Where priorities were in order from the moment we landed. I got my new SIM at the airport, on the way out from collecting our bags. Putting the new card in was a bit more complicated…. Here’s a life hack for you – the post of an earring does the job in getting the SIM holder to ‘pop’ open whilst a tooth pick doesn’t.
And then it was straight out for dinner with my cousins at a beautiful little self sustaining restaurant and cafe in the heart of the city called Open Farm Community, The burger was just what I needed after the flight.
And these sweet potato leaf fritters were a surprise hit with Toddler SSG.
And now, here we are at our hotel. Still on Sydney time (three hours ahead of Singapore) but doing it in holiday mode. We have blistering fast hotel wifi and a similarly efficient in room drinking water dispenser which automatically delivers water at three different drinking temperatures. The Chinese in me totally relates to the fact that the room temperature water setting is actually on the hotter side of things.
Being up well before breakfast service begins, we’ve had a picnic breakfast in our room. That trusty red knife of mine has come in handy on so many trips. I can’t even remember where I bought it but it’s helped plate up many a hotel room meal.
The flight! Need to chat about that too. It actually went really well and I’m very proud of Toddler SSG. From the moment he woke up and helped pack some of his essentials to the time we checked in last night, he took the whole day in his stride.
Sydney airport do an amazing job for families travelling with little ones. There are priorities lanes for immigration for families and the staff are so patient and calm as they politely but firmly guide runaways back to their parents and guardians. Speaking from first hand parent experience…
Once clearing immigration, there are lots of cafes and eateries which were actually surprisingly well priced. Oh and free wifi was really easy to access.
I couldn’t say no to a bit of duty free Kiehl’s. Will let you know how I rate the new serum…
Parent friendly amenities even had child sized toilets in them which I thought was a really thoughtful touch. And of course, the play area at Maccas. Bless you, Ronald McDonald.
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| All wired up for the flight. Lots of USB chargers on board. In flight wifi wasn’t available on our flight. |
If you can swing it with your family holiday budget, Premium Economy is worth considering for longer flights. Quicker check in and boarding can be sanity savers when you’ve survived packing and then getting to the airport. The cabin is smaller than Economy and I found this helped to keep us both calm. We managed to get our two seats by the window and as it was just us in the row, it seemed to create a less disrupted flight for both ourselves and our seat neighbours behind us and across the aisle.
The seats are wider and do extend out a little more than in Economy. I’m sure someone on the net has the details with regards to the difference for you. The seats don’t lie flat which I don’t think you really miss when in charge of a little one for the duration of the flight. There’s also lots of storage space around each seat which is always a good thing. The tables fold out from the arm rests which creates less havoc with toddlers who love to unclip back of seat tray tables…
We were well looked after with food and drink on our Singapore Airlines flight. Toddler SSG had special childrens’ meals which were all served ahead of regular service. If you chose the option of pre ordering ‘Book the Chef’ meals, they also came out early. It seemed a popular option on the flight we were on.
The only thing I wasn’t that excited about was the in flight entertainment. It’s luck of the draw, I guess, depending on what’s available for the month but there wasn’t anything I really wanted to watch or listen to. The screens on our plane (an A380) were not touch screen enabled which also added to the frustration for me.
But that one little glitch isn’t going to stop be considering Premium Economy the next time we fly internationally. It seems to be a growing trend to provide this cabin class amongst the airlines and I will be interested to see trial the offerings of other carriers.
Have you flown Premium Economy? Money well spent, in your opinion?