Introduction
Hello from Toronto! - the city with the most diverse ethnicities in the world and the NHL’s most frustrating hockey team. 😀
The Mrs was kind enough for the 2nd year in a row to grant me permission and fly off to lands unknown (well not really unknown but you know what I mean) to celebrate my birthday. The trip this year was based on getting award seats on two of my two most coveted bucket list airlines - SQ and QR in F. As luck would have it, a seat opened up on both airlines on the exact dates I needed to travel on.
The initial plan was to fly to Indonesia and spend a week on a local island for scuba diving. I then happened to see a friend post a story on instagram about a dive group heading to the Maldives on the exact dates I was travelling and it instantly sealed my decision to divert from Indonesia to the Maldives.
After the Maldives, I would have 2 days each in SIN and BKK before making the long trip back home.
The final itinerary:
Air Canada J - YYZ to LGA
Renaissance Hotel - 1 night
Singapore Airlines F - JFK to FRA
Out and about in FRA
Singapore Airlines Suite - FRA to SIN
The Private Room
Singapore Airlines F - SIN to CGK
Sheraton CGK
Singapore Airlines F - CGK to SIN
Yotel SIN
Singapore Y - SIN to MLE
Maldives - fun in the sun … and underwater too
Singapore Airlines J - MLE to SIN
Serangoon House - 2 nights
Singapore Airlines J - SIN to BKK
Waldorf Astoria BKK - 2 nights
Qatar Airways F - BKK to DOH
Zombie mode in DOH
Qatar Airways J - DOH to IAD
United “F” - IAD to YYZ + continued zombie mode
After a solid half day of “working hard”, I hopped in the Lyft and headed over to YYZ. Check in at the AC desk was done in 30 seconds, security took a tad longer and US immigration was a breeze (despite unwarranted fears of US border security randomly pulling people aside for additional searches).
Todays long list of flights
As usual, the AC MLL Transborder lounge was a zoo with a long line for lunch.
Sad pickings as usual but a free lunch is a free lunch.
An hour before boarding, I get an email indicating the flight was cancelled and to wait for further instructions. Despite my initial panic, I did get another email 5 minutes later indicating I was rebooked on another flight 4 hours later but this did not sit well with me. I ran down to the customer service desk and managed to grab the last J seat on an earlier flight. After sorting all the mess out, I went over the absurdly small PP lounge which did have comfy sofas and camped out for another 2 hours before heading down to the gate.
Gate lice hanging around waiting for the boarding announcement.
Boarding group 1 was eventually called. Group 2 decided to hold everyone up and not let group 1 pass which was super annoying but hey, we were all headed to the same place right?
4A - I initially had 1A on the original flight but cant complain, at least I made it on.
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Boarding completed on time, pushback was quick and we were off towards runway 23.
Whoosh
Onboard service was as ok as it gets on AC. The cabin crew member working J was really nice and I hope AC hires more people like her.
Hot (ish) towels after take off.
Chicken salad meal served shortly after - tasty
30 minutes after take off, the Captain came on the horn and announced our descent towards LGA.
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