These guys are so good at this.
Apparently waiting for my friends to confirm with me whether they want to go overseas with me made me miss a promotion from Malaysian Airlines.
2 days after I first visited the agency, the same flight now costs me just over S$1000.
Obviously I didn't take it.
Today I've bought a ticket for another flight that lands at midnight of that day instead of departing at that time.
It's a different airline too, Hong Kong Airlines.
I feel that it's even worse than the initial one.
First, it's S$13 more expensive, at S$637.
Second, it lands at midnight, so I'll be checking in at about 1am or something.
Third, the return flight is in the early morning at about 8am, so I won't be taking their hotel breakfast even though it comes with the room.
Fourth, I'm going to have to book an extra night for this.
Fifth, because of my late check-in, I think it's much likelier for me to encounter the issue of the hotel being fully occupied.
Come to think of it, what was I thinking agreeing to this? The point of my midnight flight was to avoid this specific problem.
The first point isn't really a major issue. 13 bucks is really nothing when the ticket is over S$600.
The second is slightly more significant because Shanghainese taxis probably have midnight surcharge too, and my hotel is pretty far from the airport I'm landing at. On one website, it calculates my taxi fare to be about S$37 even without surcharges.
The third point I can probably settle by talking to the hotel people. I don't exactly expect success but my booking included a special request regarding changing that breakfast to something else.
Fourth is a bitch. I'm going to be paying the full price of a day's stay for half a night of sleep. Moreover, the 50% increment in the cost of my lodging is no joke. In addition, now that I've completed the booking process, I realized there's "fees and taxes" that weren't included in the $74. With that included, the final rate is actually $85/night. Still awesome though for a Queen bed in a 4-star hotel.
The final point is something I really hope doesn't happen, but it could. The booking system only allows payment at the hotel, so without payment, I think the hotel can still legally reject my booking.
I think.
I don't blame anyone for these inconveniences except the agent at Fairprice Travel for not telling me. Then again, I can't complain since they charge so much less.
Not to mention I expected problems to crop up. This is, after all, my first business trip and I'm going alone. So far I'd like to think I'm doing pretty well since I've basically dealt with all the kinks.
Now for the pros.
Since I'll be able to sleep on the night I arrive, I'll be able to focus better on the stuff I see on the following days.
This is particularly important because I suck at spotting stuff. I'm the sort of guy who only sees what's directly in front of me, and even less if I'm looking at a big messy pile.
I'll be hunting for specific designs, so that really should help.
Next is the food. Although only a snack and dinner are included in my two flights to Shanghai (first to Hong Kong and then to Shanghai), both breakfast and lunch are included in my flights back to Singapore (also because of a transfer at Hong Kong).
Yay.
Better still - no peak hour surcharge for taxis on Sundays in Singapore, so I don't have to rush out of the airport after landing in the late afternoon.
Feels good.
The real problem at the moment is actually the hotel. After making the reservation, the website told me the hotel can't confirm yet. Since this is the peak season, I'm really worried that it may not work out.
At this point, the alternative is that I'll be forced to spend $300 or more by going to the travel agents.
And yea, I changed my mind. I'm not keeping the destination a secret anymore.
Playing as a sneaky archer in Skyrim, I often encounter this very funny situation in which I'm implied to be a figment of the imagination of a minor character in a game.
It happens when I shoot someone and he doesn't die from the triple damage of my sneak attack arrow.
I'm practically never spotted because I fire from far away and I move back after firing in case they get close to my spot.
So when they give up on finding me, they would say something like," Probably just my imagination."
YEAH BECAUSE THE ARROW IN YOUR FACE IS FROM YOUR IMAGINATION!
And after killing them, I'd be thinking," I guess you got killed by your imagination, huh?"
Since I'm just a figment of the imagination of a minor dead character in a PC game, what does that make my readers?
YOU ARE HALLUCINATING!
THERE IS NO BLOG!
WAKE UP!
I cooked 2 dishes tonight and failed in one.
First was the carrot and brinjal in oyster sauce.
The carrot was sweeter than expected, so it made the whole dish pretty sweet, almost like a mild dessert.
I only used one carrot and one long brinjal. Most of the carrot was grated because I was too lazy to cut it into strips. The last part of the carrot was sliced instead before I could risk grating my fingers.
Next was potato and luncheon meat with baked beans.
I've really got to remember that potatoes need to be boiled beforehand because they take forever to cook. At least it smelled really nice, just like hashbrowns.
Threw in a can of baked beans after some of the luncheon meat cubes look browned.
Added starchy water to give it some gravy to make it go better with rice.
This was one dish I knew couldn't go wrong. You have to be pretty bad to fail at cooking potato dishes.
Also, some leftover soup from last night. Soup's fine as long as I boil it before I go to bed and after.
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