We returned to Amman long after sundown with my apologies to Anas and his family for keeping him away from their evening Ramadan meal. April the 4th had to be a rest day. I had an early morning flight out of Amman to Singapore via Istanbul booked on the 5th with my ride to the airport due to pick me up at about 4:50 am. I just used the 4th to pack, relax, eat and recover.

The taxi picked me up a bit before 5 am on the 5th and took me to the airport. Just inside the terminal, there was a pharmacy where I stocked up on NSAIDs. I walked to Turkish Airlines Business Class check-in and deposited my bag.  Getting through Security was a bit more of a trial since one of the fellows there was suspicious of even the meds I’d gotten from the Jordanian pharmacy at the airport. He was probably new; an older fellow waved me thru and spoke with his colleague. I’d had nothing for breakfast – it had been too early to get anything at the hotel – so I headed to the airline lounge to grab something to eat before heading to the gate for my flight – some cheese and an Americano coffee which I basically inhaled. I really did not have that much time before the plane started boarding so I left the lounge and headed to the gate which, luckily, was not as far away as I’d feared. I sat in the gate area watching people go by: There were men in all white outfits which I assume were pilgrimage (Hajj) clothing and well as the usual mens wear. It was the contrast of women wearing black clothes, completely covered from head to toe except for the eyes (burqa, I think) versus women of all ages in other outfits: Some in sleeve-less dresses, some in flowery print blouses and blue jeans, a female security officer in dark pants and a white shirt with rolled up sleeves etc. It was a bit trippy. 

My first leg to Singapore was a flight from Amman to Istanbul; the flight of about 3 hours gave me a needed breakfast of fruit and yoghurt followed by an omelet of sorts. Since I’d checked my bag, I just had the trek to transit immigration on foot with the occasional moving walkway to traverse after we landed in Instanbul. There wasn’t much of a wait to have my passport checked and I soon found myself in the Turkish Airlines business class lounge again. I had a wait of about three hours before the plane to Singapore even boarded and spent the time hydrating on free juices and sodas. From where I sat in the lounge, I could watch a wall-sized video monitor. It showed a number of the destinations Turkish Airlines services and I thought, “Boy, I haven’t even started traveling yet!”. And Turkish Airlines is fourth in the number of destinations served! (https://o.canada.com/travel/these-are-the-10-airlines-that-fly-to-the-most-destinations-in-the-world)

The flight from Istanbul to Singapore is about 10 hours long. I had a quick in-flight dinner and stretched out to sleep as soon as I could. I have to note that the Singapore Airline seat/bed was more comfortable than the Lufthansa seat/bed. I can’t say that I slept particularly well, but I certainly was not as worn out as I have been in economy seating. The flight landed in Singapore at 4:30 am on April 6th. Even with some comfortable dozing on the plane, I was a bit of a mess mentally and had trouble with the automated heath screening terminals. Fortunately, because the flight was so early, I was able to find a person to assist me in filling out the health certification so that I could then use the automated immigration lanes. Even with automated immigration, entry took a while and required human intervention for the gates to work – maybe it’s a new system. The sun was not up by the time I retrieved my bag. I thought that I might need Singapore currency to get to the hotel and was able to find a bank ATM to get some Singapore dollars before I got in line for the taxi stand. It was about 5:30 am by then. When I walked out of the airport to the taxi, my glasses fogged up; it felt like I’d walked into an overheated steam room! It was such a sudden increase in heat and, more importantly, humidity that I was unable to move for a moment. The taxi while not as cool as the airport terminal was a welcome respite from the humidity outside. 

The sun still had not risen by the time the taxi dropped me at the hotel but there was a woman at reception at that hour. She was able to check me in as a guest; but my room wasn’t ready, since check in for the hotel was officially at 3 pm. She thought that I’d be able to get to a room before noon. I was welcome to hang out in the lobby and wait for the breakfast buffet. I managed to stay awake until 7 am when I could pay for the buffet and use the espresso machine which came with breakfast. The breakfast buffet was a strange combination of cereals, breads, milk, juice, scrambled eggs and stir-fried noodles with veggies. I ate and kept drinking coffee. My room was ready around 9 am; the coffee did not prevent me from having a nap!