30-7 - Utrecht-Singapore
I missed my target for finishing the travelogue (the end of the year) by 1 day. Hmm, still alright.
In the last days I was in Europe, I experienced 1 or 2 of what I imagined were normal Dutch summer days. It was nice - cool enough, except around noon.
Appelflappen, replacing the pictures I took at the start of my trip but were lost thanks to the French bastard in Nimes
God ad at the airport
This sign was plastered at stations around the country when I returned. Grr.
I arrived at the airport at 9:55 for my noon flight, and the queue already extended far beyond the queuing area. In the end I finished checking in at about 11, and the queue still extended beyond the queuing area. The 'exclusive, limited edition' Economy class luggage tag they were offering seemed to add insult to injury. I don't expect very much from MAS, but they still hadn't met, let alone gone beyond, my expectations.
Easyjet had a sign projecting an aura of being nice: 'More hand baggage!, no weight restriction (within reason!)'. However, this was contingent on the bag being able to fit within the box provided, and it being able to be put in the overhead compartment without assistance.
In Europe, I noticed that all airports had a notice about your being able to seek recompense if your flight was delayed for at least 2 hours or if you were denied boarding. Somehow I don't recall seeing one at Changi.
A very brusque announcement: 'XXX, you are delaying the flight. We will proceed to offload your baggage.' Gotta love Dutch bluntness.
On the flight, I found that MAS finally had gotten movies on demand, at least 2 years after SIA (we had movies on demand on the way to and from Lancer). Oh, except that they play Celcom ads before the videos. Wth. And the fast forward is inaccurate - there's no timer so it's hard to go to the right location; and you can't immediately change the direction of fast forwarding (you've to press play first). Stupid half-hearted implementation. The in-flight entertainment also had some other bugs I won't bother writing about.
The person sitting beside me on the flight back said on Amsterdam TV they were doing an interview with some musicians, and in the background one member was doing it doggie style with a groupie.
King Kong was horribly butchered. Damn MAS.
Walking with Monsters showed the first ever fish, and proclaimed it out 'first known ancestor'. Wasn't that bacteria? The series was good but the CGI was a bit stuff and jerky.
Even for airline food, the servings we got for lunch and breakfast were tiny.
It's been 6 months so I don't think I'll bother compiling a master list of travel tips.
July Secret Diary #4
