A lazy morning for once considering I am normally up at OMG o clock (and will be for my final flight). I copped out on the gym as I just couldn’t deal with it and decided not to rush my morning and just potter around the hotel getting myself good to go.
After having issues at Breakfast in regards to how to cook a poached egg, I checked out around 10am (as planned) and dragged myself, my new suitcase, my old suitcase, my backpack and camera bag to a cab to the station. After again having the driver try to take me somewhere I did not want to go, I had to keep telling him “JUST TAKE ME TO KOWLOON STATION.” I didn’t have to lug my bags far as when we pulled up it was right infront of the In Town Check In for the Airport Express.
The check in was painless and after negotiating for a half decent seat (ended up in the Forward mini Cabin) I was out of the check in area and headed downstairs for a train. Now you might be thinking why is he going to the airport so so early for an afternoon flight. Well I was intending (note the word intending for later) on doing some spotting, some last minute shopping and also lounge hopping my way around Hong Kong Airport.
Once at the airport it was out into Terminal 2 rather than Terminal 1 to do a bit of spotting. However the skydeck was not quite open when I arrived so instead hit up a few shops and then went up to the Skydeck and thankfully used up some of my last HKD on my octopus card. The Skydeck is the “official” spotting location at HKIA and overlooks both the approaches for runways 25L&R. Awesome shots were obtained but the light was crazy++ No retro jet though (but not without trying) so I guess that part of the trip list is going not done.
After loosing track of time and then hiking my way back to the terminal later than I thought and having to get my boarding pass reissued with my Aegean number on the pass as for some reason it is just not crediting properly, it was through security, immigration and out into the massive terminal. I tried to find my way through to some of the shops and then realising what the time was, was going to skip the lounge hopping (i did it in Narita anyway) and just head to the SQ lounge. But a few of the shops were all the way down near the TG and UA lounge. But it didn’t last either because I never ended up buying anything at those shops.
I got told that I can’t come back on the train from the middle gate area, I had to walk which took me a solid 15 minutes at my pace so that was a bit annoying but you deal with what you can do. This ate into my time and I managed to get what I could shopping wise with about 30 minutes of lounge time. I rushed into the SQ lounge, took a few photos, grabbed a quick nut snack, posted on the web and pretty soon the 30 minutes was almost up.
I rushed out to the bathroom (bathrooms at this lounge are on the outside none inside) for a quick pit stop pre flight and missed the boarding call which was early! As everyone was boarding as I headed to the gate.
Singapore Airlines
SQ861
Hong Kong to Singapore
1520-1905
Airbus – A380-800 (9V-SKA)
Business Class – Seat 14A
Boarding: 1445 (Gate 15)
Push Back: 1531
Take Off Roll: 1556 (Runway 07R)
Top of Descent: 1834
Touch Down: 1901 (Runway 02R)
Shut Down: 1906 (Gate B7)
For the first time I was heading upstairs on an A380 and ticking it off my list of things to do in life. The little upward incline meant time for a few photos unfortunately couldn’t get a clear shot of the bird flying me to Singapore. When I stepped into the upper deck I was shocked at how low the roof felt and then I saw the size of the seats. The SQ business seats are MASSIVE. Wider than I thought they would be. Way wider.
The seat was just huge and they had heaps of cushions to try and keep you in the seat and they just did not help at all! Another thing I noticed is even though the windows are at a good level, because your on the upper deck, you are set further back from the windows making it difficult to get many photos of the ground or down below you.
We waited for a while to push back due to the brakes not being cool enough according to the Captain after his pre flight briefing and the Singapore Girls just could not do more to keep you happy. The service was great. We taxiied out eventually towards 07R (runway switch must of happened as when I was spotting it was the 25s) and it was a long long taxi. Eventually we took off, and headed for the sky.
Service began extremely quickly after take off as orders had been taken on the ground for both drinks and “dinner.” The menu had plenty of choices and I was looking forward to some good cuisine (although I am tempted to “book the cook” on my next flight. As I settled in for a movie and dinner progressed through the courses I was totally lost in the moment and not realising how time was going or what was going on.
The lunch service was a little slow and was suspended for a few minutes due to some turbulence which wasn’t all that bad imo but eventually we were heading towards Top of Descent. I had to get my AVOD system to be rebooted after it crashed and then pretty much 5 minutes after it came back up, it was shut off for landing and approach. O well.
As we approached into Singapore I was again snap happy as much as I could but it was not possible to get as many photos as I normally do. O well. Gotta deal with it. We landed on 02R and taxiied quickly to B7 one of the A380 gates. This is where things got wierd for me as when we deboarded it was out into the normal terminal area. No sectioned off area for arriving guests. Crazy. Immigration was a breeze (was one of the first people there) waited about 10 mins for my bag to pop out and then I was in a Limosuine Taxi (wanted the pre set price option) on my way to my hotel. A Quick flight that just made my day.