UA_Flyer

Madone59

As always - great photos! Thank you for sharing.

UA_Flyer

Grand Hyatt Singapore has been my "home away from Home" in Singapore for the past 6 years. In the past six years, I think I have only tried the Four Seasons, Marriott and Marian Bay Sands in Singapore, but I kept going to the Grand Hyatt.

It is not the prettiest or newest hotel, but IMHO, the staff is great and I have not failed to get an automatic King Suite upgrade even with awards stay.

I checked into the Hyatt in the middle of the afternoon but needed to get ready for a dinner. The emotion stain pushed me collapsing on the bed as soon as I checked in.

UA_Flyer

Going out to dinner with companions seemed to be a perfect remedy to brighten the mood and kept my mind occupied.

The restaurant is called No Signboard Seafood Restaurant located at Esplanade, which had a view of the Singapore Skyline of Marina Bay area.

UA_Flyer

January 29 was a long day. Glad it was over. Although the day ended in a better mood by having dinner in the city, waking up the next morning was a drag. I got a long flight to London today, and my state of mind was still a blur from jetlag of the previous trip to Europe just four days ago and passing of a friend.

Breakfast was plain as I could remember. Grand Club at Singapore is one of the better lounge in the Hyatt system, but this day was just a perfunctory visit.















Now this drink below all the sudden made me smile. A childhood taste came back to life. Yakult was a huge treat when I was a little boy. It was not available in Europe and America growing up. There was a gap of more than 20 years that I had no tasted this little healthy wonder. Needless to say, whenever I visit Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, a few bottles of this wonder drink is a must for me.

UA_Flyer

Thanks for your comment. The mood does swing up and down during the trip.

Thanks. You are correct. It is a up and down RTW trip. The segment to London on SQ's refurbished J seat and cabin did brighten my mood a bit. Photos coming up in the next a few posts.

Thanks. I had a pocket camera and an iPhone with me on this trip. I was not in the mood to bring my DSLR. I am surprised by the quality of the iPhone camera lately.

UA_Flyer

Singapore Terminal 3 is one the airports I actually enjoy going to. It is spacious, clean, top class facilities. There are airports around the world with similar or better facilities, but Singapore airport has done an excellent job in manage the traffic and crowd (either through building excess physical facilities or timing of the flights). Unlike PEK, HKG, ICN, AMS, adn DUB, Singapore T3 does not seem to have the crowded feeling. T1 and T2 feels more claustrophobic.

On this day, the Chinese New year decorations are in full swing. The year of the sheep seems to be in full celebration already, although the Actual new year day was about 2 weeks away.

UA_Flyer

jacobac00

Thank you for posting this report. Hopefully the trip gets better for you. I'm sorry for your loss.

UA_Flyer

Before I left Singapore Silver Kris Lounge, I took the encourage to write to the wife of the deceased friend. I wrote about the impact her husband made on my life and how he helped me when I was just a young student, and shared some of the memories I had of her husband. I apologized if it was not for my business trip, I'd flown back to Miami to respect at the funeral services.

I also wrote a separate email expressing my sorrow and shared my feelings to others who were planning to attend the funeral services.

Upon finished writing the two difficult and emotional emails, I actually felt a little better. I was looking forward to the next flight to London......

Ber2dca

Yeah, I'll be honest with you. I'll never understand why people actually *envy* those who do these kinds of trips for work on a regular basis. Doing it for 10+ years has to hurt your life expectancy.

UA_Flyer

I decided that I should try to "enjoy" the rest of my trip, at least starting with the next flight from Singapore to London on SQ. It is never good to start any trip with a gloomy mood at the start of the trip. It would Impact my work and concentration and add stress to my mental state.

Singapore Airlines introduced new first and business class seats in late 2013 on its newly delivered 773ER. This is the first time I have experienced the new business class seats. It is definitely an improvement with more storage and more recline angel, but one still has to get up and manually convert the seat into a bed. Personally, I still prefer the BR seat with better privacy feature and automatic fully recline function.

TOMFORD

I was disappointed at first that this was all black and white, as I was hoping for a TR not an art gallery, but rejoice for color! Those SQ seats look plush.

SAUCflyer

Singapore is not blessed with a natural landscape but the nation certainly built one for herself. I forgot how beautiful the country island has become. Those pictures are enviable, thanks for the treat!

UA_Flyer

Appreciate your comment jacobac00!

I hear you Ber2dca! Points well made. There was a Flytalker suffered heart attack a few years after flying too much for work. I am also trying to be careful with my body after flown more than five consecutive years of 300K+ BIS flying. I will schedule more times in between flights on the ground and arrive at my destination enough time to relax and exercise. It is not just the physical part but the personal life also impacted for being on the road so much.

B+W photos and color photos are used to express my moods at the time. There is no intention to trying to turn this into a art gallery type of report. I do appreciate your comment on the photos and SQ seats. More color photos on SQ will come up shortly. Thank you agp423!

Thanks SAUCflyer! I hope you try to visit more often and spend more time in Singapore to appreciate its efficiency and charms. Hope we get to do trip together again and co-author another trip report like we did in 2014.