We left the ship
at 5:00 AM, went through immigration, picked up our luggage, and took a taxi to
the airport, arriving at 6:00 AM. We
checked our luggage, went through immigration, and were at our gate by 7:10
AM. While waiting for our gate to open
at 8:10 AM, we talked with Kathy, Jim, and Mike, all of whom had disembarked
and were also on the same flights as us from Singapore to San Francisco, and then
from San Francisco to Houston; there, we would part our ways. They had left the ship an hour after us but
had purchased a ship’s transfer, which was much more expensive than our taxi. Although we sat at the airport for an extra
hour, we hadn’t wanted to take any chances in missing our flight and were just
grateful that we made it!
This was our
first time on Singapore Airlines. They
had the same 15.5 pound limitation on carry-on bags as Emirate and China Airlines,
which Emirate had strictly enforced, but lucky for us, China had not. Because we had not wanted to take a chance, since
we were allowed to check two bags each for free, we checked our carry-on bags. Our coach seats were reasonably comfortable (in
Jesse’s opinion) and he had an aisle seat; therefore, we had little problem in getting
up for trips to the lavatory for necessities and stretching. We were served three meals during the flight,
and wine was offered with dinner, but it wasn’t offered again. Jesse supposed we could have asked for more,
but we didn’t. Sally compare the meals on
this flight with those served on the United Airlines flight from Shanghai to
Chicago in September 2017; that time, the food was Chinese but not what we
would have chosen in Chinese restaurants!
This time, though the food was a little better, the “eggs” served for
breakfast seemed more like Jello.
The service could
have been better on this flight. The
passengers on special diets received their meals at least one-half hour before
other people; then there seemed to be no order of who would receive their meals
next. The passengers sitting on either
side of us were almost finished with their meals before we received ours. Once, Sally received her meal much earlier
than Jesse. (We sat in the middle
section; Sally, being the middle passenger of the entire row, could be served
from either aisle.)
One of Sally’s major
complaints is that water was offered so rarely on our Singapore to San
Francisco flight. On previous flights,
bottles of water were distributed generously by flight attendants to passengers
who were awake during the long night. On
this flight, water could be requested; however, the result was a small plastic
glass that was only two-thirds full – in other words, just a few swallows! Sally usually fills one or two bottles with
water from airport fountains before boarding a plane; however, in Singapore,
during the last half-hour before the flight, passengers were kept in a secure
room, with no water fountain (or restroom) available. Sally was already thirsty by the time she
boarded the plane in Singapore!
The flight was
14.5 hours. Jesse watched the last
season of the “Game of Thrones” series before finishing up with the movie “The Shape
of Water.” Sally watched “The Shape of
Water” and “Darkest Hour.” We slept very
little.
In San Francisco,
we went through immigration and picked up our checked luggage. Then we rechecked our luggage for our
domestic flights. Since there was a charge
for checked luggage, we decided that we would not check our carry-on bags this
time; however, the clerk allowed us to check a third bag for free, so we only
had to keep one carry-on bag. (The
result was that Sally did not have to pull a carry-on at this point; she
carried only Jesse’s CPAP machine – which was good because she nearly needed to
be carried herself after that long flight!)
Upon landing, we
faced a discrepancy in gates. Although our
boarding passes identified Gate 74, the airport screen displayed gate 66. We asked one of the airline clerks, but she
didn’t know which was correct. When we
were almost to Gate 66, the airport screen changed its display to Gate 74 – and
we walked again. Anyway, when we arrived
at the correct gate, it was check-in time.
Again, we had aisle seats on this 3.5 hour flight; however, we found them
very cramped. We were each given a tiny
bag of pretzels and a choice of beverages.
By this time, Sally’s brain felt the effects of sleep deprivation, and of
her body being wedged into a tiny space. Her first flight was in 1958, when there seemed
plenty of space, food, and drinks; air travel was actually enjoyable. However, by 2018 the quality air travel has
totally disintegrated – except for passengers who choose to pay very high prices
for spacious accommodations! Less and
less is being offered for a coach ticket, as seats are being moved closer and
closer. How about some alternative, some
competition, for airplanes? Back in the
1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s, Sally rode on trains – the first time was in 1944,
from Illinois to Georgia. But, unlike
other developed countries, our country has not been active in making train
travel more accessible – so that most people choose to fly long distances even
within the U.S. --- Scotty, please just “beam” us up!
By the time we arrived at the Houston airport, we were both exhausted,
and we faced a long walk to Gate C11. At
one point, we used the restrooms, and then resumed our walk to our gate - but
in the wrong direction. After realizing
our error and getting back to the restrooms where we had stopped, Sally
remarked that she didn’t think she could make it to Gate C11. Luckily, an “elder-cart” driver saw us
struggling and gave us a ride to our gate!
While Sally sat at the gate, Jesse walked back to a Wendy’s and
purchased our dinner. After eating, we
both felt considerably better.
For a
little over an hour we sat at the gate before boarding our 1.5-hour flight to
Memphis. Again, we had aisle seats, but
these were much roomier and comfortable than the seats on our previous flight –
and even the lavatories were larger! We
were offered beverages.
At the
Memphis airport, Verna and Earl were waiting for us. We stayed in Memphis for two nights until we
adequately recovered from our flights before the long drive home to Bettendorf. We mostly slept during or stay in Memphis,
but we did manage to have dinner one night with Verna and Earl, while watching
a recording of “Get Out” on TV. Altogether,
this cruise was very enjoyable and memorable; we learned a lot of history and
geography, and made many new friends!
Signing off from another GREAT cruise!
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