03 May 2016
So nausea and dizziness are some of the possible symptoms of jet lag - and I've been having them mildly today and the day after the evening I arrived in Toronto at the beginning of my most recent trip.
Nothing when I first arrived in Toronto and then Singapore last night.
I thought it was because of the stomach flu I'd gotten on the flight to Toronto but clearly it's from the jet lag, although it was possibly from both.
Anyway, 12 hours of jet lag is worse than I remember. I absolutely do not recall the jet lag of my trip to Vancouver last year to be so bad. Maybe the difference was that I avoided coffee during my stay there.
10 May 2016
Considered posting short posts. Not sure if it's any better than long ones.
Somehow, my jet lag has been turned into something positive - I now wake up at around 6am and go to bed at around 10pm. It's awesome because it's possible to swim in the early morning at about 8-10am, thereby avoiding the crowds.
Bad thing is that this won't last. Sleeping at 10pm in Singapore is as close to impossible as a vegan tiger.
11 May 2016
Flying again. It's really not that great anymore. Last year, I was not expecting to keep this rate of flying up for multiple years, but this is the second year and I've had... let me see... started with the flight back after the Europe trip, then Seoul in late Jan, Auckland in early Feb, Penang in early March was by train so it doesn't count, Bintan in late March was ferry so doesn't count, Ho Chi Minh in mid-April which was almost immediately followed by the Canada/US trip in the same month.
Now, it's Seoul again.
How many flights does this make by the end of this month?
Oh, there were 2 flight round trips (SG-Canada, Canada-US) in the Canada/US trip.
13, or 6.5 round trips by the end of May. MAY!
It's not even been half a year yet.
Signs of travelling more than I ever expected have started to show - when I returned on my last trip, I was confused about which side of the escalator I should be standing on as I headed towards the immigration in Changi after alighting the plane.
Another sign is the mixed stack of five foreign currencies left unsorted in the locked box I keep my cash in for easy access.
Not to mention I'm starting to unlace my shoes once the seats in my side of the row have been filled, and then removing my shoes when the seatbelt sign is turned off after take-off.
I'm starting to feel at home on the planes now! There's even a small tube of moisturiser and a lip balm in my man purse that I keep in the magazine pouch throughout every flight. Other things I keep in there include a pen, wet wipes (usually from previous flights), one Panadol, one charcoal pill, a sewing kit, eye pad, glasses box, lactase pill (new addition after finding them in the US) and tissue paper.
After my last trip, I cannot understate the terrible hygiene on the plane! When I read that they absolutely NEVER clean the tables, I didn't think whatever is in the planes can hit me that badly - clearly I've been too jaded by the relatively sterile environment in my country. Air travellers come from everywhere, so the variety of bacteria on board is pretty international too!
Now, I've read more about how they clean the planes, and it seems they only spray disinfectant when leaving known hotspots like certain African countries. The usual? Vacuum the floor, clear the crumbs and remove any visible trash (excluding those buried so deep in the magazine pouches that the cleaners miss them).
And they DO clean the tables - after the flights of the day for each plane. The blankets and pillows? Depends on the airline, could be during each stop or at the end of the day.
Deep cleaning happens once a month at best, or every quarter for some airlines. This involves really cleaning the seats cushions instead of simply wiping off crumbs, cleaning the carpets instead of simple vacuum, cleaning the ceilings and walls, and probably some other stuff.
With the kind of foot traffic we expect on every plane, the insides of every plane now sounds absolutely disgusting.
In fact, you are 20% more likely to catch a cold on a flight, mainly from other passengers within two rows around you.
Although there are plenty of tips going around for what you should do to maintain personal hygiene on a plane, what I do these days is use wet wipes on my hands whenever I am about to touch food with my hands. That's it.
And I'm sorry if you get grossed out by this but I don't actually need a blanket to keep warm since I always try to bring a jacket if I'm going to anywhere cold - I use it as a giant apron during meals.
It's unusual but it happens - full service airlines can sometimes offer cheaper fares than budget airlines. I've just booked a flight to Hong Kong for mid-August with MH and it's cheaper than those offered by Scoot and Jetstar by less than S$30. For the budget flights, I opted for check-in luggage only for one person and no food at all, and yet it's still more expensive.
Despite the small price difference, MH provides meals and check-in luggage service, so the overall difference is actually quite significant.
Don't ask me why. MH can't be doing too badly if they can afford to renovate their lounges now.
