19 June 2022 Back to Singapore

19 June, the last day in UK before heading home. We checked out of Homely Premier apartment at 10am. Our flight that evening SQ319  (8.50pm) meant idling around London until flight time. We allocated an hour going back to Heathrow and settling car rental admin. 

But before that, we had one final lunch with H. It was the now familiar Atria Watford because it was near her base. The trattoria that we wanted to visit was not yet opened. By a stroke of luck, we lunched at Crispy Dosa instead.

It was a good decision. I had the obliging staff make a thali platter ahead of their usual schedule. What nice service! It was a great meal and not any less flavorful that what we have in Singapore.

We shopped a bit at Atria but did not managed to buy anything for H. We deposited her back at Queens Ave and headed for Lombardy Retail Park. We filled up the tank (£1.82) at Tesco , slightly more than 1/2 tank for £40. With Ukraine at war, fuel was at record high prices.

At Lombardy retail, we stocked up on cheeses for home and a couple of books to read on the flight back (Waterstones).

The car return at Hertz was smooth and the shuttle quickly got us to Terminal 2. It was a digital chaos as the SQ marshall asked for SG Arrival card etc in the digital form. Trouble to those who don't know their smart phone or are digitally savvy. I struggled a bit as my digital form looked different from Pat's. I found out 15 min that the bottleneck was at Yahoo Mail!

More airport admin as we queued for immigration clearance etc. I was glad we gave ourselves lots of time; we were finally free to roam at the airport ,admin free, at around 7pm! That was a lot of time wasted.

We boarded at 8.30pm but were stuck waiting for the runway for an hour. 

Pat recorded the take-off because it was the rare occasion he sits at a window seat. Flight back was bumpy but we managed to catch a few hours of sleep on and off.

The ride back on 20 June 7pm (dinner at Changi airport) was a smooth one despite being it being peak hour. We later learnt from BBC that Heathrow would be cutting back 10% of flights starting from 20 June due to baggage issues at Heathrow and Gatwick. Just like we escaped from the baggage crush a day before the Jubilee weekend rush, we did it again on the way home by the grace of God.

Now, we need more time for overcoming jet lag back home. This holiday has been a mixed bag, but it was many firsts for Pat and I.