First trip in 2.5 years - England, Scotland and Singapore

AisleSeat

AisleSeat

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Nov 11, 2016
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Well, we're finally getting back on our first international flight since January 2020. I imagine it'll be a bit weird, but with a familiarity. Probably a bit like riding a bike right?

This trip is just pure being with family, who we haven't seen in years. We'll be meeting up with my parents and my sister's family as well as Mrs AS parents and brother's family who flying in from the US. Trying to decide on a location that we could all get to easily was an exercise in logistics (and at the time, COVID restrictions). Our first choice had been Portugal, and we'd found this amazing house for all of us, but at the time Portugal had the heaviest COVID restrictions, and then we discovered the house was booked up so all that fell through. We considered other countries in Europe, but then the costs started going up and up, so abandoned that.

We decided on Scotland as it's an easy destination. We've never been to the Highlands and only to Edinburgh very briefly many years ago.

Itinerary
  • Flying KF MEL-xSIN-LHR
  • A few days at my parents, then all drive up to Glencoe for 4 days, ride the Jacobite steam train, and generally just enjoy the scenery
  • Drive to Edinburgh, meet up with all the USA folks, and stay for a week. It'll be my son's birthday, so having all his grandparents there will be special. Lots of eating and drinking planned for Edinburgh.
  • Few more days at my parents
  • Down to London and stay at my sisters for a few days, see the sights, meet friends
  • KF LHR-SIN
  • 2 days in Singapore, we'll meet up with a friend there and go see some sights
  • KF SIN-MEL
I recently spoke to my sister in London who said the LHR luggage fiasco isn't really a thing anymore, but we bought some Airtags anyway. I like that they have replaceable batteries unlike Tiles.
 
AisleSeat said:
Well, we're finally getting back on our first international flight since January 2020. I imagine it'll be a bit weird, but with a familiarity. Probably a bit like riding a bike right?

This trip is just pure being with family, who we haven't seen in years. We'll be meeting up with my parents and my sister's family as well as Mrs AS parents and brother's family who flying in from the US. Trying to decide on a location that we could all get to easily was an exercise in logistics (and at the time, COVID restrictions). Our first choice had been Portugal, and we'd found this amazing house for all of us, but at the time Portugal had the heaviest COVID restrictions, and then we discovered the house was booked up so all that fell through. We considered other countries in Europe, but then the costs started going up and up, so abandoned that.

We decided on Scotland as it's an easy destination. We've never been to the Highlands and only to Edinburgh very briefly many years ago.

Itinerary
  • Flying KF MEL-xSIN-LHR
  • A few days at my parents, then all drive up to Glencoe for 4 days, ride the Jacobite steam train, and generally just enjoy the scenery
  • Drive to Edinburgh, meet up with all the USA folks, and stay for a week. It'll be my son's birthday, so having all his grandparents there will be special. Lots of eating and drinking planned for Edinburgh.
  • Few more days at my parents
  • Down to London and stay at my sisters for a few days, see the sights, meet friends
  • KF LHR-SIN
  • 2 days in Singapore, we'll meet up with a friend there and go see some sights
  • KF SIN-MEL
I recently spoke to my sister in London who said the LHR luggage fiasco isn't really a thing anymore, but we bought some Airtags anyway. I like that they have replaceable batteries unlike Tiles.
Click to expand...
Enjoy the highlands for me! We got Covid scuppered at Edinburgh and while we went to the highlands we couldn't do anything there,

the Grandies will be loving the shared birthday party!
 
Check in was a breeze. We were there a little early, seventh in the queue, but the waiting went quickly as the kids bombarded us with questions about the airport and why we had to leave our bags at check-in.

I timed our check-in, security and immigration. All up it took 25 minutes, very reasonable I thought, considering we had two small kids in tow. No queues at security or immigration.

And so no lounge for us....yes, a few of you are probably like, what, no lounge? We considered paying for the Marhaba lounge, but for the time we would have used it, it wasn't worth it. We parked ourselves at Brunetti instead and got prosecco. They don't skimp on the pour! 🥂
(And this is after a sip, it was to the brim)

00100dPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20220907160811667_COVER-01.jpeg
 
AisleSeat said:
Well, we're finally getting back on our first international flight since January 2020. I imagine it'll be a bit weird, but with a familiarity. Probably a bit like riding a bike right?

This trip is just pure being with family, who we haven't seen in years. We'll be meeting up with my parents and my sister's family as well as Mrs AS parents and brother's family who flying in from the US. Trying to decide on a location that we could all get to easily was an exercise in logistics (and at the time, COVID restrictions). Our first choice had been Portugal, and we'd found this amazing house for all of us, but at the time Portugal had the heaviest COVID restrictions, and then we discovered the house was booked up so all that fell through. We considered other countries in Europe, but then the costs started going up and up, so abandoned that.

We decided on Scotland as it's an easy destination. We've never been to the Highlands and only to Edinburgh very briefly many years ago.

Itinerary
  • Flying KF MEL-xSIN-LHR
  • A few days at my parents, then all drive up to Glencoe for 4 days, ride the Jacobite steam train, and generally just enjoy the scenery
  • Drive to Edinburgh, meet up with all the USA folks, and stay for a week. It'll be my son's birthday, so having all his grandparents there will be special. Lots of eating and drinking planned for Edinburgh.
  • Few more days at my parents
  • Down to London and stay at my sisters for a few days, see the sights, meet friends
  • KF LHR-SIN
  • 2 days in Singapore, we'll meet up with a friend there and go see some sights
  • KF SIN-MEL
I recently spoke to my sister in London who said the LHR luggage fiasco isn't really a thing anymore, but we bought some Airtags anyway. I like that they have replaceable batteries unlike Tiles.
Click to expand...

Sounds awesome!!
 
MEL-SIN

My god, the A350 Y seats are tiny. The in-flight entertainment was good though. The kids handled the flight well and we all got a bit of sleep, though for the first time ever, I had a tap on my shoulder (which woke me) from the guy in the middle seat me asking me to bring my seat forward. I thought it was because maybe because he couldn't get out past his wife. Turns out his wife just didn't want my seat reclined. I gave him a look and went back to my snooze. I mean really, it's a night flight, the lights are dimmed and alot of people are having a having a sleep. Pay for an exit row next time if its an issue.

SIN-LHR

We'd left MEL late, and so by the time we got to SIN we had to hustle to the gate as boarding had already started. We grabbed two of those small hand-luggage carts, loaded a kid on each and made our way there. The B777 was ok, though Y seats looked a little tired and used. The J seats looked great though.

What sucked about this leg was when we hit the Bay of Bengal, and sustained turbulence for a solid hour. My daughter was sick, and we went through 3 sick bags. What's the deal with KF sick bags anyway? You have to tear off the top before using it? C'mon KF, these are valuable seconds. I don't care if it's "sealed for freshness", its about to be filled with dinner, freshness be damned. So picture the scene: my daughter with a hand over her mouth about to erupt, I grabbed one of these bags, tore along the perforated edge and of course made a huge rip down the side of the bag, but it was too late to grab another. I handled the broken bag like a bomb while Mrs AS carefully opened a new bag to put the used one in. After this total fiasco, things settled down a bit. We set the kids up with a Plane Pal we'd borrowed from a friend (an inflatable platform that sits in the foot well, giving a child more horizontal space to lie down). The kids got some good sleeping in on this leg.

You know whats something airlines should have? White noise in the in-flight entertainment audio section. KF has a section called "Wellness" in the music category, and it would fit right in, maybe add rainstorm or something as well.

So while travelling with small kids is an exercise in patience and mental anguish, it has its benefits, like strolling straight down the fast-lane at LHR immigration and being done with it in 2 minutes.

As we were getting ready to leave the plane there was an announcement that there would be a delay with baggage due to staff shortages, so we were fully preparing to have to wait ages. However, at the baggage carousel we checked the Airtags and saw that 2 of our bags were nearly there already. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the third one to show up, but it was cool to see where it was and track it progress. So I guess the LHR luggage drama is over?
 
Riding along as well. Love that part of the world.

If you have time and to add a bit to the trip, buy the rights to an estate just south of Glencoe before you head off from London. Highland Titles | Become a Laird, Lord or Lady of Glencoe You can then be Laird and Lady AS.

You can then visit your "Lands" - they give you the GPS coordinates of your plot.
 
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AisleSeat said:
What sucked about this leg was when we hit the Bay of Bengal, and sustained turbulence for a solid hour. My daughter was sick, and we went through 3 sick bags. What's the deal with KF sick bags anyway? You have to tear off the top before using it? C'mon KF, these are valuable seconds. I don't care if it's "sealed for freshness", its about to be filled with dinner, freshness be damned. So picture the scene: my daughter with a hand over her mouth about to erupt, I grabbed one of these bags, tore along the perforated edge and of course made a huge rip down the side of the bag, but it was too late to grab another. I handled the broken bag like a bomb while Mrs AS carefully opened a new bag to put the used one in. After this total fiasco, things settled down a bit.
Click to expand...
LittleMissDoc had the same event, at around the same spot, on MEL-DXB. The EK sick bags are no better. Hard to open in a hurry if you haven’t used before. Fortunately managed to tear open - in the wrong spot, but serviceable. And quickly opened another just as the first went into action.

Once we got the hang of them (sadly), it was easy enough. But that design isn’t good in a hurry for the first time.
 
Sherwood Forest

For an introduction to Robin Hood, the kids had watched the Disney movie, and were pretty excited to visit.

We did a treetop adventure course, and if you're wondering how scary it might be, a 5 year old did it without blinking. Difficult to get photos as it was midday looking right into the sun.

IMG_20220910_125534-01.jpegIMG_20220910_125544-01.jpeg
 
On the road

Its a long drive to Scotland, sone broke it into two days, staying at a Premier Inn in Carlisle. A very basic room, but the breakfast was more than adequate.

Gretna Green

Our first taste of Scotland and we figured we'd check out the outlets. It was early in the morning, so quite empty. Some very good deals here, especially at Nike and Adidas. We returned to the car and it started bucketing it down, so abandoned plans to walk around the actual town of Gretna Green, and got on the road to our next stop.

IMG_20220912_095835-01.jpeg

IMG_20220912_095841-01.jpeg
 
Phew, it's been a busy two weeks. I've found a minute to do an update.

The Highlands

What can I say? Stunning, breathtaking, too hard to describe fully. The drive through to Glencoe was magical. There was a bit of rain and mist, but the sun was shining through and it looked somewhere out of LOTR. I can see why places in NZ have Scottish names.IMG_20220912_154304-03.jpegIMG_20220913_093745-01.jpegIMG_20220915_110207-01.jpeg
 
The Highlands

We stayed at Birchbrae Lodges, a little chalet that doesn't look like much on the outside but was quite modern inside. Free wifi too. Forgot to take pictures of the inside.IMG_20220914_100019-01.jpeg

Hiking

We got in some short hikes suitable for small kids and they were thrilled about the wild blackberries. My son ate 40.

IMG_20220914_101314-01.jpegIMG_20220914_121418-01.jpeg

Stunning views

IMG_20220914_111403-01.jpegIMG_20220914_105107-01.jpegIMG_20220914_145250-01.jpegIMG_20220914_150413-01.jpegIMG_20220914_103251-01.jpegIMG_20220914_103303-01.jpegIMG_20220914_103331-01.jpeg
 

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