Anyong Haseyo, G'day and Kia Ora Leroy; Howdy Bubba - an odyssey across the miles

[Leroy and Bubba]

Hello SQTalk. For the first time we've had to go separate ways for a trip. Aunty P had a trip to Los Angeles whilst mummy decided to go walkabouts to Korea, Australia and New Zealand herself.

Mummy then decided that Leroy would go with her, and Bubba would go with Aunty P.

Aunty P would sample NH J across the big pond KUL-SIN-NRT-LAX-NRT-SIN-KUL with MH providing the feeder flights between KUL and SIN,

whereas Mummy booked herself a bunch of SQ and NZ flights. KUL-SIN-ICN-SIN-MEL-AKL-MEL-SIN-KUL.

A small sneak of things to come:
Leroy Loves Long Lonely Legs - a solo trip in SQ F
The Asiana Wing F lounge
Leroy rides the herringbone to the land under the long white cloud

The pictures will slowly filter in over the next week or so. Do note that all times are Singapore Local unless noted:

Here's a very limited first instalment:

19 Sept 2008 - 4:43pm - Distance apart: 0.0km
Mummy's just packed and we're off at 5pm. Bubba doesn't fly till Sunday so he's helping out with the packing too.

[KeithMEL]

Great to see the 2 of you are back to enthrall us with your adventures, L&B!
I look forward to reading all about them. I hope the experience of being separated isn't too jarring for you both though.

[flo]

Leeroy! Bubba! Great to see you around again

[jhm]

Leroy & Bubba, I am so happy to see you two posting again after your recent busy period. Looking forward to the TR to come!

[zxcvbn]

I missed your trip reports Leory and Bubba!

[phaleesy]

Leroy & Bubba, I am so happy to see you two posting again after your recent busy period. Looking forward to the TR to come!

Likewise.

Recent busy period cultivating the Force? Ready to protect your mommy and Aunty P against evilings with your lightsaber now?

[StarG]

Good to see you again, you lucky bears!
Looking forward to more to come.

[Leroy and Bubba]

KLIA ekspres - from Sentral to KLIA in 28 minutes

Aunty P dropped mummy and me off at the Sentral Station to catch the KLIA ekspres (nevermind the dodgy spelling). It's 35 Malaysian Ringgit (about 10 USD) and runs about 28 minutes. It also runs every 15 minutes on the hour during peak hours, and every 20 minutes off peak.

19th Sept 2008 - 1856pm - Distance to Bubba - around 15 miles
Awaiting the train to pull out from the station. Already missing him


Just as you pull out, you pass Mid Valley Megamall! Mummy and Aunty P come here a lot. Don't know why. All they ever do is buy clothes. Not that they buy any for us. We don't even have trousers!


The train is really comfy though. It's also very smooth, although there's a little buffeting as another one heading the other way passes by. Not typically full either, so everyone has plenty of room to move about.

[Leroy and Bubba]

KUL-SIN-ICN - a nice run up to Korea solo in F

We got to the airport at around 1930pm, and mummy dragged her stuff up what seemed like an endless maze of escalators. The KLIA ekspres pulls up into the basement, and departures is all the way up at the top.

10 years on - KLIA is slowly picking up pace. The architecture doesn't look aged.






9V-SVA to take us down to SIN. This flight was sold out 30 for 30, 255 for 255. Maybe someone was left behind. For sure not a happy bear if I was the one


Mummy spent some time trying to sneakily take pics of the bulkhead to determine the answer to MANflyer's question - but i don't think she got the answer.

Maybe it's the sideways angle of this seat pocket?


Mummy thinks this is Melaka or summat.


After reporting about the dismal selection of food on the KUL-SIN runs here last month, mummy suggested I skip the wrap that they were serving here, so no pics, sorry.

This flight left a little late, and seeing as we only had 1 hour 10 minutes in SIN, we decided to skip the SKL and head straight to the gate for our connection:

A13/14 doesn't have the grand central station feel like A1-A8, B1-B4. so security lines were mercifully short.

[Leroy and Bubba]

Leroy Loves Long Lonely Legs - SQ602 in F solo

Load aboard SQ602 tonight was 1/23/157 or something like that. Very excitedly, I asked mummy if that meant we'd be going alone, and she said yes! 9V-SYI, a 773 with AVOD was our chariot for tonight, so whilst not skysuites, at least the attention would make up for it!

As we were late coming in from KUL, mummy and I were the last to board. The nice mr. IFS had seen us coming down the jetbridge and said "welcome aboard mr Leroy!" before looking at my boarding pass.

Regional F is comfy on the 773. Seat pitch is I think 64" so not bad at all.





Leroy eye view:


Pics taken after sunrise:
The regional F seat in max recline mode:


General cabin view: (no one to annoy!)

[jhm]

Aunty P dropped mummy and me off at the Sentral Station to catch the KLIA ekspres

Backtracking just to take the Ekspres ?

[Leroy and Bubba]

Flight time was going to be about 6 hours tonight. Mr. Pilot said it was because of headwinds. (i didn't feel any in face though - must be the fur)

A shot of Changi's terminal as we made our way out from A13 to rwy 20C taken near the south cross.


A whole bunch of golden geese going somewhere far no doubt! how exciting


Pic as always, dedicated to unca Jjpb3. Sorry - was the best i could get


Nice mr. IFS asked if we would like to have our BTC early or served just before Landing, and mummy said that we'd have it early, since she hadn't eaten anything since 9am. Coincidentally, the menu is exactly the same as the one uncle Kyo put up here. So thanks to him, mummy doesn't need to type it out.

I didn't know anything, so i thought we wouldn't get anything to eat on this flight so I tucked into some bread whilst mummy wasn't looking


Turns out i was wrong! Mummy had prebooked it several days earlier. Nice as usual!


Once mummy and I had finished it, we were still hungry so we ordered the Seafood noodle soup -Egg noodles in rich broth garnished with prawns, fish, scallops and vegetables.

Just then, I saw a lone bear wandering around the cabin, so I asked mr IFS if he couldl join us for the noodles, and of course, he said yes! I don't know if big people can do that, but for bears in a different class of service, it's okay

Didn't get his name, but he seemed like a good fella. I don't think he was travelling with anybody, so definitely an unaccompanied bear.

[Leroy and Bubba]

Mr. IFS was so nice that he invited my new friend to sit in the cabin for the rest of the flight, so we got buckled up to rest for the night!


20th Sept 2008- 0115 SIN time - Distance to bubba - almost 600 miles
Never been that far apart from him before. Already miss him. Wish he was here!



20th Sept 2008 - 0515 SIN time - Distance to bubba - 4147km! or 2560 miles.
I go to sleep for 4 hours, wake up, and this happens


Incheon?? Mummy, I thought we were going to Seoul!


ooh lots of blue shiny planes! Look like smurfs airlines I think!


Less shiny blue planes!


Nice little line up of tails here. The tarmac ramp area is so wide, mr. Pilot could have done burnouts and 360's and not hit anything!

[Leroy and Bubba]

KAL limousine

After clearing immigration and customs, I said goodbye to my new friend and we walked out. Mummy went up to the bus counter for the KAL limousine and bought us a ticket. She had to pay 14,000 won to go the City Hall area, I didn't have to pay anything as long as I sat on her lap.

Ticket counter outside gate 11.


Arrivals area:






The bus ride itself is comfortable, takes just over an hour to get to Seoul, depending on where you get off.


Seat pitch:


We got off at the lotte hotel and made our way thru an underpass and walked to the Ibis Hotel where we stayed.

to be continued later

[SQflyergirl]

Backtracking just to take the Ekspres ?

That's a long story - but let's just say my planned ride to the airport fell through