Today is the first day of 2019 ! I capped off 2018 with a quick visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The sole purpose of which, is to use up my two remaining lounge vouchers, courtesy of my Amex credit card.
One of which I used it to access the new Blossoms lounge in newly opened Changi Airport terminal 4 on departure. I took the last AirAsia flight of the day to Kuala Lumpur, possibly the fastest Singapore-KL flight. 33 minutes to be exact, from take-off to landing. No wonder I felt this flight seemed a little faster than what I have taken on this route before.
The other one I used it to access the Plaza Premium lounge in klia2 airport, the hub of AirAsia, on arrival. One of the few lounges in the world that allows arrival access.
I returned to Singapore via an 8-hour coach journey. What a big difference to travel between these two cities by air and by land. I shall review this quick trip after my mega trip 😀. Hopefully soon. Haha !
Back to today ! At the start of every year, like everyone else, it is always a good idea to take stock of the previous year and to set down a list of resolutions for the coming year.
Well, last year has been a good year for me. Travel wise, I have been fortunate to travel to many countries. My travels have been more concentrated in Europe, in particular Eastern Europe, as well as the exotic Longyearbyen and the Faroe Island.
I have the opportunity to see parts of Asia as well, such as the Taj Mahal, Oman and Kazakhstan in Central Asia. In America, I revisited New York City thrice. And I get to see Hawaii and Chicago as well. I experienced some travel hiccups as well. I didn't manage to see Munich on my layover in June and I didn't get to Morocco just last month due to consecutive flight delays. I have since learnt to take it in my stride and make alternative arrangements for myself while abroad.
It is also unfortunate that Norwegian is stopping their flights from Singapore to London come January 2019. One of two budget carriers on the Singapore-Europe route. The other being Scoot. I have taken this outbound flight twice this year, when I began my adventures in Europe. It frequently has promotions, sometimes under S$200 one way.
At home, I had a change in work arrangement mid-year. This resulted in me having more time to look out for airline deals and plan my travels in the second half of the year. Though I did have to reduce my travel budget, still I had a great time travelling frugally. Haha !
Likewise, this year, I will have a change in my work environment as well. Hopefully, things will work out great, so that I can look forward to a bigger travel budget for 2019. 😀
I am very grateful that I have been able to visit many cities and countries of the world. I have walked in the big and famous cities of Tokyo, Seoul, London, Paris to as far as New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I have explored the more exotic places such as Iceland, Alaska, Svalbard and Easter Island.
To cap it off, I accumulated sufficient miles to attain the Krisflyer Gold status, mainly due to traveling long haul on star alliance airlines SQ and Asiana. This is the second time I received this status. The main benefit of which is lounge access whenever I travel on star alliance airlines, even in economy class.
I am aware that all these travel is only possible because I work hard to fund my travels. So this year, I will continue to work hard, if not harder, to build up my travel fund. And I will take good care of myself, so that I can continue to travel.
As I travel, I will try to fly on star alliance airlines, if the price is reasonable, to take advantage of my gold status.
As mentioned in my previous posts, I no longer have a bucket list. I have since fulfilled my list. Now I travel more for self discovery and exploration, to the more exotic places.
With that, my new year resolution for 2019 is to visit, first, Russia. Both Moscow and Siberia, the hinterland. I will be taking the Trans Siberia railway, which I discovered is reasonably cheap in third class.
Next, I want to visit Africa, both Morocco and Cape Town. Morocco is easy and cheap to get to via budget airlines from Europe such as Ryanair and Easyjet. I already had a flight ticket from Cape Town on British Airways, from an earlier first class mistake fare. Fingers crossed nothing unfortunate happens to the ticket. Haha!
Finally, I'm hoping to visit South America again. Previously, I was on a short layover on my way to and from Easter Island, so couldn't explore Santiago, Chile. Probably I will take a cruise between Chile and Argentina, usually in the summer months of December in the southern hemisphere.
Meanwhile, I already had flights booked to nearby Bandung, Indonesia in February and Hainan, China in June. So looking forward to them.
Yup, this sums up my travel aspirations for 2019. Of course, should a great travel deal comes along, my travel plans will change. But for now, my 2019 travel plan is less than in previous recent years, in terms of destinations. As I visited more and more places, there are less and less places that I want to visit. Which is actually great for my finances. Haha!
Looking forward to a year of hard work and great travels !
One of which I used it to access the new Blossoms lounge in newly opened Changi Airport terminal 4 on departure. I took the last AirAsia flight of the day to Kuala Lumpur, possibly the fastest Singapore-KL flight. 33 minutes to be exact, from take-off to landing. No wonder I felt this flight seemed a little faster than what I have taken on this route before.
The other one I used it to access the Plaza Premium lounge in klia2 airport, the hub of AirAsia, on arrival. One of the few lounges in the world that allows arrival access.
I returned to Singapore via an 8-hour coach journey. What a big difference to travel between these two cities by air and by land. I shall review this quick trip after my mega trip 😀. Hopefully soon. Haha !
Back to today ! At the start of every year, like everyone else, it is always a good idea to take stock of the previous year and to set down a list of resolutions for the coming year.
Well, last year has been a good year for me. Travel wise, I have been fortunate to travel to many countries. My travels have been more concentrated in Europe, in particular Eastern Europe, as well as the exotic Longyearbyen and the Faroe Island.
I have the opportunity to see parts of Asia as well, such as the Taj Mahal, Oman and Kazakhstan in Central Asia. In America, I revisited New York City thrice. And I get to see Hawaii and Chicago as well. I experienced some travel hiccups as well. I didn't manage to see Munich on my layover in June and I didn't get to Morocco just last month due to consecutive flight delays. I have since learnt to take it in my stride and make alternative arrangements for myself while abroad.
It is also unfortunate that Norwegian is stopping their flights from Singapore to London come January 2019. One of two budget carriers on the Singapore-Europe route. The other being Scoot. I have taken this outbound flight twice this year, when I began my adventures in Europe. It frequently has promotions, sometimes under S$200 one way.
At home, I had a change in work arrangement mid-year. This resulted in me having more time to look out for airline deals and plan my travels in the second half of the year. Though I did have to reduce my travel budget, still I had a great time travelling frugally. Haha !
Likewise, this year, I will have a change in my work environment as well. Hopefully, things will work out great, so that I can look forward to a bigger travel budget for 2019. 😀
I am very grateful that I have been able to visit many cities and countries of the world. I have walked in the big and famous cities of Tokyo, Seoul, London, Paris to as far as New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I have explored the more exotic places such as Iceland, Alaska, Svalbard and Easter Island.
To cap it off, I accumulated sufficient miles to attain the Krisflyer Gold status, mainly due to traveling long haul on star alliance airlines SQ and Asiana. This is the second time I received this status. The main benefit of which is lounge access whenever I travel on star alliance airlines, even in economy class.
I am aware that all these travel is only possible because I work hard to fund my travels. So this year, I will continue to work hard, if not harder, to build up my travel fund. And I will take good care of myself, so that I can continue to travel.
As I travel, I will try to fly on star alliance airlines, if the price is reasonable, to take advantage of my gold status.
As mentioned in my previous posts, I no longer have a bucket list. I have since fulfilled my list. Now I travel more for self discovery and exploration, to the more exotic places.
With that, my new year resolution for 2019 is to visit, first, Russia. Both Moscow and Siberia, the hinterland. I will be taking the Trans Siberia railway, which I discovered is reasonably cheap in third class.
Next, I want to visit Africa, both Morocco and Cape Town. Morocco is easy and cheap to get to via budget airlines from Europe such as Ryanair and Easyjet. I already had a flight ticket from Cape Town on British Airways, from an earlier first class mistake fare. Fingers crossed nothing unfortunate happens to the ticket. Haha!
Finally, I'm hoping to visit South America again. Previously, I was on a short layover on my way to and from Easter Island, so couldn't explore Santiago, Chile. Probably I will take a cruise between Chile and Argentina, usually in the summer months of December in the southern hemisphere.
Meanwhile, I already had flights booked to nearby Bandung, Indonesia in February and Hainan, China in June. So looking forward to them.
Yup, this sums up my travel aspirations for 2019. Of course, should a great travel deal comes along, my travel plans will change. But for now, my 2019 travel plan is less than in previous recent years, in terms of destinations. As I visited more and more places, there are less and less places that I want to visit. Which is actually great for my finances. Haha!
Looking forward to a year of hard work and great travels !
