(Part 1/7)
Background: So back in January my parents informed me that my maternal grandparents' would be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary this year, and that plans for the party were already in motion. There was a complication, though -- my unit was going to be in charge of NDP this year, and rumours were swirling that my section would be involved in prep as early as April (i.e. leave would be blocked). As such, my family confirmed their plans to my grandparents beforehand, but we couldn't do so for me. I applied for the leave nonetheless, but it took more than a month for it to go through thanks to a glitch in the system. Thankfully, while preparations did start in April, they won't involve my section until June.
While waiting for the leave to go through, my family formulated a plan -- if I could travel, then we'd keep my visit a surprise to my grandparents who hadn't seen me for almost 5 years. So, when my application went through, it was time to get going -- stealthily, of course.
Now, you might be wondering -- what kinda convoluted plan had we come up with? Surely it made more sense to go to DEL directly, and then take a train or a flight from there. However, you know how us Singaporeans are. Money talks, and this route was the cheapest (for a reason, as I'll share with you soon).
Finally, in this Trip Report you will see some photos that are 4:3, and not 3:2 in aspect ratio. These were shot on my Pixel XL smartphone, as I wanted to test its prowess in shooting something challenging like a Trip Report.
Flight Details
Flight Number: TR/TGW 2684
Departure Airport: Singapore Changi (SIN, WSSS)
Scheduled Time of Departure: 2055
Arrival Airport: Jaipur International, Rajasthan (JAI, VIJP)
Schedule Time of Arrival: 0035
Cabin Class: Cattle
So, after taking half-day from camp, we left our house a little later than we'd wanted to at 1835, arriving at the airport at around 1910. The sun was just going down, and I thought the scene looked really nice as a golden glow was cast behind the Terminal 3 building.
Terminal 2 was pretty busy at the moment, with many flights departing all over the place. Tigerair itself had another flight departing to Trichy scheduled for just after ours.
As we had no plans to pay the Tigerair check-in prices, our boarding passes were issued in a jiffy, and we proceeded inside after a quick bite at McDonald's. The decor had certainly changed a fair bit since the last time I was there, though I couldn't quite see the beauty in this installation.
As our gate was F32, it meant that the walk there took barely 2 minutes, and with most of the passengers already in the lounge, we breezed through the final security checks where I could get a good look at the A320 that would be carrying our butts that night.
Aircraft Information
Registration: 9V-TRN
Aircraft: Airbus A320-232(WL)
Engines: 2x V2500
Config: Y180
Delivered: 21 Dec 2013
There she was, glistening under the lights. She would also be the first time I'd be traveling in an A320 with sharklets, though I knew the experience would hardly be any different for the passenger. While shooting the Airbus though, I was highly impressed with how well my Pixel could do with manual controls. Unfortunately the .dng RAW file was corrupted, which meant I couldn't edit this as well as I'd hoped to.
After a 20 min delay - we had arrived at the gate at 2025, yet boarding had not commenced - we embarked in the plane at about 2045. There was no way we'd be pushing back on time. I took the time to play around with my Pixel further, and was impressed yet again. However, the light flare was a little more severe than in the first exterior image as the aircraft window was sloped, preventing me from sticking the phone flat to its surface.
I also used the time to take the customary legroom and seat shots -- both of which I was not impressed with. There wasn't much space ahead of me, though there was a good amount of space below the front seat. I didn't particularly like the colour scheme of the seats either, with the black looking pretty cheap and dull. Surely a dash of yellow here and there would help? Nevertheless, the seats were quite comfortable for the journey, which is where it really counts.
I was quite surprised to find out that the cabin wasn't anywhere near full -- it was so empty that people were getting up and swapping seats so they had full rows of 3 to lie down and sleep through on in the flight.
Eventually, we did get going at 2134 -- a good 40 minutes after our scheduled time for departure. Apparently there had been a minor glitch with the aircraft. I looked out at the Scoot B788 with a little envy, as the flight had originally launched under their airline, afterwards being transferred to a Tigerair operation. This time, my camera struggled with the scene so badly it could not even take a photo comparable to my phone.
After a brisk 6 minute taxi, we were at the holding point for runway 20C, however our luck wasn't improving any time soon with regards to delays. We'd been unable to beat the departing EK355 flight to DXB, operated by an A388. This meant a further 4 minute hold to allow the wake vortex turbulence to dissipate.
Background: So back in January my parents informed me that my maternal grandparents' would be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary this year, and that plans for the party were already in motion. There was a complication, though -- my unit was going to be in charge of NDP this year, and rumours were swirling that my section would be involved in prep as early as April (i.e. leave would be blocked). As such, my family confirmed their plans to my grandparents beforehand, but we couldn't do so for me. I applied for the leave nonetheless, but it took more than a month for it to go through thanks to a glitch in the system. Thankfully, while preparations did start in April, they won't involve my section until June.
While waiting for the leave to go through, my family formulated a plan -- if I could travel, then we'd keep my visit a surprise to my grandparents who hadn't seen me for almost 5 years. So, when my application went through, it was time to get going -- stealthily, of course.
Now, you might be wondering -- what kinda convoluted plan had we come up with? Surely it made more sense to go to DEL directly, and then take a train or a flight from there. However, you know how us Singaporeans are. Money talks, and this route was the cheapest (for a reason, as I'll share with you soon).
Finally, in this Trip Report you will see some photos that are 4:3, and not 3:2 in aspect ratio. These were shot on my Pixel XL smartphone, as I wanted to test its prowess in shooting something challenging like a Trip Report.
Flight Details
Flight Number: TR/TGW 2684
Departure Airport: Singapore Changi (SIN, WSSS)
Scheduled Time of Departure: 2055
Arrival Airport: Jaipur International, Rajasthan (JAI, VIJP)
Schedule Time of Arrival: 0035
Cabin Class: Cattle
So, after taking half-day from camp, we left our house a little later than we'd wanted to at 1835, arriving at the airport at around 1910. The sun was just going down, and I thought the scene looked really nice as a golden glow was cast behind the Terminal 3 building.
Terminal 2 was pretty busy at the moment, with many flights departing all over the place. Tigerair itself had another flight departing to Trichy scheduled for just after ours.
As we had no plans to pay the Tigerair check-in prices, our boarding passes were issued in a jiffy, and we proceeded inside after a quick bite at McDonald's. The decor had certainly changed a fair bit since the last time I was there, though I couldn't quite see the beauty in this installation.
As our gate was F32, it meant that the walk there took barely 2 minutes, and with most of the passengers already in the lounge, we breezed through the final security checks where I could get a good look at the A320 that would be carrying our butts that night.
Aircraft Information
Registration: 9V-TRN
Aircraft: Airbus A320-232(WL)
Engines: 2x V2500
Config: Y180
Delivered: 21 Dec 2013
There she was, glistening under the lights. She would also be the first time I'd be traveling in an A320 with sharklets, though I knew the experience would hardly be any different for the passenger. While shooting the Airbus though, I was highly impressed with how well my Pixel could do with manual controls. Unfortunately the .dng RAW file was corrupted, which meant I couldn't edit this as well as I'd hoped to.
After a 20 min delay - we had arrived at the gate at 2025, yet boarding had not commenced - we embarked in the plane at about 2045. There was no way we'd be pushing back on time. I took the time to play around with my Pixel further, and was impressed yet again. However, the light flare was a little more severe than in the first exterior image as the aircraft window was sloped, preventing me from sticking the phone flat to its surface.
I also used the time to take the customary legroom and seat shots -- both of which I was not impressed with. There wasn't much space ahead of me, though there was a good amount of space below the front seat. I didn't particularly like the colour scheme of the seats either, with the black looking pretty cheap and dull. Surely a dash of yellow here and there would help? Nevertheless, the seats were quite comfortable for the journey, which is where it really counts.
I was quite surprised to find out that the cabin wasn't anywhere near full -- it was so empty that people were getting up and swapping seats so they had full rows of 3 to lie down and sleep through on in the flight.
Eventually, we did get going at 2134 -- a good 40 minutes after our scheduled time for departure. Apparently there had been a minor glitch with the aircraft. I looked out at the Scoot B788 with a little envy, as the flight had originally launched under their airline, afterwards being transferred to a Tigerair operation. This time, my camera struggled with the scene so badly it could not even take a photo comparable to my phone.
After a brisk 6 minute taxi, we were at the holding point for runway 20C, however our luck wasn't improving any time soon with regards to delays. We'd been unable to beat the departing EK355 flight to DXB, operated by an A388. This meant a further 4 minute hold to allow the wake vortex turbulence to dissipate.
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