The longest 90 minutes in the world.

The view from the plane.

Hello Gentle Readers. I am writing this post from beside our swimming pool at the Happy Elephant Resort in Rawai, Phuket, Thailand.

Jealous yet?

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This post however is not about today its about yesterday and our journey from the Fragrance Hotel in Singapore to our hotel in Thailand.

Our flight was due to leave at 14.40 so we left the hotel in Singapore at 11:00 and took the short metro ride to the Changi Airport.
Check in was relatively smooth and we saw some cool things.

Hello, Hello Kitty

Moose visits Changi Airports floaty raindrops.

We had a Burger King for lunch and made our way leisurely to the gate. At 1.24 a South Korean fighter jet, which was taking part in an Air Show, skidded off the runway and crashed. It caugjt fire and although no one was seriously hurt the runway was closed.

Our flight was delayed and 2 hours later than planned we boardef flight 3K535 for Phuket.

Unfortunately however the Airline Jetstar allowed all the passengers to leave the boarding area. We were supposed to take off at 17.30 but because 8 people were not back on time our flight was bumped back. So we sat on the plane for nearly 3 hours before it took off.
This means our 90 minute flight became an excrutiating 7 hours. At least Robert got to visit the cockpit.

We eventually landed in Phuket about 8 local time and then had to face the rugby scrum that was immigration.
Lena and Robert had to get visa on arrival but the entire process was laughable. We filled in forms, handed over photos and €112 and were basixally treated like cattle. Chinese people were pushing and it was not very well organised.
I genuinely think that this visa system is just a scam to charge tourists. I watched the guy checking the forms and he didnt even look at them. I was worried because I had not signed Robert's form. But it didnt matter because all that happened were their passports were just dumped on the counter. Luckily I saw them before someone else took them.

It seems to me that Security of Thailand's border means nothing compared to making cash.

We were really worried that because the flight was so badly delayed our driver would be gone. Luckily he was there and it took about an hour to get to Rawai.
We arrived at the hotel to find reception empty and we were really worried we had missed our booking. Check in officially finished at 7pm.

I found a worker though and we were able to get our room.

I am annoyed with a few people. The Korean pilot, Thailand immigration and the people who kept us waiting in Singapore. I am most disappointed however with Jetstar as they should have taken better care of the passengers in their care.

Mind you we are in Phuket so life is good.

#changiairport #jetstar #phuket #happyelephantresort #thailandimmigration