Justinf
Established Member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2009
- Posts
- 2,224
Another January passes and another JF trip report.
This one was a loooooong time in the making.
I’m a bit conflicted at this time of year as I like to travel to colder countries in their winter, but I am required to be on deck for work for the first few weeks of January, but then it’s my wife’s birthday on Jan 24 and our anniversary on Feb 10. We eloped to New York and got hitched at the City Clerk’s office in downtown Manhattan.
So I need to plan early if I want to travel between those dates.
And early I did plan.
I’ve always wanted to go to China. So I looked into going there and then thought I’d tuck in a quick trip to Seoul. Wife has always wanted to go, and I thought I’d suss it out in the hope of taking her at some stage. She’s not really up for travelling long distances due to several chronic illnesses, yet she never ever complains.
SQ seemed the best option for J even though it meant a stopover at Changi.
I’d done this last year and knew what to expect and although I really rate SQ’s soft product, I’m not overly enthusiastic about its hard product. I found it very difficult to sleep last time around due to the horrid footwells on the medium and regional haul aircraft. The bed is only 183cm long and I am 184cm. I like to get to sleep sleeping on my belly with my toes outstretched and arms up cradling my head (not sure how else to explain). That is a definite no-go on these aircraft. Foetal position is OK.
Still, a couple of 7 hour flights in J seemed perfectly ok.
I booked Melbourne to Singapore on January 25 at 12.35am. Arriving into Singapore at 5.15am.
Then Singapore to Beijing leaving at 8.45am and arriving in the Chinese capital at 2.50pm.
I’ll go into more detail about the other flights I organised a bit later.
China had me worried about the visa process and the fact that I am a journalist. A small-time country paper editor, but a scribe nonetheless.
A few months after, it was passed that Australian passport holders didn’t need a visa for stays of 15 days or less and then later on 30 days. That was a relief.
My plan was to get the high-speed rail from Beijing to Shanghai and then fly over to Seoul.
I planned on four days in each city and then four in Seoul.
Then a quick hop over to Sapporo in Japan for a night while the Winter Festival was on and then up to Wakkanai for two nights.
I’ve always wanted to go to the northern tip of Hokkaido. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. But I just have. So I thought “why not?”.
Then back down to Tokyo flying into Haneda and then a limousine bus over to Narita for a night before flying out to Singapore the next day and onto Melbourne.
I reckon I changed my SQ Book the Cook orders more times than I have changed my AFL SuperCoach team this pre-season.
It’s important.
At this stage I think I have settled on the burger for the first leg, the Singapore style fried carrot cake (everyone has absolutely raved about this dish) for Singapore to Beijing, then biryani for Narita to Singapore and Nasi lemak for the final leg home.
Obviously I am still a few days away from departing but I thought I would drip-feed a few posts in the coming days and my reasoning into planning, including accommodation and any tours I will go on.
This one was a loooooong time in the making.
I’m a bit conflicted at this time of year as I like to travel to colder countries in their winter, but I am required to be on deck for work for the first few weeks of January, but then it’s my wife’s birthday on Jan 24 and our anniversary on Feb 10. We eloped to New York and got hitched at the City Clerk’s office in downtown Manhattan.
So I need to plan early if I want to travel between those dates.
And early I did plan.
I’ve always wanted to go to China. So I looked into going there and then thought I’d tuck in a quick trip to Seoul. Wife has always wanted to go, and I thought I’d suss it out in the hope of taking her at some stage. She’s not really up for travelling long distances due to several chronic illnesses, yet she never ever complains.
SQ seemed the best option for J even though it meant a stopover at Changi.
I’d done this last year and knew what to expect and although I really rate SQ’s soft product, I’m not overly enthusiastic about its hard product. I found it very difficult to sleep last time around due to the horrid footwells on the medium and regional haul aircraft. The bed is only 183cm long and I am 184cm. I like to get to sleep sleeping on my belly with my toes outstretched and arms up cradling my head (not sure how else to explain). That is a definite no-go on these aircraft. Foetal position is OK.
Still, a couple of 7 hour flights in J seemed perfectly ok.
I booked Melbourne to Singapore on January 25 at 12.35am. Arriving into Singapore at 5.15am.
Then Singapore to Beijing leaving at 8.45am and arriving in the Chinese capital at 2.50pm.
I’ll go into more detail about the other flights I organised a bit later.
China had me worried about the visa process and the fact that I am a journalist. A small-time country paper editor, but a scribe nonetheless.
A few months after, it was passed that Australian passport holders didn’t need a visa for stays of 15 days or less and then later on 30 days. That was a relief.
My plan was to get the high-speed rail from Beijing to Shanghai and then fly over to Seoul.
I planned on four days in each city and then four in Seoul.
Then a quick hop over to Sapporo in Japan for a night while the Winter Festival was on and then up to Wakkanai for two nights.
I’ve always wanted to go to the northern tip of Hokkaido. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. But I just have. So I thought “why not?”.
Then back down to Tokyo flying into Haneda and then a limousine bus over to Narita for a night before flying out to Singapore the next day and onto Melbourne.
I reckon I changed my SQ Book the Cook orders more times than I have changed my AFL SuperCoach team this pre-season.
It’s important.
At this stage I think I have settled on the burger for the first leg, the Singapore style fried carrot cake (everyone has absolutely raved about this dish) for Singapore to Beijing, then biryani for Narita to Singapore and Nasi lemak for the final leg home.
Obviously I am still a few days away from departing but I thought I would drip-feed a few posts in the coming days and my reasoning into planning, including accommodation and any tours I will go on.
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