I arrived at changi airport at 9:30pm and found out that the row to check in. It was at row 1 and before I reached row 1, I already saw a long queue forming at the counters.
Apparently KLM and Air France had combined their check in even though the departure timings were different. KLM was supposed to depart at 10:50pm while Air France at 11:30pm. The problem came when the system couldn’t work fast enough to check in the KLM passengers so the ground staff panicked. It was a messy attempt to sieve out the KLM passengers from Air France passengers to check in the remaining KLM passengers.
Luckily I’ve already check-in online and joined the internet luggage drop-off queue. Even so, by the time I checked in my luggage, it was already 10:15pm.
I quickly headed for gate C26 which was right at the end of terminal 1.I only managed to get to my seat at 10:40pm, knowing that there are still passengers who have not boarded.
I waited, waited and waited and I fell asleep. It was about 40 minutes later that I realized that the plane is still grounded. My guess was about 11:25pm. There was nothing else to do but to wait. All of a sudden at 11:50pm, the captain made an announcement:
“We apologise for the delay. We are having difficulty getting clearance to fly over Afghanistan and right now, both the Singapore Air Aviation and the Netherlands are making the co-ordination so that we can fly over Afghanistan at a specific timing. We have been re-scheduled to depart at 1:50am and are expected to arrive at Schipol at 12:30pm local time.”
The whole plane protested as a reflex. I was originally scheduled to take the transfer flight to Heathrow at 7:15am and I am only likely to arrive at 12:30pm at Schipol? I was telling myself, there goes my Paris trip. The Eurostar ride, the hotel bookings, the paid tickets for an opera and a city view of Paris will be gone just because KLM wasn’t cleared to fly over Afghanistan. For that moment, I really thought I better off staying at home and not planned for this trip at all.
On hearing this, the stewards and stewardesses quickly dished out drinks to appease the passengers who were protesting. I’m impressed by the speed the drinks were served after the announcement was made. It was almost as quick as the protesting passengers.
Wait, wait and wait.
Finally, the captain made the 2nd announcement. This time apologizing again and informed us that we are 2nd on the list to fly out of Singapore, however we were not told of the estimated timing to depart.
At about 12:30am, the captain made the 3rd announcement: “Cabin crew please get ready for take off.”
Immediately, the stewards and stewardesses collected the cups at an amazing speed and within the next 3 minutes, the plane took off but clearly it wasn’t an all seat belt fasten situation.
We finally flew. The captain apologized again and assured the passengers that there is sufficient fuel to make up for the delay but he couldn’t tell us for sure what time would we be arriving at Schipol. So, there is still a possibility that I cannot catch my flight to Heathrow and subsequently the Eurostar to Paris.
Things went back to normal. Meals were served shortly after the plane took off. I eagerly searched for any information on the flight timing and I managed to see that the estimated time of arrival in Schipol was 6:08am. Okay, the possibility of me missing my transfer flight has been lessened and I felt much relieved.
Ate dinner, watched Wall-E and slept. Woke up to watch Sex in the City, ate breakfast and was on time to land at Schipol. The flight didn’t pass Afghanistan at all. It made a detour over Russia and flew through eastern Eurpoe instead. This is indeed a classic example of rush to wait, wait to rush. And it is really amazing how the delay of 1 hour and 30 minutes can be compensated. From this I gather that airlines can actually fly faster than their usual scheduled timing. But so long as I can catch my Heathrow flight, who cares.
When I finally landed, it was already 6:20am. I ran towards gate D7 as it was so far away from E37 where I landed. That took me about 10 minutes, only to see another queue at the gate.
Waited, waited and waited and I boarded the plane at 6:50am. The flight from Schipol to Heathrow was pretty short. The whole journey took about 40 minutes and I arrived at Heathrow at 7:50am.
The immigration counters at Heathrow were generally quite fast, only a few who went the extra mile to ask questions like: “How much pounds are you carrying right now? How much is your credit card limit and how much is this limit in pounds?” For that, other counters would have already cleared 5 visitors.
When I was at the arrival hall, I headed towards the sign which says “Underground”. It’s the tube. It cost me ₤4 to reach King’s Cross St Pancras Station. The ride took about an hour and it was quite packed as the train approaches the heart of London. The seats are knee-touching opposite each other. Well, for shorties like me, I have more knee space.
It was quite a distance from King’s Cross Station to St Pancras International Station. I was trying my best to doge the mob who were dispersing from all corners of the station. I walked right to the end and went into a sandwich bar. Ordered an egg and bacon sandwich and a latte and that cost me ₤5. Even McDonalds won’t cost that much, let alone the lousy serving of eggs and bacon in the poorly toasted bread. Lugi big time lor.
I took my time to sort out my stuff and headed to print the Eurostar ticket. WOW!! Just insert the credit and viola! The tickets are printed in 5 seconds. It amazing! And using the same ticket, I just slot in to a tube-like gantry to gain access to the customs and no manpower is required for the entire process. Lots of catching up for Singapore.
I headed for towards gate 6 to board the Eurostar leaving for Paris. Apparently it will only open 20 minutes prior to its scheduled departure timing. So I waited again with my red and black.
As the departure timing drew nearer, I saw more people congesting at the 2 gates. With so many people on board this train, can it leave on time? But the train left St Pancras as scheduled. I’m impressed and so here I am typing all the way onboard the Eurostar.
It is not exactly a nice ride, somewhat like those KTM rides I took since young. Comparatively, the flights were so much smoother. What I see now is a gloomy countryside of eastern London. Erm, as a matter of fact, I've just past the Lile Station, which means to say that I've already crossed the English Channel and I'm already in France!
But, I think I’m having motion sickness. Feels like puking now. See how long I can hold on. Better take some rest. Later.
