For the three day Good Friday weekend, we decided to return to Singapore, or, as my daughter calls it, "Singaport" (which is quite fitting, given its history and economics).
Unfortunately, we won't have much free time. Saturday, my wife has her annual physical (my company requests that expats have this done in Singapore) and I will be picking up my contacts. That will consume our entire morning. Sunday, our flight returns around noon, so we won't have any time to go anywhere. That leave us Friday (the holiday) and Saturday afternoon to have fun.
The wife and kids picked me up from work at my normal 4 PM departure time and we headed to the airport for our 7:30 PM flight. The normally one hour drive to the airport took 2 hours. Because I have my Indonesian tax ID, I no longer have to pay the USD $250 per person departure tax. I do have to stand in line to show them my ID card and have my boarding pass stamped, however. At 6:20, we were finally checked in and waiting in line at immigration. At 6:50, we finally cleared immigration. The line was brutal.
Our trip from Jakarta to Singapore was uneventful. The flight is a thankfully short 70 minutes. The only oddity was seeing someone order milk with a splash of Sprite and Coke. Not sure I am interested in discovering what that might taste like.
As soon as we landed, my daughter had a bathroom emergency so her and I pressed against the flow of traffic to the back of the plane. We were the last ones to exit. When we deplaned, they routed us through security at the gate as if we were departing again. They scanned our bags and had us walk through metal detectors. First time that has happened to me on arrival.
When we made it to the stairs down to immigration, we noticed lines as long as the one we endured in Jakarta, and that the elevator was unavailable. Because we were pushing a stroller, we needed an elevator. Signs directed us on a 5 minute walk to the other side of the terminal. We arrived at the D gates; an elevator was available at the C gates. Immigration at the C gates, where apparently no planes had arrived for quite some time, was empty. Four officers, no passengers. We beat everyone else on our plane to baggage claim! Next time I travel to Singapore, I'm taking the walk to the immigration at the C gates.
We hopped a cab to our home for the weekend - the Singapore Ritz Carlton. Nestled against the Singapore River, right where it enters the sea, the hotel offers spectacular views. The room, as always, is top notch, as is the service. We finally all fell asleep around midnight Singapore time, 11 PM Jakarta.
In the morning, we breakfasted at the hotel buffet then packed up for our day at Wild Wild Wet water park in Downtown East near Pasir Ris. Our daughter was insisting we go there ever since she knew we would be in Singapore. She loves their inner tube ride she calls "The Loop". We were there about three hours; long enough for me to learn these three things:
1) If anyone is considering a pebble-tech finish for their pool, and they plan to use their pool as anything other than decoration, spend one day at this park. You'll change your mind. It eats the feet. (I had intended to buy AquaSocks before our trip, but never got around to it).
2) If seeing your girlfriend in her bikini gets you excited, don't wrestle with her, and for God's sake, don't wear a speedo! No one wants to see that.
3) Baby safe suntan lotion is not waterproof and will sting the eyes.
Right now, I'm sitting at the desk in our room while my son and daughter nap and my wife takes a bath with the entire city viewable through the bathroom window. Tonight, we will be going to the new Mexican restaurant in Clarke Quay: "Muchos". Tomorrow night we'll be visiting our old favorite "Tapas".
Showing posts with label ritz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ritz. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
8/29 - Travel to Jakarta
After a while, a flight is just another flight. I the last few months, between work and vacations, I've been on a plane about every two weeks. Every flight experiences some turbulence; coach, first class, and business class aren't really that different on short flights; and the airlines still haven't figured out that if the overhead bins are full, it's because too many people brought on more bags than they are allowed and the bags are larger than what fits in the box outside the gate.
My travel started with a less than auspicious beginning. The airline agent was unable to provide me with a ticket. She found my reservation, but my travel agent, apparently, had not issued the tickets for my itinerary. I had to call the agency's emergency hotline and wait nearly an hour for them to actually "ticket" my travel. I did not know there was a difference between "reservations" and "ticketing". I do now. In the agent's defense, I did change the dates 3 times after we made the original reservation.
As is my preference, I'm travelling PHX-LAX-Hong Kong-Jakarta on Cathay Pacific. Singapore Airlines is the other option, and most would prefer Singapore. For me, however, Cathay has more food options (less likely for all the options to be fish). I also chew gum, so I'm nervous about travelling through Singapore. Gum chewing is illegal there and they cane you for chewing it.
When I travel, I seem to always have a moment or two where a simple observation leads to a much larger reflection. This time, it happened in the international terminal at LAX. In an episode of Cheers, Woody had not taken a vacation in years and Sam insisted he take a trip - somewhere that required a trip to the airport. Woody reluctantly agreed, went to the airport...and never left the airport his whole vacation. In his simple innocence, Woody obtained great pleasure simply from talking to all the different types of people in Boston's Logan Airport. Seeing the varied cultures walking around LAX reminded me of that episode. I'm sure, if passengers would actually talk to you for an extended period, you could spend days in fascinating conversations talking to the people that travel through LAX International.
On the flights, I watched several movies (5) and read over the documentation for the two projects I'm here to finalize the project plan for and kick off the development effort. I only slept for about 4 hours, though I think this will help with acclimating to the timezone in Jakarta. All of my flights were on time and I didn't have any of the "passenger" issues as I had on my prior flights. I did seem to get a seat on the second floor instead of on the ground floor. I'm not sure if this is the new trend - business class is on the second floor - or if I'm just getting the luck of the draw. The second floor seats are more like caves and would make travelling with small children a bit interesting.
I arrived at the Ritz to find a lot of changes from just six months ago, mostly around what they charge for and what they don't. The explanation of when their club level is open has me a bit concerned about the value of paying for it, but we'll see how it works out.
At a prior job, my CIO would commute every week from New York to Phoenix. He stayed at the Ritz, which was across the street from our offices, every visit. He did this every week for over a year. It wasn't long before all of the staff at the hotel recognized him by site and new him by name. I've only travelled to Jakarta 3 times in the last year, but the staff in the club level all recognized me and know me by name. I think that means I've spent too much time here in the last year.
My travel started with a less than auspicious beginning. The airline agent was unable to provide me with a ticket. She found my reservation, but my travel agent, apparently, had not issued the tickets for my itinerary. I had to call the agency's emergency hotline and wait nearly an hour for them to actually "ticket" my travel. I did not know there was a difference between "reservations" and "ticketing". I do now. In the agent's defense, I did change the dates 3 times after we made the original reservation.
As is my preference, I'm travelling PHX-LAX-Hong Kong-Jakarta on Cathay Pacific. Singapore Airlines is the other option, and most would prefer Singapore. For me, however, Cathay has more food options (less likely for all the options to be fish). I also chew gum, so I'm nervous about travelling through Singapore. Gum chewing is illegal there and they cane you for chewing it.
When I travel, I seem to always have a moment or two where a simple observation leads to a much larger reflection. This time, it happened in the international terminal at LAX. In an episode of Cheers, Woody had not taken a vacation in years and Sam insisted he take a trip - somewhere that required a trip to the airport. Woody reluctantly agreed, went to the airport...and never left the airport his whole vacation. In his simple innocence, Woody obtained great pleasure simply from talking to all the different types of people in Boston's Logan Airport. Seeing the varied cultures walking around LAX reminded me of that episode. I'm sure, if passengers would actually talk to you for an extended period, you could spend days in fascinating conversations talking to the people that travel through LAX International.
On the flights, I watched several movies (5) and read over the documentation for the two projects I'm here to finalize the project plan for and kick off the development effort. I only slept for about 4 hours, though I think this will help with acclimating to the timezone in Jakarta. All of my flights were on time and I didn't have any of the "passenger" issues as I had on my prior flights. I did seem to get a seat on the second floor instead of on the ground floor. I'm not sure if this is the new trend - business class is on the second floor - or if I'm just getting the luck of the draw. The second floor seats are more like caves and would make travelling with small children a bit interesting.
I arrived at the Ritz to find a lot of changes from just six months ago, mostly around what they charge for and what they don't. The explanation of when their club level is open has me a bit concerned about the value of paying for it, but we'll see how it works out.
At a prior job, my CIO would commute every week from New York to Phoenix. He stayed at the Ritz, which was across the street from our offices, every visit. He did this every week for over a year. It wasn't long before all of the staff at the hotel recognized him by site and new him by name. I've only travelled to Jakarta 3 times in the last year, but the staff in the club level all recognized me and know me by name. I think that means I've spent too much time here in the last year.
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