We had to wait until 6pm on Wednesday to hear from our travel agent to tell us what we should do. He said he could get us on flight at midnight that night from Singapore to Heathrow with Qantas (the last flight available before the borders closed), but we were in Kuala Lumpur! We dashed back to the airport (thank god the hotel was actually in the airport complex - a good decision made by us believe it or not).
The flight to Singapore was at 9.40pm on Silk airlines but the office was closed and wouldn't open until the flight was ready to depart. Help!!!!!!! then a brainwave - buy the ticket online. Denise succeeded in getting us 2 tickets, we sent the confirmation to our travel agents who immediately confirmed our flight - but we had 1 hour in Singapore airport to get off the Silk flight and get onto the Qantas flight.
I had unpacked absolutely everything so had to go like a mad thing to pack. I was ready to go but had a text from Denise to say the zip on her bag had just broken - what else could possibly go wrong!
Amazingly there was a machine by the exit of the hotel that wrapped bags in clingfilm, it was unattended but fortunately one of the porters was able to operate the machine, phew.......
We were happy to hear that our bags would be checked in right through to Heathrow despite being different airlines - I think Singapore was very strict on contamination, so bags were under strict control. They also changed our seats so that we were first off the plane - great news!. On arrival in Singapore there was a member of staff ready
to direct us to the transit desk where we could collect our boarding passes (there were 6 of us). I can't tell you how grateful we were for that - there are a number of transit desks in different parts of the airport and without help we would never have found it in time.
Once we had our boarding passes and arrived at the gate we could relax ........ don't be silly, that would be too easy ........ it was announced that due to technical problems the flight would be delayed until 1.30am. We immediately went to a cafe for a well earned (and very expensive) beer. We went back to departures to find food parcels pilled up on the floor - not a good omen! This was followed by an announcement that there was a slim chance the flight would leave at 3am
Needless to say the flight was cancelled until the following day as they needed spare parts. As we had been to Malaysia within 14 days we were not allowed to spend the night in a hotel so we 'luxuriated' in the Qantas VIP lounge with 500 other travellers. We were given water and a blanket, Den and I found a bench to lie on, others slept on the floor or in a chair. The next morning they provided breakfast, followed by lunch and at last we were told the flight would leave at 3pm - hooray!
Once on the plane there seemed to be about 6-8 people missing so we had a further delay whilst they found there bags and removed them from the plane - where did those people go? Unbelievable! We finally left at 4pm and settled down for a 13 hour flight - I can't tell you how stiff I got, and my knees were aching too but we made it to Heathrow after 34 hours. We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington (only 15 minutes) where my dear pal Mandy was waiting to take us home, bloody marvellous!
As my home is rented out until the end of April I am currently homeless but dear old Mandy and Diane are letting me stay in their attic room for the foreseeable future and I am now in isolation for the next 14 days. I am on day 4 and finding it quite hard but at least I am home safe and sound - and currently quite healthy, thank goodness.
What a finish to my adventure, but don't think it ends there - Denise and I will continue our journey as soon as it is safe and I have a trip booked to Antartica in February 2021 with my sister Jane, so watch this space ............................
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