Circling through Poland - with a bit of Germany thrown in.

[OZDUCK]

This was a bit of an unexpected trip. We usually plan our trips a year or so in advance. In this instance early this year a friend of my wife was going to a "Sketchers" symposium in Poznan Poland and asked her if she wanted to come along and then see some other parts of Poland. This is not a meeting for shoe fetishists but for people who love to sketch. My wife agreed and asked me to plan the logistics as the friend was getting stupidly expensive travel quotes from Flight Centre for J tickets.

USk Symposium Poznan 2025 - Urban Sketchers

The 13th International Urban Sketchers Symposium Witamy! Join Us in Poznań, Poland from 20-23 August 2025. Sketch your way to discover and explore a city steeped in history, brimming with architectural wonders, and bursting with artistic inspiration. Regardless of your sketching level, connect...

urbansketchers.org

I worked out an itinerary and as often the trip started with a flight to Singapore from Perth in ScootPlus. Then QR would cover the Singapore - Europe leg. It ended up much cheaper using Berlin as the arrival/departure point in Europe with the rest of the trip being via train. This reduced the airfare costs by about 50% compared to the original quotes. By this time my wife was a bit concerned about how she was going to handle the train transfers etc and asked if I would like to join them. After some hesitation I agreed to do so.

We took virtually no photos of the trip to Singapore. It was a duplicate of one we had done only a couple of months before hand.

However, just a reminder that you do not get QR Business Class food on TR. But it was hot, tasted ok and was enough for a short evening trip. Once again the cabin crew were excellent and we arrived on time so everything was fine. My wife prefers the plastic cutlery on Scoot compared to the wooden stuff in QF Y. Except for some water this is the sole offering included in your fare.



We have been in Singapore a lot over the last 12 month so once again we took very few photos.

Our hotel on Jalan Sultan in Kampong Glam



It is made up of about 6 former shophouses so it has pretty disjointed floor plan and you often have to go outside to get to your room.



The Sultan Mosque is basically right behind it and you can usually hear the morning call to prayer.



The Arab Street area is also nearby. It has certainly been spruced up over the last few years.





Our friend went to a Sketchers gathering by the Kallang Basin





After a couple of hours all the sketches are displayed and a few winners of small prizes chosen



While we were waiting for her an otter turned up to please passers-by.



.He had caught a pretty big fish and was having a nice feed.

 

[OZDUCK]

I will quickly get to our arrival in Germany

While we were there Singapore was celebrating its 60th Birthday and we caught the tale end of a practice military parade.









We did have a very nice Indian vegetarian meal on Serangoon Road in Little India









We left Singapore at 10:30 so we went to the QR J lounge and had a small but nice breakfast. The staff were attentive and kept offering us more food but we declined.



The weather for our departure was pretty awful



As you c an see we were in the clouds virtually inside the airport perimeter

Until we got to the Indian sub-continent we were either in clouds or just above them. It was not as rocky as our flight across the Bay of Bengal a few weeks previously but it was still a bit uncomfortable.

 

[OZDUCK]

I refused to pay QR their ransom to select J seats - around S$120 per seat per leg. I tried to check in the night before and select seats but the system wouldn't co-operate. We prefer to sit in the single window J seats on QR. When we checked in at Singapore we had been allocated window seats in the 'old' J seats on a B787 from Doha to Berlin. However for the first flight on a Q Suites equipped A350 it seemed that we were going to have to sit next to each other - the horror - in the centre backward facing seats. When I went to sit down, in the smaller rear J cabin, a young German couple next to me were asking the FA if they could be seated together as they had a 3 year old with them and they wanted to share the workload. They were being told the cabin was full when I pretended to be a gentleman and nobly offered to swap our centre seats for their two window seats. They were extremely grateful and jumped at the offer so I ended up with a rearward facing seat and my wife had the forward facing seat she prefers. At the end of the flight I was telling them how go their kid had behaved and they once again effusively thanked me for forgoing the chance to sit next to my wife. I actually felt a bit ashamed of my eagerness to do the swap but everyone ended up happy.

Settling in



The irritating Kevin Hart 'Safety; video



Our flight path





The amuse bouche - of something



Mezze



Qatari chicken mashkool. I can't remember anything about it so I assume it was ok without being memorable.



A bit of sand in the air



Coming to land at Doha

 

[RooFlyer]

Kevin Hart

Is that who it is. On all my QR flights I’ve never known or wanted to know.

It’s a crowded field but possibly the most irritating safety video of all.

 

[RB001]

Is that who it is. On all my QR flights I’ve never known or wanted to know.

It’s a crowded field but possibly the most irritating safety video of all.

Ahem!

Post in thread 'Europe, with an Arctic cruise, a Balkan tour and bits of France and Malta'

May 28, 2025

Your cringe-inducing safety video features Kevin Hart, "Qatar Airways Global Brand Ambassador, comedian, actor and entrepreneur."

• RB001

• 

 

[RooFlyer]

Ahem

Oops, sorry. And it was only a couple of months ago.

 

[RB001]

Oops, sorry. And it was only a couple of months ago.

In your defence, a few oceans have passed under the bridge since then...

 

[OZDUCK]

We avoided a bus 'gate' this time at Doha - not so lucky on the return leg. Our lounge of choice was the Al Mourjan lounge as this was the first time we have transited Doha since it was opened.

Looking across the garden from the lounge





It actually wasn't a very pleasant stay as although the lounge was pretty empty it was also extremely hot. It was in the low 40's outside and probably in the low 30's inside. The A/C system had obviously had failures. Repairs were being made and large temporary A/C's being used.

You can see the cordoned off area in this photo were work was being done.



In the distance you can see a worker up a ladder and large plastic 'tubes' attached to the A/C outlets. My wife did point out the odd placement of the toilets as has been discussed on here before.

We only had a quick drink and toilet break before moving out into the cooler part of the terminal. I assume that the reason the lounge was so quite was because of the A/C failure.



Again we took very few photos on the leg to Berlin. I think my wife and I were both a bit 'over it' after the Etihad flight over a similar route about 7 weeks before this one. We were given pyjamas on both legs to Europe. This was not the case on the return trip.



Vegetable volute soup - very nice



Angus tenderloin - pretty good for an 'aircraft' steak.



I can't recall exactly what this was but I do remember how nice it was.



One of QR's destination themed small pillows

 

[OZDUCK]

Arriving in Berlin we got a nice view over the lakes and rivers south-east of the city. We would be passing through here in a few days when we went to the Spreewald.



As you can see the sun was pretty low in the sky as we arrived





The Müggelsee. We took a tram ride around half of it in 2013. Our last day in Germany this year was spent near the northern tip in Köpenick. Tram 68 from Köpenick has been rated as the most scenic one in Berlin.

Berlin alternative travel guide: the lakeside Line 68 route is touted as one of the world's great tram rides

The Line 68 tram winds from the old town of Köpenick through pine forests and beside the shores of a beautiful lake. And it's been described as one of the world's greatest trolley car journeys.

www.secretcitytravel.com

The centre of Berlin in the distance





Our arrival experience was pretty good here. There was no-one in front of us at Immigration and although we were delayed a bit by the somewhat slow arrival of the luggage we were still sitting in the train for the trip into Berlin in just under an hour from when the wheels touched the tarmac'