Garuda Indonesia Singapore to Bandung flight review

In February 2019, I visited Bandung, Indonesia for a quick holiday. Though I have previously been to Jakarta, Bali and Surabaya, this is my first time visiting Bandung.

Not long ago, Garuda Indonesia launched direct flights between Singapore and Bandung on their B737 aircraft. At just S$200 for a return trip on one of the world's five-star airline, this is definitely a bargain.

The trip began in Changi Airport where I chanced upon a Harry Potter exhibition, including a life-size Hogwarts train at the departure area. There are other fascinating exhibits as well.

This reminds me of the Harry Potter studio tour in London, featuring many real life exhibits. I have been wanting to make a visit for some time, but always couldn't fit it into my schedule while in Europe previously. Hopefully, I have the chance to go in December this year.😀

Hogwarts train !

Owl post

 

The 4 houses of Hogwarts

Password?

Anyway, after a quick check in, it was a quick walk around the airside area, passing by the lego store @ Changi Airport, before getting to the gate area.

Garuda Indonesia is a member of skyteam, so no lounge access for me this time. Though I have priority pass lounge access, but I decided against using it since the flight time is under 2 hours. I intend to save it for use in overseas lounges.

Upon boarding, every economy class seat comes with a pillow. Even on this narrowbody aircraft, every seat has a PTV. For a flight of this duration, the entertainment options are sufficient.

Not every full service carrier in Asia installs PTVs in economy class on their narrowbody aircraft to reduce aircraft weight and hence save on fuel costs. Silkair doesn't have them. Much less in Europe. 

In the US, only Delta airlines install PTVs on their narrowbody aircrafts. Both Delta and United airlines offer complimentary streaming options to personal devices, including on narrowbody aircrafts. Not sure about American airlines though since I had yet to take a flight with them.

Hopefully, more full service carriers can either install PTVs on narrowbody aircrafts or offer complimentary online streaming options.

Seatback literature and headphones are provided on this Garuda Indonesia flight. 

On this less than 2 hours flight, a tasty hot meal with side dishes is complimentary for all passengers.  

This is a great selling point among short haul flights within Asia on full service carriers. In Europe or the United States, for a flight of this length or even longer, only snacks and drinks are served. Not a full meal.

Bandung airport doesn't have jetbridges, so all passengers disembark via stairs and walk to the airport building.

A great, enjoyable flight on Garuda Indonesia, one of the world's five star airline!

Plaza Premium lounges review - Changi Airport T4 and KLIA2

On the last day of 2018, I took a short trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The sole purpose of the trip is to utilise my remaining two amex lounge vouchers, due to expire end of 2018.

My trip started at Changi Airport Terminal 4 at night. I booked a ticket on the first / last Singapore-KL flight of the day, depending on how you see it, scheduled to depart just after midnight.

After arriving at Terminal 2 by train, I took the free shuttle bus that connects terminals 2 and 4. Alternatively, terminal 4 can be reached by public bus as well. 

Earlier, I had checked in online and a mobile boarding pass. With no checked in luggage, I proceeded directly to the centralized security check. This process is highly automated without the need for many security personnel to conduct the check. This is unlike terminals 1 to 3 where security check is done at each gate. Once again, there was hardly any queue at all, since it was a late night timing and only few number of airlines use terminal 4.

In the X'mas spirit !

Once in the airside area, I went in search of the Blossom lounge, run by the Plaza Premium lounge. It was located on the second level, and had open views of the interior of the terminal.

There are plenty of different variety of seats. My favourite has to be the cubicle seats, which offer the most privacy for travelers.

The lounge offers direct views of the shophouse facade, a popular attraction in terminal 4 airside. An animated show runs at regular intervals.

The seat in the lounge even comes with cushion! Not many lounges in the world offers this.

The food and beverage offerings in the lounge is fantastic! Many varieties of local favourites. Taste great too!

I spent a number of hours in the lounge, relaxing, eating and watching reruns of the show.

The lounge offers shower facilities as well. I informed the receptionist upon arrival at the lounge and soon was given a key to the shower room. It was well stocked with clean towels and bath amenities.

The Blossom lounge is relatively new, just like terminal 4. It is large and has plenty of seats. There is a wide variety of food and beverage. The shower facility is great too. Definitely a good use of the amex voucher here.

No boarding annoucement was made, so there is a need to keep track of time to avoid missing the flight.

I left the lounge close to departure time and was the last to board a rather empty AirAsia flight. I had a row of 3 seats to myself, great for a short rest. The flight was faster than usual, arriving at KL in 35 minutes. The light load and the late night hour must have contributed to the quick flight. 

Upon arrival at klia2, the hub of AirAsia flights, I went to locate the Plaza Premium lounge.

After checking in at the lounge, I had a shower and had some light bites to eat. In the early morning hours, food was limited. By dawn, more substantial food was served.

The lounge was actually quite small with limited seating. Fortunately, there weren't many people. I managed to snag a sofa seat and spent the night making myself comfortable. The light was turned on bright through the night so an eyemask is necessary for a rest.

At dawn, after breakfast in the lounge, I began to make my way out of the airport. I took the free airport shuttle, not easy to find, to get to klia. Then I purchased a RM10 ticket to get to KL sentral.

The free shuttle between klia and klia2 offers comfortable seats with luggage racks.

Once at KL sentral, I took the free KL city shuttle for a self-guided tour of the city, while making my way to berjaya times square. It is a public bus used by the locals as well, so it can get quite crowded. The bus comes frequently so the waiting time is reasonable.

At berjaya times square, there is a redbus office under imbi monorail station with direct link back to Singapore. 

The bus left on time but not sure why, a change of bus is necessary in jb, close to the causeway. The bus transfer is seamless, taking only about 10 steps as it is already waiting for Singapore-bound passengers.

Anyway, the bus reached golden mile complex at about 2300hr. After alighting, I walked along beach road to the esplanade where I joined the throng of crowd waiting to catch the new year fireworks, capping off the last day of 2018 and welcoming 2019😀

KLIA Singapore Airlines airport lounge & Silkair flight review

I checked in early for my Silkair flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Thanks to my Star Alliance gold status which I achieved few days prior, I was granted access to the Singapore Airlines silverkris lounge in klia.

The lounge was on the small side, given Singapore Airlines and Silkair (soon to merge into Singapore Airlines) has many flights to Singapore daily. Fortunately, in the morning I was there, the lounge wasn't crowded and there are sufficient vacant seats around.

The buffet area features a limited variety of breakfast dishes.

My breakfast !

Plane spotting! The Xiamen Airlines plane reminds me to visit Xiamen and the Fujian province of China some time soon. Haha!

Silkair operates narrowbody aircrafts made up of A319, A320 and B737-800 aircrafts. On that morning, I was onboard the B737-800 aircraft with the usual 3-3 economy class seating configuration.

Silkair doesn't install PTVs at each seat but rather offers complimentary inflight entertainment via their Silkair Studios using my personal device. The range of entertainment options are limited though sufficient for the short flights that it operates. For this 45-minute flight, it is definitely more than sufficient.

The view from the plane is excellent!

The extent of service on this short sector

Coming to land

In conclusion, the silverkris lounge at KL airport is great for a short rest with complimentary food and beverage options. Especially when there is no meal service in economy class on this short flight. The Silkair flight itself is uneventful. 

As I booked this flight at the very, very last minute, using miles would give me significant cost savings. At other time, I wouldn't hesitate to take a budget carrier since the extent of service on a full-service carrier is quite limited.

With that, this is the end of my review of the december trip. This trip has been fulfilling in many ways. To me, both the destination and the journey are just as enjoyable. Looking forward to my upcoming travels !

Tour of China - Qingdao 青岛 and Tianjin 天津

After an enjoyable time in Seoul, I took Jeju Air, a budget Korean airline, on a short flight to Qingdao, China.

Jeju Air is a typical budget carrier with similar seats on its narrowbody aircraft. It has a flight magazine and a separate catalogue for buy-on-board services. The flight itself is uneventful.

The main reason for me to visit China on this trip is to utilise my amex millenium hotel voucher in Beijing as it is due to expire end of 2018. After reading favourable online reviews, I decided to stay at Beijing's millenium hotel for a night.

Having visited Beijing thrice, I decided to visit Qingdao and Tianjin on this trip as well.

From Qingdao airport, I took the airport bus from the domestic terminal to the city train station. I bought a ticket for the same night's train to Beijing before exploring Qingdao.

Qingdao's train station is conveniently located close to the main tourist attractions and the seaside. It is only a short walk away.

Unlike the big metropolitan Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Qingdao is not crowded at all and I felt pleasant just wandering around by foot.

For other attractions, I depended on the subway to get around. Qingdao's metro is clean, cheap, safe and comfortable to ride. Its stations has a map of Qingdao showing the locations of the main tourist attractions.

As the sky turns dark, I made my way back to the train station to board my overnight train towards Beijing, reaching the capital next morning.

I bought a ticket for the more expensive soft sleeper as the cheaper hard sleeper is sold out. It is an enclosed compartment with four beds. Quite comfortable! The only issue is there is no onboard food or beverage service or power sockets.

On China's overnight trains, the train attendant usually exchanges my ticket for a card and wakes me up when the destination approaches.

Once I reached Beijing, I transferred to the local metro and made my way to Beijing's Millenium hotel. Took a long, long time to find it. The hotel is in a convenient location, connected internally to the metro station and an adjacent shopping mall with supermarket. 

I think I was assigned a bigger than standard room, with views of the surrounding office towers and street scene.

Even the toilet and bathtub has great views!

However, the hotel is located far from Beijing's main attractions, namely the forbidden square. Anyway, as I have previously been to the area, I decided to wander around nearby.

After a wonderful one night stay in the Millenium hotel, I checked out and headed to the railway station for a short, comfortable bullet train ride towards Tianjin.

A giant bear 😀

The main attraction in Tianjin is the culture street located within walking distance of a metro station.

An authentic experience walking along the streets of ancient China!

As it turns dark, I took the metro to Tianjin airport for my overnight AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur.

In conclusion, it was an interesting trip to China for the umpteenth time, the sole reason is to utilise my hotel voucher. The Millenium hotel in Beijing is definitely worth the free night stay. I took the chance to visit a different part of Beijing, as well as the cities of Tianjin and Qingdao.