Saturday, 3 February 2018

UP ABOVE THE WORLD SO HIGH ! -NEW ZEALAND JOURNEY


BLOG POST 7


The Flight attendants or cabin crew (also known as  stewards/ stewardesses , air hosts/hostesses, cabin attendants) arrived ,apparently one flight attendant per 50 passenger seats is needed as per regulations, after some time the boarding announcement was made, slowly all of us  gathered our luggage together.  

Passengers with small children and business class were allowed to board first ,later we were called as per seat numbers, the last seats called first to avoid crowding in the aisles, though we found many clustering near the gate entry trying to get in first, "gate lice –a slang word for people who try to crash in "

The seats though economy class were quite comfortable and had adequate leg and knee room, we had head phones , big, fluffy pillows and blankets placed on the seats, adjustable personal reading light, large personal LCD monitor , and handheld control unit and  in seat power supply was provided. We were welcomed with  refreshing wet towels to freshen up.

Kris World Singapore Airlines’ award-winning in flight entertainment system  offered us the latest selection of programming and games. We were handed individual toothbrush, toothpaste and knitted sock packs..

Eyeshades and ear plugs were also provided on request to help customers sleep more comfortably, Complimentary Singapore Airlines postcards, playing cards and writing kits were available on a request basis, young travellers below the age of 12 were also treated to exclusive Cartoon Network collectible items
"Crotch Watch’ was performed  another slang word used for the moment when the flight attendants walk down the aisle making sure our seat belts are fastened "

After the safety announcements were made to which most of the passengers paid no heed to as usual, the flight took off on time

I settled down to watch from my window seat the beautiful Hyderabad city by night and had a literal bird’s eye view, oh how beautiful is my city I thought, looking like a bride decked up in a sari with zardosi embroidery. As we had to spend 4 1/2 hrs on the flight to Singapore we tried to see what we could watch in the on flight entertainment.

Travel, whether it is by air, train or by road is a good chance for one to catch up on reading and movies .Before we could even choose the films the dinner was served pretty fast and we had the privilege of getting served first as we had ordered Non Vegetarian Hindu meal ,other options were, Baby Meal, Post-Weaning Meal, Child Meal, , Muslim,  Vegetarian Raw Meal,  Vegetarian Indian meal,  Vegetarian  Jain Meal,  Vegetarian Oriental Meal,  Western meals. 

The meal was wholesome and had chicken curry, fried rice, salads ,a sweet and cookies, food was well cooked and spicy ,only disadvantage was that we had no choice of other items like fish.
There was a vast choice of beverages with meals - red wine, white wine, spirits, juices, soft drinks, water and plenty of the non-alcoholic drinks which were being continuously offered during the entire flight too, flight attendants came around often to offer drinks at regular intervals, there was a snack service with a choice of fruits, sandwiches and chips.

I found the cabin crew very courteous and friendly, I found many of the passengers asking for water apparently to rehydrate themselves , lavatories had mouthwash, skin moisturisers, cologne and after-shave lotions to keep us fresh  and also were kept very clean ,I was quite sympathetic towards the tirelessly working cabin crew who had smiling faces throughout the flight

In 4 hrs 40 minutes we reached Singapore ,local time was 6.15 in the morning, distance to Singapore from Hyderabad is 2052 miles / 3302.37 km / 1783.14 nautical miles and we had gone over the Indian ocean. The time had just flown along with the flight, we were not able to sleep though we tried to doze.

I sat imagining myself outside the plane with outside temperature varying from -24°C at 20,000 ft to -57°C at 40,000 ft, no amount of safety precautions would suffice if there was an air crash were my morbid thoughts! It did not matter that we had paid for travel insurance, what was glaring at me was coverage for hijack which was maximum of 500 dollars for 5 days, what if the hijack extended for more days I thought cautiously!

As our check in luggage would be transferred to the next flight which was run by Air New Zealand ,we walked out into the terminal 2 of Singapore Changi airport which was positively glittering with the Christmas decorations and colourful shops took a few snaps at some of the spots and by the complimentary sky train went to terminal 3 for onward journey to Auckland ,we did a mistake of going very early to this terminal where there was not much shopping or entertainment .

We freshened up and waited looking around, many of the passengers were stretching themselves on the comfortable couches in the lounges ,we were in a state of limbo due to the changing time zones ,security check for the gate was very strict and we could see a lot of shampoos ,tooth pastes and deodorants accumulating in the bins

After a long drowsy wait we got a call for boarding the flight to Auckland , by now the no of Indians had become a trickle and we could see  a whole lot of people from various other countries in the lounge. 

Once we got into the flight we settled down for our 6.1/2 hrs journey ,immediately after the plane took off and seat belt sign was switched off ,the breakfast was served, by now our hunger was suppressed as our body clock said plaintively how are you going to eat breakfast so early but we had to sustain ourselves ,so we ate sparingly, slept partly, read few books and saw some more movies.

I managed to see many movies during the air travel but I particularly liked the Kannada movie Ondu Motteya Kathe,( the bald and the beautiful) which impressed me a lot, the hero is a bald man looking out for brides ,wants a beautiful girl ,the film focuses on body shaming and the imperfections, it was very close to reality, it had a positive ending where the hero gets a suitable bride for himself, the other films I liked was the Intern played by Robert De Niro and the 101 Dalmatians which I watched for  second time

It was 11.45 pm by the time the flight landed in Auckland ,we had now very little time to check out of the airport and find our Pacific tour person waiting for us ,go to our hotel, have a wink for few hours and then start our tour.

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