27 December. Home! Reflections..

It has been 16 days since we left home. All great journeys eventually come to an end. 

Dr H has started work and we were already on our own for 2 days. We had a sumptuous dinner the previous day and a simple breakfast at Staybridge, to prepare our bodies for the 19 hour commute back to Singapore.

Our flight was 4.30pm with a 3 hour transit in Frankfurt. We were entitled to a late checkout as Staybridge guests but by 11am, I was bored and itching to get moving.

It was not a bad move. Check out took little time and so did the return of the car at Sipson Road 5 minutes drive down the road. Pat returned the car with a report that he grazed the corner of the car bumper and was good to go because we bought a full insurance. 11.15am, Pat realised the shuttle bus to Heathrow had just left the rental car premises. It runs hourly so we had to wait for another 45 minutes for the next.

Green Motion was operating out from behind the building of Holiday Inn Sipson. There was a private event in the hotel and was closed to the public. Pat and I waited for the shuttle in the cold wind.

Restaurants named after Magpies are popular. In Blakeney, we had a favorite cafe near base, The Two Magpies!

The bus on 15 minutes ahead of the print schedule, though its live schedule was broadcasted on Google Maps. The bus, H2B, was more a hotel shuttle in the area. We stayed on the bus for about 35 minutes going round the different hotels including Staybridge. By the time we reached Heathrow, it was almost 1pm.

We had a speedy luggage check in. It relieved us of our baggages and we were free to roam around. Getting past immigration and customs was a tedious process. It was about an hour of xrays, unloading e-devices, loading e-devices, discarding water bottles etc. We just had a little over 1.5 hour before boarding. 

Mexican beef chilli dinner in Heathrow. Loved everything about it except the onions.

We spent the time eating/chatting at Food World. It was some Beef chilli bowl with brown rice and cheese. We found it very agreeable to our taste buds.

There was nothing else to do. Just as the time for boarding drew near, it was announced that departure was delayed by 15 minutes to 4.45pm.

Travel days are waiting days, from start to finish.

The mostly German group boarded the plane very orderly and timely. By 4.50pm, we actually departed from Heathrow without a fuss. Pat thought it was German efficiency ..

One hour later, we touched down at Frankfurt.  We had to walk from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 Gate Z, an almost 2km walk along quiet hallways for half the time. Some of the transit passengers felt lost. 

Pat's 3rd fountain pen in a single trip

After the longest transit hall walk in my life, we came to Gate Z where a smattering of travellers were waiting for the flight to Singapore. Pat made a quick purchase of a Kaweco pen ( € 50  ) for himself. It would be the 3rd pen purchase of this trip.

The flight out from embarkation to take off was smooth and timely. We sat at 42F,G. Pat's entertainment system did not work very well so he gave up and slept. I had downloaded 16 episodes of the Kdrama 'True Beauty" on my phone, something I would not normally watch. I burnt through 7 episodes, with a 3-4 hour nap in between. For the first time,  a 12 hour flight felt very doable.

Thankfully we did the SG Arrival online statement in Heathrow, so entry to Singapore was easy and straightforward. Pity the non-digital nomad traveling in this times.

My reflections:

It is a blessing that I was able to travel at least 4 times since Covid restrictions were lifted. I have visited UK twice, Europe once, South Korea twice and Malaysia once. Call it revenge travel for all you want, but hey, carpe diem! Most of all, I thank God for the means to do so.

I am glad we visited Switzerland's much lauded Zurich, the second most expensive place after Singapore. 4 days in Zurich and nothing on the price tag shocked me too much as I compared them to home! In fact, I wondered why our workers are paid so little when our  cost of living is so high.  

Where in North Face ?????

One thing I learnt : forget about a 'guided tour' when it was not exactly that. The Grindelwald -  Interlaken tour was a fluke because we were forced to spend 1 hour in Interlaken waiting for the second batch of guests. In the end, I had to forgo a much anticipated train ride up to Kleine Schedegg because of lack of time. Grindelwald and its streets was nice, so was the fondue meal in front of Eiger. But it would have been great to see Eiger and North Face up front. What a huge disappointment. I would do it differently the next time and go up the mountain pass without the burden of a tour group.

Clean Squad

Time spent with H was precious. It was a good 6 days hearing her talk about her life in the new place. We considered it a blessing to be able to help clean up her bachelor pad. Pat had the hard job of making the sink shiny again and made many trips to the skip bins.  

It was 3 days of intensive shopping for stuff for her house while she worked and the shopping never stopped! Even after a hill walk at Sheringham Beeston Bump, we even remembered to buy a Joseph Joseph dish rack for her kitchen ! On Christmas eve, we carted a load of groceries so that she would not starve while we leave her to her own devices for the next 6 months. 

Taken by H

Chilli padi, small but strong

Our little pumpkin with her BMA beanie

Taken by yours truly, my masterpiece

女杀手

Pat connected with her through their common craze of fountain pens. We had lots of tea/coffee breaks and cake breaks though they were unnecessary calorie wise. In Cambridge (Grand Arcade), we had the pleasure of getting her a pair of very smart looking Doc Martins boots which she promptly wore for the next day, much to our satisfaction. The expense and trouble driving here and there were nothing compared to family time and the silly jokes and wefies were evidence of one crazy family making as much memories as possible in 6 short days.

Now fully recharged, we are all raring to go in 2024. Thank God for the chance to look forward to another time together again.