Saturday 29 August 2023.

Highlights: Farewelling the cats, the Air New Zealand Koru (Business Class) Lounge, Business Class flight

After years of planning, multiple delays due to COVID-19 restrictions and today is the first day of my first international trip since August 2019 .

But first I had a few things to take care of today, starting with the cats waking me up at 4 am in order for me to locked them out of the bedroom. This was followed by the traditional 6 am scratching at the door for their breakfast. I did draw the line at letting them out for fresh air, no risks today of them no returning.

My brother offered to come into the city and drive me and the cats to a cattery in Digger Rest which is near the airport. This is the first time the cats have been placed in a cattery, the last two times I was away I organised a cat and apartment sitter. Hopefully they will be fine.

Then it was up to my mum’s for a family gathering which was part a birthday gathering for my mum and part a farewell event for me. It was good to see everyone, including Sebastian my mum’s first great grandchild. Sebastian turned one not long ago is is not walking around exploring everywhere.

After lunch my next stop was Melbourne Airport to check in for my 18.25 Melbourne to Singapore Airlines flight. This is the first of two flights to eventually get me to Istanbul in about 22 hours time after departuring Melbourne.

Check in, security and customs was easy. Zig zagging though all the shops the airport funnels you though wasn’t however fun.

As a business class travel on Singapore Airlines I have access to two (review here)lounges, the excellent Air New Zealand Koru (Business Class) Lounge (review here) and the so-so Singapore Airlines SilverKris (Business Class) Lounge (review here). Having lounge access allowed me to have a very refreshing pre flight shower to ensure maximum hydration.

Then it was only the flight, Singapore Airlines SQ208 Melbourne to Singapore (review here). This was a very enjoyable flight despite the delayed start making me a little nervous that I might miss my connecting flight everything ended up well. Arriving in Singapore just after midnight (local time) which was really 02:00 back in Melbourne. I had Day 2 of the trip to look forward to while hoping to arrive in Istanbul without incident and a tour to join.