And so it all begins...

While originally supposed to depart on Sunday, a combination of factors and much drama ensued; which meant that departure was postponed to Tuesday. A flurry of events: late night outings, grad night, commencement and what have you; left me feeling pretty horrible. I couldn't wait to leave Suntec and duly did so after mustering my last bits of energy to commemorate the occasion with a few pathetic photos. I was bedridden the rest of the day.

Sunday saw me paying a visit to the doctor and to my huge relief, my suspicions were confirmed. I had a throat infection (I long suspected) and not the dreaded H1N1 virus, which also meant that I still had the slimmest chance of catching my late Sunday night flight. Alas, while the medicine worked wonders and I sprang to life, the mother was pretty worried and being the obedient son I am, I obliged and stayed home, albeit most reluctantly. That was 1600 bucks down the drain. My unhappiness was clear for all to see.

Fast forward a couple of days and I'm sitting here at Schiphol waiting for my flight to Helsinki. The prior 13 hr SIN-AMS flight was ok although it started on a bad note. As the flight attendant came around to check for seat belts, I was still fiddling with my phone and was politely told to have it switched off. As I was in the midst of a message, I turned the screen off and was looking to quickly send it as soon as she walked by. I took it out of my pocket again and to my amazement, my fellow passenger, seated along the aisle, asked me in a most curt way if I actually heard and understood the attendant. I was shocked, but not wanting to make a meal out of it, went on to tell him that I was about to properly switch it off. What a prude! It was quite clearly none of his business. Anyway, since I was terribly bored, I decided to strike up a conversation with him just to keep myself occupied. A Dane, he was in Singapore for a business trip for the week. Involved in business development for his company, he has travelled far and wide. However, his description of different countries seem always limited to the word "funny"! I kid you not. Maybe it was the cups of alcohol he downed on the flight.

On a separate note, since transit is about 4 hours I wanted to check out Yotel and its rooms. Pity though that I was not able to do so since it was fully booked! I would have had a good shower and some nice sleep otherwise! Maybe on the return!