I am a traveler, like my father before me. Around the world in F & J
Mar 8, 2019, 6:38 pm
#17
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: US Air, UA BA LH AI DELTA MARRIOTT CHOICE SGP
Posts: 9,883
The flashlight reminds me of my late Father in Law, always had one handy.
Mar 8, 2019, 7:47 pm
#18
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,203
A new report from SFO777 AND Madone59?! Don't you folks know that I have things to do and can't be setting aside time to read these great reports.
As others have stated more eloquently, this is a really cool experience with your dad. I hope you post his conclusion about today's travel vs. travel during his time.
As others have stated more eloquently, this is a really cool experience with your dad. I hope you post his conclusion about today's travel vs. travel during his time.
Mar 8, 2019, 8:12 pm
#19
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: anywhere and everywhere
Programs: UA GS, AS MVP 100K, DL Diamond, Marriot Lifetime Titanium, AmEx Centurion
Posts: 5,523
Mar 9, 2019, 1:09 am
#20
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Geneva, Dubai, Paris
Programs: Disillusioned Cent
Posts: 1,880
Love your captions, absolutely hilarious... 
Glad that you came out victorious of your struggle with the alarm clock thanks to Divine intervention.
And the odd typo makes your report even more fun: remind me to order "needle" soup next time I'm flying with JAL...
Glad that you came out victorious of your struggle with the alarm clock thanks to Divine intervention.
And the odd typo makes your report even more fun: remind me to order "needle" soup next time I'm flying with JAL...
Mar 9, 2019, 5:04 am
#22
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: JNB
Programs: Flying Blue, Miles and Smiles, Hhonors, ICHotels
Posts: 1,307
Mar 9, 2019, 8:53 am
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
Thanks DanielW I do need to get to Australia or New Zealand, Antarctica and South America to complete the list some time don't I??
chongl I tell JohnRain this regularly!!!!! WE need to get him off the bench now too. I love the heartfelt words about your father and the wanderlust that it spawned in you. Some of my fondest travel memories are of trips with my parents as we moved to Japan, back to the US and then much later to the UK and eventually back home. I've never forgotten those flights and today still love to get on a plane and go somewhere. I look forward to reading about the journey.
What a wonderful and emotional introduction. You really touched my heart with this as I did something so similar with my dad nearly 10 years when we did a round the world on SQ, overnighting in Frankfurt, Singapore and Hong Kong along the way. I'm really looking forward to seeing and feeling your trip.
Thank you for the kind words, and for following along JohnRain. This was indeed something I feel lucky to have done.
Mar 11, 2019, 1:51 pm
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
Chapter 2: Humidity and Food
Traveling alone is a very special experience I've come to enjoy. I like to get up and go, eat when I am hungry and walk until my feet fall off. I like to wonder around just exploring, letting my camera lead the way, but the first day in Singapore was a big splash of cold water on my aimless wondering ways. We hadn't been up an hour when I was fielding questions such as.......
"Where are we going?"
"How long will it take?"
"How far away is it, and how do we get there?"
"Why is the sky blue"
"What are we eating for lunch, and how far is lunch from where we're going?"
"What are we going to do after that"
"When will we be back to the hotel?"
Not only did I not have answers to like 80% of those questions, I had zero interest in finding them. This, this was going to be a challenge...also how the hell did we start our eating in Singapore at the Marriott lounge breakfast buffet? Is this a fever dream? Maybe I am still asleep in the plane? Is this what being on drugs is like?? We're in Sing-a-freaking-pore eating corn flakes and soporific dim-sum, someone help. I was definitely not in [ solo travel] Kansas anymore Toto - dad wanted a western breakfast and he got it. Soggy bacon and all. After much consternation and a soupcon of bickering we had a plan for the day. We'd head out towards the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel to see what we could of the Grand Prix track, eat lunch near Chinatown and visit the tooth temple which my father had been to before and really wanted to see again. We headed out onto Orchard road to walk and start moving in the right direction; but first.....
....let me take a selfie
Balloon art. Downward dog
Puddles
Squat
About a mile after leaving the hotel my dad had had enough of the wondering....and the heat....so he flagged down a cab and we went right to the flyer and the track.
Unfortunately the grid and straight were swarmed by construction of bleachers for some upcoming parade but it was very cool to walk around turns 22 and 23 which are closed off to regular traffic.
Turn 22
Exiting turn 22 towards pit entry, turn 23 and the front straight
At pit entry
Curb at turn 23
Singapore logo on the outside of 23
After taking more pictures of asphalt than I am willing to admit, blessing the track for Lewis Hamilton AND blowing kisses to the spot where both Ferrari's crashed in 2017 as a loving middle finger to my friend @JohnRain it was time for lunch. Because China town and Tooth were on the list it was an easy choice to make Hawker Chan Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle our first lunch. Famously one of the worlds cheapest Michelin star restaurants I couldn't think of a better first meal back in Singapore for my dad
Just perfect!
I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the line moved at noon, but there was an out the door wait as we left which I would not have wanted to wait in. I have been checking Youtube regularly because there was an Indian foodie show taping while we were there - so if anyone see's my purple hat in the background some day let me know! What an awesome lunch. Time to walk it off through Chinatown.
Street art
"We need to go here!"
"Ok dad. Let's do it"
The Chinatown complex is multiple floors of small shops and stalls. While wondering around my father reminisced that this is where most of our gifts came from. Last minute wonders through the hallways and corridors before heading to the airport.
Just watching him scan the stalls and displays was a blast. You could see the gears turning on what was new, and what was old.
Not lego's
They say it's good luck
I am the year of the boar, and 2019 is my year!
Restaurant among the shops
All in all the Chinatown main drag, and the shopping complex felt like a bit of a tourist trap. Not that I am opposed to tourist traps, it just felt inauthentic un-like little India which we'd explore later in the trip. At the end of the street was the temple.
Stepping into Tooth was breathtaking, and If you have never been I highly recommend it. There was so much to see, and so much to take in - I could have wondered around for hours.
After countless laps of the main floor, and visits to the exhibits on the upper floors it was time to find a cold beer so we wondered until we bumped into The Guild; which we picked for no reason at all.
Good advise
After a relaxing beer it was time for a hotel rest and pit-stop so we wondered back towards main Chinatown where we knew we'd find a cab.
Lanterns
Roller'
After our pit-stop which turned out to be a little bit of a nap it was dinner time. Struggling to stay awake we wanted to be close to the hotel, eat early and get to bed so we headed across the street to ION mall. Now I know you're probably reading that we went to ION and spitting out your beverage in shock or disgust, especially after I complained about the lounge breakfast but hear me out! I asked a local where to find good dumplings, and was pointed us to Din Tai Fung - been there done that - so I pushed a little harder and asked where would a local go and he recommended basement level 4 of the ION mall which had a "very popular food court" Food opera. Specifically we were pointed to fortunate restaurant, and I will tell you it was absolutely amazing. Fortunate was great but the whole level was crammed with different stalls so after a few dim-sum dishes we moved around and tried a few other places, each better than the last.
No this wasn't our order
This was
Chicken wings
and this....Char siu
Absolutely stuffed, and wondering around as if we had discovered something we headed back to the hotel and went down with the sun.
Next: Part 3 Dan can't read a map A.K.A Serendipity
"Where are we going?"
"How long will it take?"
"How far away is it, and how do we get there?"
"Why is the sky blue"
"What are we eating for lunch, and how far is lunch from where we're going?"
"What are we going to do after that"
"When will we be back to the hotel?"
Not only did I not have answers to like 80% of those questions, I had zero interest in finding them. This, this was going to be a challenge...also how the hell did we start our eating in Singapore at the Marriott lounge breakfast buffet? Is this a fever dream? Maybe I am still asleep in the plane? Is this what being on drugs is like?? We're in Sing-a-freaking-pore eating corn flakes and soporific dim-sum, someone help. I was definitely not in [ solo travel] Kansas anymore Toto - dad wanted a western breakfast and he got it. Soggy bacon and all. After much consternation and a soupcon of bickering we had a plan for the day. We'd head out towards the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel to see what we could of the Grand Prix track, eat lunch near Chinatown and visit the tooth temple which my father had been to before and really wanted to see again. We headed out onto Orchard road to walk and start moving in the right direction; but first.....
....let me take a selfie
Balloon art. Downward dog
Puddles
Squat
About a mile after leaving the hotel my dad had had enough of the wondering....and the heat....so he flagged down a cab and we went right to the flyer and the track.
Unfortunately the grid and straight were swarmed by construction of bleachers for some upcoming parade but it was very cool to walk around turns 22 and 23 which are closed off to regular traffic.
Turn 22
Exiting turn 22 towards pit entry, turn 23 and the front straight
At pit entry
Curb at turn 23
Singapore logo on the outside of 23
After taking more pictures of asphalt than I am willing to admit, blessing the track for Lewis Hamilton AND blowing kisses to the spot where both Ferrari's crashed in 2017 as a loving middle finger to my friend @JohnRain it was time for lunch. Because China town and Tooth were on the list it was an easy choice to make Hawker Chan Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle our first lunch. Famously one of the worlds cheapest Michelin star restaurants I couldn't think of a better first meal back in Singapore for my dad
Just perfect!
I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the line moved at noon, but there was an out the door wait as we left which I would not have wanted to wait in. I have been checking Youtube regularly because there was an Indian foodie show taping while we were there - so if anyone see's my purple hat in the background some day let me know! What an awesome lunch. Time to walk it off through Chinatown.
Street art
"We need to go here!"
"Ok dad. Let's do it"
The Chinatown complex is multiple floors of small shops and stalls. While wondering around my father reminisced that this is where most of our gifts came from. Last minute wonders through the hallways and corridors before heading to the airport.
Just watching him scan the stalls and displays was a blast. You could see the gears turning on what was new, and what was old.
Not lego's
They say it's good luck
I am the year of the boar, and 2019 is my year!
Restaurant among the shops
All in all the Chinatown main drag, and the shopping complex felt like a bit of a tourist trap. Not that I am opposed to tourist traps, it just felt inauthentic un-like little India which we'd explore later in the trip. At the end of the street was the temple.
Stepping into Tooth was breathtaking, and If you have never been I highly recommend it. There was so much to see, and so much to take in - I could have wondered around for hours.
After countless laps of the main floor, and visits to the exhibits on the upper floors it was time to find a cold beer so we wondered until we bumped into The Guild; which we picked for no reason at all.
Good advise
After a relaxing beer it was time for a hotel rest and pit-stop so we wondered back towards main Chinatown where we knew we'd find a cab.
Lanterns
Roller'
After our pit-stop which turned out to be a little bit of a nap it was dinner time. Struggling to stay awake we wanted to be close to the hotel, eat early and get to bed so we headed across the street to ION mall. Now I know you're probably reading that we went to ION and spitting out your beverage in shock or disgust, especially after I complained about the lounge breakfast but hear me out! I asked a local where to find good dumplings, and was pointed us to Din Tai Fung - been there done that - so I pushed a little harder and asked where would a local go and he recommended basement level 4 of the ION mall which had a "very popular food court" Food opera. Specifically we were pointed to fortunate restaurant, and I will tell you it was absolutely amazing. Fortunate was great but the whole level was crammed with different stalls so after a few dim-sum dishes we moved around and tried a few other places, each better than the last.
No this wasn't our order
This was
Chicken wings
and this....Char siu
Absolutely stuffed, and wondering around as if we had discovered something we headed back to the hotel and went down with the sun.
Next: Part 3 Dan can't read a map A.K.A Serendipity
Last edited by Madone59; Jun 8, 2019 at 6:33 pm
Mar 12, 2019, 8:53 am
#27
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 238
Like many others, truly enjoying your report and remembering my own Dad. While I didn’t get to do a trip like this with him, I did get to blow some USAirways points and take dear old Mom to Italy in Envoy class long before anyone had heard of lie flat seats. She still thought she had died and gone to heaven.
Looking forward to the rest of your report especially your father’s impressions on the differences from his flying days.
Thanks for including us!
Looking forward to the rest of your report especially your father’s impressions on the differences from his flying days.
Thanks for including us!
Mar 12, 2019, 9:06 am
#28
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: LAX
Programs: United Silver, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 988
After taking more pictures of asphalt than I am willing to admit, blessing the track for Lewis Hamilton AND blowing kisses to the spot where both Ferrari's crashed in 2017 as a loving middle finger to my friend @JohnRain it was time for lunch.
LH44 coming for WDC #6 , although this season seems like things will be closer than ever
Mar 13, 2019, 8:36 am
#30
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
- thanks for following alongA new report from SFO777 AND Madone59?! Don't you folks know that I have things to do and can't be setting aside time to read these great reports.
As others have stated more eloquently, this is a really cool experience with your dad. I hope you post his conclusion about today's travel vs. travel during his time.
As others have stated more eloquently, this is a really cool experience with your dad. I hope you post his conclusion about today's travel vs. travel during his time.
I am glad you're enjoying roadwarrier