The blog title is a little ironic

The blog title was chosen long ago when I had a Fugees song stuck in my head, but I find it funny the blog (which died a death a long time ago - I get bored and forget to write in it) bears some relation to the fact I have been let loose in Singapore for 6 weeks on my own.  I'll try and behave.... apparently you get caned for the littlest things here, and I don't fancy a caning!

Anyway I am here in Singapore with work for 6 weeks, helping set up a new contract. I will now attempt to write about the good stuff that's been happening (mainly as a reminder for me, and for anyone else who is a little bit curious) - semi inspired by Sepha's very funny travel blog here*  Also it will serve as a reminder to me about how far I have come, I used to get so homesick I feigned illness so I didn't have to go to sleepovers at friend's houses.  I even got homesick ON A FAMILY HOLIDAY and spent the entire first night in my parents' room crying ans asking if we could go home....what a loser!!! My poor mum.

 *NB unfortunately I am not as funny as her, soz!

Anyway here's Day 1, 2 and 3:

Day One

Day one was spent doing a lot of travelling. I had been to a wedding in Taunton (my step-brother's, very lovely) the day before so had to get up early and get a train from Taunton to Paddington. Got awfully excited on the train as it had a telly!!!! Though the channels were pretty pants, lots of Miranda (urgh), and oddly some yoga channels.   train slightly delayed so was feeling a bit anxious, but got home in good time ready to re-pack my stuff and chill out a bit before the Chauffeur turned up (business class, wooop!)
How to stay calm on a delayed train

Got picked up at 3.30 by this lovely proper South Londoner in a black merc. He was a proper geeza and we discussed the benefits of North and South London (South won, naturally), house prices, Cyprus and Stephen King books.  i think he could tell I was nervous so he kept me chatting all the way to the airport, he even parked up and took me up to the check in desk - what a gent!!! i really wanted to tip him but I literally had no cash on me apart from 50p and that would have been taking the piss a little bit....so I didn't bother.

Literally no queue at the check in desk - I guess that's what you get for being 3 hours early. Checked my bags in and then headed for security.  On the way there I noticed a little corridor that said 'Premium Gatwick, invitation only'.  My curiosity got the better of me and I headed down there, thinking it was a special posh toilet or something (re-reading that I am thinking to myself, why on earth would I have thought it was a posh toilet....)  Turns out it was a dedicated security queue for business and first class passengers, which again had no queue.  Went to Boots just to get some boots points (it's like a ritual I have each time I go to Gatwick, pretty much the only time I ever shop in Boots), bought some stuff I didn't need but felt I should own, then headed for the Emirates lounge, feeling very smug and grown up.

The lounge was quite cool - basically a big room with arm chairs and TVs (unfortunately dominated by the football match that was playing) and a big table filled with alcohol, a round table filled with cold food (salads, cheesecake, cheese), and a long table filled with hot food (curry, roast beef, vegetables, soup, other stuff I can't remember).
Lots of help yourself alcohol

I decided to be a bit of a piggy and ate quite a lot....no sense in letting it all go to waste!!!  Flight was delayed by an hour, so I sat in the lounge for 3 hours and read every magazine and newspaper they had to offer (started highbrow with The Times and ended up on Hello), chatted to an old lady who was going to Aus to see her son for 3 weeks, started to feel a bit nervous so texted Lisa who helped calm me down a bit, then eventually we were called to the flight.

Ended up sitting next to a man who was clearly an experienced business traveller, whereas I was like a little kid in a toy store, pressing every button to see what it did. Pretty sure he got annoyed with me, especially when I pressed the button that turned on my light about 5 times because I kept forgetting what it did, and the button that made our privacy screen come down...oops.
I really think I needed more leg room...


They offer you lots of alcohol on the flight, I was good and turned it down mainly because I need to pee lots when I drink and I didn't want to have to disturb the man next to me anymore than I already had.

We were given a plate of warm nuts (no innuendo) then served dinner.  I was quite full from my pigging at the lounge so opted just for the appetiser, which was seared tuna. Now I have only ever had tuna once as a steak, and so I just had to trust that when it was served up freezing cold and basically raw, that's how it was meant to be and the hostess just hadn't forgotten to put it in the microwave a bit.  Either way it was nice - it was served on a mango jelly and topped with some veg and nuts.

Cup noodles, satisfying at any time
I guess this is what real tuna looks like


I then settled down to watch some movies, couldn't decide between World War Z and White House Down so decided to watch The Sapphires instead - I recommend if you hadn't seen, embarrassingly it made me cry so I sat there with tears streaming down my face and people looking at me oddly.

managed to get some sleep but was slightly disappointed in the beds, they were tilted not totally flat and actually not overly comfortable, but still better than having to sit up straight with no leg room for 7 hours.

At Dubai I walked through the HUGE duty free - it was never ending, and headed for the lounge again.  Its lounge was massive and very impersonal, it felt like the food court in an all inclusive hotel.  I was hungry by this point, and though it was breakfast time in Dubai in my head it was 3 am so I debated if I should eat again.  I decided I should so had hashbrowns, chicken sausages, scrambled eggs and some croissants.   I am literally on a see food diet - I can't control myself!

I had hoped we'd fly over the palm island but we didn't, took lots of photos anyway though.









My next flight from Dubai to Singapore was interesting - the guy next to me decided to make conversation from the moment I sat down, which I was perfectly fine with until the flight attendant asked if we were travelling together - i said no, whilst he said 'not yet anyways' in a rather pervy voice.  I laughed awkwardly and quickly put on my headphones.

I really wanted to try the next menu on the plane so fought to stay awake but had to be woken up for my appetiser, smoked duck - which turned out not worth the wait anyway.  I picked at it then fell promptly asleep before they could even take my plate away, and woke up 5 minutes before landing. (the guy next to me had eaten my chocolates, cheeky!)

Singapore airport is amazing - I was literally out within 15 minutes of landing with my luggage.  Found a guy waving my name on a board so headed across to him.  Had a few cash issues - stupidly forgot to bring any cash out with me (tried to get some at Waterloo but fresh out of Singapore $) and had convinced myself I knew the pin on my cashcard.  Turns out I didn't know the pin, and when I tried to use my debit card Natwest promptly blocked it - nice of them to be on the ball I guess.

When I got to the hotel I was exhausted and went to bed - but woke up at 3 ready to get up, bit annoying!!! By the time I fell asleep again it was time to get up, ready for....


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