SEA Trip Days 2 & 3: Let's Try This Again

Sunday, January 15-Monday, January 16: SFO > SIN 

The only good thing about our cancelled flight and overnight at an airport hotel was that we could both have a longer sleep since our new flight wasn't scheduled to depart until 11:30am on Sunday, January 15. I did a full Zumba workout and wrapped up with yoga, and then we caught the 8:50am hotel shuttle back to the airport. One of our fellow passengers was also on the shuttle, and we saw a few more of our familiar cohort once we arrived at the Polaris Lounge for breakfast before the long day of travel. 

Our new flight was delayed by nearly 90 minutes, again due to lack of cleaning crew, which was quite frustrating given the experiences of the day before. You'd think that United would have made doubly sure that everything would be on time for this second chance!!! Once we boarded and got settled into our pods, I took advantage of the pre-flight sparkling wine offering to kick off the day.

We had fabulous service from several of the flight crew, particularly Denny and Pat. Mr. E spent quite a bit of time during the journey chatting with the crew and some other passengers. Denny even presented me with a bottle of wine wrapped in a napkin secured with a United wings pin thanks to Mr. E's socializing and befriending of the crew. And later in the journey, Pat surreptitiously dropped off a bottle of wine for Mr. E as well!

I spent the 17.5 hours (yikes! that's a long flight time!) enjoying the meal service, particularly the wine with dinner and port with M&Ms for dessert; watching a couple of foreign films, Back to Love and Beyond the River, which were both engaging and thought-provoking and gave such different insight and perspective on life in China and Africa; and trying to get some sleep. 

Once my watch showed that it was early-ish morning CA time, I gave up on sleeping and figured out how to do a 40-minute semi-aerobic workout in my Polaris pod. I managed to get up to three lights on my Fitbit just from moving in place and doing some seated moves! For me, the biggest challenge with long travel days is always the lack of movement and difficulty with fitting in my daily workout and yoga practice. Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that we were offered Polaris pajama sets, so I was able to change into those for my snoozing and then come home with some new comfy clothes to wear around the house.

Due to the flight delay, we didn't land in Singapore until nearly 10pm on Monday, January 16. Mr. E and I had completed the Singapore Arrival Card in advance, so our process through immigration and customs was relatively quick and very smooth. I had been in touch with our hotel, ParkRoyal Collection Pickering, to alert them to our delayed arrival and need to reschedule all of our package amenities, including airport pick-up upon arrival. It was so nice to be greeted by a friendly driver and not have to worry about our transportation options after such a long flight!

The drive to the hotel took about 35 minutes, and our driver provided some helpful and interesting information about life in Singapore. Our check-in process was easy, as we were the only ones arriving so late at night. We were very pleased with our Urban Suite room and did some minimal unpacking. (click here for a YouTube video showing more of the suite) 

Our room package included Prosecco and strawberries upon arrival, and the presentation on the table in the living area was quite lovely. Luckily, I was able to find space in the mini-bar fridge to store the bottle and the fruit since it was definitely too late by this time for us to enjoy either of the amenities! And I also just barely managed to fit in my daily yoga practice before midnight arrived.