My first ever travel map

This is my first ever produced travel map, courtesy of the great circle mapper, a free online tool. Doesn't take me long to learn. But first you need to know the airport codes of all the cities that you are going to. This travel map shows my travel plans for the year end.



It is 4 continents - asia, europe, north america, south america, a lot of countries and cities in one go. I know. According to the great circle mapper, there will be 30 segments, mostly flights, with some train connections.

The longest flight segments are los angeles to chongqing one way on hainan airlines and singapore to stockholm return on singapore airlines, both 5-star airlines. At least I can enjoy the flight.

Accordingly, my travelling distance adds up to a whopping 92,382km. This is equivalent to 2 rounds around the earth ! 1 round of the earth is 'only' 40,075km.

This is a lot a lot of flying !

Not just that. My travel plans are going to cost a lot. And previously I was just talking about cutting down on my travels. 

My justification for all these flying? Well, life is short. Live life to the fullest ! While I can, physically and financially, I want to see the world. I can always earn back the money but I only live once.

It is about another month before my travel begins. Meanwhile, finalizing my itinerary and accommodation plans. Hoping for the best !

Upcoming travel plans (an update)

For all these years, due to my work commitments and work schedules that are only confirmed at the last minute, I am usually not able to book or confirm my travel plans far out in advance. Also, I try to avoid booking non-refundable air tickets months ahead as well.

Normally, June and December are the months where I know my travel plans can be confirmed. But outside of these 2 months, my schedule becomes certain. So sometimes I will hesitate to book deeply discounted tickets in economy or business class. A loss of opportunity costs. That's the nature of my work.

Now that things are winding down and approaching the year end festivities, my schedule becomes more transparent. But alas, some bad news to my previously booked travel plans.

I will not be able to join the inaugural silkair flight to hiroshima departing on 30th october. As I booked the cheapest tickets, this means I will incur a loss on the tickets.

Another bad news. Cathay pacific changed their equipment on my business class flights from sin to bkk. Previously, it was on the a350 that I am eager to try out. Recently, when I manage my booking on the website, I saw that it has changed to a 77w and a330. So right now I'm still not sure if I can or I want to go on this flight. Again, if I forgo this trip and get a refund, I will incur another loss.

On a happy note, my jetstar inaugural flight to Okinawa and my latam business class flights from mexico city to easter island is more or less confirmed. I'm still quite excited !!

In addition, because of my latam flight, I will need positioning flights to mexico city as well, and giving me a chance to visit the city for the first time!

In addition (again), I have long since booked my sia flights from hkg to arn (stockholm), taking advantage of the ~$600 flight at that time, which is considered a steal, given how expensive sia long haul flights can be departing Singapore. This time, I'm planning to cover the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as parts of eastern europe. Will update again as soon as my europe plans firm up.

And finally, back to my america flights,  I have recently started following travel blogs featuring deeply discounted economy and business class tickets. I manage to snag a ~$600 flight on hainan airlines from shenzhen to san francisco. Then a ~$300 flight on aeromexico from san francisco to mexico city as part of my positioning flights.

Sounds complicated I know. But a lot of firsts!

First time to shenzhen

First time on hainan airlines (5 star airline), on their B787, A330 and their narrowbody planes

First time on aeromexico

First time to mexico city, easter island, chile (transit only)

First time to the baltic states and eastern europe

All in all, I will be abroad for a month. Starting from hong kong, I will head to europe and back. Then I will do a short train crossing from hong kong to shenzhen for my trip to north america and south america then back.

Visiting 3 continents for this year end. Quite a haul for me!

Things to look out for in booking budget airline flights

Since budget airlines enter the aviation market, they have been dominating the air travel scene. This is good news for all travellers. They provide affordable airfares for budget conscious travellers and at the same time force the premium airlines to lower their airfares to compete with budget airlines.

The Singapore market is currently dominated by budget carriers such as airasia, jetstar and scoot. Other budget players fly to Singapore from their own countries as well. Jetstar and scoot hub in SG while airasia has tried unsuccessfully for years to establish a hub in SG, likely to protect the home carriers from eroding their profits.

Anyway, I have taken all 3 budget carriers several times, to regional countries such as m'sia and as far as china. Though their airfares are usually lower than premium brands, there are certain things to look out for when booking them.

Budget carriers nickel and dime. When you first book a seat, you are essentially only guaranteed a seat on the plane. Nothing else. In most cases in asia, you can bring on a hand luggage. That's it. If you want to check a bag, you have to pay extra. If you want to eat, you got to pay too. As a result, there are a list of amenities that budget carriers will entice you to add on and the airfare suddenly become more expensive.

For example, jetstar has the starter fares while scoot has the fly, fly-bag, fly-bag-eat fares to cater to different needs. Before clicking the payment button, it is wise to reflect on the final cost and check that it is still overall lower than what premium airlines charge. Sometimes, it can be more than them, in that case, just go with premium airlines. 

One more thing. After entering the payment details, if the costs again increase, that will be due to the credit card processing fees. Premium airlines usually absorb these fees while budget airlines simply pass on to consumers. There is no way to eliminate these fees amounting to as much as $20, but there is a way to offset them. Jetstar and scoot offer payment via axs machine in SG for a lower fee of $6.

However, scoot holds regular promotions on tuesday mornings. Sale fares paid during this time cannot be paid by axs. Only by credit card, thus incurring the $20 fee. This makes the promotion slightly less attractive. I learnt about this when making my booking my return flights to guangzhou on scoot. The axs option was not there when making payment. Nonetheless, I still booked as the final fare still turned out cheaper than the next cheaper option.

Recently, I have booked jetstar inaugural flight to Okinawa and scoot flight to hong kong. Both have encountered schedule changes. Fortunately, the options are laid out clearly in the jetstar website under manage bookings. The changes are free of charge. Jetstar will assign new flight timings to you. But I'm able to change to other flight options if I choose to.

In this case, I have chosen to route via osaka and taipei on the way back to singapore. The advantage is this flight leaves okinawa in the afternoon, as compared to the early departure of 8am for the direct flight. There are no additional costs involved.

After selecting my new flights, there is a new window to confirm my selection before it is updated.

For scoot, it is a similar process. My original overnight flight from singapore to hong kong was actually cancelled. I was accomodated on the next day flight, which would put me in hong kong late.

Fortunately, I was able to call the call centre and rebook my flight. From online, I was able to find out other alternative flight schedules within 7 days as specified below. After that, I called and asked to change the flight option. Do check that the extras which was paid for earlier such as check in baggage and seat assignments was included in the new flight arrangements.

Yup, so now my flight itinerary is confirmed. I'm hoping for bid for a reasonable upgrade!

DTL3 open house

In recent years, new mrt lines opening in Singapore has been treated with a lot of fanfare, in hopes of drumming up support and ridership for the new lines.

Last Sunday, downtown line 3 held an open house with free rides along 16 stations. This weekend, dtl3 officially opened to the public, with free rides along the entire downtown line for the opening weekend.

There was quite a crowd during the open house, with many rail enthusiasts and family with young kids.

Other than free rides, there were events hosted by tv personalities and free treats for those present.

MRT memorabilia from the yesteryears. I can still remember myself using those ancient farecards. Haha !

History of MRT for those interested

Got it today at Expo station. Dtl3 branded sweets

Free travel for this weekend on the entire downtown line from bukit panjang in the west to expo in the east.

The next new mrt lines slated to open will include the thomson-east coast line and cross island line. Waiting for the open house !

Come to think of open house, MRT has ever held only one open house in the history of MRT. In 1997, 5 years after the first train line started running in Singapore, Bishan depot was open to the public. As a young railway buff that time, I attended the open house excitedly to learn more about mrt. I still remember buying a souvenir t-shirt to wear for many years before I outgrow it.

It's been exactly 20 years today. Just wondering will smrt ever hold another open house at its depot again..

Some new stations to open on existing lines include canberra station on the north-south line, dtl3 extension after expo and circle line extension in the south of Singapore to form a complete circle. Much like the green yamamoto line in tokyo, Japan.