# living so far away from my family SUCKS



## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

so yeah. i just bought a ticket to go home to singapore. 1st trip home in 2.5 years. $2,600. cattle class.

looked at biz class just for giggles, just a tick below $9,000.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

ouch, you could almost buy a 300 gallon tank.


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

meh. i'll pass on the tank to see my family. 

one of my brothers is living in Melbourne, AUS. he's also trying to make it home at that time. will be the first time that all 3 brothers will be home in Singapore all at once since dec 2002/jan 2003.


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## Johnny-J5 (Sep 5, 2008)

Ouch at that price man. Airlines are getting rediculous now, they are really pinching pennies....they charged me like 7 bucks for a snack box the other day, it consisted of a lunch fit for a kindergardener: juicebox, cheesestick, crackers, apple, and a cookie. DELTA FTL :chair:

How long is the flight out to singapore nowadays? Last time i went it took me ~20hrs to get there, but that was before the direct flight from JFK to Narita.....still prob not gonna be a pleasant trip in coach .

GL with seeing your fams, im the youngest of 3 bros and it is very uncommon for all three of us to be together for a family gathering...but when it does happen, its like the movie animal house


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

total travel time (in the air) is about 24 hours.

i'm flying United, so i'll be going to O'hare, and then staright on to Singapore. 21hr 33min in a coach seat sucks. 1 of 3 reasons why i don't go home as often as i would like to. the other 2 reasons being MONEY (of course) and vacation time.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

with your family being spread so far apart;i am sure that the expense and discomfort is a small price to pay for the joy of being together again.even if only for a brief time.


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## Johnny-J5 (Sep 5, 2008)

well atleast international coach is multiple folds better than domestic coach. They will give you free food and maybe even booze? 

I forgot about the direct flight out of chi-town. When i was in college my dad lived in Hong Kong so i got fly direct from ohare. I miss going to that side of the world, culture shock for sure!


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

hmmm... my itinerary does not list HK as a stopover, but i think i saw it mentioned when i booked my ticket last night. i know Northwest stops at narita. the ONLY direct flights from the continetal US to Singapore are on Singapore Airlines. but they're strictly biz class and first class.


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2008)

AHH yes, im familiar with that flight! been there, done that. its not so fun! i intend on making it again sometime in the near future though, i just stopped in Singapore though, i would love to spend a bit of time there next time. Singapore Airlines is amazing, but expensive, my dads work paid for our tickets, so we were biz class...next time im sure i wont be so lucky 
Enjoy your time with your family! take some pics of Singapore!
I cant wait to go back to Malaysia, i miss the history, buildings, food, markets, just everything. Have fun Gil


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

thanks mike.


whew!! i just managed to talked to someone at United and got all my seats changed from window to aisle!!


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## Johnny-J5 (Sep 5, 2008)

^^ yea there is a direct flight to HK from Ohare...but the ohare to Singapore makes much more sense for you. 

Ive heard that Singapore Airlines is the best in the business. Ive even heard that they go as far as making all female flight attendants go on a certain diet so they stay slim/good looking. I have not had the luxury of flying with them...


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

yes, i am retarded. we had talked about flying out of JFK or Newark for the longest time, but when the time came, it completely slipped our minds.

so i cancelled my flight with United and rebooked with JAL. the UA flight was $2571.96. the JAL flight from JFK to SIN and back is $1688.76. JetBlue to JFK and back $199. minus $100 gift card = $99. savings of $784.20. best part is that i depart and arrive at approx the same time.


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## Johnny-J5 (Sep 5, 2008)

^^ nice man good work. You def saved a significant amount of money. Now make sure youre a frequent flier member so you can start racking up the points (idk id JAL does FF...)!


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## gil_ong (Apr 15, 2008)

here's what i currently ahve for my itinerary. gonna be a rough one. does not include getting to the airport early and layovers.












and the one drawback to this flight over the united one is taht i won't get to pick my seats. getting stuck in a seat that is not an aisle seat is rough for such long flights.


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## Johnny-J5 (Sep 5, 2008)

One year i had a bad experience flying to HK. I was sitting next to a guy that was way overweight and as a result, his body ended up spilling over the armrest over onto my side on the seat. 

I tried to make teh situation as pleasant for both of us as possible so i just sucked it up. He knew of the situation, and so did i. I would have felt terrible if he knew exactly what i was thinking in my head, so i just shut my mouth. 

Pan 5 hours into the flight and i wake up from a nap...i find the arm that shares the same side as said guy was blanketed by his body rolls....so i woke up to the uncomfortness of my arm drenched in his sweat, ugh makes me gag just thinking of it. The smell, the moisture, everything about the situation was bad. Anyways, yea i kindly removed myself from my seat and ended up standing the rest of the flight. 

When i arrived in HK i was not a happy camper....


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

Too bad JAL is on Oneworld and not Star Alliance.

I flew to Manila, Phillipines on Singapore Airlines via Frankfurt and Singapore. I was so woozy from pampering by the time I got to Singapore that I have no recollection of the airport or how I got from one plane to the other. The return service was on ANA and it was faster but not nearly as nice.

They want me to make the trip out there again but I have been putting it off as I'm looking for a new job anyway. I did check out the tickets and found that SAL now operates the service from London to Singapore using the new A-380, which I gotta see!


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## Johnny-J5 (Sep 5, 2008)

yea that kinda sounds torturous....14 hrs no bathroom and little movement. I would have done something stupid and spill something on him to get him out of the way.

But yea Beki that is the real world, ppl are ppl....just gotta find a way to get along!

ROFL, i just figured out your footer....im glad that commercial is off the air, so so annoying. That behavior would not be tolerated with my kids....


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