March 29, 2010
Hong Kong - Singapore
Tiger Airways Economy Class
Airbus A320-200 9V-TAD Seat 13A
11:00am – 3:20pm

Although my reservation papers and the big departures sign at HKG initially indicated that this Tiger Airways flight was due to depart Hong Kong for Singapore at 11:30am, when I arrived at the counter I discovered that it had been moved up to 11:00am. I wasn’t the only one surprised as a couple of other folks commented on it at the counter as well as down at the gate. In any event, I got my pack tagged and made my way all the way back over to Terminal 1 and gate 62. Sheesh – I was just across the concourse at gate 63 four hours ago. Since then I’ve walked a couple of miles around the airport. If only I’d been able to check my baggage through from JNB on to Tiger Airways, I might have been able to spend my time relaxing in The Pier.

Boarding started without announcement. It was about 10:45am and I was watching as a gate agent emerged from the jetway and left the doorway open. She then positioned herself at the entryway podium and passengers started approaching her with their boarding passes. Boarding had begun. Telepathically.

I had purchased a premium exit row seat for about $30.00 more when I booked this reservation over the internet . It was a good call because seating on Tiger’s A320s is fairly tight, especially for a longer flight. My exit row window seat had heaps of legroom and, unlike US airlines, did not have the skimpy seat cushion at the window seat. Unfortunately, Tiger along with most international airlines insist that those of us sat in the exit row store all carry-on bags above us. Had I remembered this, I would have booked an aisle seat as both of my seatmates attempted to sleep through most of the flight.

Flight time down to Singapore was a speedy three hours and thirty-five minutes. Food For Sale was offered, including hot meals. Because I had neither Hong Kong nor Singapore currency, I had asked at the gate whether credit cards were accepted. Although the person I spoke to responded to English, unfortunately that response was limited to nodding and mumbled something or others. I used my credit card to purchase a sandwich and a bottle of water in the airport.

I slept through the last two hours of this flight. We landed on a typically muggy afternoon in Singapore. Thankfully the Budget Terminal was reasonably well air-conditioned and, after clearing customs, I stored my backpack with Left Luggage and took the MRT into town.

SINGAPORE

Back in 2004, I used Priceline to score a room at the Millennium Hotel on Orchard Road for just $55.00 USD. These days, $55.00 won’t get you squat with Priceline. At least, not in Singapore. You’re looking at a minimum bid of about $85.00 to even sniff a room. That’s too much for me. If I worked a normal 48-50 week per year job and was taking my wife and kids out on a trip for a couple of weeks, I’d be compacting the bulk of the year’s travel expenditures into one trip and we’d get a proper hotel. The difference however is that I’m a single traveler and this isn’t some two week holiday I’m on. The way I see it, I’m taking my life on the road for a couple of months and as such, I can’t afford to go tossing around $100.00 or more a night for accommodations. Actually, I can afford it but it wouldn’t be fiscally prudent to pay it.

Maybe it goes back to my hitch-hiking days and all those nights I spent sleeping for free behind bushes or any place where I could be out of sight. Or perhaps it was all the trips I made to Alaska and Hawaii or wherever back in the 1970s where my travel budget was predicated upon camping out for most of those nights. The main thing was to be there. It wasn’t to have a room with a view. My pride was never wounded by not sleeping in a private room and I generally always got a good nights’ sleep. Quite possibly it’s the hundreds of nights I’ve spent at $30.00/night motels in small towns along lonely highways that simply won’t allow me to spend three or four times as much money for the right to sleep indoors or in privacy.

Over at hostelz.com I found a private room at a place named after its address – 1 Florence Close. The price was right - $37.00/night – and the location was easily reached via Singapore’s MRT or rapid transit trains. Better yet, the MRT station was just two blocks away. A 10% deposit secured my reservation.

The young lady running the place greeted me with flawless English and, after collecting the balance due on my reservation, showed me to my room. It should be noted here that 1 Florence Close is definitely not a hotel. I would call it a small boarding house, catering mainly to local students. Most if not all of them stay in one of three four-bunk dorm rooms.

My private room measured about 9’x9’ and included a queen sized mattress on the floor (Made up with sheets and a comforter), an air conditioner and a small color television. The air conditioner pumped out blessedly cold air and the mattress was comfortable. It’ll do.

Down the hall was the kitchen and a communal bathroom with private showers. Two beautiful long haired cats, Romeo and Pepper, were also available for company and attention. After having walked two blocks in Singapore’s 90° temperature and humidity, I was feeling pretty sticky so I enjoyed an intentionally cold shower and then spent the next hour reveling under the cool breeze from my air conditioner. At about 7pm I headed out for dinner at a Malaysian restaurant just up the street . When I returned, the buzz of activity and voices at 1 Florence Close had almost completely died down and by 10pm I was sleeping soundly in what was probably the coldest room in the building.


March 30, 2010
Singapore - Perth
Tiger Airways Economy Class
Airbus A320-200 9V-TAD Seat 13A
3:50pm – 9:20pm

I hadn’t noticed any restaurants in the vicinity that offered anything akin to an egg breakfast, so after checking out I headed back to the MRT and, after a short connection to another line, got off at the Orchard Road station. I remembered a nice air conditioned coffee shop I’d eaten at back in 2004 that was just a short walk from the station. I suppose I could have eaten a local style breakfast but it was starting to get hot and I didn’t want to get all sticky again since the restaurants near Florence Close offered only open air seating. Humidity and I do not get along well.

By 1pm I was back at Changi Airport. Although my flight to Perth wasn’t scheduled to depart until 3:50pm, I needed to stop by the Air Asia sales counter to purchase a ticket to Kuala Lumpur for two weeks hence. Although Air Asia is the largest low cost carrier in Asia and operates a very nice looking and easy to use website, they don’t accept most American credit cards. During the planning stages of this trip, I had researched the credit card problem over the internet and found a couple of forums on FlyerTalk that addressed the issue. In the Billing Address portion of the Payment section, Air Asia does not provide any US states. Instead you may select “Other” for foreign countries. Some folks were able to get approval on their cards simply by leaving this space blank. I was not. I also tried calling long distance but again, to no avail. My only alternative was to show up in person at an Air Asia counter.

Via its internet site, Air Asia offered seats on its 2:35pm flight to Kuala Lumpur for just $5.00 SGD. When all the taxes and incidental charges are included, the total comes to about $47.00. Unfortunately, these rates don’t apply for those of us forced to purchase their tickets in person. I ended up paying an additional $30.00 for the same reservation. Even so, this was far less than I would have paid had I flown on Silkair, Singapore or Malaysian and although I could have purchased tickets over the internet on JetStar Asia or Tiger for less, I wanted to add Air Asia to my collection of 139 airlines flown.

Back at the Budget Terminal, I reclaimed my pack from Left Luggage and checked it through to Perth. Surprisingly, the baggage tag required the agent to hand write PER. I inspected the tag to ensure that the agent had written it clearly. With similarly timed Tiger departures to Kuching, Penang and Hong Kong, I didn’t want my pack going astray for want of poor penmanship.



Tiger Air A320


Perth sits 2,430 miles south-southeast of Singapore. This translates into a five hour flight on which it is well worth the extra $30.00 to enjoy the legroom offered via an exit row seat. I might add that my total airfare, including the premium seat charge, came to just $193.00 USD – a steal compared to the almost $700.00 being asked by Qantas and Singapore Airlines.

We landed in Perth on a nice clear evening and I had my powdered coffee creamer confiscated by customs before being allowed into Australia. Something about sodium caseinate and the potential for imported hoof and mouth disease. Hmm… The customs agent and I had a fun chat about Sarah Palin and I assured him that she was unlikely to ever be more than a charismatic cheerleader for the Republican party via Fox’s “news” channel.

* * * * * * *

Hotel accommodations in Australia are, by my standards, ridiculously expensive. My standards notwithstanding, the overall cost of living in Australia has become quite expensive over the past twenty years and so the $48.00 I shelled out for a hot, dingy room at the local YMCA was a deal compared to what I would have paid elsewhere. Even the tiny modular rooms at the airport Formule 1 hotel were going for an incredible $94.00 per night!

Back in the early 1980s when the Australian dollar was worth more than the US dollar, I thought the prices throughout Australia were quite reasonable, exchange notwithstanding. Even through the nineties the prices remained fairly reasonable, although the exchange rate was decidedly in our favor throughout much of that time. Something bad happened over the past ten years though. These days, a decent restaurant breakfast will run you the equivalent of $14.00 USD (Not including the $3.00 per cup coffee) and most restaurant hamburgers I’ve seen have been running about $14.00 USD. When I was in Australia two years ago, there was a report in the news that Australian beef could be bought in Los Angeles for one third the price that was being charged in Australia. Worst of all, Australian beer costs way more here in Australia than it does in the US. I can buy a six pack of Cooper’s Ale back home for $9.00 USD. I just paid the equivalent of $17.75 USD for that same six pack today. I’ve bought Cascade Premium for under $8.00 back home. Here, you’re looking at about $14.00 for the same six pack. I just saw a bottle of Penfolds Bin 389 on sale for $60.00 or about $57.00 USD. Back home, I buy that same wine for about $23.00.

Mind you, I’m not complaining about these prices for my sake. I’m only a visitor here, so I don’t have to deal with these prices but for a few days. However, for all you Aussies who have to pay these bloated prices day in and day out, there ought to be a revolution! How did things ever get so expensive for you all?