And so, our experience at the villa was about to end. At 5am we rose and got ready to leave for the airport. Our chef was up preparing tea, coffee and juice for everyone (had she even been to bed??).
We said some tearful goodbyes as many of us would not see our family members again for many months (my mother and step father live in Australia) before boarding our mini-buses to the airport. The sun was starting to break and as we arrived at the airport.
Flight: SQ941
Carrier: Singapore Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Scheduled Departure time: 09:15
Duration: 2h 30m
Scheduled Arrival time: 11:45 (local)
Routing: Denpasar, Bali (DPS) - Singapore (SIN) T2
Class: Economy
Seat: 33A – (
seat plan)
After saying thanks and good bye to the taxi people we made our way towards the airport check in. Our documents were checked and bags scanned and tagged before we were allowed into the main check in area. It would appear that we’d arrived a little too early as the desks were not yet fully manned.
After a few minutes the check in agents arrived and started to process the queues. The process was relatively quick and we all received our boarding passes for both the Bali to Singapore flight and our onward flight to London.
Bags deposited and documents in hand it was time to head upstairs towards the departure area. We had to first pay the departure tax if 150,000 Rupiah (approx £11.00) and received a stamped receipt. Then it was on to immigration (we’d already filled in our departure cards). This was quick and our passports were checked for the appropriate stamps. We were then out into the rather drab and dingy departure area.
Departure area at DPS
It was a lovely sunny morning and as we still had about an hour and a half before boarding I decided to split from the group and take a wander.
The airport wasn’t particularly modern and could certainly do with a refresh. I found the traditional architecture adorning each aircraft stand a novel concept.
Traditional Balinese architecture, note the air-bridge in the background
Our aircraft arrived on stand at about 7.30am. It turns out that it was exactly the same aircraft that had brought us to Bali some two weeks earlier!
Our 777-200 to Singapore
The flight crew in preparation
After breakfast in one of the nearby restaurants we were called to the gate to go through security and wait for boarding.
Waiting at the gate
Boarding started at 8.30am, 45 minutes before departure and was segregated by class and row. I boarded at 8.50am and sat down in the same seat that I’d sat in on the way out, 33A.
Doors were closed at 9am and it looked as though we would be pushing back early. Hot towels were handed out as the Captain came over the PA to announce a short flight time of 2 hours and 5 minutes. We pushed back shortly after the safety video completed.
We seemed to taxi almost the full length of the runway and then lined up for take off.
Lining up for take off
The take off roll was long and we ascended steeply away from Bali. This was it, the start of the long journey back to London.
Climbing away from Bali
The seat belt signs were quickly turned off, about 10 minutes after take off and the breakfast service started soon after. The choices were chicken noodles or scrambled eggs and sausages. I chose the eggs.
Scrambled eggs and beef sausages
It wasn’t very pleasant as the eggs were quite runny. My step sister commented that it was the worst airline meal that she’d ever had!
After breakfast I took a little wander around the aircraft to say hell to the rest of our party.
The very rear of the aircraft
Spacious rear galley on this 777-200
We had about 40 or so minutes to kill before landing so I made use of the cup holder on the seat in front of me and turned it into an iPhone holder. It worked pretty well.
Watching ‘Cloverfield’
As we made our way towards Singapore and started our descent the view below was rather beautiful.
Islands near Singapore
Our descent was smooth and we touched down to a slightly cloudy Singapore at about 11.20am, some 25 minutes ahead of schedule. This was welcomed because we were worried about our short connection time (only 1 hour). The extra 20 minutes gave us a bit more time to relax.
As we were due to arrive at Terminal 2 we had to taxi all the way past Terminal 3 and over the road. This took about 10 minutes in total but we had the pleasure of not only seeing two A380’s (one was going to take us to London) as well as a 747 and stunned a few drivers on the roads between the terminals.
Our A380 that would take us to London shortly
‘Driving’ over the road between the terminals
747 getting a bit of an airing
Verdict
A pretty standard flight from Singapore Airlines however, I still enjoy the fact that SQ has kept some small touches that other airlines have got rid of such as hot towels on boarding and a full meal service. The meal however was disappointing, but to be honest, I’d had breakfast before hand anyway so it wasn’t an issue.
Next - A380 to London