A new Dawn around Europe Then the UK.

[TheRealTMA]

In one weeks time we will be leaving on our first real trip in over 3 years. Can't wait.
All flights in J.
SQ. BNE-SIN.
SQ SIN-LHR.
BA. :LHR-BCN
BA . VCE-LHR.
SQ LHR-SIN
SQ SIN-BNE.

After landing at BCN we will pick up a car and drive to Bilbao with 2 nights in Zaragoza then 2 nights at the Hotel Marques Riscal that I am looking forward to.
Two nights in Bilbao at the Gran hotel across the road from the Guggenheim. Whilst at the Guggenheim we will have lunch at the Nerua restaurant.

Back in Barcelona for just 1 night at the Hotel Arts as it is not far from where we will board our ship -Silversea Dawn. And she is indeed new. First voyage 4 months ago. As well the CD will be one of our favourites -Miss Vicki.
18 days on board ending up in Venice. First time to Sardinia,Sicily,Malta,Kotor,Dubrovnik and Split.

Back to the UK and driving around England for 3 weeks including a stay with my sister. Staying in places from HIEs to upmarket boutique hotels.

Do go to Azurmendi when you are in Bilbao. It’s a taxi ride outside of the town. Been there three times. Just fabulous.

 

[drron]

Surprise a proper menu so I took lot’s of pics.






And the wines

 

[drron]

And the rest of the menu.

 

[drron]

The Cabin Manager came around and apologised to everyone. I replied well the least that you could do is get me a glass of champagne. Although the champagne they had was Charles Heisdeck he said he had 1 bottle of Krug which I and Mrsdrron polished off.

After take off he came around with the last glass and we had a chat. Someone had heard that the plane had been diverted to OOL but it turned out the bird we were on was in fact the second BNE flight of the day and the original plane had landed at BNE just before we pushed back.
The crew though were the ones who were rostered for our original flight.

On arrival in Singapore there was an email from SQ apologing for the delay. I would have been more impressed if it was accompanied by a few extra KF miles. Though this was a problem of the fog in Brisbane and not SQs fault at all and a pretty good recovery.

 

[drron]

Flight details. Etd - 0910
Push back - 1145.
Take off - 1207.
Eta- 1510.
Landed - 1725
At gate - 1730.

 

[drron]

The food.A salmon starter.


I had the spicy scallops and prawns which was good and Mrsdrron had the beef cheek.



I had the cheesecake which was nice.


The refreshments. Seafood noodles and the pie. Bland.

 

[drron]

A bit of a problem with the wines for Mrsdrron as both whites were not to her taste. I was fine with the French red and then the Shiraz.
I watched 3 movies. Belfast,American traitor the trial of Axis Sally and The Match. Enjoyed them all. I do like the selection of movies SQ has

My amenities kit.


Our approach to SIN.




Funny but I have not been very observant in the past. I always thought Changi was in the north but obviously it is in the east of Singapore.

Unfortunately arriving later meant a much busier Immigration hall meaning nearly 1900 before being in our room at the CP.
One benefit is that the agent recognised that we were frequent travelers and registered us for the fast track in future.

No wait for our bag.

 

[drron]

To the Crowne Plaza. I had an email in the morning before we left home saying we had been upgraded but didn’t say what room. In fact from a standard king to a premium king with pool view.








This morning was much better.


And if you look closely in the top left corner you can see a runway view.



On top of that we got points plus 2 welcome drinks. More importantly we had a good night’s sleep.

 

[drron]

After a refresh and change of clothes it was over to Jewel to pick up my Apple air tags. Being a tech dinosaur I was worried about how difficult to use would they be. Easy peasy. And with 1 placed in our checked bag it was good to see the notification when walking to the lounge a notification that we had left one behind.

We decided to eat there. Plenty of choice. But sauerkraut fish?


We decided on sushi. OK but expensive.


Back to the hotel and had our free drinks.


A cheap white for Mrsdrron and a Kirin for me.

 

[drron]

If you are just overnight in Singapore staying at the airport isn’t bad with Jewel an easy walk away. A great show At night.

 

[drron]

We slept very well at the Crowne Plaza. Just a short walk to the SQ check in.


Very soon in the SKL. Easy enough to find seats.
Had a nice fruit salad then some Indian food. I enjoyed the cauliflower bondi.

Used the lounge agent to make a change to our Christmas flights that I could’nt do online. Obviously it took a bit of persuasion from the lounge agent as the call was put through to a second agent and they began to speak in Malay. But I got what I wanted.

Our run of luck continued with the gate being close to the lounge.

 

[drron]

Boarding just a few minutes late but soon onboard. One annoying thing was when I booked the awards it was an A380 flight but it was changed to a 777 flight.












I am not a fan of these J seats. Very uncomfortable and nearly impossible to sleep. On top of that it is difficult to swap to the bed set up. Only 14 hours for go.

 

[drron]

Once again we got printed menus. Here is the me food available. The wine list and other beverages were the same as yesterday’s










And the London to Singapore menu.

 

[maia200]

Great report looking forward to living the holiday through you

 

[drron]

So the food on this flight. As usual began with the satays.

A prawn and scallops appetiser was excellent.


For lunch the book the cook lobster thermidor .


Cheesecake for dessert. Was good. I began with the Bordeaux and switched to the Teusner Shiraz.


Dinner I had the same wines as I quite enjoyed them. First came an overcooked salmon appertiser then their delicious version of chicken rice from book the cook.




A reasonable dessert.


A bit up and down with meal quality. Service though was excellent plus with a couple of nice talks. Definitely not robotic.
On the other hand they did fail with the wine for Mrsdrron as they only had a Riesling and Chardonnay for the white selection niether of them she likes.

 

[drron]

As I said at the start the bed I found was extremely uncomfortable. I tried to sleep but couldn’t so I ended up watching 6 movies.
First was a Clint Eastwood film Macho Story. I do like his films.

Next was Birth with Nicole Kidman. Weird. Watched it but didn’t enjoy it.

Then Pig. Again a bit weird but I did enjoy it.

The Social Network about the founding of Facebook. To me it didn’t put Mark Zuckerberg in a good light. Made him to me weird and not a nice guy at all.

The Montane Story. Another I enjoyed even though mostly for the scenery.

Mincemeat. With Colin Firth. Now I am a WW2 film tragic so I did very much like this one.

For me the SQ film selection is the best I have found in the air.
Arrived at Terminal 2 just a few minutes late.

 

[Quickstatus]

satays

The regulation 3 sticks.
Was that chicken or beef?
Did they have any extra in reserve?

Why do the rice cakes look green?
Also missing the purple onions…

 

[drron]

Boy you walk a long way at LHR. Quite a few planes arriving at T2 in a short time so a lot arriving at Immigration but not overly long lines at the Egates. A problem though as usual was the long time it took for my facial recognition.

Through to the baggage hall with 3 flights on our Brit with ours the last to come out. Once again the air tags helped as I had gone for a walk but I noticed the tag moving so back to the belt just as our bag came out.

Then another long walk to the free train transfer to T 4 and 5. To T4 it was an Elizabeth line train.


For T5 a Heathrow Express. A 6 minute journey with another reasonably long walk to the Sofitel.

 

[OZDUCK]

So the food on this flight. As usual began with the satays.
View attachment 286805
A prawn and scallops appetiser was excellent.
View attachment 286811

For lunch the book the cook lobster thermidor .
View attachment 286806

Cheesecake for dessert. Was good. I began with the Bordeaux and switched to the Teusner Shiraz.
View attachment 286807

Dinner I had the same wines as I quite enjoyed them. First came an overcooked salmon appertiser then their delicious version of chicken rice from book the cook.
View attachment 286808

View attachment 286809

A reasonable dessert.
View attachment 286810

A bit up and down with meal quality. Service though was excellent plus with a couple of nice talks. Definitely not robotic.
On the other hand they did fail with the wine for Mrsdrron as they only had a Riesling and Chardonnay for the white selection niether of them she likes.

I have booked the Chicken Rice for next Wednesday so I am glad to hear that it was nice.

 

[drron]

The regulation 3 sticks.
Was that chicken or beef?
Did they have any extra in reserve?

Why do the rice cakes look green?
Also missing the purple onions…

They were chicken satay. The green things are the traditional accompaniment cucumber. The inside of the onion is white and that side was facing the camera but the other side was purple.