TZ 221 (HK to Singapore) was scheduled for 0705hrs. Since we did not want to rush to the airport early in the morning, we decided to stay for one night at the Hong Kong Regal Airport hotel. It helped that there was a Citygate Outlet Mall quite near by and the Regal Airport hotel provided a convenient complimentary shuttle service. Or we could just take a taxi. So we decided to stay at the airport hotel. Earlier that morning, we were in Macau. So we would take a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong and then take a CityBus to the Airport.
We had arrived at the Regal Airport Hotel the day before the flight, checked into the hotel, and took the free shuttle from the Airport Hotel to the nearby CityGate outlets.
Here is a video of the hotel room as well as how you walk to the hotel from Hong Kong Airport Terminal 1. A very easy walk indeed.
Citygate outlets is a fairly large outlet mall located at Tung Chung MTR station, which is currently the western most station on the MTR network. We have been here before, on previous trips. We had planned to do some outlet shopping, so this visit was fruitful. I managed to get a heavily discounted pair of Timberland walking shoes.
Citygate has a good number of eateries. However, we chose to walk over to a smaller local mall called Fu Tung Plaza. It is directly connected via a pedestrian food bridge.
We had a light dinner at Cafe de Coral, a local eatery. I had the pork chop bun, which came with a red bean type of drink as well as a corn on a cob. Here is a short video of what we ate, as well as the menus.
Later in the evening, feeling hungry, I had another round of food at the Cafe de Coral in Hong Kong airport Terminal 1. Being the airport, the prices were more expensive, however, they had roasted goose which I wanted to try. Prices were still not too bad, given the size of the serving and quality of food. In this video, I show you the Cafe de Coral at Hong Kong international airport, the food and the overall surroundings.
Now onward to the delay. The flight was scheduled for 0705hrs. The plan was to wake up early, check out of the hotel and check in for the Scoot flight. All this changed when we received this SMS. Very bad delay!!
Was this for real? The flight was delayed to 1440hrs? Everything about this SMS looked real and the email came about 30 minutes later. Still, we didn't want to risk it and called the Singapore Scoot call center. Their staff confirmed that the delay was indeed genuine.
This episode reinforced the need to check your mobile/email in case there were changes to the flights that you were on. I would have been very unhappy to turn up at the Scoot check-in counter at 5am, only to be told that the flight was now delayed to 1440hrs!
So, we could sleep a bit later that morning. At around 9am, we went to the check-in counter at Terminal 1, to be greeted by 3 staff who were looking most tired. Anyway, they could check us in, give us our boarding passes, as well as four breakfast vouchers. As the vouchers were for breakfast only, we had to consume them by 11am, which was fine with us.
With check-in complete, we headed off to look at the various eateries where we could use the vouchers and settled with Tsui Wah. We ordered some breakfast and we liked such food. Here was the video I made of the breakfast experience.
We checked out of the hotel at 1pm. I asked for a delay in the check-out timing from noon to 1pm and the hotel kindly agreed, which was nice. We cleared immigration (the lines were quite long!) and headed off to the restricted area. It would be a long stroll to Gate 44, for our gate. We were early at the Gate. There were already many passengers there, some sleeping. Anyway, since I had nothing to do, I did some plane watching from the gate and made this video.
By 1430hrs, the plane hadn't arrived and the flight was supposed to depart at 1440hrs. The staff at the gate said that the plane was on the way and should be arriving soon.
Well, the passengers were all very patient. Maybe we were all too tired! Fortunately, the plane did arrive, close to 1500hrs. I made a video of the plane landing and taxi-ing to Gate 44, Hong Kong International. When we flew to Hong Kong, the plane was called 'Dream Start' This time round, the plane was named 'Barry'.
Flight back
Passengers on the plane had to disembark before we could get on! Regardless, a long line quickly formed even though boarding hadn't commenced. By this time, we all wanted to get on board and make our way back to Singapore. We were now onboard. I took this photo of the window. Yes, this is the B787 - windows were bigger than usual.
Boarding started quite soon and we got to our seats quickly. I made this flight review video of the trip back. In the video, I look at the window (which could block out a lot of light). I also look at the light and call buttons on the seat. The buttons are put in a position where many there are many accidental calls. Watch the video to see why.
This feature of the Scoot inflight magazine had a neat set of infographics called Scoot Secrets. I enjoyed reading.
1. Scoot has passed the 4 million pax milestone
2. Cabin crew are called Scootees, pilots are called Scooters.
3. Scoot has acquired 20 B-787 Aircraft.
4. 117 pilots from 26 countries
5. By 2018, Scoot will be the first low-cost carrier to have an all B-787 fleet.
6. Rolls Royce Trent 1,000 engines power Scoot planes, the engines are made in Singapore!
7. Scoot has 900,000 fans on Facebook.
8. 582 Scootees hail from 32 different countries
We made it back to Singapore safely The landing at Singapore Changi by Captain Jesper was very smooth and gentle. Glad to be home. Thanks for reading!
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