RadioRoryNot a lot of photos in this update, just something I forgot to mention about my flight from Singapore to Perth.
I’ve already explained the security circus that is performed daily at the border checkpoints between Malaysia and Singapore. (For the record, the men and women who work there are not part of the circus, that’s reserved for the rest of us trying to get from Point A to Point B).
Google Maps backed me up when I figured it was about 40-minutes of actual driving time to get to the Singapore Airport from the bus terminal near where I was staying in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. My flight is at 1:15 p.m. so I decide that I will leave at 9:15, just missing the rush hour and giving myself PLENTY of wiggle room to get through the two Customs checkpoints and to the terminal.
Confident in my planning and fueled by a good complimentary hotel breakfast, I used an Uber to get to the bus terminal. It’s a very short walk, but it was through a construction zone and I have a big bag. For $4, I thought I’d live a little.
I get the next bus that’s airport bound and, while lugging the bag, the driver asks what time my flight leaves. When I proudly declared “1:15” he gasped and said I probably wouldn’t make it in time. Another passenger, Malaysian but with excellent English, agreed that it would be a close call because of traffic and all of the bus stops along the route.
Four hours wouldn’t be enough!?! The bus timetable is apparently strict on departure times, but arrival times are meaningless.
Now, the western omelet and cinnamon bun I’m digesting aren’t sitting so well as the bus is stopped in heavy traffic on the jetty that links the two countries. Some people actually get off the bus and others get out of cars (passenger side) to walk through the stopped traffic a half-mile to the border checkpoint.
After about 30-minutes the bus finally makes it to Customs, I’m processed out of Malaysia relatively quickly and I get back down to the bus bay just in time to re-catch the same bus that will take me to the Singapore side. Not all of us who got off the bus are able to get back on and will have to wait to catch the next one to Singapore. The fact that I caught this is a MAJOR victory.
The second checkpoint was even easier and now it’s just a matter of getting to the Singapore airport. My anxiety grows every time the bus stops to pick up passengers and I quietly curse at the ones who signal the driver to pull over at the next stop. It’s hot, I’m sweating, and my mind is jumping through a million mental hoops about what to do if I miss that plane.
Looking out the window, I see more industrial buildings and wider, newer roads, a clear sign that we’re getting close to airport property.
Finally, we arrive. It’s 11:15 and I’m two-hours early for my flight, just as I had planned all along.
Now here’s a funny little quirk about your old Uncle Rory. When I book a plane ticket for, I don’t know, let’s pick a random time, say 3:15. I instantly put in my head “1:15” the time I should be at the airport. Between the time I book the ticket and the day of the actual flight, I think to myself “1:15?!? I better get there two hours early!”
You see where I’m going here? Yes, I was so early for my 3:15 flight to Perth that the airline counter wasn’t even staffed yet. So a two-hour bus ride, four hours of terminal waiting, and a five-hour flight to Perth.
It was a bit of a day.