What day is it? Singapore to London
We found the lounge in Singapore after a solid 15-minute walk (with plenty of travellators). From disembarking to boarding again, we had about an hour—so 30 minutes walking and 30 minutes in the lounge. Just enough time to refresh and get ready for the 14-hour flight to London. I considered a shower, but there was a queue, and I wasn’t keen on waiting.
After the feast we’d had on the previous flight, we weren’t overly hungry—but it felt rude not to try something from the lounge restaurant. Ros had a fruit platter, and I went with a sponge cake. Both were great, though we couldn’t finish them. Then it was time to hike back to the gate.
Security shenanigans
Security in Singapore always throws up something interesting. There’s always that one person with water bottles, someone emptying their entire bag... and then there’s me.
My bags cleared fine, but as I was packing up, I got “randomly” selected for an explosives test. Of course. Nothing found (unsurprisingly), but it’s become tradition by now—wouldn’t be a proper trip without it.
Boarding and bedtime
We boarded shortly after and this time I was in 2A and Ros was in 1A. Ros took up the offer of champagne but I had to decline as I was simply stuffed. In the immortal words of a Monty Python skit, if I had anything else I would have been saying “bring me a bucket!”.
We decided to watch a movie 'together'. They had a feature where you could watch the same movie, synced, with somebody in another seat. We started to watch F***, Marry, Kill before somewhere around 3am Brisbane time, we were offered dinner. Ros had some chicken; I opted for apricot and pecan cake. Both hit the spot, but what I really needed was sleep.
My bed was made up and I’m sure within a minute of my head hitting the pillow I was out like a light. Unsure if I snored or not (or how loudly!), but you get what you get. On and off I probably had about 5-6 hours sleep, enough to get me through the next 12 hours or so until we arrive in Malaga. Ros on the other hand had little to no sleep so basically watched a whole series of Fake and then the rest of the movie, needless to say she did an all-nighter haha.
A surprise at 40,000 feet
Breakfast was served (Ros: scrambled eggs and bacon; me: pancakes with lemon curd, blueberries, and bacon—somehow still managing to fit more food in). I’m not even going to think about the scales until we get home.
Just before landing, Jason, our flight attendant, asked to speak with both of us. For a moment I thought we were in trouble with the principal 😊—but it turned out to be something far more moving.
On behalf of the crew, Jason gave us a handwritten card, a Qantas keychain, and a bottle of Pommery Louise 2006 champagne. They’d heard about our journey and my recovery from pancreatic cancer, and wanted to acknowledge it. It brought Ros to tears—and honestly, it was a moment we’ll never forget.
What time even is it?
I don’t know what day is it, I don’t know what time it is. Either in Australia, Singapore or London. We took off on 4th of June at 3pm in Sydney, landed in Singapore at 11pm Sydney time (9pm Singapore), took off 2 hours later and now I think it’s Thursday 5th somewhere around 2am London time as I write this. Don’t ask me what time it is in Australia, what meal I should be eating or if my body clock has adjusted – it’s just adjusted to knowing everything is messed up.
