travel

Our flight from Auckland to Singapore struck quite a bit of headwind, sometimes more than 100 km/h. That didn’t really surprise me: it’s all uphill! Our maximum cruising altitude was 38,000 feet (11,582 m) and it was very cold outside: –49 °C. The 9680-kilometre journey took 11 hours and 20 minutes.

Bertram, Pumpkin, Benjamin, Chalky & me at Singapore Changi Airport.

Changi Terminal 3.

From touchdown to the gate took a remarkable three minutes, which is really quick at a big airport like Singapore Changi. We arrived at Terminal 3 which opened in January 2008 and looks very flash! It has a capacity of 22 million passengers per year. Eight out of the 28 aerobridge gates can accommodate the giant Airbus A380. With Singapore Airlines being the first airline to commercially fly the A380, there was a good chance that we’d get to see one. On our quest we seemed to walk for miles from one end of the terminal to the other, and all of a sudden there it was! Wow, it’s huuuuge!

Me checking out an Airbus A380 at Changi Airport.

I would really like to get one of those aircraft. It would be big enough for the whole family and friends to travel together—wouldn’t that be fantastic?

Airbus A380 at Changi Airport.

Incredible that an aircraft this big can fly! It’s 73 metres long, 24 metres tall and has a wing span of nearly 80 metres. The maximum takeoff weight is 590 tonnes and it can carry 310,000 litres of fuel. Hmm, I wonder how many carbon credits are needed to set that off… It has 22 wheels—imagine how much it would cost to get a new set of tyres…

If you’d like to find out more about the Airbus A380 check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A380.

It wasn’t until we got to the hotel in Auckland that Dad discovered our stowaway bear Pumpkin. I knew he wouldn’t be impressed, and he wasn’t. He made us stay at the hotel the whole day while he went out. Oh well, it wasn’t so bad, really. We had plenty of food and used the time to catch up on sleep

Then came Friday night, the night we were going to fly to Singapore. We got a bus to the airport and it was pouring with rain. Dad had already checked in via the internet, so it was just a matter of taking the luggage to the Singapore Airlines bag drop off counter. We cleared customs and security fairly quickly. Now the wait for boarding and departure began.

Oh, by the way, did I tell you that Pumpkin, Benjamin and I made a couple of new friends in Auckland?

Meet our new friends: Chalky (left) and Bertram (right).

Chalky is very cute and has a blue nose just like me Bertram is lovely and gentle, a real gentlebear!

There were meant to be just two of us on this trip: Benjamin and me. Two became three when we secretly took Pumpkin along, and now there are five of us! Isn’t that funny?

Flight SQ282 being readied.

This is our plane, a Boeing 777–200, being loaded with yummy food; phew, we won’t go hungry

Departure info at Auckland Airport.

Flight SQ282: “Boarding in 15 mins”. Well, this never happened! After midnight the same message was still showing. Was the board broken? We had no idea what was wrong and started to get hungry. No announcement was ever made about the reason for the delay. Luckily Dad had an emergency food ration in his hand luggage

We happened to overhear a conversation by staff; from what we could gather, there was a technical problem that needed to be sorted out before we could hit the skies.

Then the boarding call. At long last some action! Pushback at 0:44 am and takeoff at 0:56 am.

Finally we were on our way to Singapore!

Today I’m feeling a lot better, still a bit sniffly, but definitely on the mend This is good, because it’s just one more sleep till my Dad and I go on our big trip. Look! I’m all packed and ready!

I'm packed and ready to go.

Can you guess where we are going? No, no, not the hospital, that white cross on a red background is the Swiss flag! Yes, we’re going to Switzerland!! Yodeldeyahoo!!

Dad wonders why on earth I need such a big bag. Well, we’re going to be away for a few weeks, so I need a lot of things.

Would you like to know what’s in my bag? Would you, really?

Okay, Pumpkin, let them see you!

Hi there, it's me Pumpkin, please don't tell Dad I'm hiding in here…

Okay Pumpkin, back in the bag, quick! I think here comes Dad, he mustn’t know you’re in there!

Oh, I’m sooo excited about this trip. Not sure whether I can sleep tonight…