My upcoming travel plans for now

At this point, I'm certainly not travelling from now till at least June, or till international borders reopen and flights resume.

My Emirates inaugural flight from Singapore to Penang, has once again been postponed to October 2020. For now. However, flights have not been loaded into the website yet and the customer service is unable to rebook for me. So right now I'm still holding on to the cancelled ticket. I'm still hoping to rebook and travel on the inaugural flight, whenever that comes. 

Meanwhile, I will be getting a cash refund for both my Cathay Pacific and my SQ flights. On hindsight, my Cathay Pacific business class flights were booked at a heavy discount last year. And I have only flown two out of four sectors. So it's kind of an opportunity loss for me.

The SQ flights, on the other hand, were also booked last year, although in a heavily discounted economy class.

Fortunately, I'm able to get cash refunds instead of travel credits for both flights. So that next time I could travel on other airlines, if they offer cheaper tickets. However, due to the volume of refunds airlines are handling at the moment, it will be some months before I receive the refunds.

Moving on, my next scheduled, booked flight is on Jetstar's inaugural flight from Singapore to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Frankly, given the current pandemic, I do not really have high hopes of it flying as scheduled. However, I will likely request to rebook to a later inaugural date when it starts flying.

My remaining flights from October onwards are still left at status quo. Hopefully, things will settle down by then and flights will resume again.

One of them is Singapore Airlines inaugural one-way flight to Brussels in October. I have yet to book my return leg back to Singapore. Since I'm not even sure of taking this flight.

The other flight is the recently booked Budapest to Hawaii business class flights in December, which I'm hoping I can take. It will be a great travel experience for me !

Crossing my fingers 😀

One day in Armenia

Continuing on from my trip last December, from Tbilisi, Georgia, I took a direct, overnight sleeper train which would get me to Yerevan, Armenia the next morning.

The sleeper train is made up of bunk beds, similar to the ones I have experienced in other countries. Fortunately, there were only few passengers on this particular night, so the compartment felt more spacious.

For the border crossing from Georgia to Armenia, I need not leave the train while being stamped out of Georgia. 

However, upon reaching Armenian customs, all passengers were required to leave the train and assemble in the small custom building. The immigration process took about half an hour.

Note that the train arrives here in the middle of the night, so less time for sleeping.

Soon, the train arrived in Yerevan, Armenia in the early morning hours. The wet market outside the train station was being set up. Otherwise, all other shops in the vicinity remained closed.

The Yerevan railway station was connected to the nearby metro station via an underground walkway filled with shops. It was a short wait before the first metro train arrived.

I alighted from the metro a few stops later and wandered around on foot.

There were quite a number of statues around this area of Yerevan.

In the morning that I was there, there were hardly any eating places open. There a couple of convenient shops and mini supermarkets open. There was a KFC as well which opened late morning.

Soon after, it was another short walk in the downtown area to meet my driver. Prior to the trip, I had hired a driver to send me back to Georgia, a trip that takes about 6 hours including rest stops. The price quoted was reasonable too for the long distance involved.

Also, I had earlier requested photo stops along the way.

It felt great !

Scenic view of the sea and the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

The second photo stop is at the Sanahin and Haghpat monasteries. A Unesco World Heritage Site.

Then, it was a quick rest stop beside a highway. There was an eatery to purchase some snacks and drinks. From here, it was on to the land border crossing. The custom formalities were much faster than by train. Hardly any queue at all.

After the border crossing, it was straight on to the Tbilisi railway station. With my luggage collected, I headed to the bus stop outside to board the bus back to Tbilisi airport.

A great and wonderful trip in the Caucasus!

My adventures in the Caucasus region !

The caucasus region is situated between the Black sea and the Caspian Sea. It includes countries such as Georgia and Armenia, which I will be visiting on this trip.

After landing in Tbilisi, Georgia in the early morning, I waited for the public bus from the airport to the main railway station. The bus pickup is situated at the very front end of the terminal building, and is a cheap way of getting into Tbilisi city.

I had planned my first day itinerary to be a day trip by rail to Batumi, a coastal city in Georgia. Train tickets can be purchased online.

At the railway station, I located the manned luggage storage office, at a small, separate white building beside the railway platform. I deposited my luggage there for the day. The office is open from the early morning till around 11pm. Fees are reasonable.

Then it's time to hop on the modern, double-decker train. Most seats are taken on the Tbilisi-Batumi route, taking around 5 hours each way.

This is Batumi railway station.

Directly opposite the railway station is the Black sea

Huge waves on the Black sea, with the city of Batumi ahead

The railway station is unfortunately located far from the city centre. Though it is visible, it is actually a long walk. So, taking a bus is necessary.

There is an unsheltered bus stop, not really well signposted, opposite the railway station. Now, there is hardly any reliable information online regarding the bus number that goes into the city. There is no information too at the bus stop. So, after taking pictures of the Black sea, I just boarded the first bus, I think it's bus 8, that comes along. Good thing is, it is heading into the city.

The bus stops just in front of the cable car station, so I decided to ride it up and down. There is no queue and actually no other customers coming for the ride.

In the cable car

The building at the hilltop cable car station. There is a souvenir shop and a restaurant at the first level. Not sure what's higher up.

A small church beside the cable car building

Coming down via cable car, I went in search of my lunch.

Wandering around Batumi old town by foot

Soon, it was time to head back to the railway station again by the same bus number on the opposite side. This time, the bus drops off outside the railway station, much more convenient in the rain.

My train ride back to Tbilisi

The splendid view from my Airbnb accommodation in Tbilisi

On the second day, as I checked out early from my accommodation, I deposited my luggage again at the same office at the railway station. It is a day trip within Tbilisi itself. 

For getting around Tbilisi, there is the metro available. The deep underground escalators remind me of Russia! There is uber as well.

A cool looking bridge !

There is a cable car in Tbilisi as well. An impressive view from the hilltop

An ancient fortress 

View of the old town of Tbilisi from the hilltop

As the sky turns dark, I made my back to the city centre for dinner at a shopping mall food court. Then it's a short metro ride to the railway station for my overnight train ride to Armenia.

The railway station is part of a shopping mall and a department store. The waiting area consists of limited seats. The ticket counters are located at the same level as well. One level up, there is a food court with more seats as well. A door leads out to the train platform and the luggage storage office.

As I will be returning to Tbilisi from Armenia, I decided to leave my luggage overnight in the manned office, given the reasonable fees and left a note with the office personnel.

In my next post, I shall detail this train trip and my adventures in Armenia !😀