SE Asia - Volume 2

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Moscow to Singapore (9 hours; Depart: 4:50 pm Saturday, Arrive: 5:50 am Sunday)

You’d think that traveling often would translate into being a savvy traveler. Sometimes, yes. Other times, no. Case in point: in progress right now. When I was booking this trip initially, I thought I was going from Houston to Perth. In that situation, it is faster to go through Singapore. However, when I was in London last week, I found out I needed to go to Brisbane first, then Perth. Without consulting a map, I called the travel agent and asked that she re-ticket me from Singapore to Brisbane instead; keeping the initial HoustonàMoscowàSingapore route. Bad mistake – go look at a map. Wrong side of a massive island continent.

While having Thanksgiving dinner with my brother-in-law, I told him of my itinerary. He then asked why I wasn’t going over the Pacific. And, that, dear friends, is a very good question. Five hours before my trip was to start, I looked up flights from Houston to Brisbane and found out that it would only take 19 hours flying time instead of 32. I also could’ve left a day later. And seen Paul van Dyk. When I checked the rates to change routes, it was going to cost an extra $5k to make the switch; hence the reason I find myself in Singapore at 6:00 am on a Sunday morning. I’ve been on a plane for 24 hours so far, and still have an 8 hour flight left. Yet there’s only one person to blame – myself. (I suppose I could also wonder why the travel agent didn’t question my sanity in route selection though). C’est la vie.

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