Day 22: Hoi An we’re flying

Sitting in the business class lounge at Changi’s terminal 3, we’re half way home. One more flight, one more lot of customs, one more car ride and that’s it. Our own house, out own beds, doing our own washing and cleaning.

Three weeks doesn’t seem like a long time in the whole scheme of things, and there are times when it certainly feels longer than others. It’s been a great trip, but we’re also glad to be heading home.

Today started way too early, we had a car to the airport booked for 8am, so of course we slept badly. From around 6am there was music coming in from somewhere, I nedver worked out if it was the next room or the street outside. We were already packed so there was little to do except final checks and one last hotel breakfast to get our fill of dragonfruit. The hotel people all said goodbye, and hoped we’d be back soon. I hope we’ll be back soon, or at least travelling again somewhere. As I noted some months ago, my passport is feeling neglected, and I’d like to get at least one more trip out of my EU passport before Brexit makes me a second-class citizen.

The car ride to the airport was generally uneventful, but the car was a little small (I had to slouch the whole way as I couldn’t actually sit up straight in the back). There were no dramas getting checked in and through customs, but our flight was delayed by a little over an hour. For all its history, Da Nang International Airport isn’t the most exciting place to kill time, the shopping is limited, there are no book stores, and, well, that’s about it. Our plane did turn up and I definitely saw my luggage loaded, so my case will have at least made it to Singapore.

The Silk Air flight was par for the course, standard economy, the idiot in front of me reclined their seat to give me less room. I hope their luggage gets waylaid. The pilots were looking to make up time so it was less than 3 hours in the air, and it was probably the smoothest fast landing I’ve had, with a lot of back thrust when all the wheels were down.

We had a bunch of time between flights, and the opportunity was there to head out and see a bit of Singapore, or to go grab a drink at The Auld Alliance and dinner elsewhere, but I’m not sure I would have got the most out of a decent dram after venturing out in 31 degrees and humid. Instead we checked out the tasting bar upstairs at DFS in Terminal 2, where I checked out one of the new The Macallan’s (Terra: a pretty good sherried Mac, priced a little optimistically), Glenfiddich 19yo Age of Discovery (red wine finish, not a fan), a Glenburgie (15yo, smooth with an odd note late), and the Laphroaig 1815 (gorgeous Laphroaig nose, but a little thin in the mouth). I also tried the Glen Scotia Victoriana downstairs, and it’s got potential. However I needed to replenish my Laphroaig PX so am bringing that home.

Now it’s just waiting and relaxing, enjoying the airconditioning, and waiting for the call.

Home tomorrow.