry again and I had a Dahl curry with basmati rice, a bottle of water and an orange juice at a cost of 19SGD (£11).
I went back to sleep as we still had ages until we were due to land in Singapore at 5.45am. Singapore is 5 hours ahead of Greece and Turkey, 7 hours ahead of the UK. It had been a long and stressful day!!

Singapore to Dalyan – 27th August

I got to the gate early for my flight from Singapore to Istanbul on Saturday 27th August. I ate the remainder of my ham sandwich from the Microboulangerie and really enjoyed it. I was very happy to have an aisle and bulkhead seat on my next flight, which departed at 2am (Singapore time) and would take about 11 hours. I hoped I might get some sleep because I also had another 11 hours in Istanbul before my next flight to Dalyan.
On the plane I was sat next to a lovely lady who was born in Indonesia but had lived in Turkey for 20 years. We chatted a little and she said I should visit Borum mountain in Indonesia because it was beautiful and where she is from. Her name was Wike (pronounce Vicky) in Indonesia but in Istanbul, where she has lived with her Turkish husband for 20 years, she is called Ayşe. When she fell asleep I watched the rest of the Tom Cruise film but found myself also nodding off. The food on the flight was great and again I was served first because of me requesting gluten free food. I noticed, though, that my eczema was extremely bad and had spread to my eyelids and more of my face and neck. I had to take antihistamines and drink lots of water but it was very uncomfortable with the masks on, which were still compulsory with Singapore Airlines. We landed at 8am (Turkish time) and I helped Wike with one of her several hand luggage bags. She was so sweet that she gave me a handmade bracelet as a thank you but I made sure she had all the bags when she went through immigration.
After saying bye to my new friend, and a promise to keep in touch, I headed to the domestic departures. I had to stand in several queues to recheck my hold luggage in and the case was not wheeling very well. Turkish Airlines will let you check in up to 24 hours before a flight but try telling that to any of their check-in staff. I eventually got rid of my suitcase and went through to departures where I got my 1 hour free wifi.

After catching up with internet based stuff I decided I would head to the lounge – I went for the IG Lounge, using my Priority Pass and it was the best one I’ve been to yet. The food and drink selection were good, it was clean, the staff were efficient and nice, plus I got a free back massage. I ended up staying in there for 6 hours and met a nice chap from Ankara who was moving to London to do his Masters degree.
My flight was boarding at 6.30pm and I only left the lounge at 6.05pm so my time in Istanbul had gone pretty well.
The flight was only an hour and 15 minutes but we did get a sandwich and a drink on board. When I landed at Dalaman airport, my suitcase was of the last to come off and one of the staff was convinced I should be in the international arrivals for my luggage but it came eventually. I was the last to leave and everything was closing as I went to get my taxi, arranged by Fikri in Dalyan. I was so tired and couldn’t wait to get back to Dalyan and to bed!
I arrived home just after 10pm, luckily the taxi driver carried my bag up the stairs after getting attacked by what I could only just make out as being unruly bushes as we came in the gate to the complex. I turned on the electricity and went straight to bed, just as the Jazz Bar cranked up the volume. I had no internet at home so I couldn’t message to say I was ‘home’ but I would do it in the morning.

Singapore to Hanoi – 5th July

It was only just Tuesday 5th July, as I stood at a phone charging station in Changi airport, Singapore, at 12.05am. I’d found a currency exchange shop where the woman was finishing her shift and she swapped me five $20 notes for one of my $100s. She also told me that all the places to get food and drink will close and not open until morning so to stock up on anything I needed. She was helpful and it was nice. There is so much to do in Changi airport, but not after 10pm at night.
I was eating plain crisps and dairy milk chocolate while trying to ignore the ignoramus next to me. He was watching very loud and violent clips on his phone while laughing. I’d not been able to have any sleep yet so I’d decided to come to make sure my phone battery was at 100% before my attempt to check-in. Given that my ticket had my surname spelled incorrectly, and I couldn’t change it, I was genuinely worried. All helpful posts on the internet gave the same answer that I wouldn’t be allowed to travel with it. I was situated right next to the Scoot automatic check-in machines which were open for flights to Australia, South Korea and Indonesia but there seemed to be a bottle neck of customers. This proved to be very useful as I overheard a member of staff who had come to help people get through quicker. It seemed that the Australians had more discrepancies than the South Koreans, who still needed PCR tests to enter their country. I decided I would try my luck and wandered slowly towards the queue. On the way there, I bumped in to a lovely older Australian lady, heading for Sydney, and we got chatting in the queue. She couldn’t work the machine and I noticed her passport was upside down and I copied her. Because we were causing a jam, the Scoot staff member sent both of us over to the in-person check-in, giving us both a slip of paper to say we required manual check-in due to a fault! That was the first hurdle. I let the Aussie lady go first and I waited behind a large South Korean family who were half way through repacking their bags and arguing at being denied check-in. This Scoot staff member looked stressed so when it was my turn I smiled and tried a bit of sympathy. As she was checking my passport and printing the ticket I asked if she needed to weigh my hand luggage (I knew it was under) then proceeded to pop it on the scales. I was through to departures just before 1am!!! I had just 8 hours to kill before boarding my flight so I was heading straight to do some damage in a lounge for 3 of them!

Once through security at Changi airport, I trotted off to the SATS Premier Lounge, Terminal 1, and I was so excited. It had 24hr food and booze and should have been even better than the one I was in last month, at Terminal 3. The guy on the reception desk was super friendly and informative and told me that he would remind me when my 3 hours was up but if I wanted to do another 3 hours after that, I could! This would mean paying on my Priority Pass for an extra visit but if the food and drink selection was good and it was a nice place to relax I would do that. I didn’t even sit down first, I went straight to the booze selection and poured myself a prosecco in a wine glass, who cares if they had no flutes!
I took a couple of selfies so I could ‘brag off’ to Kate and Mark, who also have a Priority Pass, that I was in a lounge and then I went to check out the food options. There were some delicious looking curries with hardly any left but the staff seemed to be replenishing the containers. I grabbed a pumpkin and spinach sandwich, some cheese and turkey ham and another prosecco. I told one of the staff that I would need another bottle of prosecco and handed him the empty bottle. Despite the sandwich selection being the only choice available I had 2, they weren’t too bad and I poured myself a third glass of fizz. There was still no hot food left so I asked the bloke who was in the kitchen area if I could get some chicken curry and rice, he said yes. It never appeared and so I asked the reception staff why there was still no hot food. They said they would find out what was happening but after twice of me checking nothing appeared. By now, all that was left of the cold food was a bowl of cucumber and tomatoes (which I don’t eat) and I was very hungry. I got some nuts but they had wasabi peas in them and I didn’t chance eating any more than the first mouthful. I got out my own crisps at one point and told the staff this was not acceptable. I was now quite tiddly but soldiered on with more prosecco and kept asking how long the food would be. After another 2 hours of waiting and asking I was told my time in the lounge was up and there was still no food, I was flabbergasted. I complained, asked the reception guy for a solution and he told me they were changing from dinner to breakfast food hence the delay. I could not believe my ears when he suggested I go to find the 7-Eleven shop to buy some food in the airport. Outrageous! Incidentally, it was closed.
I spent the next 3 hours just wandering around the airport, drunk, looking for snacks/food (in shops, not in bins) but had to eat the rest of my crisps. I found an empty seating area and made a bed from my travel pillow and towel, took my Volleys off and tried for a nap. It was still only 5am!

By the time I was boarding my flight from Singapore to Hanoi, I was exhausted and pretty hungry. Although not hungry enough to have eaten the Bounty and a Dairy Milk fruit and nut bar, which I was saving as a treat for Kat. Between us, we had completely got the details of when I was staying at her place, in Hanoi, confused. She had thought it was yesterday and I’d obviously known it was today but may have not corrected her on our messages. This meant she was busy when I intended on arriving but was still happy for me to stay over and sent me a video of where she lived in Hanoi. The least I could do is take her some chocolate!
I was nervous because I still had to show my boarding pass and passport to the staff at the gate – what if they noticed the name error? I got to the front of the queue to board and, as the staff checked my documents, I asked if the plane was full. She looked up and told me it was, but if I needed to request a seat change I should ask once I got on the plane. And, just like that, I was through! We waited on the air bridge for quite a while and when I got on I was feeling hot and a bit jittery. I put it down to having been wearing a mask and my eczema flaring up, a lot.
I sat down in row 7, in the window seat allocated to me, but I really wanted an aisle seat. I started to feel unwell so I asked the guy in my row to swap. As luck would have it his wife was in an aisle seat 5 rows back so I then swapped with her and I was very grateful of their help. I was lucky to not have anyone sitting next to me and we took off on time.
On Scoot airlines they have free WiFi and you have to order any food or drinks online. At first it didn’t work but eventually I ordered a red wine and some fried rice! It cost 19 Singaporean dollars, which was good as I had 20 left, about £11.50. I was so hungry I would have eaten anything, despite any allergy warnings and I expected the worst!
The mixed fried rice was great (I left the crab claw) and I enjoyed the appropriately named wine before we landed at Hanoi. It was not long after midday when I got into the lengthy immigration queue to re-enter Vietnam.

I was very tired as I waited, then got moved to another queue. After what seemed like too long I was allowed back in to Vietnam! It was 24 hours since I’d taken off in Danang, but 35 hours since I had left Phong Nha. I felt it was a bit of a chore for a visa run and wouldn’t choose to do this journey again in a hurry.
I was meant to get the number 86 bus to Hanoi train station, where Kat would send a taxi for me. Considering I was knackered, and I’d not spent hotel or extra lounge money, I splashed out on a taxi to Ba Dinh. It cost 400,000vnd (£14.40) and took less than an hour to get there. I got out of the taxi at the WinMart, Kat came to meet me and I bought a couple of cold beers to celebrate being back in Vietnam. Kat was very welcoming and her studio apartment was a delight – I loved it. She told me to help myself to anything I wanted as she had an appointment she needed to get to. I unpacked, had a shower and then tried to sleep. I woke up a few hours later to a horrendous noise. It was a monsoon style storm and the thunder and lightening was right above me. It went on for several hours and when Kat eventually got home, she’d had to push her broken down motorbike through thigh deep water to get to her place. I was so lucky to not have had to leave the room and we planned to get a takeaway for a late dinner. It was around 10pm and we struggled to get a delivery with the flooded streets. Our burgers arrived at 11.30pm and we were so hungry that mine was snaffled quickly. I was so excited to be safely back in Hanoi and was grateful to have a safe, dry, friendly place to relax after a very long day.

Phong Nha to Singapore – 4th July

Our best intentions to stay awake until my car came at 2am on 4th July fell flat! We had both fallen asleep but, luckily, I had set an alarm. I said my goodbyes to a very snoozy Captain Caveman who offered no words of ‘good luck’ or ‘hope to see you soon’ as I kissed him, and he barely woke up.
The driver, who I booked with the receptionist at the Phong Nha Farmstay, was early and the car was nice and comfortable. On the way to Dong Hoi train station, the driver had the windows open and was doing a strange tapping on the side of the car with his left hand – probably to try to stay awake. The journey cost 500,000vnd (£18) which is standard for the 50km distance and I was very early for my 3.15am train. The trains are very busy at this time of year so the booking had shown I had the last seat available, there were no sleeping berths left but I didn’t mind too much. When I got on the SE11 train it was dark inside the carriage and I could not see to get to my seat, which was in the middle somewhere. It was very busy with people sleeping, some were even on the floor with blankets over them. I found an empty couple of seats with a broken back which was reclined to almost horizontal – ideal! We left on time and were scheduled to arrive in Danang at 09.08am. By my calculations I probably had 2-3 hours of sleep before passengers started to get up and make a noise as the Vietnamese like to wake up early and eat breakfast. I got my trusty neck pillow and travel towel/blanket out and managed to nod off. By 5.25am the carriage was practically a party with the amount of toing and froing for ablutions, nose/throat clearance and smoking in the vestibule. I could see that my booked seat had people in it so I stayed where I was and was lucky enough to not get kicked out, unlike the old woman in front of me did, the conductor was pretty shouty at her too. When Captain Caveman woke up he checked on my progress and we worked out I was running about half an hour late. I still had time as my flight wasn’t until 1.15pm. I declined a banh mi breakfast baguette from the trolley, having seen them sneezed on at least twice. Masks were no longer compulsory on trains, most passengers wore them but pulled them down to sneeze! I didn’t bother wearing my mask, mainly because I knew I would probably have to wear one for a long time once I got to the airport and it makes my eczema worse.
When I got off the train I was planning on going to the noodle shop opposite the station. It was now a Korean BBQ place and next door was a craft beer place so I decided to walk towards the supermarket, Big C. I had the directions which Captain Caveman had given me and I followed them. After 11 minutes I realised I was lost so I flagged down a taxi and went straight to the airport. I couldn’t check in until 11.15am so I found a Big Bowl cafe and ordered a bowl of overpriced Pho Bo and a beer. The lady serving me kept saying I should have the more expensive wagyu beef version because it is better for foreigners. I stuck with the cheaper version which was still expensive. Even the drinks were twice the usual price for a can of beer, which definitely confused the server and the waitress that I was having beer for breakfast. So far, Plan B was going well and Captain Caveman was walking his group through the jungle towards Hang En right about now.

When I got to check-in, it was just starting to get busy but I was at the front of the queue. I’m not sure why I didn’t expect the check-in staff to be as thorough, but she did ask for proof of everything;
• vaccines and booster evidence,
• registration on Singapore site and email confirmation of that,
• onward/return flight within 30 days,
• a hotel booking in case of quarantine if testing positive on arrival
I almost forgot to ask for an aisle seat in all the paperwork checking. I had nothing printed out and all on my phone because we don’t have a printer. She didn’t notice that my hotel booking was just a photo of the link to the place Captain Caveman had sent me and she didn’t spot the mistake on my ticket back in to Vietnam for tomorrow.
I was through security relatively quickly but then the airport was pretty busy at the gates with not much seating. I wasn’t sure what time I would eat again today so I decided to go to Burger King which was fairly empty. I’d just placed my order and sat down when I noticed my ticket from Singapore to Hanoi tomorrow had an error on it, one that meant I couldn’t travel without amending it or buying a new flight.
Captain Caveman had spelled my surname wrong on my ticket back to Vietnam, and it was with one of those low cost airlines where the check-in is done by a machine, meaning my passport and ticket with booking reference wouldn’t match up.
Obviously, I could still leave Vietnam as the ticket to Singapore was fine but now I was stressed over what to do about this cock up! I decided I might be able to log in as Captain Caveman and try to amend my booking. I got all the way to where it wanted another $40 from his existing card and that’s where I failed, I didn’t know his 3 digit number on the back of his card. I let the transaction time out and it gave me a picture error message which I took a screenshot of. I’d just started eating a cheeseburger and fries when Captain Caveman rang from the little village on day 1 of his tour. He neither had his card nor knew the numbers I needed. He wasn’t as upset, or apologetic, as I thought he’d be and just said he was sure I would figure something out because I used to be a travel agent! That was about 25 years ago, it’s not like I had connections in Singapore and they were pretty strict. Now, not only was I worried about getting back in because of a potential visa issue, I was very concerned I would be stuck in Changi airport with no solution.
I had $300 cash on me but I didn’t want to buy a new ticket and have no money left. I decided I would chance it and see how things were once I got to Singapore, after all, I had 15 hours or more to work it out.

My Danang to Singapore flight was delayed very slightly so we landed about 5.15pm at Changi airport. My flight tomorrow was at 09.55am, that’s if I could even get on it because of the name mistake on my ticket. I was tired but prepared to have a mini adventure in Singapore. I was wearing my volleys, some loose trousers and a vest top but I had not thought of bringing any clothing for if there was a storm. I looked outside of the airport and there was monsoon type rain. I’d intended to get the MRT (subway) but then walk to some accommodation, which I hadn’t booked yet. I would be soaked. Instead, I decided I would go to the terminal I was flying from tomorrow and investigate the automated check-in machines at Scoot. I walked around the airport for an hour and established that the Scoot check-in was a bit chaotic so I kept on walking. I found the Jewel which is a massive mall type area with amazing gardens, fountains and lots of designer shops over several floors – it was massive. Changi is one of the best airports for this kind of thing so I decided I would just stay in the airport. I had spent longer in airports overnight and I was sure I’d be fine, plus I would try my luck at check-in in the early hours of the morning and hope to get through to one of the lounges on my Priority Pass – the one landside didn’t include alcohol. I walked for 2 hours non-stop then watched the fountain and light show. I walked some more and tried my best to change my three 100 dollar notes which most of the exchange shops couldn’t do. I got myself $25 worth of Singaporean dollars with the intention of getting an alcoholic beverage, or two. Unfortunately I didn’t realise that by 10.30pm the airport had already closed most of the shops and alcohol was not able to be purchased until I was airside – it was going to be a long night. I asked a member of the Scoot staff if there was any way I could check in early to go through to a lounge and she said there was no chance. She said I couldn’t check in until 6.55am but I wondered how the automatic machines could tell that. I bought some chocolate and almost thought seaweed crisps were salt and vinegar flavoured. I found a quiet area upstairs near the prayer room and tried to have a bit of a rest, I’d started to have a sea-sickness feeling which I get when I’ve had no sleep. I would wait until after midnight then try to check-in again when the staff changed.

Dalyan to Singapore – 4th June

I was a bit sloshed and very tired as Fikri drove me from Dalyan to Dalaman airport, in the early hours of Saturday 4th June. We were there before 2.30am and it had cost me 325 lira (£16.25) for the one way trip. I was able to check in straight away for my domestic flight at 3.30am to Istanbul, there was no queue. I didn’t bother with the airport lounge at Dalaman as there was no point, but I intended to go to the one in Istanbul, using my freshly acquired Priority Pass. The flight was on time, we got water and a cheese sandwich on the flight and when we landed I was so tired that I hoped the lounge had comfy reclining seats.
I got the free ‘one hour only’ WiFi code in the airport, sat down to check messages and let Captain Caveman know I had arrived in Istanbul, it was 9am over there but only 5am here. I couldn’t check in for my flight until 10am so I waited, in various uncomfortable metal seats, until it was time to get in the queue. The check-in finally opened late, at 10.45am, and the woman dealing with me had an issue. My visa specified that I will land at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City but my ticket was to Saigon. She had no idea they were the same place so, even when I told her, she still had to get her manager. We were wasting valuable lounge time here so I chatted to her a little in Turkish, I told her I was learning the language and that I’d been on holiday in Dalyan. She loves Dalyan so she became more friendly while we waited for the manager. Eventually I was sorted, nothing else was checked and my luggage would be checked straight through to Saigon.
I was boarding at 12.40pm so I was disappointed that I now had less than 2 hours in the lounge. I had a couple of draught Efes before getting a couple of bowls of lentil soup, bread rolls, cheeses, olives, salads etc. The breakfast food was still out but they started to put out the lunch so I grabbed a couple of sandwiches then went back to the bar for more beer. My next flight to Singapore was the longest part of my journey, we set off on time at 1.25pm (Turkish time) and would be landing in about 11 hours time. I hoped I might get some sleep on the way but it was a full plane and there was not much chance of that. We got a nice meal of beef with veg and potatoes but I left the dessert which was a chocolate Cornetto – Singapore Airlines food is pretty good though. I managed 3 glasses of red wine, seeing as it was free but then there was a bit of turbulence and we all had to sit down for a few hours. The woman next to me was from Indonesia and spoke no English so that was a bonus, her daughter at the other side of her was nice and polite. She told me of a secret waterfall near Dait, where she lives in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and invited me to go there. Maybe Captain Caveman and I would visit it one day, as he has been to, and has friends in, East Kalimantan.