Singapore and Hong Kong trip report by Froggee (paterfamilias)

[Froggee]

After our last holiday went very smoothly, I have realised that the key to a successful break is to get the disaster out of the way beforehand. Metaphysically it kind of makes sense. Clearly the gods had noted this and chose to help me out.
 
Anyway, as is normal on a Saturday afternoon, Granny Froggee was visiting. We were chatting away and I heard the noise of a child screaming outside. On investigating, Freddo was lying on the grass clutching his ankle. Kermit had already retained the services of a lawyer who assured me that Kermit had not caused the injury and any such insinuation would be responded to aggressively. I carried Freddo indoors and, because he is Freddo, left him to crawl around until he was magically cured.
 
This seemed like a winning strategy until later in the afternoon, when Mrs Froggee came downstairs from her sleepy time, and found that her precious second born had regressed some seven years in terms of mobility. Kermit would not share his lawyer with me so I somehow ended up getting both barrels despite my heroic rescue of Freddo from the garden.
 
To add injury to insult I then tweaked my back lifting Freddo out of the bath that evening. Come Sunday, Freddo said his ankle was a bit better but he still was not walking on it. It will be fine thought I. Obviously when Freddo was in no fit state to go to school on Monday I realised we had a serious problem and Mrs Froggee called 111. She had to push the point but we were given a 10:30am appointment at the Royal Infirmary. Off we went and after registration, triage, initial consultation (where we learned from Freddo that Kermit may actually have been moderately involved in the injury), x-ray, and follow-up consultation, Freddo was issued with a moon boot. Nothing could be seen on the x-ray but there was enough tenderness in the ankle to raise concern. Freddo promptly burst into tears and chose my sweater to wipe his snotty nose on. He did not want to wear a moon boot. But I thought this was a pretty good result. Mainly because we were home in good time for lunch but also because a plaster cast would have been a disaster in Singapore.
 
Freddo duly went off to school the next day and the girls loved the moon boot so all was well. Meanwhile, having sailed through the entire winter unscathed I somehow managed to morph a subclinical cold into a full-on sinus infection. I felt dreadful for a couple of days and spent a lot of time supine. I was feeling better in plenty of time for our holiday. But the tweak I had done to my back was still lurking, probably because of my inactivity, and it gradually got worse. A few days before we were due to fly, my back seized up completely. 
 
Sad face.
 
Not one to be left out, Mrs Froggee’s bad knee suddenly played up. So on Monday she went to her excellent physio who did his best which involved sticking long needles into the bad knee with follow up appointments on the Tuesday and Wednesday for heat, infrared and ultrasound. I went to my trusted osteopath on Tuesday who spent an hour loosening up my back. It was probably the worst she had seen it in several years to the point she forwent her traditional 10:40am cup of tea and chocolate biscuit to keep working on me. I resolved to buy her some of these nice Marks and Spencer’s chocolate biscuits for my next appointment.
 
Obviously, I was delighted about all of these events as surely it would guarantee an excellent holiday? Come Thursday my back and Mrs Froggee’s knee were still sore but much improved. Freddo could put a shoe on but we decided it would be safer for him to travel in the moon boot.
 
We had slowly packed over a couple of days with the suitcases in the drawing room so they did not need to be carried down the stairs. Technically Thursday was a school day but one of these pointless half days where they don’t do anything. More importantly Thursday was a British Airways off-peak day. Education is important but so is my avios stash.
 
Booking the flights had been a bit convoluted which I described in detail at the time in the Barclays forum. But for Edinburgh to Singapore in business class, I paid 220,000 Avios + £1,250 + two Barclays upgrade vouchers + £140 cancellation charge for cancelling the flights I had bagsied so as to apply both Barclays vouchers once I had earned a second one. I had originally booked to allow a stress-free four-hour connection at Heathrow but British Airways cancelled our connecting flight and I had to call to rebook. Rather than ask me which flight I wished to be moved to, the agent put me on an even earlier one without asking and then got a bit feisty when I suggested I would have preferred a later flight. Because I am too passive, we now had over five hours at Heathrow. When I checked our flight status, I realised that British Airways had sneakily added a flight back at some point, five minutes later than the one I had originally booked. Grrrr. Oh well. It might take us five hours to get to C gates with old Hopalong.
 
I called an Uber XL at 10:10am and our 4.99 star-rated driver who was also called Kermit was there is minutes. We were at Edinburgh Airport at 10:40am for the bargain price of £39.10 which included a £5 tip and £6 drop-off charge. Despite my back I managed to lift our three suitcases onto the scales and then the luggage belt. I am sure Mrs Froggee found this heroic and not idiotic. I did not wish for her to aggravate her knee and British Airways certainly were not going to help. At Security two of our bags were selected for a secondary check which I dealt with while the security staff, very apologetically, got Mrs Froggee to remove Freddo’s moon boot so they could x-ray it.
 
We were in the lounge at 11:10am – very comfortable for a 12:55pm flight. This was excellent as the boys got to enjoy breakfast which generally goes down better than lunch. I smuggled a bag of crisps into Kermit’s rucksack for which he rewarded me with a rare, genuine smile. Boarding was early and having been given a heads-up by the lounge dragon (who had feigned concern for Freddo) British Airways got us to board via gate 7 which involved steps down to the tarmac and then steps up to the plane. I introduced ourselves to the cabin crew as bad ankle, bad knee, bad back and bad attitude. I wisely decided against asking which one of them was bad service.
 
Freddo wanted to sit with me and he asked for the aisle seat so he could watch the safety demonstration. I prefer the window so happy days. We were all boarded early and took off sharpish. Freddo was not hungry so I got to enjoy both the chicken salad and vegetarian poke “bowl”. The latter very much looked like a poke plate to me but it was yummy. Two club Europe lunches is actually about right.
 
Heathrow rewarded us for our prompt departure by having us fly round in circles before we were allowed to land closer to our scheduled time. Freddo was totally understanding about this. We were off the plane quickly which was fortunate as Freddo really needed to pee. Kermit had wisely had the foresight to pee minutes before the fasten seat belt sign was switched on but followed us into the gents and declared that he needed to do something that was not pee. We all waited while the rest of the passengers vacated the plane and Kermit vacated his bowels. Kermit was in the toilets for A VERY LONG TIME. A succession of grown men stumbled out crying. Kermit emerged just as I was about to check on him. He looked very pleased with himself.
 
Mrs Froggee and Kermit then went shopping whereas I took Freddo to the B gates lounge. It is a long time since I have taken the train. I much prefer the tunnel. Apparently Freddo had a bit of a tummy ache. This was resolved by him visiting the toilet and upgrading his earlier #1. I enjoyed the peace and quiet. The fact that both my boys had made toilet bade well for the olfactory experience of our fellow passengers on BA11. The tables and floor in our section of the lounge looked like farm animals has eaten at them. Eventually a member of stuff cleared the plates and brushed down our table with his hand. I could not take the various smears and crumbs on our table, and borrowed a container of cleaning solution that had been left lying on a Whispering Angel shelf, I imagine as a more pleasant alternative. I cleaned the table to my satisfaction using this solution and napkins. Some time later the floor was vacuumed and my harmony was restored.
 
Freddo loves looking at departure boards and merrily informed me that our flight was delayed by an hour. That’s the joy of the British Airways A380 for you, Freddo. Or as Freddo calls it “the big toilet plane”. So our four-hour Heathrow layover increased to six hours. As if to reinforce this point British Airways then started sending me their traditional emails about my flight being delayed as well as text messages. Grrrrr.
 
Mrs Froggee then messaged me asking if Kermit was allowed to spend his own money on a Harrods’ cuddly lobster. She then sent a message asking if she should buy a pendant from Tiffany & Co. Erm, no?
 
After spending a very long time in the lounge, gate C63 finally appeared on the screen. Freddo, of course, was the first to spot it. We took the train. Did I mention that I much prefer the tunnel? Mrs Froggee thrust Freddo’s worst foot forward to allow us to board early. We got settled in. I had managed to book our traditional 52/53 J&K seats so that Kermit could have direct aisle access for his multiple nighttime toilet trips. Though he is actually now getting to a size where he could probably step over someone. Mrs Froggee asked Kermit to put his things in the storage at the window and he announced to the whole plane that one of them was pretty crusty. That’s the British Airways cleaning protocols, or lack thereof Kermit. I should have stolen rather than borrowed the lounge cleaning solution.
 
The flight was not great. I got bashed on a number of occasions in my aisle seat including by a member of the cabin crew stepping over me to get to the window seat. I hope he was closing the window blinds as the woman in that seat was asleep. Freddo struggled to sleep and roused all of us up when he woke at 1am UK time. Kermit got bonked on the head. A cuddle was demanded from Mrs Froggee and I got gouged in the eye. Mrs Froggee and Kermit were disturbed by the crew party room which weirdly was marked as “galley” on the seat map. But we made it.
 
At Changi I picked up the login details for a couple of M1 tourist e-sims I had pre-ordered (S$12 for 100 GB of data plus 500 minutes of local calls and 3 GB of roaming data that we could use in Hong Kong). We had opted out of being met by family at the airport this time so ended up getting two taxis as the larger transfer option did not present itself and we just wanted to be gone. My driver started second but finished first by taking the racing line round a corner near the end. S$40 x2.
 
We were at Great World Residences where we stayed last time also and were shown to an apartment that was 400 sq ft smaller than the one I had booked. Such is the joy of third-party booking engines. I checked the confirmation and went down to reception who were very reasonable and explained that although I had booked via Hotels.com, the confirmation came through from Expedia and had not specified the apartment type. Thankfully they had availability and we were duly moved and were given a tin of cookies to say sorry. Seeing the smaller three-bedroom apartment made me glad I had booked the larger one. I would have booked direct but juicy 20% cashback beckoned and the apartment will not discount on short stays as far as I am aware. Last year they would not even give me the advertised golden circle points on my “non qualifying rate”. The cost was £5,407.40 paid for by Mrs Froggee as her BAPP was in action. Happily, the £992.18 cashback was confirmed and even more happily that is on my account. It is very rare that I make a profit on booking accommodation!
 
Singapore was Singapore. No water parks this time because of Freddo’s ankle. At Freddo’s behest, we spent a lot of time in the swimming pool as this gave him the freedom of movement he had been lacking for a couple of weeks. We had brought floats (shields) and water balls (bombs) and I spent many hours playing dodgeball. After about a week I finally smoked Freddo in the face. Cue major meltdown. It probably did not help that Kermit and I could not stop laughing. Explaining that I was quite insulted at Freddo’s surprise I had finally managed to hit him after one whole week of trying did not go down well either. Game over. Grumpy Freddo. Until the next day. Can we play dodgeball dada?
 
Freddo suffered badly from jet lag this time which I suspect was partly because we were not out and about as much. He twice woke up Mrs Froggee with his night screaming. He did not wake me up but Mrs Froggee made sure that she did when she got up to shout at him. After a couple of nights, Freddo broke the folding kitchen door in his attempts to get a banana at 4am. Despite the broken door, I considered it a win as he did not wake us and put the banana skin in the bin. After lunch, I took him to reception to fess up wondering if we might be charged. I was not expecting the receptionist to say “wah – so strong – you should be in the Avengers”. Apparently not a problem. What was a problem was that we then could not get into the apartment.
 
For a second vacation in a row, we were locked out. We went back down to reception to explain we had now broken a second door. I am quite experienced at getting locked out of rooms and had noted a lack of any lights when I held the keycard to the door so reception came up with their bag of tricks. The maintenance guy was already there hoping to fix our kitchen door. After a couple of minutes, we were told that the computer in the door lock had broken and they needed to get their third-party vendor to come and replace it. Mrs Froggee and Kermit had turned up by then and were as delighted as I. At least we were not in wet swimming trunks.
 
We went back to the mall and let the boys buy some Legolikes from Daiso. Then Mrs Froggee wished me the best of luck and went off to meet a friend for tea. I took the boys to Smiggle to buy some stationery and we then hung out in an overly air-conditioned residents’ lounge. It was only due to a vending machine and the resulting soft drinks and snacks that we survived this traumatic experience. It took 2.5 hours. I was expecting more compensatory cookies but instead we were proffered a free airport transfer to say sorry. I’m an amenable fellow so that worked for me. 
 
Not much else happened for the rest of our time in Singapore. Mrs Froggee caught up with some friends. I caught up with some former colleagues. We went to some outdoor splash playgrounds. We did a kids escape room. We ate lots of food. Kermit was surprisingly game to try everything. Freddo was up for pork buns, pink chicken and sweet and sour pork. Singaporeans made Mrs Froggee increasingly angry. We went to the Art Science Museum where the lady at the ticket desk, in an incoherent mumble, asked us to help her out by buying our tickets at the kiosk. There was no queue behind us but I guess she didn’t want to, you know, do her job. The lady at the kiosk told us to go to a different kiosk as the kiosk we were at did not sell tickets for “Mirror Mirror”. Mrs Froggee then could not buy tickets at the kiosk because it was out of paper. She then tried to buy online but it failed at Apple Pay. Mrs Froggee went into huff mode. I had noticed a man reloading the paper in the kiosk so casually went up and bought four tickets for S$68. Mrs Froggee considered her available options of a) renouncing her citizenship, b) divorcing me, c) going postal, but wisely chose d) holding a grudge against me. I mentally prepared myself for an elbow to the head in bed that night.
 
We had possibly the most comical breakfast I have ever eaten at PS.Cafe. The food was okay albeit “breakfast reimagined” but the service made Fawlty Towers’ Manuel look competent. We ordered. About 15 minutes later the waiter came back to ask me what I was having. BAGELS AND EGGS. “Lots of milk” for Mrs Froggee’s tea came in a thimble that did not even do my coffee justice. Two eggs became two portions of eggs. Except initially it was no portions of eggs. On asking about the eggs, they were “just coming”. They then came in about the amount of time it takes to go to the supermarket, buy eggs, bring them back to the kitchen, and cook them. A couple at the table next to us gave up and left after a few minutes of being ignored. Mrs Froggee worked out how to pay using the app when the staff went into hiding at the end. This prompted them to finally arrive with the butter for Freddo’s toast that had been requested multiple times. I really, really enjoyed this breakfast because Mrs Froggee was just so angry at her own people.
 
We had four family dinners and partook in awkward conversation with Mrs Froggee’s parents. Paw Paw still seems to think Mrs Froggee works full-time despite her retiring from her day job seven years ago. Having been shown pictures of the boys’ birthday cakes made by Mrs Froggee’s baker, Paw Paw decided that Mrs Froggee should go into the baking business. I don’t want to said Mrs Froggee.

But you should.
No.
But you could sell for a lot of money.
It would be stressful.
If I was younger I would.

And repeat. Mrs Froggee was told that the boys should swim maximum twice a week. We are not sure why. Minutes later she was asked why we do not have a swimming pool at home. And this is why we never moved to Singapore. Meanwhile Gong Gong just loved seeing his daughter and grandsons. He took the boys off to buy things. Including one time, after dessert was ordered, but before it arrived. We therefore could not leave the restaurant. Mrs Froggee called her dad. He did not answer and the call diverted to her mum. Which is not at all weird. Gong Gong hugged the boys a lot. He gave Mrs Froggee S$1,000 in cash when she arrived. After consulting with her sister Mrs Froggee returned it at the end of the holiday. As Mrs Froggee’s parents paid for all but one of the meals, I contributed about S$400 worth of Thai Baht and Malaysian Ringgit to the returned cash pile as it had been sitting unused for over a decade and Gong Gong travels to both countries regularly.
 
We borrowed Gong Gong’s car again and Mrs Froggee bravely drove it, returning it unscathed with cash card topped up at the end of our trip. There were some final hugs of the grandchildren and we bade farewell for another year. We hope. Did I mention that we were again visiting Singapore in a pre-emptive strike as Mrs Froggee’s mum had been threatening to visit us?
 
For some reason Mrs Froggee set her alarm for 7:30am on our day of departure despite our pickup not being until 10:30am. We had plenty of time to pack and I suspect Great World Residences have never had an apartment returned in such fine condition. I even emptied all the bins for them.
 
Our driver was a delight although I did not have subtitles so do not know much of what was said. It was nice to see Mrs Froggee chatting away in Chinese with so much laughter. That certainly did not happen with her parents. The driver told us that the fare normally cost S$90 and he gets $60 with the billionaire family that owns the apartments taking S$30 for arranging the transfer He was amused at the details of how we got it for free. You do not normally tip in Singapore but he got S$10 for his lunch which went down well.
 
We were flying with Singapore Airlines up to Hong Kong. I had paid 106,000 krisflyer miles + S$260.80 for four seats in premium economy. I really should have paid the extra 30,000 miles total for business class but could not bring myself to convert Amex points at 3:2. Because it is Singapore, check-in was seamless albeit largely self-service. Immigration involved walking through an e-gate. We stopped off for half an hour in the Ambassador lounge which had a decent selection of food and Mrs Froggee was particularly happy with the soup and the boys liked the pandan chiffon cake. We then went shopping with Kermit buying gel pens and Freddo a neck cushion with some of the money they had mugged off Gong Gong. The lady in the shop was clearly taken with Freddo. I considered leaving him with her.
 
Once we were at the gate, Freddo decided he needed to poo. I went with him. He poos better when I am standing outside his stall. The toilet had an auto flush. Freddo did not like this. I advised him to sit still. What happens if we miss our flight daddy? We won’t miss our flight Freddo, said I, while thinking that the lady in the shop would be happy to look after Freddo if he missed his. Freddo was surprisingly quick and as he was washing his hands informed me that the toilet flushed three times by itself and once at his volition.
 
I shared with the team that the toilets in the SQ lounge used to drive me nuts (perhaps because of my butt wiping technique?) to the point that I used to tear off a few pieces of toilet paper and held them in place with a coin on the ledge behind to block the motion sensor. Mrs Froggee laughed in a manner that suggested she wished she had chosen option (b) at the Art Science Museum.
 
Freddo could not wait to see the plane and he saw what he could have won as we walked past business class to premium economy. And it could have been ours for only 7,500 more points each Freddo. He was really tired but refused to nap. Until his lunch arrived. I took the foil wrapper off Freddo’s chicken bolognese and he promptly conked out. He was little Mr Potato Head for a while bobbing from left to right. I was proud of myself as at one point he jerked his hand into his bolognese but I managed to grab it and wipe the hand using the courtesy wet wipe before he touched his shorts. After twenty minutes Freddo came to, denied he had fallen asleep, and had a decent lunch. It worked out fairly well as the chicken bolognese had been scalding when served. After lunch, I too was sleepy. Just as I was nodding off, Freddo decided he needed peepee and that was that. Snooze time denied.
 
In Hong Kong we were staying at the Conrad which used to be very nice. The rate was a very precise HK$2,021.44 + 10% service + 3% tax x2 rooms x3 nights. This is really quite cheap. To make life simple, I had arranged for the Conrad to pick us up at the airport in Hong Kong with transfers a fairly hefty HK$1380 each way. Possibly because it was the fastest I have ever made it through the airport at Hong Kong, the representative was not there. I tried the other arrivals hall. Nope. I tried calling but the Singapore eSIM only had Hong Kong data. My Skype account seemed to have been deactivated. I had one last look before giving up. Yay, the guy was there. He was almost convincing when he lied that he has been waiting for 15 minutes. He took us to our driver who then drove off before our seat belts were fastened. No tip for either of them.
 
I am a big fan of the Conrad and have been staying there for the best part of 25 years. Probably because I am pretty familiar with it, I sleep well as if they really wanted to murdered me, they would have done so by now. But it is clear they have let standards slip and are not investing in the property. We were treated well, with an 8pm late checkout offered at no cost. Shortly after checking in, dressing gowns and slippers were dropped off for the boys but they were somewhat on the small side. Then two massive boxes of Lego were dropped off as a present from my very good friend Mikey Millions. Packing could be problematic Our two connecting rooms thankfully smelled of cinnamon this time rather than mould like the last time I was there. I would go back but I probably would not recommend it to others as there are undoubtedly many better options nowadays.
 
The family came to Hong Kong with me this time given that Freddo was very upset last year when I ditched him for a couple of nights. And I thought it would be nice for the boys to see some of the sights in a city I used to live in.
 
I tried to keep the schedule fairly light. No hiking to see big Buddha or taking Freddo to Macao to count cards. Mikey Millions took us for old style dim sum at City Hall. Kermit tried pretty much everything and Freddo had pork buns. We took the Star Ferry over to Kowloon and nobody felt sea sick which was nice although I had avoided doing it on our last day just in case. At Tsim Sha Tsui, Freddo needed a poo. We went to Harbour City where Mrs Froggee took Freddo toileting and Kermit and I ended up in Toys”R”Us. We were reunited with the news from Freddo that it was a false alarm. We somehow then ended up in an amusement arcade. I was keen to leave as there were some shady characters not to mention it was hell on earth there but the boys were oblivious. They only wasted HK$20 and “won” the world’s smallest packet of sweets. Given that the Space Museum was closed that day I had been hoping to take a wander and re-enact one of my favourite photos of Kermit as a toddler at Bruce Lee’s star on the Avenue of the Stars but it was declared too hot. It really wasn’t. We took the ferry back and went on the Hong Kong Observation Wheel which I considered a great success as neither boy farted in the cabin. I had paid HK$160 for our own car rather than HK$60 to share one, just in case. Taxi back to hotel and screen time. 
 
We were having dinner at Oolaa in Central with friends who embarrassed us by both bringing gifts for the boys and paying. I thought the boys would find it fun to take the tram there. Negative. Kermit somehow managed to get quite motion sick on it. Freddo was not a fan either. I suggested walking back to the hotel but the boys preferred the MTR.
 
On the second day I had a day of catch-ups with former colleagues. Mrs Froggee took the boys to see A Minecraft Movie and found a Singapore-Malaysian restaurant for lunch as Cantonese does not do it for her. I took the staff of a charity I am on the board of for lunch and as usual in Hong Kong they ran off with my Revolut card and tried to pay contactlessly. In the time it took them to bring the card back to me and request my pin, the exchange rate moved against me and the HK$1624.70 bill cost me £158.29 and not the £158.27 initially shown as rejected. I cannot get a break.
 
I had saved the Peak for the final day given that it did not involve boats. There was a big queue and I panic bought tickets on my phone when we got there for HK$504, overpaying as we made it before midday when tickets cost less. The boys actually did not hate the Peak, and if I am not wrong, found the view impressive, particularly how we now looked down at Two International Finance Centre. I had booked lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Because I love a tourist trap and I was hoping to get a second “My Mama says I’m special” t-shirt. We were seated at the last window seat which Kermit turned his nose up at because he wanted a booth. They were delighted to move us to a booth. Otherwise, the service very much gave the impression that things would be okay if it was not for the customers. When presented with the HK$970.20 bill we were asked if we would like to add a tip for the service. A service charge had already been added but nothing gives me more pleasure than overpaying for stuff. However, Mrs Froggee was closer to the waiter and with a withering “no thank you, that’s okay” she saved us enough money to buy some random tourist tat in the gift shop. I did not buy my t-shirt.
 
As it turned out both Mrs Froggee and Kermit got motion sickness on the peak tram. Fine going up but apparently descending backwards on a funicular rail with all the buildings at a jaunty angle is very discombobulating. Kermit walked it off but Mrs Froggee got back to the Conrad looking whiter than me. Given our respective ethnicities, this is against the natural order so I suggested sleepy time for her. She quickly morphed from dozing in a chair to sleeping on the bed. Another friend arrived to see us so I headed down and left a note for Mrs Froggee. She eventually appeared with the boys looking like herself again. This was fortunate as we were flying that evening. 
 
And that was the end of the holiday. I heroically packed the suitcases as cramming all the gifts we had been given into them was beyond Mrs Froggee’s capability. I even managed to squeeze the (broken down) Lego boxes in. We had room service for dinner and checked out shortly before 8pm with the bill being HK$18,530.02. There was about HK$2,000 in there for buying Mikey Millions and his wife breakfast, our dinner and drinkies that afternoon. Our van was waiting and the driver was much nicer this time and was very concerned that we might bang our heads on the roof. Getting in was much like being arrested and put in a police car. At the airport Mrs Froggee unsportingly went to get a couple of trolleys while the driver was shepherding the rest of us out of the van which saw him comically run after her to assist. He got HK$100 for being a team player.
 
We were flying British Airways home with the flight time from Hong Kong now longer than to Singapore. I had paid 300,000 Avios + £1,257.48 for the four of us which was pretty good given that no vouchers were involved. British Airways only charge the actual taxes from Hong Kong which are peanuts and makes it a good value redemption. The higher cash component reduced the Avios from 440,000. Check in was efficient other than it was self-service and the machine did not want to read the baggage tags that had been printed. We were told we could use the Cathay Pacific lounge next to the gate our flight was at and we needed no second invitation. It was as if Mrs Froggee and Kermit had not eaten room service dinner. 
 
Our flight left pretty much on time which is always a bonus. It was Club Suites which the boys had not flown before and both preferred it. It certainly made a difference for me as I hate being repeatedly bashed in the aisle in Club World. Even though I left my door open, nobody bashed into me at all. Mrs Froggee’s door was knackered because… British Airways. But unlike on our flight out the plane was actually clean. Maybe they do a good job in Hong Kong? And we were miles from the galley so if it was party time there, we did not notice. There was a toddler across the aisle from me and she did not like Club Suites as was isolated from her parents for take-off. Her mum seemed quite frazzled when we were tidying up for landing and was worried that her daughter would go nuts once strapped in. The girl promptly fell asleep and only went nuts when her mum woke her to disembark. I am so glad we are past this stage.
 
Our flight was due to land at 6:40am and was on time. I had booked us on an 8:55am connection up to Edinburgh as I had deemed the 7:55am a bit tight. Therefore, we got to wait at immigration while a BA representative kept apologising to us as he promoted those who had taken their chances on the 7:55am flight. We did get time for breakfast in a sedate Galleries South. Freddo watched the board like a hawk and shortly after 8am told us our flight was boarding from B45. We did not hang about and after peepee we made our way to the B gates. 
 
I had not actually checked the veracity of Freddo’s information so had a look at the big board in the main terminal and our flight was not to be seen. A modest panic set in. I checked the app. Gate B45. Flight closed. Huh? This did seem a bit weird but stress levels went shooting up. We legged it to gate B45 where we found that boarding had not even commenced and some joker had obviously pressed the wrong button on the computer. We were not the only ones who were fooled as we saw many people stampede towards the gate.
 
That was the last piece of excitement of the trip. I started to fall asleep as the plane taxied only to be woken up by Freddo asking me what day it was. Today Freddo. It’s today.
 
At Edinburgh, our bags arrived suspiciously quickly. I grudgingly paid £1 for a trolley and managed to whack it off my shin as I tugged it past the magnetic locking mechanism. I called an Uber XL and we had a lovely Italian driver. It amazes me how bad I feel the UK is and then learn how dysfunctional other countries are. He could not dream of being able to afford a taxi license in his home city of Rome and earns about twice Ubering in Edinburgh compared to what he could make working a normal job there. This Uber was £52.26 with tip and Edinburgh Airport’s pound of flesh but it was much better than facing backwards in a taxi.
 
And that was it. We arrived home to a clean house at an acceptable temperature. I had a really strange feeling. The flights back had been as smooth as I can remember and apart from the gate closed prank, nothing bad had happened. I considered staying in for the rest of the day just to be safe. But Mrs Froggee needed tea and that necessitated milk.
 
I crossed my fingers and nervously headed out to Sainsbury’s local.
 
The end

[executiveclubber]

I always look forward to these. Rob needs to hire you!

[The Savage Squirrel]

Awesome to see this pop up! Saving this to read later!

[Olly]

Enjoyed the cliffhanger ending. Nice work as ever Froggee

[polly]

Love it, and know and have enjoyed many of the places you have mentioned in both Singapore and Hong Kong. Can’t wait to get back there nov 25, fingers crossed….