Let's start with Hobart. It is a small airport for a city of around 212,000 people. It was upgraded a few years ago and much improved at the time. Since then, however, the private corporation which runs it has done little to keep it up. Frankly, it is dirty and crowded. Security check-in consists of two gates one of which, in our experience, has never been open. No, that is not true. While the queue for one was well over 100 meters in length, the other gate was opened just long enough to let some commercial goods be checked through so the poor benighted passengers, when they finally made it through the queue, could get over-priced sandwiches.
Melbourne was an improvement. The airport is being upgraded and has always maintained a reasonable standard. After passing through immigration the upgrading has meant a greater variety of shops and more comfortable seating whilst waiting. A whole new area has been added to accommodate the hundreds of passengers departing on the A380s.
Then, of course, there is Singapore. There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe the airport. It is quiet, spacious and full of the best shops from around the world. It has a transit hotel in which you can stay while your bags go on to your destination. If however you are staying for a few days in the city, you can clear immigration and customs in no time at all. Hundreds of flights arrive and depart daily yet there is a sense of peace and of being welcome. At all times it remains impressively efficient and scrupulously clean.
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| One of many dining areas in Singapore Airport |
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| A rest area at Singapore Airport |
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| Statuary in the Arrival Hall |
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| One of many shops at the Singapore Airport |
After fourteen hours in the air, we arrived at London Heathrow. The plane landed and then began taxiing to a gate. We taxied and taxied and then taxied some more. Part of the reason may be that we were in an A380 which is the largest commercial passenger plane in service. It can hold 800 passengers although the Singapore Airlines configure them for around 500. While we were going to our arrival gate we felt as if the pilot had to find an available one and it was a bit like looking for parking at a major shopping centre on Christmas Eve!
God knows that after fourteen hours cramped, strapped in and immobilized in economy class one needs substantial exercise to overcome the threat of DVT. Well, Heathrow provides it! Just walking from the arrival gate to border security must be at least two kilometers. And not just any two kilometers. These are weight bearing kilometers because Heathrow seems to have only two luggage trolleys for all 500 passengers. But, on the other hand, after wandering through the barren, cold and unwelcoming corridors, one can look forward to the joys of unacceptably long waits at border security.
Virginia relishes this. She has a European Union passport and knows that she will go through the line labelled "British and EU citizens" while my line, labelled "all others" should probably have a sign, "abandon hope all ye who enter here." I remind myself that I have to be kind to Virginia as she can take me with her through the shorter line although I must say I feel a bit like a piece of luggage as she anounces "this is mine, can it come through with me, please."
On a more serious note, however, if your spouse or partner has an EU passport, and you do not, you can, in the UK, accompany them through the shorter line. This may not be the same in other EU countries.
In fact, Border Security check points were adequately staffed on this occasion, something we had not experienced before. We wondered if this was because the system had been restructured to cope with the larger number of passengers arriving all at once on the A380s.
Well, we are in London now and won't have to think about airports for several months as our travel into and around Europe will be by train. The first train trip, of course, is on the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington Station which is only a five minute walk from where we are staying. A walk to the hotel, unpacking and to bed. Our "vacation" starts tomorrow.
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| Our hotel., the Lancaster Hall Hotel which is the German YMCA |
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