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. 

Sentosa sandsation '17

Sentosa sandsation was held in September 2017. As time permits, I had the chance to visit the sand festival and view the many sand sculptures on display.

From the mainland, I took bus 123 into Sentosa again, thereby saving myself the $2 sentosa admission fee. Just like the previous time, everyone else alights at RWS and I'm the only passenger alighting at the beach station terminal.

From there, the siloso beach is nearby. But the sandsation festival is a long walk in. Admission is free and there are many ushers around, a bit too many, I think, directing traffic.

Alongside each display is a board explaining the meaning of the sculpture. Some are quite profound, while some are adapted to the local context, quite quirky.

Maybe next time they should sell some souvenirs at the site. haha!

Singapore in the past... 

hokkien for the visitors

Local everyday scene

Very intricately sculpted castle. Not sure where is it?

I'm very, very impressed !!

Scoot to Taiwan !

I just returned from a one day, whirlwind tour of Taiwan. Touching down at Changi this morning at 0430. This was an impromptu trip, having booked the return tickets last week. Scoot consistently has low fares from Sg to Taipei and Kaohsiung. 

I chanced upon a return trip from Taipei ~$200 return fly fares, so quickly booked them. It involves an overnight red-eye flight in both directions, reaching Taipei at ~0600 and departing at ~0010. This gives me a full day in Taipei, which works well for me. 

Scoot's timings to Kaohsiung was not favourable to me. A 0600 morning departure meant either I overnight in the airport, or take an expensive ride in the early morning since there is no bus or train at that hours. In addition, it will return to Changi close to midnight, so I may miss the last bus home, again adding on to my budget.

So Taipei it is...

I took the trip there in Scoot's B789, which then moves on to Tokyo. The return trip is in a B788, coming from Sapporo.

Taiwan requires visitors to fill up the immigration card, which requires a hotel address. It took a bit of effort to convince them that I was there for only a day and did not book any hotel. They then ask for my return itinerary, before letting me proceed. Something to take note of.

At the airport, I purchased the easy card, the equivalent of ezlink in SG to travel on the trains. From the airport, the MRT line took ~30 minutes to reach Taipei main station. 

After a hearty breakfast at Yoshiniya there, my first stop is 九份。From Taipei station, I took a subway to zhongxiaofuxing station and transfer to bus 1062. There are some online reviews teaching how to make the transfer. 

My latest experience: take exit 2 of the subway station and walk to the bus stop H beside it. The bus number is labeled there. Fortunately, after a ~8 minute wait, the bus came. It took ~1 hour to reach 九份 bus stop directly.  The bus ride is comfortable and it wasn't crowded at all, all the way.

I sat on the left side of the bus, according to online reviews that it is more scenic.

九份 boasts an old world charm. Many shops selling Taiwanese delicacies along the cobblestone steps.

At the end of the walk, there is a great view of the sea. The way the houses are arranged reminds me of Santorini in Greece. 

My second stop of the day is 十分。Another quaint village on the 平溪 train line. To get there, I took bus 788 from 九份 to ruifang train station, then purchased a one-day pass on the 平溪 train line, giving me unlimited stops on the line. This train frequency is once an hour.

This line is basically a tourist train and gets crowded quickly. The free seating meant we had to be fast to secure our seats for the next 30 minutes.

十分 is famous for the sky lanterns and the magnificent waterfall. The waterfall is a good 35 minutes walk from the train station one way. At the waterfall, there are shops set up selling food and souvenirs.

We are allowed to cross and walk on the railtracks.

Suspension bridge on the way to the waterfalls

After 十分, I did not have time to visit 平溪, so just visited 菁桐, at the end of the train line.

菁桐 has the rail story house, basically a shop selling rail related souvenirs.

After 菁桐, I'm back on the pingxi line back to ruifang station to transfer to another local train (free seating) back to Taipei main station and then transfer to longshan temple:



Something to remember, there is a shop on the ruifang station platform selling rail related souvenirs and 便当， the ubiquitous bento set.  I bought it to try, but not really to my liking.

After dinner, it's time to ride the subway to 淡水，about 45 minutes away.  淡水 is a seaside town with its fisherman's wharf and night market which unfortunately I didn't have time to explore. 

Seaview from 淡水 at night

Soon, I'm back at the airport with two hours to spare to check in at Scoot counter. There are only a few people. The custom and security is fast too. However, almost all the shops are closing at that time, so there is no point coming early.

This is my second time riding Scoot's dreamliners fleet. I felt that the turbulence stabilizer touted on the B787 is great, making a smooth ride in both directions.

Upcoming business class flights '17

It's not everyday I come across heavily discounted business class tickets. But when I do, I try to book it asap. Otherwise, the cheap fares will be gone in flash and I will regret it. Past experiences have taught me so.

Anyway, a couple of months back, I chanced upon discounted Latam return business class tickets from mexico city to easter island at end of the year at US$1022.

Now, it's not exactly cheap. And at that time, I have no intention to visit either cities this year. But after doing some 'homework' online, I booked myself a ticket a few days later. By then, my preferred flight timings were gone, and I had to settle for whatever's left.

As I later found out online, tickets to easter island isn't cheap no matter what time of the year. Latam has a monopoly from Santiago, Chile to Easter island. And right now, economy class tickets on the same route actually costs more than what I have paid for business class tickets. 

So I felt good at having secured my tickets and a great opportunity to try out Latam B787 business class on 4 sectors. I have yet to book my positioning flights to mexico city as I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more discounted tickets to come. Haha!

So looking forward to visit mexico city and easter island for the 1st time 😃. The sectors involve a stopover at Santiago, Chile in each direction, but not long enough for a city tour. Have to save Chile and the rest of Latin America for another day.

More recently, I received an email on discounted cathay a350 business class return flights from Singapore to Bangkok. At a cost of S$519. Now, this isn't exactly cheap for such a short sector. Economy class tickets usually begin from $200 onwards. But this price is definitely cheaper than the usual business class on any airline.

Again, after pondering for some days, I booked it before the price disappears. So looking forward to cathay a350 business class !

For this trip, I have paired it with another return from Bangkok to Hong Kong. Concurrently, Emirates is running a promotion on their 50% economy class award redemption. So after discount, each sector only requires 5,000 skyward miles. I consider it a steal. So quickly booked a same day return. Otherwise, my skyward miles will just expire in no time. I will never ride enough emirates flights to redeem flights. 

Personally, I find that Emirates' ticket prices, though cheaper than the likes of SQ, are still more expensive than qatar and finnair, which regularly offer promotional prices. To date, I have only ride on emirates a380 on 4 sectors from Singapore to London and return from Amsterdam, and also B777 on 4 sectors from Singapore to Barcelona and return from Madrid.

 To conclude, I'm now eagerly waiting for my business class flights !!