My first A380 flight! So exciting! I was to depart on the early morning 1am flight on 6 June, Sunday. But before I even boarded the plane, much drama happened the few days before.
For a start, I fell sick. Very sick. It's been along time since I had such a bout of flu and loss of voice. So much so that when I was got home from work in the last few days, I could only bring myself to eat meds and hope to sleep it off. But it didn't work.
On friday night, I was supposed to pack. My final day (Since i'm technically leaving saturday night). However, I could barely breathe right and just wanted to rest. So i pumped myself with meds, prayed and zonked.
I awoke early at 7 am, and moved non-stop for the rest of the day. Boss called me sometime in the morning to make sure I was in good health to travel. I was feeling better and hoped the projected chiong day would not keeel me!
> 7 to 11am, pull out and decide on clothes + take stock of what I need to buy.
> 11am to 1pm, head to parkway to pick up items.
>1 to 2pm, eat lunch.
>2pm to 4pm, go back office and print out necessary
>5pm to 8pm. Pack.
>8 to 10pm. Can't really remember but it's mostly online stuff to make sure I got $$$ on hand. Double checks. Buy travel insurance.
>10pm -- Ge starts msning "why you still online?!"..lol...I leave with sis to drop off car at office. Then I came home showered and she drove me to the airport.
Thank God i did early check in, so I was quite set. When I reached the lounge to await boarding. I was pooped. What a long day. It had been so rushed, I even forgot to tell my cgl I was going overseas! hahaha...
I chose an upper deck seat which was cool! Because you're on economy but you get to board via the first/ biz class gangway. Picked window seat for the reknowned extra space on the side (it's a storage space), as shown in the photo. Krisworld featured Alice in Wonderland -- but i didn't watch it at all.
I squeezed in about 4-5 movies shows throughout the flight. Lots to choose from and the console was easy to navigate. I spent most of the flight wondering what the knob on the top left was for. LOL. Yanked on it abit...and decided not to be too curious..it's a long flight you know!!!I barely slept on the flight. The guy on my right took up quite abit of elbow room, plus with the gap between the wall and seat due to the extra storage, i couldn't do my "lean on the wall" to sleep.
I have to say that the seat was disappointingly ok. Nothing extra comfortable about it. Leg room felt alot less (compared to my 777 flight home). But with the upper deck, service was defintely faster and I felt taken care of as the staff were dedicated to your section. Barely had to wait for your turn to go to the loo. Oooo...and of course, the food and beverage selection was better on the A380.
A 13 hour non-stop from Singapore to Zurich. I wonder if this is the Swiss Alps eh? I love this pic. This is my second trip to Europe. 1st one covered Frankfurt and Paris. So I've never been to Zurich before too.
It was a 4 1/2 hour transit. I got lost initially trying to find my transit gate. It's best to know where it is first before planning to rest/ explore. (Learned this from past travel experiences, as gates can be really really far/ in another terminal. Just because the sign arrows you in the direction. It doens't mean it's a 15min walk away.)I read the wrong info and did a whole circle. When in fact, my transit gate was very near my inital arrival area! I window shopped at the transit area. Pretty tempted to buy one of the nici products and the swatch watches. Was confused by the prices as they were in swissrfranc. But after some calculations, realised it wasn't any cheaper. I couldn't explore much for long becasue my backpack was really heavy with the laptop.
So I plonked myself down at the comfy transit area (above). There were electrical points near all the seats so you could tinker with your lappie if you had one but no internet, so no fun for me. I thank God for some wisdom to have stored some 'portable' food from the flight. Becasue the most of the makan cafes/ fast food, look like they took swiss franc only and not worth converting the euros.
Yes...I took a spoon too. Thank God. Helped me eat the cheese you know! LOL! (I returned it on my return flight lah!) I very happily munched away and read my JD robb book.. =) Then slept un-glam style----> one arm draped on the bag, mouth wide open and head tilted back - for about an hour.
These are pics I took enroute to my departure gate. The choc shop selling toblerone had these giat ones about one metre long lor! (bottom shelf!)
I also passed many smoking lounges 'sponsored' by Camel. Here was where you could take your puff and kill your lungs in the safety of fellow puffers. I was quite intrigued with it's blatant - Camel Smoking Lounge name, and equally amused by the next line that read "Tobacco Seriously Damages Health." -- seriously?!?...
The plane from Zurich to Berlin was a Lufthansa flight. Much smaller A320. Took ages to take off. It seemed to be flexing it's wings and flaps. So i got a shot too...First time I've seen it risen so high on the ground. Engine was real noisy during the tests.
On board, this was a snack only flight. So don't expect the hot towel service like SQ. What I adored the most was that in the spirit of the upcoming World Cup, they gave out these cute cute cute soccer balls, which were really a soild ball of milk chocolate inside! Yums....I took more for ge actually, to support her beanut...Bwahahaha....(inside joke, sorry.)
The plane I was on was really small, if I thought I had a hard time fitting into the seat, the two americans on my left were worse off due to their gangly legs. They had this american on holiday look about them, and both wore berms! How comfy... =) Definitely on holiday.Reaching Berlin, once again you are reminded of good ol' home airport's efficiency. It took a very long time for them to open the doors. So everyone (except me of course..hehe..) all stood up cramped at the isle in half bend postures ready to go.
Proof of how long it took was that they had started and finished loading up our luggage onto the truck. I'm quite increduled that they really use manual labour of just two men to carry ALL the luggage lor! I could see it from my window and was excited when I spotted my luggage!!! heeee...
See the red bag is mine + the black tube holder on the top with the fragiel sticker too! heee...what are the chances that it was right under my nose!
Here we are!!! Berlin Tegal Airport! Airport code: TXL! The main international airport of the capital of the Wursts! =)Above pic is the main area with F&B, a supermarket and some shopping. This is where you get to the exit towards the trains and bus terminals.
Tegal is laid out such that a few pentagons buidlings cluster together( with the middle of the cluster the main area). Inside the pentagon are just check in rows and arrival/ departure gates with car rental booths. When you exit the departure gate, you can immediately board a cab. But I did not and walked all around the terminals just to find this mian area becasue it was the ONLY PLACE THAT HAD AN INFO COUNTER, with a free map of the city...chuh...
I finally decided to give myself a treat before trekking any further. hehehehe...Starbucks! Caramel Macchiato!! It was hard to get to the cafe. It was on level two. 3 flights of stairs with no lift --- how to haul luggage?!?...but for the sake of the cuppa I did! 3 up then 3 down...Knee pain..=(
On da cab to Schonefeld Airport where the Berlin Airshow is. All the way to the other side of berlin from west to east. Took a pic of the cab rates! S$8 when boarding ...faints!
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