Not the Inaugural flight - SQ25 on A380 JFK-FRA-SIN

[MAN Flyer]

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

Straight to the check-in counter. Queues have already formed. Fortunately
J was pretty thin, though a 5-min wait was required before it was my turn.

Looks like someone has dug out some old display boards there, as the silly Suites 'beyond...' tag line was qioetly dropped a while ago, and as we all know, those JCL are way beyond being 'new' now having been around for years.

Before I slept, I remembered activating the DND button, as I needed to get
some quality sleep. "Mr X! Mr X!" I heard a scream that tore me out of a very
sweet dream. Tearing off my blinds, jerked up, I saw sweet stewardess,
Nicole, staring down at me, mouthing "Mr X!". Unplugging my 32db-rated ear
plugs, I heard her ask, "Mr X, would you like breakfast?!" ARRRRGGGGGHHHH,
don't you see the DND light! I wanted to scream!

Yes, that can be extremely annoying, and is the reason I always make a point of telling them not to wake me up rather than rely on that DND sign. If they could sort that out and cut back on most of the OTT use of the fasten seatbelt signs and annoying announcements mid flight, which also wake you up, they would be almost there, again.

[StarG]

Very nice TR & pictures, thanks for sharing, CarbonMan.

I too have had the FSS in Business Class trying wake me up for breakfast on a few flights, despite having the DND light on.
Those last one/one and a half hour sleep makes a lot of difference for flights arriving early in the morning.

[CarbonMan]

Thanks, Singapore Guy, 9V-SIA, MAN Flyer & StarG.

serve the ice cream that is properly thawed

I have to say that 4 flights out of 5, the ice-cream cannot be eaten immediately.

I like the high resolution food pictures

Like many excellent photographers here, I try to give a viewpoint that no one else has given.

I always make a point of telling them not to wake me up rather than rely on that DND sign

Business Class trying wake me up for breakfast on a few flights, despite having the DND light on

Yes, I should've done that but when one is almost dozing off, one doesn't really want to hail a stewardess. I think I should just grab one of those DND signs from the hotel room doors and place it over my face the next time.

[phaleesy]

Before I slept, I remembered activating the DND button, as I needed to get
some quality sleep. "Mr X! Mr X!" I heard a scream that tore me out of a very
sweet dream. Tearing off my blinds, jerked up, I saw sweet stewardess,
Nicole, staring down at me, mouthing "Mr X!". Unplugging my 32db-rated ear
plugs, I heard her ask, "Mr X, would you like breakfast?!" ARRRRGGGGGHHHH,
don't you see the DND light! I wanted to scream! But Nicole is so sweet - and
I didn't. She must have seen me snapping pics in my previous meal and
thought I shouldn't miss breakfast - because, seriously, I don't look one bit
hungry. So I replied very nicely, "No. I don't" and promptly crashed back onto
my pillow.

You did not scream because she was so sweet? Seriously?!

The DND light is there for a purpose. If anyone (including handsome Hugh Jackman!) blatantly ignores it or is gormless enough not to notice the DND sign and disturbs my beauty sleep, he/she would get an earful from me.

Now that is strange with SQ because I usually sleep through meal service on other airlines (without DND light or prior instructions) and no one has ever woken me up. But I always awake up in the middle of the service or near the end, and the FAs would notice straight away and come forward to ask if I wanted anything to eat or drink.

After breakfast, with some coffee in my brains, I decided to go low.

Did anyone notice what you were up to, CarbonMan?

It's just such a tricky position for a man, someone might think you were trying to peep up a lady's skirt.

Thanks for sharing the TR. NIce photos. A friend is looking for a P&S. I'd ask her to take a look at this model.

[CarbonMan]

You did not scream because she was so sweet? Seriously?!

Seriously, I didn't scream. The FA was very nice and sweet ... and she gave me 4 packs of playing cards in time for CNY.

Did anyone notice what you were up to, CarbonMan?

It's just such a tricky position for a man, someone might think you were trying to peep up a lady's skirt.

Yes, the pax across the aisle, some very important German industrialist, had by then, figured out I was some photographer nutcase since I was snapping every angle of the dish I was about to eat. But for this shot, I didn't have to (and wouldn't) get down to a position a SLR-photographer would have needed to - I didn't want to risk someone shooting me shooting this shot. I'm a nobody and intend to stay that way. The delight of a digital P+S is that one can take multiple shots without looking at the viewfinder/screen and choose the best one.

Thanks for sharing the TR. NIce photos. A friend is looking for a P&S. I'd ask her to take a look at this model.

Thanks! Am happy that I'm helping the disgraced Olympus a bit here. One note though, as with many other high-end P+S, it suffers from short battery life especially in cold weather so make sure she gets at least one spare battery. Another alternative P+S that I found, with very good image quality, is the new Canon IS100 (a colleague of mine bought it and managed to fiddle around with it). It is very compact (more so than then XZ-1) but there lies the problem, there isn't much to hold on to especially for larger hands.

[j.lin]

Truly enjoyed the trip report!

and Happy New Year to you!

[blackys93]

I've really never seen an A380 gate without direct upper deck access. Nice review anyway...

[Kyo]

Great TR so far! Am loving NYC and departing this evening back to SIN myself.

There are two lounges available to Gold and J class pax. Decided that Swiss was better as there was shower facilities there.

Any idea if there are more lounge options for SQ pax travelling in R? (I did try to search but the threads I found seem outdated/only mention LX F, and I'm more keen on trying out the VS CH)

But this was what I was after - shower facilities! After a day at work,
this is a blessing before a long 21-hour flight. There are only two showers - one
for the guys and one for the gals. Fortunately no queue. Unlike Kyo, I've
nothing pixelated to exhibit here.

What a pity!

[9V-SIA]

I used the Virgin Lounge last month. Nice

[CarbonMan]

What a pity!

I'm sure you'll do better, Kyo!

[DinkumDave]

Hi CarbonMan,

Thanks for the report. Excellent photos! really entertaining.

As the plane flew into the Atlantic, I decided that a short nap would help in the digestion of my previous sin.

Surely you mean flying over the Atlantic. Or could this be another reason why it is called the Whalejet?

[CarbonMan]

Hi CarbonMan,

Thanks for the report. Excellent photos! really entertaining.



Surely you mean flying over the Atlantic. Or could this be another reason why it is called the Whalejet?

Of course, you're right DinkumDave! Were you ever a teacher!? You certainly remind me of mine. She in her infinite patience in me, did her level best to teach this village boy proper grammar. As you have observed, she is probably rolling her eyes in heaven now.

[Kyo]

Thanks! Am happy that I'm helping the disgraced Olympus a bit here. One note though, as with many other high-end P+S, it suffers from short battery life especially in cold weather so make sure she gets at least one spare battery. Another alternative P+S that I found, with very good image quality, is the new Canon IS100 (a colleague of mine bought it and managed to fiddle around with it). It is very compact (more so than then XZ-1) but there lies the problem, there isn't much to hold on to especially for larger hands.

Totally off-topic but I was shooting at -7 and -11 during my trip last week nonstop in NYC and Niagara and both times the D-Lux 5's battery (similar to LX-5) barely touched 1-bar in the most intensive scenario. Very happy, but always good to have a spare just in case! Although it's only F2.0, not 1.8. I might switch to Picasa to host as Photobucket seems to drop the ball when it comes to hosting pics for my SQTalk TRs. Is Picasa straightforward like Photobucket?

Sorry to drag the thread off topic, I really did enjoy this TR, however!

[CarbonMan]

Although it's only F2.0, not 1.8. I might switch to Picasa to host as Photobucket seems to drop the ball when it comes to hosting pics for my SQTalk TRs. Is Picasa straightforward like Photobucket?

Sorry to drag the thread off topic, I really did enjoy this TR, however!

On a P-shooter a f0.2 diff is hardly noticeable I feel.

I use Picasa because space is cheap (atUS$5/year for 20gb, probably cheapest cloud space in town) and because I use google docs as my cloud. I have not used Photobucket so I can't comment. In Picasa, there's a lot of cutting and pasting of links which gets a bit tedious, but unless Sqtalk gets its own pic system a'la FB, I'm afraid it's unavoidable. Give Picasa a try, it's free! I like the Picasa s/w for simple editing when it's called for (don't have the patience for PS) but because of competitive reasons they don't have a quick and dirty to update to FB.

[inix]

On a P-shooter a f0.2 diff is hardly noticeable I feel.

I use Picasa because space is cheap (atUS$5/year for 20gb, probably cheapest cloud space in town) and because I use google docs as my cloud. I have not used Photobucket so I can't comment. In Picasa, there's a lot of cutting and pasting of links which gets a bit tedious, but unless Sqtalk gets its own pic system a'la FB, I'm afraid it's unavoidable. Give Picasa a try, it's free! I like the Picasa s/w for simple editing when it's called for (don't have the patience for PS) but because of competitive reasons they don't have a quick and dirty to update to FB.

Picasa now gives you unlimited space if you use Google+. Check out the net for more information. I'm going to try this out myself as well!