Upcoming inaugural flights '17

The term 3 school holiday is approaching and my work is winding down. So I have more time to update my blog and plan my upcoming travels.

At this moment, I have already booked 4 return flights spread out all over the world. To Asia, Europe and North & South America at the end of the year. 

2017 looks set to be my widest and longest travel itinerary to date. Two of my flights coincide with the inaugural service and are the reasons why I booked them.

I have never been on inaugural flights so this will be a first for me. Not sure what to expect. Hopefully some door gifts. Haha!

Jetstar Asia will launch the inaugural from Singapore to Okinawa in November 2017. I have always wanted to visit there after looking at so many advertisements of feel good scenery but there have never been scheduled direct flights due to low and seasonal demand. One stop options are not cheap from Singapore either.

I chanced upon the Jetstar inaugural flight and a return flight costs below $300 at starter price so I quickly booked it. There are some cheaper dates but I wanted to experience the inaugural and the price difference is not too big. Looking forward to Okinawa !

The other inaugural service is by Silkair from Singapore to Hiroshima, in October 2017. Again another Japanese destination. Silkair is a full service carrier so the launch price is much higher though still reasonable to me.

This is the first time in recent years the two cities are connected by direct flight. As my schedule allows for the inaugural, I quickly booked a one week trip. I'm planning to visit other cities in Japan such as Nagasaki, fukuoka and maybe tokyo using the one week JR pass. Looking forward to Silkair inaugural festivities and Hiroshima !

A great day in Sentosa, Singapore !

SBST recently amends the bus route 123 to head into Sentosa. By riding the bus in, passengers need to pay the Sentosa admission fees. Only normal bus fares apply. I wanted to take this opportunity to visit Sentosa as well. My last visit should be about 2 years back and that was on a field trip with students.

Boarding the bus in Orchard, it took ~30 mins to cross the causeway into Sentosa. On the way in, the bus makes a stop at RWS, but not on the way out. This is something to take note.

After RWS, the bus makes a couple of stops before reaching its terminal at beach station. It is allocated two parking bays. On this route, double decker buses are deployed as well, which makes for a comfortable journey.

On my trip, not many passengers alight or board the bus in Sentosa. Probably because it's a weekday morning.

From the terminal, the merlion is a short walk away.

The merlion, in all its glory !

Changi Airport T4 Open House Aug '17

On 9th August, as Singapore celebrates SG52, I attended Changi Airport T4 Open House. I have earlier registered for a free preview ticket online and had chosen the date and time. All tickets were subsequently snapped up.

The airport had arranged shuttle buses from T3 to T4 free of charge as currently there is no public transport to T4.

After a short 5 minute ride and upon alighting, there are personnel at the door welcoming all visitors to T4.

I first went to the check-in counter to obtain my boarding pass. Fortunately there wasn't any queues.

Arriving T4

Boarding Pass. One of a kind !

T4 will have many self check-in kiosks

Upon entering the restricted area with my boarding pass, the group was brought to a demonstration by the event personnel to explain the self check-in process to visitors.

After check in and depositing the luggage, T4 employs a centralized security screening area which is different from the rest of the terminals. This is probably the only time that I can take a photo of the screening area. 

body x-ray machine

Some airlines set up booth at the restricted area. These airlines, airasia, cathay pacific, vietnam airlines will soon operate from T4.

Beautiful garden in the airport !

I wasn't really there !

The highlight of T4. The row of peranakan shophouses facade.

The finale: a 3-part animated screening of the Peranakan love story incorporated into the shophouses.

Bike sharing in SG

Since giving up driving in June, I have come to embrace the sharing economy. First for me is the car-sharing apps grab and uber. Second is the bike sharing app obike. In my previous post, I have shared my plenty of experience in car sharing. Now, I would like to give my two cents worth of bike sharing.

I have paid a refundable deposit of $49, I think, to use obike. To date, I'm still using it because, since July, it has been offering free unlimited rides in SG. In this month of August, all 3 companies are offering free rides as well.

I have only ride on obike, not the other two, mobike and ofo. So I can't do a comparison for now. In the remaining days of August, I may try ofo since I have registered as a user ever since they waived the deposit. Mobike still requires a deposit, so I'm not using that for now.

Both obike and mobike have attached baskets but not ofo.

Obike has a user friendly app. After turning on the bluetooth, just scan the barcode and I'm on my way !

It tracks the duration and cost of the ride, which is $0 for now :)

Once locked, this screen will be displayed.

A typical obike. It comes in two versions, with and without the basket.

On this day, I took a ride around the Bedok reservoir on a great evening

A platform to enjoy the surroundings

Sometimes, I come across obikes that are to be repaired or failed to connect. In that case, just move on to the next obike. There are plenty of them. It's free, good exercise, and convenient with all the bicycling tracks without steps. Highly recommended !

Some additional thoughts on the carpooling experience

I have been a daily user of the ride sharing apps, namely uber and grab, at least twice daily. I must say that almost all the drivers and fellow carpool riders that I have met are all very friendly, courteous and the like.

But as some drivers shared with me, sometimes they met unreasonable passengers who demanded to board or alight at bus stops, which is difficult for them to stop without getting a summon.

Or fellow passengers who booked a carpool ride but getting annoyed at having to make a detour to pick up or drop off someone else as it adds on considerable time. To those people, please be more patient, if not, book a solo ride.

Personally, I manage my time reasonably well so that I usually use grabshare or uberpool since it's cheaper than solo rides. At the same time, I factor in a minimum of 20 minutes extra time in case of lengthy detours. Especially if I use uberpool as they allow 3 shared riders at the same time.

Thus far I have come across 2 such cases of very lengthy detours. In one case, I was travelling from Pasir Ris to Jurong West, I think. My fellow grab rider was travelling from nearby Pasir Ris to Dhoby Ghaut. Looking at the map, though it seems to be on the way, it adds considerable time to my journey, which ended up at 1 hour.

Yesterday, I had another journey from Pasir Ris to Ang Mo Kio. My fellow rider was travelling from nearby Pasir Ris to Robertson Quay, near Clarke Quay. According to the grab app, I would be dropped off first. 

In my opinion, I wouldn't count that as on the way, since if travelling to Robertson Quay alone, the most probable route would be ECP to the city. Likewise, if going to the city first then amk, it wouldn't seem to be on the way as well. The lady, my fellow rider, questioned the driver, but it appears the app has the final say. The ride took us on the TPE to amk to drop me off, then CTE to Robertson Quay. This journey definitely added an extra 20 minutes. Fortunately it was late at night so traffic was light.

In addition, the driver made a u-turn which I'm quite sure he has missed an earlier exit from the expressway as I know the way myself. My fellow rider, a lady, then questioned him if the app instructed him to make the u-turn. The driver then softly replied that he has made a wrong turn without apology.

Not sure what happened after I alighted, if the lady followed up with a feedback or gave a lower rating to the driver. But hopefully the app could match riders within reasonable distance and avoid lengthy detours that seem to be in totally different directions.

This early morning, I tried to book an uberpool from amk. It matched me to a driver who was somewhere at national stadium and he needed 15 minutes to reach my place. I cancelled the ride without extra charge, as I'm quite certain he would take longer than that. Again, hopefully uber could improve their matching.

Sharing economy

Today is 9th August 2017, Singapore's national day. It's a public holiday, and the following day is a school holiday. This explains why I have time to update my blog. 😊 

Today, I'll be attending a preview of the new Changi Airport terminal 4. We are building not just one, but two new terminals 4 and 5 together with the Jewel, the latter two will only open many years later. Our airport seems really busy, for a small country like us. Haha!

Anyway, looking forward to T4 and will update on this blog soon. 

Since I have time today, I would like to do a post on the sharing economy. In recent years, this has been the limelight not just in Sg, but around the world. We are quick to catch on as well. 

For starters, there is Uber and Grab, featuring the ride-sharing economy. This has gone down very well with riders like me, but not the taxi providers. But as the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. So now our taxis have tied up with Grab to provide rides as well.

I have tried, and in fact, been taking Grab and Uber on a daily basis to and from work so would like to give my two cents' worth. In most cases, Grab works out cheaper than Uber so is usually my main mode of transport. 

Both also offer the Grabshare or Uberpool services where we share rides with other riders going to destinations near ours. The difference, however, Grab limits to two riders while Uber limits to three riders. The advantage is costs are down, but the disadvantage is time is longer, depending on who gets drop off first. The first one to board might be the last one to alight.

Uberpool

Grabshare

Sometimes when I'm lucky, no other riders share the ride with me, so I benefit from the cheaper fares.

In almost all cases, I would usually take this service so I will allow a longer travelling time in exchange for lower costs. The other riders I have met so far have fortunately been very pleasant and understanding towards the situation.

Some drivers have told me of other riders who, despite willingly took this service, yet complain of long detours and long duration. I think if I or the others are in a hurry, we should just take justgrab or uber x instead. The costs will then be higher, but we get the car to ourselves. Anyway, it is still cheaper than flagging down a taxi on the street and we always know exactly when the car is arriving.

Both Grab and Uber have been offering many promotions so I have been able to take advantage of almost every day. For example, Grab has $6 off every second ride while Uber has $3 off every ride. Both also tie up with credit card companies to offer discounts. 

Grab has the in-app grabcredits where riders earn enough points to redeem rides or other gifts. Probably Uber should have one too.

I think currently both companies are not exactly profitable but they are just trying to expand their market share. Hopefully their promotions will continue for a long time. 😃 As long as their fares, whether pool or solo, are cheaper than traditional taxis, I will continue to ride with them in times of need.

Yup, that's all. In the next post, I shall cover another aspect of the sharing economy - bikes.

One day in 北京 June '17

This is a quick, whirlwind tour in 北京, as part of my round trip tickets on SIA business class. I have previously toured 北京 before and am deeply impressed by the capital of China.

This time round, it is a solo trip and gives me a chance to try out their metro system. Arriving at Beijing airport, the immigration queue is very long. After that, it was off to locate the Beijing airport railway into the city.

At Beijing airport, before immigration

On the airport train to the city !

A good day in Beijing today😊

My first stop is the Beihai park. I have been here previously as well but today I'll be exploring a different part of the park.

Authentic traditional Chinese architecture

 北京故宫

Beijing is just too big to explore in one day. So I opted for a bus ride to the opposite side.

王府井。The equivalent of Orchard Road in sg

Soon, it's time to head back to the airport to admire this great structure.

An artificial pavilion airside

All in all, a wonderful, memorable day in 北京. Great and safe for solo travelers.