Killing a day

6 July 2022

Killing time in KL

The windowless room at Kuala Lumpur was perfect for sleeping in till 0845 in preparation for the 0125 departure to Zurich out of Singapore, and also for adjusting to European time.

I made the most of the room by staying in all morning, except to get some cut fruit from across the road.  Upon checking out just before 1200, I had my last meal at an inflated Malaysian price before I face the reality of Swiss pricing.

I made the 1300 bus to Kuala Lumpur International Airport arriving around 1410.  I had recalled seeing Singapore Airlines having a 1430 service so made my way promptly to check-in where they accepted my bag 6h30 before my 2040 departure tonight.  I caught them just before they closed the flight (which closed quite late as there appeared to be a small delay).

That left me free to wander a little before going airside.  Quite unusually, my Singapore Airlines widebody flight had been assigned a gate at the main building rather than the satellite.  But I had to go to the satellite building for my lounge access.  The aerotrain is on its last legs before being replaced and buses operated on its behalf during off-peak hours.

Overall, I spent about 2h walking, less than 3h in the crowded Sama Sama Lounge (despite sections of the airport being deserted) and a further hour walking before boarding my flight to Singapore.  Time went very quickly attending to last minute necessities like buying my Swiss Travel Pass and roaming package.

To Singapore and transit

I was lucky enough to snap up a Premium Economy seat which was being used as Economy Class on this short flight.  It was very spacious even though I was trapped between people.  On a long flight, I would have been better off in an aisle seat down the back.

At Changi Terminal 3, I went to the SATS lounge where it was crowded too.  The shower came free soon and I jumped at the chance to feel clean before having some supper.  The quality of the food is definitely much better than in KL where the chicken was bony.   Here, they had snapper fillets, prawns and boneless chicken.  But they had fresh cut fruit in KL.

If one were to be honest, seating at parts of Changi airport is better and more spacious than at the lounge.  The lounge is only good for free food and a shower.

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