Skip to main content

The Changi Chat

...and so i find myself in the conundrum of having started writing a travel blog and then using up all my travel leave in one go. I'm used to exaggerating my daily life into would-be-exciting-if-not-so-mundane exerpts about multiple gym classes, topical and celebrity news, outfits that resemble david bowie, and everday annoyances like traffic and burnt toast.  These fit conveniently into the constraints of a few hundred characters allowable on facebook and less often on twitter-as 140 characters renders me into a paralytic state of writers block. While readers are probably left wondering WTF at the abbreviated shorthand ridiculousness...I like to think these teasers leave the reader wanting more. However something tells me i'm not quite ready to broach an essays worth blog length entry about the perils of internet shopping....in case that isn't, well, the case. So in the meantime, what to do in such a predicament if i am to keep my loyal follower(s) (anonymous though you others may be mum and dad) until my next big adventure?! I have decided to dig deep into the archives and publish some of my earliest (at times cringe-worthy, but good for nostaligc value) work- travel stories from a journey though central europe, morocco and Canada back in the winter of 2006/2007.  It all started with a story/email/random stream of consciousness if you would have it called "the changi chat". don't worry- i think it gets better. or at least more interesting than an airport?! ok here goes.
"just a quick message on my 6 minutes of free internet time at changi-singapore airport. Not usually pushed creatively with such strict deadlines so i apologise if my literary skills are a little lacklustre (just a bit of alliteration to get the ball rolling...2 minutes down). Well, running on no sleep for about 36 hours. Packing 30 kilos of luggage takes up most of the night as i found out. Endured a 6 hour flight where i drifted in and out of consciousness listening to music but without the mental stamina to sustain watching a movie.

The sign on the screen "thankyou for smoking" was initilly confusing until i realised it was the movie guide and not a warped safety instruction.  Had a row of seats and TV set to myself on the plane and then an overdue epipthany(?!) just prior to landing that i could have lay across the seats to sleep, save awkwardly curling up in the corner and causing a wry neck (too embarrassed to blow up cheap pillow- won't be so self consicious next time)

Plane er plain "singapore noodles" served for dinner, washed down with a Tim Tam and some OJ- because i thought it was breakfast time 6.30am not pm(?!) perhaps the first of a couple of cultural experiences, or at least what can be contained to within the airport... 6 hours to kill.. Singapore Burger King?..About to find out about the shuttle to town. The sign doesn't appear to be in English however, and i havent thought any further than that!

More soon.

ok now.

internet crashed, so resending. In the meantime have investigated and not gone on the shuttle to town (poor timing, lack of time etc.) Wandered around aimlessley for a while (peeling off thermal layers of clothing ) and wandered much further than warranted the enjoyment of the Bamboo garden, Orchid garden and Rooftop sunflower garden- thankyou for smoking, indeed!! I think there is one more garden on my list.  Eagerly anticipated the free movie cinema and then grappled with the disappointment of missing the first 20 minutes of an old-school not-quite hitchcock thriller. Been much too overwhelmed with the choices of instant coffee opting to now go and spend my converted currency on a neck and shoulder massage prior to negotiating my way into the qantas club... at least thats the plan (After being forced to cross the Skyview 'private' lounge off my list)

until next time"
xoxo

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I ♥ Paris in the Summertime...

If you arrive in Paris over a long weekend in Summer, your trip-advisor top ten might be thrown into disarray upon finding that many of the attractions are closed on Sundays, Mondays, some Tuesdays.. the first weekend of the month oh and much of August.  But not to despair, where previous mid-winter trips might see you escaping the unfriendly frost losing hours inside the Louvre immersed in anthropological study of the origins of mankind, starting in the basement of ancient civilisation onward to the masterpieces of Italian renaissance making your way into the 19th Century...perhaps never to come up for air except to seek solace from sleet inside lesser known indoor galleries and shopping strips... Paris in Summer is made for exploring and while historical and cultural ventures are a must, incorporating market visits, canal walks and outdoor activities should create a completely different but equally memorable adventure altogether. On this most recent visit, I made it...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eco-Tourism in Laos; A Top 10 family-friendly guide to Luang Prabang

When I first looked into travelling to Laos it was as adventurous newlyweds backpacking home to Australia from Europe through SEA.  Less socially conscious and sustainably-minded, I'd heard great things and it was all about the gibbons and tree-top zip lining experience on the border near Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. We'd start here and plan a trip down the Mekong Delta and then spend lazy days in a haze of cocktails floating in a rubber tube out of Vientiane. We never made it. A long story about stolen passports, Portuguese police stations, embassy visits, emergency documents, missing visas, a lot of hassle and a lot of time spent in Nepal and Vietnam and Cambodia instead would mean Laos would have to be another trip altogether.    Jump to 4 years later and as parents of a nearly-two year old the Laos experience we would end up having would be somewhat similar to those earlier travel tantalisations and  entirely different al...
1 comment
Read more

20 flights with an under-2 year old (what were we thinking...?!)

From Laos to Langkawi, Bali and back and multiple domestic trips to Sydney and the Sunshine Coast this mum of one took 20 flights with her 3 to 23 month old. She proceeds to talk in the third person and lists 20 things she learnt about plane travel at the various ages and stages including top tips for travel with a toddler and parenting pitfalls to avoid. ________________________________________________________________________ I will start with a disclaimer justifying the number and nature of flights we took as new parents by blaming my inherent wanderlust and fear or missing out (FOMO) which became amplified by parenthood and this increase in hours spent at home while on maternity leave.  Suddenly the southern sun wasn’t sunny enough nor the water warm enough and I needed to be anywhere and everywhere more tropical, and immediately.  There was also the chronic sleep deprivation contributing to an exponential increase in screen and internet hours (albeit not mumm...
1 comment
Read more