Happy Birthday Mom!

This trip is a birthday present from my son - a trip to Singapore. Someplace I’ve always wanted to visit. We are finally here. Tuesday is day one on the ground in Singapore. The journey, on Monday, to Singapore from Hong Kong is not something I will ever forget.

Thanks to my airport obsessed son, we visited three – three! – Hong Kong Airport first class lounges while waiting for our Singapore flight. The first was the Thai lounge, the second the United lounge and the third, the Singapore lounge. By the time we sat in the Singapore First Class lounge, I had clocked at least 25 miles in the airport and was ready to drop in my tracks. I gladly dragged myself to the Singapore gate when our flight was announced. The first surprise waited.

The first class passengers walked onto the plane through a separate entrance (jet bridge). Although I caught a glimpse of several hundred people in the waiting area lining up to get on, they were never seen again. The first class cabin has two curtains, a food galley and several bathrooms between the first class section and the economy section. No peeking! I wonder if the folks in economy can hear the clicking of glasses, silverware, fine china and the faint pop of champagne corks as we are served our four course meal and offered endless drinks.

Once on board, the amenities of the first class cabin were familiar to me from the JFK to Frankfurt portion of our trip. I was able to conquer the seat control panel with aplomb!

The second surprise awaited me when we departed the plane. Six people were in first class and three were airline staff. Of the three paying passengers, only Darin and I were foreigners. Once the plane landed, the other passengers did not depart until we left the plane. Courtesy? Cultural affectation? Unknown.

The third surprise came when a woman holding a DARIN SMITH-GADDIS sign greeted us shortly after we left the plane and entered the Singapore terminal. She told us to hop on the motorized vehicle waiting nearby. We handed her our luggage tags and she made a quick call on her cell phone to a colleague who would pick up our luggage.

Bewildered, I hopped on the vehicle next to a widely grinning son and off we went. Whisking through the airport for the next 20 minutes to a private terminal. My fourth surprise almost left me speechless. The private terminal is, well, private. It has all the amenities of a first class lounge: food, showers, bathrooms, massage room, business center, exercise room and private rooms to conduct business. The difference is you have your own personal assistant to bring food, bring drinks, change your money from US to Singapore dollars and even take you on a private tour of the terminal. She stands discreetly several feet away and waits for instructions. WOW!

My fifth surprise is that we do not wait for immigration or customs. In the private terminal, our professional and ever courteous assistant leads us to an immigration person who stamps our passport and welcomes us to Singapore.

By now, I am beyond being surprised. Of course, we are led to a waiting car with driver who has our luggage in the trunk. And, of course, we are dropped at our hotel in Singapore – safe and secure.

What a welcome to Singapore! What a son!