MEL-SIN-LHR-BOS Notes

Just some jot notes of the flights back to the Eastern time zone. 

MEL-SIN (SQ218)
  • Left gate on time, seemed to “gun it” at take off and abort seconds in. Apparently “needed to check something”. Take off delayed by 30min, spent time taxiing. 
  • Girls went right to sleep. Caitlin and I stayed up for meal service. Plan is we just have coffee 1hr before landing. Let’s hope. 
  • Josephine requested the chicken soy noodles for breakfast (surprise) with fruit. 
  • Caitlin Booked The Cook for Barramundi and friend rice (Champaign pairing). I booked steak with green pepper sauce (Marjosse Boudreaux again for my pairing). 
  • Betrayal!  It was not Marjosse, I saw the bottle on refill and it was different. Too dark to see what they served me instead. Tasted good, so I will not beat them with reeds (the standard punishment, really)

  • Flight good through meal service. Headwinds of 100kph were facing us when first reached altitude. 185kph as I finished my not-so-peppery green pepper steak. But I mustn’t complain. Even a mediocre cut of beef is improved significantly with a sip of French wine (of any variety). Potatoes were scalloped (laminated) and seasoned well. The dish was in a bath of liquid which didn’t help its cause. Green beans over cooked (happens). The catering from MEL was better than EWR for sure. But the all star team at SIN is going to put them both to shame, I’m sure. 
  • Bathrooms have silk orchids, usually they’re real ones on Singapore (and Thai and Bamboo from my experience). 




  • By 60min after take off Caitlin and I had finished our meals - impressive efficiency. Got my bed made while I changed into my Thai First Class PJs and tried to sleep. N95 mask to keep humidity, sleep mask to keep visual distractions at bay, and ear plugs to keep the airplane and passenger noise to a minimum.
  • Got up 30min before landing, was half awake for about 30min prior to that. Caitlin was having her coffee, Josephine already changed back into street cloths and had her moonlit breakfast.
  • Generally the flight felt more rushed than the one from EWR - 7.5hrs vs 19hrs might explain that. But it still felt disjointed. 
SIN airport
  • Lounge was massive. Food plentiful and varied. Air temp and humidity was higher than I’d like (par for the course in Singapore). Most importantly - the showers were available!!




SIN-LHR (SQ308)
  • The a380 never disappoints. Seats are different from the a350s we took from EWR and MEL. Girls took the middle 2 while Caitlin and I took window seats one behind the other. I’m hoping for more leg room than the v-shaped footwells.

  • Caitlin’s a bit disappointed that we can’t have side-by-side dinner together. One last dinner above the clouds would have been nice. 
  • Breakfast was fruit & yogourt.


  • Listened to some of my audio book (Hyperion) for breakfast.
  • Had a few hours (maybe?) of sleep 
  • Watched the Weird Al movie
  • Pre-dinner was chicken satay with Champaign (obviously…). Woke Josephine up so she could get some food, isabelle has not slept yet … but worry some. 
  • Second course was smoked salmon with creamy caper and dill slaw. 
“It’s the small things” comes back to my mind. The cloth napkins have button holes. 



  • My main was the Lobster Thermidor (I’ve been waiting for this since our first planned New Zealand trip booked after stepping off the OCTranspo at Queensway station on a cold fall morning in 2019). All I can say is: “it was a luxury yet I’ve made better myself several times over the year and a half or so over COVID”. I’m open to invitations to cook it for you. 

  • I was still hungry after this course so I asked for more. No lamb left, so I settled for the ginger beef stir fry with rice. Finished my meal with a glass of whiskey. Glen Deveron 16 Year Single Malt.



  • And then passed out!
LHR Airport
  • A bit unnerving going through an airport without a boarding pass, Singapore Air could not issue them in Melbourne. Used the United Airways website while waiting in the transit customs line to get 3 of 4 boarding passes, mine required a kiosk layer and I was flagged for additional screening. No big deal.
  • We got through it all and up to the United lounge where we had showers and I had a coffee. 



LHR-BOS (UA25)
  • First time in United Polaris class service. The crew was much more lively than I expected. There was a pile of pillows and blankets at our seats - kind of ridiculous really.

  • Food was good, tough to stay awake. Woke Josephine just as we passed over PEI (7pm eastern time). Our objective is to get good sleep tonight.
  • PEI’s Confederation Bridge could be seen out the window. 


  • Landed in BOS and Caitlin used the Mobile Passport Control app to put us into the queue shared with diplomats … her research superpowers have revealed themselves once again!
Now to the hotel to crash!!!

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