After a gentle getting accustomed to the heat, 7h time difference, no sleep and humidity, we wobbled out to Orchard Road for a wee while to look at some of the impressive plant covered apartment blocks and notice how you’ve really made it when you have a cantilever pool hanging out of your apartment 40 storeys up
Then after scoffing our “anniversary” cake, it’s time for a 7 course Chinese banquet where Mrs Fogg enjoyed the delights of 8 headed abalone and boiled sea cucumber, the face doesn’t do it justice
Before a slow Wimbledon around the hotel complex
Tomorrow apparently we are looking at some big greenhouses
On the 18th April 2024 we attempted a holiday to Singapore and then Bali on Emirates via Dubai. Well that was pants, we ended up stranded in Dubai for 4 days without our luggage (which amazingly made it to Singapore). The luggage had a world travel of its own for a month!
So scroll forward a year and here we are with attempt 2, except we are going nowhere near Dubai and flying direct to Singapore. This time we are also hedging our bets by taking a carry on case with some spare clothes (given the last 2 trips we have lost all our luggage).
Make the most of it, this may be the last time all our luggage will be together, Momma Case, Poppa Case and Babee Case.
Follow our blog and see if we get reunited in Singapore or whether the luggage goes to Dubai
Of course the first challenge was finding the hotel at Manchester Airport…their website said 2 mins walk from Terminal 2. Yeah right…..
Yes after a week of two lots of lost luggage (on the way out and way back), our luggage has finally joined us. yet again smart Alec delivery man ask “how you go on holiday without clothes, hee hee hee”
Like a scene from the movie, getting home proved to be harder than it should, due to a bit of snow that despite our cold climate, early notification of the arrival, weather warnings and preparation, always manages to close the UK for weeks!
Flying back to the UK from Barcelona, we received texts to advise that due to heavy snowfall in Manchester our connecting flight had been cancelled and we were booked on a flight 28 hours later and would need to collect our luggage (which was actually on the same plane as us this time), then speak to someone about hotels.
Off the plane and away we go to collect our luggage, along with every other flight destined for Manchester, some people had been waiting 3 hours at the carousel. After an hour of watching our air tagged bags move around all parts of T5 we went to speak to someone, who helpfully advised “they are in transit” to Manchester you need to request them, which we did and they still didn’t arrive. Having Learnt from Dubai that “in transit luggage” means give up and log a lost luggage claim and hope you’ll see them sometime. Off then for the hotel, food and drink and rest.
Duly rested (as much as you can be in a transit hotel with no change of clothes) we set off back to the airport for our bumped flight, all checked in, luggage, not a clue. And then yup flight cancelled due to “snow in Manchester” again.
The choices then another 24 hours in a transit hotel or a coach trip from Heathrow to Manchester. The last coach ride I did was in 1998 to Disneyland Paris which took 16 hours and was HELL on wheels. Oh well how bad could it be? Well it would help if anyone could advise the right bus stop in the first case and no signs on any bus (stop 16, 21 or 20, who knows or cares). At this point the airline has discharged its responsibility and is no longer liable for delay payments.
Four and a half hours later after listening to one guy snore loudly all the way and a little woman watching her favourite Indian soap opera on her phone without headphones we arrived back at Manchester in the early hours, to then have to get to the car, scrape the 4 days of snow off it and eventually drive home, bushed.
The luggage has now made its way to Manchester where it is sitting awaiting a courier again. and yet again the total inefficiency here, looks like the airline are arranging 2 couriers on two dates to collect and deliver the luggage (one piece to be delivered yesterday before it arrived and one for tomorrow).
Still, it all adds to the fun of life and the fact that the entire flights to and from Barcelona cost £4 each, it has cost BA at least 200 times that in hotels, couriers and compensation.
Stay tuned for the next exciting trip we have planned, this time we are going to put on every item of clothing we intend to take, so they don’t get lost?
Up at the crack of dawn since Mrs Fogg claimed to have found another Harley Store that “is” open! So 2.5 mile walk in 18 degrees took us here
And yes, it was shut considering today is a National Holiday! So the suggestion then to walk to the vernacular railway a “short” distance away, via some more sight seeing.
And so 8 hours later we have yet again covered a few “effing” miles
After 3 days we have bloody walked over 25 miles, WHY of WHY!
Up at the crack of dawn since Mrs Fogg claimed to have found another Harley Store that “is” open! So 2.5 mile walk in 18 degrees took us here
And yes, it was shut considering today is a National Holiday! So the suggestion then to walk to the vernacular railway a “short” distance away, via some more sight seeing.
And so 8 hours later we have yet again covered a few “effing” miles (and this is before we walk the 2 miles back to the hotel via watering holes!)
After 3 days we have bloody walked over 25 miles, WHY oh WHY! Mrs Fogg has completed one of her miles challenges and gets a medal, and I need a bloody medal!
