Parts of Italy, Kosovo, Nth Macedonia, Greece, Albania, Poland and Germany.

RB · 2025-08-21T10:36:35+1000

Freising to Munich Airport

Lots of options are available here - plenty of taxis (expensive) or a bus or train ride. Hotel staff were of the opinion that the bus was the better option. Seemed like 17 min on the bus or 13 on the train so we took the advice of the locals - decision helped by a bus just leaving outside the railway station just as we walked there.
Not a big area dedicated for baggage and all bags go upstairs- the driver certainly saw it as an express service & it seemed very few others made their way forward to pay the fare. Five stops with the second last being outside the Novotel where a heap of people got on. From the last stop it was a quick easy walk to T2.
As we are prone to be, we were early, but the check-in was very soon open with priority lines in play. An attraction to us for flying out of Munich is the priority service through security & immigration - in 15 minutes we were in the lounge. Laptop stayed in the bag. The Lufthansa lounge, although busy, was very comfortable with facilities enabling us to charge up all our gear before the flight. A useful facility for single travellers is lockers for baggage as you enter the lounge. Only a few showers, but everything is very clean & plenty of staff moving around in all areas. All self-serve with good coffee, small food options & booze if wanted.

RB · 2025-08-21T10:42:13+1000

SQ 327 MUC-SIN J 12A & 14A A350

Departed just a couple of minutes walk from the lounge. An easy boarding process with priority lane well signed & easy to access. Super hot towels given out & a pre-departure champers to start the day! Swapped the slippers for ones that would fit & then sat for the on-time pushback.

Things are pretty good when you can listen to your own music, watch Wimbledon, eat your Book the Cook & browse the net while having a quiet drink and look down on the Black Sea. I managed a good slab of sleep despite the foot well area being annoying. A bit of turbulence after we cleared India (seem to recall this area being the same previously) & service only stopped for a short time.

RB · 2025-08-21T10:56:43+1000

Changi
As experienced previously this transit is pretty easy. A bit of a haul off the plane to the lounge but plenty of travelators available. The lounge was busy, but entry is welcoming & quick with hand held scanners - we found comfortable seats with chargers & a small shared table between us. Left from A2 Gate -so easy to get to after a transit of just under 3hrs.

SQ211 SIN-SYD 12A & 14A 777-300ER

A bit of a storm as we left so a small delay. We thought this crew was a bit sharper than the previous one but nothing extreme. As with the other long haul flights on this trip, no empty seats to be seen in J. At stages we were certainly moving well, I noted a 1101 ground speed km/hr reading and a tailwind 216km/hr reading.
All fine at a busy SYD airport until we wasted 40 minutes of our life at the baggage carousel - several other flights in at the same time & despite going to the Green exit there was a total bunfight with people just wanting to get out of the joint!
Big crowds were meeting arrivals but once we reached the train exit the numbers were sparse. Just to rub in the arrival experience we just missed a train & had to wait 10 minutes or so for the short ride to Mascot station. From there it is a very easy 5 minute walk to Meriton Mascot Central.

Mascot Meriton Central
I have reviewed our stays here previously & this was another very comfortable experience. Greeted straight away at check-in & quickly up to our room on the preferred Jackson Dr side. Pretty hard to beat $167 a night in Sydney these days & we enjoy the area. Didi had a discount for me so it was a $9.34 ride to the domestic airport the next day.

ZL6362 SYD-PQQ
Rex won us over with seats being around $60 per person cheaper than QF at the time of booking and the 9am departure suited us best also. A max of 50 odd minutes flight time also softens the less than salubrious Saab seats. Check-in at T3 is still manned & the security checks were rapid. A snack breakfast in the airport was the expected expensive exercise but was tasty. Plenty of seats near the gate & a lot of people watching opportunities.
Boarding was called on time & I think 16 others joined us on the bus ride to the far forgotten corner of SYD to our plane. A smooth low level flight enabled us to see some of the aftermath of devastating flooding that we missed while away. Somehow the bags took an abnormally long time to appear and then our neighbours were there for a short drive home.