Living in SIN

If you have to travel and your travel time is somewhere along the lines of 39 hours from door to door, there is no better way to go than Singapore Airlines with a layover in Singapore's Changi Airport. We've flown over 25 airlines in the world and have heard amazing things about Singapore Air, so our hopes were as high as our cruising altitude.

Stepping on the plane I wondered if we had stumbled upon a Miss Pan-Asia contest. Every female flight attendant was suited in a form fitting two piece long dress, their hair in a perfect french knot, and if too short for that, elegantly styled. Each was an equisite beauty and it seemed their only desire was to make sure you were a happy traveler. The guys didn't get off so easy as they were uniformed in a powder blue blazer, a color not seen since my cousin Jess' wedding in 1976, but they were also professional and very attentive.

A stack of newspapers greeted us as we stepped on the plane, and we discovered the most incredible piece of mechanics I've ever seen on a plane--a foot rest--even in coach! Unless you are under 5 feet tall, this might not seem to be the exciting event it was for me, but after too many flights with my feet dangling off the side of the seat, my feet could touch something! While my friend Steve regaled me with stories of eating lobster--or was it crab--on his Singapore flight, I ended up with fish. But it was one of the most delicious pieces of fish I've had in ages. The other six meals and snacks weren't too bad, we all dined on an especially nice plate of noodles during one of our three breakfasts, and the steaming hot towels that they brought at the begining of each flight only lead me to sigh--"Oh why haven't Americans figured out the rejuvinating joys of a hot washcloth?"

We had four hours to kill in Changi and entered the new terminal which was opened this January. Mind you we had spent a number of hours at Changi in 2005-2006 and were already impressed with the airport. Really, we loved you, you didn't have to get better Changi. With the full chaise lounges, the quiet music, and the unlimited shopping it was a pretty comfortable airport. But the new terminal exceeded any expectations a traveler should have. We tucked into a quiet corner of the terminal where a line of "beds" faced a small stone babbling brook. Quiet piano music could be heard in the background and there were none of the annoying calls over the loudspeaker that every other airport has asking "Mister Bom Bom to please pick up the white courtesy phone." Throughout the airport were islands of computers offering free internet time, which I gladly used to post to the blog. Dylan discovered the free movie theatre and swimming pool a little too late for us to enjoy them, but if she's given the choice of a destination in the future Changi is looking pretty good to her. Actually it looked pretty great for all of us, and if we were choosing a place to live in Sin, SIN (Singapore's Changi airport code) is as good a place as any.