A Duck flies north - to Sweden and Norway

[OZDUCK]

On Friday 9/8 we start our 30 day trip to the northern climes of Sweden & Norway. Firstly, we take ScootBiz to Singapore and spend 2 1/2 days there, staying in Katong, before we pick up QR, in J, to fly to Stockholm. Our first time in the QR J Suites. We will spend 5 nights there before catching SAS, in Y, for the 1 hour hop to Oslo. We spend about 3 weeks in Norway,including hiring a car for 15 days. Then we fly out of Oslo in QR J to Singapore for just under 2 days. Finally, we will ScootBiz back to Perth.

As we have done previously, the Per - Sin flights are to pick up the much cheaper fares out of Singapore. we always enjoy a few nights in Singapore and will hopefully catch up with some people. Even with the extra hotel nights plus the Scoot fares we come out a few $1,000's better off than flying QR J out of Perth. I always allow at least 24 hours between a Scoot flight and another flight to be safe.

We are just about ready to go and have already electronically checked-in for Scoot.

As always I print everything necessary for the trip. The photos below are of my binder with the itinerary as the front page. Then 3 tabs separating the pages into Transport - planes, train and hire car. One for all the booked accommodation. Finally a third one for "information" - Travel Insurance contacts and proof of purchase plus copies of various documents. Of course everything is still available electronically.

 

[I love to travel]

Another person who likes their binders. Everyone thinks I am strange for carrying it, but you never know when IT will fail you.

 

[Deleted member]

The best thing about binders and note books is that they don’t need WiFi or batteries, all of the information can be downloaded before you leave and it can’t be hacked

 

[RooFlyer]

Great trip! Yes, must get another binder. I do mine chronologically and toss out pages as I go.

Hope you love QSuites.

 

[craven morehead]

Unusually early aboard for me. Sounds like a great itinerary ✈

 

[drron]

Mrsdrron is another who prints everything out but keeps them in a plastic folder.Throws them out after used.Necessary as sometimes hotels etc have changed their prices.A piece of paper makes it hard for them to continue on with their lies.

 

[OZDUCK]

Mrsdrron is another who prints everything out but keeps them in a plastic folder.Throws them out after used.Necessary as sometimes hotels etc have changed their prices.A piece of paper makes it hard for them to continue on with their lies.

Pretty much how/why I make up my binder using sheet protectors.

 

[kiwitripper64]

Interesting that we have all picked on on printing info out. Digital devices are great, really great, but I keep telling our kid and younger colleagues to carry paper and I sometimes feel old. Until the come back with stories of 60min spent arguing at the desk about a booking/ flight/luggage allowance or visa entry. Old is not always bad or slow

 

[ellen10]

Looking forward to following your trip. Sounds great.
I am another one for printing everything out and placing in a binder and I usually put it in chronological order, but I will think about your method.

I had an experience of a B&B booking in Brugge, lost by the owner and he said he had no record but I had a paper copy of his email to me to produce straight away. Of course he was now all booked out but he had to find me another accommodation. Love my paper copies!

 

[kookaburra75]

We spend about 3 weeks in Norway,including hiring a car for 15 days

What are your plans for Norway? I love that part of the world, and we're planning a trip that way in the next few years

 

[amaroo]

Looking forward to the updates - have fun and safe travels!

 

[OZDUCK]

What are your plans for Norway? I love that part of the world, and we're planning a trip that way in the next few years

We arrive from Stockholm mid-morning and then spend 3 nights in Oslo. Then we hire a car for about 15 days and head north. First stop is halfway to Alesund, at Dovre. Hopefully the next day, we go up and over the trollsteigen, depending on the weather, before 3 nights just outside Stavanger. Another 3 nights at a fjord hotel, at Sandane, roughly 1/2 way between Alesund and Bergen. A quick 1 night in Haugesund then 3 nights in Stavanger. We then head back towards Oslo, stopping at Kristiansand for 1 night. Lastly, a night at an Oslo Airport Hotel before we hand the car back and fly off.

 

[OZDUCK]

We have now arrived in Singapore, at about 2330 last night.

We travelled up in ScootBiz. And, as befits us, we were in Seats 1A & 1C.

Firstly the only 'bad' part. In Scootbiz you should get a 'premium' meal but this was not available to be booked and you had to select an ordinary meal. I sent a query and they said it was not available for 'seasonal reasons'. The only season I can think of is - 'more money saving' season. Anyway, if you are flying Scoot for the food you are a very strange person.

Everything else was very good. The ground staff at Perth were all very friendly and the premium boarding lane was tightly policed. On board the cabin crew were also very friendly and polite. They did a water run halfway up and were quite active. At one stage they thought a Y pax was trying to use the front toilet and they were very quick to question him.

We left about on time and arrived 15 minutes early. The plane was clean and well kept. And, more importantly from our point of view there was lots of legroom and the seats are wide - which is why we have flown them the last couple of times. Basically I think that they are similar to the QF 737 J seats but with a little bit more leg room. We each got a munificent 30mb of wifi free - about 20 minutes of simple browsing. The wifi was actually very fast - perhaps that is why it went so quickly.

Annoyingly we both failed at using the e-gates in Perth and had to go to an officer. And, then in Singapore my wife could not get the e-gate there to read her thumbprints. She had to go to the immigration counter to get both thumbprints checked and was then shown out through a side door. Even with this delay it was still faster than the normal checks and at least she didn't have to fill in the arrival card.

Our B787-8 waiting for us




The port of Fremantle - where I spent about 30 years of my working life.



Our meals. They actually tasted fine, better than they looked, and it was plenty for what was only a 5 hour flight.

 

[OZDUCK]

A little bit more of Singapore.

A very late breakfast for us. Popiah plus some Kueh Pie Tee - a Peranakan treat we hadn't had before. It was all very nice - spicy as well. The MeatMen - Your Local Cooking Channel



We took a bus down to Harbourfront/Vivo City. This is the old Cruise Terminal. I think most cruises now call at the new one at Marina Bay.All I could see were smaller ferries of to Indonesia. That is the Mt Caber cableway above the terminal.



Sentosa is getting even more crowed with garish buildings. It is not our type of scene and we didn't go across but there were hordes of people going there - it is the National Day weekend.



Later in the evening we wandered down to Marina Bay for the compulsory shot of The Marina Bay Sands Hotel. A little shot of their "laser show'.




After this it was time for some food. My wife suggested the Lau Pa Sat Markets. I complained that I had never had decent meal but it was close by so we went there. My record continues. We had about the worst sate I have ever had in Singapore - tough and not much taste. Pus it was relatively expensive . I shall not surrender next time. No photos as sate is sate and it wasn't worth remembering.

 

[OZDUCK]

I just remembered that I forgot to add that , unlike on our QF flight from Singapore in February, the Scoot flight crew kept the pax informed about what was going on during the flight. They also warned us before descent started and the cabin lights were dimmed for landing. All the procedures the cabin crew used seem very familiar from our SQ flights.

 

[Major]

We love the chilli mud crab in SIN

 

[daft009]

We love the chilli mud crab in SIN

Jumbo or is it better somewhere else?

 

[OZDUCK]

We love the chilli mud crab in SIN

I hate crab of any sort so not for me.

 

[OZDUCK]

We have arrived in Stockholm after two very good flights in J on QR. This was my first time in the Q-Suites and I really liked them - even flying backwards. The only complaint I had was that they are not great for toe room when you are sitting up for takeoff/landing; or meal. My feet were knocking against the foot well partition.

My wife thought that they were perhaps a bit claustrophobic but I liked being able to lock myself away. And, as a definite first world problem, I felt a bit like i had been downgraded when our second flight was in the, actually really excellent, J seats on the A350-900.

I am too tired, off to bed now, to post any more pictures at the moment but will catch up in the next day or so.

 

[OZDUCK]

Finishing off Singapore now.

First off a Malay treat my father-in-law introduced me to - Putu Piring. This was at a food hall in Geylang. It is steamed rice flour with gula melaka (palm sugar) inside and shredded coconut over the top.



We were invited for a meal at some friends of our son. They live in a Government Flat out past Jurong at Boon Lay. They are a Chinese couple in the mid 30's and they eat the sort of cosmopolitan fare that people of that age eat in Australia.

We started off with a lentil soup - made using spices they bought in Istanbul. The roast chicken was in two flavours - "Imperial Ottoman" and Oregano. Again made with spices they bought in Istanbul - the Grand Bazaar I think. Then there were two types of roasted pork belly. All these were cooked by the husband. There was also Thai Spicy Mince and Thai Fish in coconut sauce made by his wife . We drank a mixture they made themselves of steamed Lemon Grass, lime and young ginger. It was all excellent.





We again stayed at the village Hotel in Changi. This is at checkout so the beds are well rumpled. The rooms are very big for the cheaper end of Singapore Hotels. And you get a small balcony.



QR have now moved to Terminal 1 at Changi and they use the SATS Premier Lounge. This is 100% better than the lounges they used at Terminal 2. The food was unremarkable but the decor is much improved and there are adequate toilets and showers. It was very quiet when were there - about 0900 - 1015.