I suppose the best place to start this post is our journey to the airport, not our usual airport because for this trip we flew from Birmingham. This meant it was straight up the M5 then along the M42 to get there with a journey time 2¼ hours, considering we left around 7:00am it was not busy at all.
The flights were part of our package and they were selected for us by our travel agent so we were very surprised to be flying Emirates from Birmingham via Dubai to Singapore on A380’s, (the same route in reverse on the way back). Who knew the A380’s can fly in and out of Birmingham? I didn’t so that was a welcome surprise as we are big fans of both plane and airline.
We ended up watching the forward camera during take off and the runway didn’t seem nearly long enough but we were up with plenty of room to spare. The flight wasn’t busy so we were able to lie back without worrying as the seats behind were empty, the seats in front were also empty which all helped make for a really comfortable flight.
7 ½ hours later we arrived at Dubai and found a much busier airport. Even at 2:00 am the terminals were packed. After navigating our way to the next departure gate, a 45 minute wait ensued before we boarded our second flight to Singapore followed by another 45 minutes waiting for a slot to take off. This second flight was a lot busier than the first one and we both managed a couple of hours of sleep. I don’t know if I would have preferred the two flights or direct one more. It was nice to get off and do a bit of walking in Dubai but getting the trip over quickly does have a certain appeal. After what seemed like a longer trip than it actually was, we landed in Singapore at 2:36 pm local time.
We were swiftly through the self service immigration machines and both of our cases were on the luggage belt as we arrived. The driver for our transfer to the hotel had messaged us with rendezvous instructions prior to leaving the plane so once we had located each other it was off to the hotel. The journey took about 30 minutes and as we were leaving the airport, there was a torrential downpour but as we neared the hotel it had eased considerably.
Our hotel is called Grand Copthorne and again the choice of our TA, looking at the map it seems to be nicely located for exploring if it ever stops raining.
The hotel room is lovely with lots of modern touches, I think we are going to enjoy our 3 nights here.
After a quick shower we decided to go grab a drink and a bite to eat. This we did in one of the hotel bars and it was very nice too. Feeling full we found an extra resource of energy and decided to go for a walk along the Singapore River which runs right behind the hotel. We discovered loads of bars and restaurants all within a short walk from the hotel. Plenty of options for tomorrow evening.
Well that will do from me this evening, I’m off for some quality sleep in a really comfortable bed.
Here are a few photos from this evening’s walk.
I haven’t yet flown Emirates but I have flown Qatar and Middle Eastern Airlines are delightful. And wow, your hotel is right where it should be – on the waterside. Kudos to your travel agent!
Oh my this is bringing back memories of our flights to Singapore with Emirates & our cruise downunder in Solstice. We loved flying with Emirates and thoroughly enjoyed Singapore.
Looking forward to reading your blog.
Sounds like a GREAT start to a great adventure. Wishing you an AB FAB time.
sounds fabulous x cant wait for the rest x hugs
Pity WordPress is blocking my comments – do they use Horizon software?
It’s not blocking comments, I manually approve them to stop spammers taking over. I normally approve them as soon as I am aware. Given the time difference on this trip it might not always be straight away.
Noted and fully agree with the policy ( didn’t realise it at the time that you do it and do understand the time differences and the fact that you may be creating a new post!) You always manage some fabulous photos byw.. Pity that having input my details and asked to be remembered when I post or reply WordPress just doesn’t??
As always, nice to follow the Wansbrough cruising experiences. Very interesting that A380’s fly to / from Birmingham but whether that is easier / cheaper than going via LHR for us remains to be seen. We have done cruises beginning ( or ending) in Singapore in 2013 and 2015. The rain in January (2013) was also spectacular but we did manage to get about on tours. Singapore changes massively every year so I expect to see many items not previously experienced. Not surprising with so much land reclamation. Awaiting views of the other countries – some also visited .