A Plane to Spain

[OZDUCK]

I was going to start this Trip Report before we left but a stressful and hectic last few weeks before departure made that plan impossible. Then problems with WiFi and computers made it very hard to start a TR. I think I have know found workarounds for most problems so here we go - typing between the cracks on the laptop screen.

This trip will include 4 nights in Singapore, 23 in Spain and 2 in Doha. The first leg to Singapore was on Scoot in their ScootBiz cabin. All the other flights will be on QR in J. The full itinerary is Per - Sin - BCN, BCN - Doh - Per.

First Leg: Perth to Singapore

To save several thousand dollars over flying out of Perth on QR we tried ScootBiz. We have previously used SQ Y to get to Singapore but after a couple of ordinary experiences and the lure of a Scoot sale we booked with them, for around $330 one way. As I said in another thread they were perfectly OK. Priority Boarding was very strictly policed, the seats were comfortable and with adequate legroom - basically Premium Economy seating and legroom with 22" width and 38 " pitch. They were a bit short in the back for me but so were the QR J seats. We were in 1A & 1 K, all the seats have the trays in the armrests but they don't interfere with the width. The crew give you your meal as soon as possible after departure, clean up pretty quickly and then will ignore you unless you want to buy something. The pushing of extra "product" was far less noticeable than on Finnair Intra-European flights.

The seat - with a carefully positioned camera lanyard.



Adequate legroom - I am 6'3" 190 cm and was comfortable on a 5 hour flight



2 for 1 shot of feet on the bulkhead



My included meal - Chicken Rice with drink, small salad and cookie - about the same quantity and taste as a typical Singapore Hawker meal. Perfectly fine and certainly far better than the noodles I got in MH J last year.



My wife's meal - again perfectly ok.



The flight left about 15 minutes late but got in 10 minutes early. Immigration was pretty slow as we landed just behind a flight from India full of "guest workers" all with copious permits etc to go through.

I would fly ScootBiz again but only if they change the departure time of 2020, arriving at 0135 just puts too much of a dampener on the next day.

 

[dajop]

I would fly ScootBiz again but only if they change the departure time of 2020, arriving at 0135 just puts too much of a dampener on the next day.

Looking at it from the other perspective (living in Singapore), 20:20 allows almost a full day in PER, and no immigration to speak of (electronic entry), can easily be in bed by 02:30., 6 hrs sleep before getting up and heading to work Not for everyone I know, but timetable probably works for people travelling to PER from SIN for a short break, without eating into the return day too much.

Also thanks for the report, still haven't tried ScootBiz yet, but will when the price is right.

 

[Major]

I'm not convinced ScootBiz is OK from the East Coast.

Enjoy the trip

 

[OZDUCK]

I'm not convinced ScootBiz is OK from the East Coast.

Enjoy the trip

An extra couple of hours trip time could make difference.

 

[OZDUCK]

Looking at it from the other perspective (living in Singapore), 20:20 allows almost a full day in PER, and no immigration to speak of (electronic entry), can easily be in bed by 02:30., 6 hrs sleep before getting up and heading to work Not for everyone I know, but timetable probably works for people travelling to PER from SIN for a short break, without eating into the return day too much.

Also thanks for the report, still haven't tried ScootBiz yet, but will when the price is right.

We are getting a bit old now, 64 & 65, to bounce back after an overnight flight like we used to.

I agree the price needs to be right. For example the price for a flight 6 months from now is $435 - about a $100 more than we paid - the sale prices do seem to make more sense.

 

[OZDUCK]

Singapore

Because Scoot do have a reputation for flight delays we certainly were not going to risk a same day connection in Singapore. Plus we always enjoy our time up there so we had a 4 night stopover..

We stayed at the Village Hotel Changi in one of their Club Rooms. We felt like a being out of town a bit on this trip.The rooms were a little bit bigger than the norm in Singapore but the hotel as a whole is in need of a makeover. For example the grab rail in the " shower over the bath" recess came away in my hands as the retaining screws had rusted away. Luckily I wasn't using it to pull myself up but merely for extra balance.The Wifi in the rooms was almost unusable so I had to go to the Club Lounge to get a signal. The Club Lounge was adequate but not special which pretty much sums up our stay there.

Only a few photos as Singapore has been pretty well covered by many people.

This hotel is plane-spotters delight. In fact we had a chat with two English guys who travelled the world with very expensive camera equipment doing. They were spotting from the balcony of the Club Lounge. A photo from the roof gives a , slight, idea of the nearness to Changi Airport. The large grey buildings are on the airport grounds.




One of the delights of staying at Changi is easy access to the Food Market at Changi Village which provides excellent food at very good prices. For example this very tasty Chicken Nasi Lemak cost me all of $3.50



It also meant we had easy access to Pulau Ubin as the bumboats for the 5 minute crossing to island were only about 150 metres from the front of our hotel.

We hired bikes and rode around for a few hours. The monkeys are obviously terrified of visitors.



They have done a lot of work there including this new walkway.



This was a pretty unusual sight - Eu Tong Sen street in Chinatown with no traffic. It was closed off for the Lantern Parade for the Mid Autumn Festival.





And finally a quintessential shot of modern Singapore.

 

[OZDUCK]

We then prepared to board our QR flights to Barcelona. QR currently use Terminal 3 at Changi but will change to Terminal 1 from 28 October. They are also going to change their plane on this route, from the "old style" A350 to the newer A350's equipped with J Suites, later this month. Last time we flew them from Singapore, 2017, they used the DNATA lounge which was pretty average - if that. This time they were using the SATS Premier Lounge which was again just average - slightly more comfortable seating but with very inadequate toilet facilities.

The flight on the A350 Sin - Doh was excellent with a very friendly and responsive cabin crew, We got the "candlelight" dining service which was a bit of fun.



We were on time arriving over Doha but, and I guess this shows how connecting flight banks work, at midnight there was too much traffic and we spent over 20 mins circling Doha.



There was no time for a visit to the lounge just a quick toilet break and straight to the next gate. We were flying on one of the leased LATAM A350's for this leg and I think QR are getting complaints about them. Before boarding there was an announcement that while it was not a QR plane it was a new plane and that normal QR food and service would be supplied.

It was noticeable that the interior was set up very differently - centre overheads, no personal air outlets, no electric window shades, smaller TV monitors etc. The planes have a 2 - 2- 2 lie flat pattern in J and are a definite let-down after the QR A350. The seats are ok as seats but I was very uncomfortable when I tried to use it is a bed. It felt very short and I couldn't really straighten my legs. I gave up after a while and just used it as a seat. I am tall but the woman across the aisle had problems being short and unable to reach the legrest. The seat controls are very badly positioned, right by your elbow and easily knocked. They are also showing signs of wear and were often not responsive. Better than any Y or PE seat but not up to today's standards for top J seats.

The crew were probably even better than the first flight and the food was again excellent.

Worn seat controls



The legroom



Finally, the start of the Spanish leg. Barcelona at dawn. We would taking photos from the old fort overlooking that harbour in a few days.

 

[ellen10]

Following along. We are visiting Spain next year in October. We are also looking at using QR for some of our flights.

 

[OZDUCK]

Following along. We are visiting Spain next year in October. We are also looking at using QR for some of our flights.

We arrived on September 24th and the weather, in the north of Spain has been excellent, if more humid than I expected. There have been heavy rain and floods in the south. Yesterday (12/10) it was 27 C in Madrid after early showers. Today is to be 16 - 26. In 18 days we have used an umbrella for about 5 minutes. Bilbao was having showers on the morning we left so it didn't affect us.

 

[craven morehead]

Just catching up .......

 

[OZDUCK]

Arrival procedures were quick and easy - except for the long walk from our gate to the immigration counters. Getting from the airport into the city was a breeze. We had to catch a free shuttle bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 and then walk a little way to the train station - all well signposted and easy to do. There was an Railway Inquiries officer waiting at the Ticket Machines explaining, in excellent English, how to buy the Zone 1 10 Trip Rail/Metro/Bus pass. In fact he did most of the button punching himself. This pass is excellent value it only costs €10.20 and you can share it with your partner, or as many people as you want, and you pass it back for the next person to "Tag On". The airport is in Zone 1 so the 12 Km trip to the City costs €1.20 - eat that Sydney and and a number of other cities.

I will split up the Barcelona part into separate posts as there is so much to see there. This one will cover one of the true highlights - Gaudi's La Sagrada Famillia. We saw it first 1976 when basically only the outside was view-able. I am very far from a religious person but this is definitely a beautiful building. It is far better to book on-line as you skip the lines - we booked relatively early in the morning so we got the early light through the windows plus we skipped the huge tour groups that came along later. Enough babbling , to the pictures!

The outside





Inside with early light adding additional colour and drama to the design. The resemblance to being inside
a forest was a deliberate design choice by Gaudi.

 

[Straubs]

Absolutely beautiful - one wonders how masters such as Gaudi visualised all this before it was there. I am in awe.

 

[kermatu]

Grabbing a late BP for this.

 

[BriarFlyer]

I'm also grabbing a seat at the pointy-end. We'll be in Barcelona, and possibly Madrid, next March. My research starts here!

 

[OZDUCK]

I'm also grabbing a seat at the pointy-end. We'll be in Barcelona, and possibly Madrid, next March. My research starts here!

Sorry guys I have been very remiss. We have had a few days of poor internet and no internet. Today I am just too tired to deal with the workarounds I have to use on my laptop to post more updates. I will be back home in Oz in a couple of days and promise to get cracking on my home PC then.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Most people will have the one European Country they love above all the rest - and mine is Spain - Buckled up and ready for the ride!

 

[OZDUCK]

We arrived back home last night and after over 10 hours sleep here is the next installment.

After the Sagrada Familia we walked down the road a bit to the Palau de la Música Catalana a 1908 Spanish Modernist ( Art Nouveau) theatre. It was designed by one of the teachers of Gaudi. If any building can be said to be like a Jewel Box it is this one. Extensive use of glass and ceramics dominate the inside. Restrained, it is not.

It was built by public subscription to enhance and maintain Catalonian culture hence there are no Royal Boxes etc

Part of the outside



The theatre is dominated by the glass ceiling. The central inverted dome used to be exposed to the elements and needed cleaning after rainfall etc. It is now sealed off by a glass plate.





This room used to be part of the main entrance




There are beautiful details everywhere



Even the kiosk is a work of art

 

[ellen10]

The glasswork is beautiful!

 

[OZDUCK]

Moving away from architecture for a little while here are some general views of Barcelona.As you can see we had great weather, in fact we only had one day of rain affect us in our 24 days in SPain.

Bogatell Beach - nice sand, clean looking water and no apparent worries about topless sunbathing - for both sexes. Actually, the lack of any precautions against the sun in all the parts off Spain we visited was a bit surprising



The marina at the Olympic Port - I think there was some water in it



We took the funicular (using the 10 trip transport card) up to Montjuïc Castle, which while it is not a fascinating building to visit itself has great views over Barcelona

Looking north



I didn't realise there was so much animal trading going in Barcelona - but look at this line-up of ugly livestock transports



Looking up towards the Art Museum



Looking back from the museum



Sagrada Familia dominates the skyline

 

[OZDUCK]

Gaudi did much more than Sagrada Familia - here are some other examples

Park Guell











Casa Mila







Casa Battlo