Hey Geograpeeps!
So, as you guys know, I just got back from filming the next episodes of Geography GO!
In which I went to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and I had a 22 hour layover in Japan.
So I was like: "Hey, why not?" So I filmed that too
5 countries in like 10 days.
It was amazing!
Thanks to all you subscribers and Geograpeeps that I met along the way:
Yithra, Henry, Chris, Tomohiro,
Thomas and Pam
Ben
Nigel
and Nigel.
There's a lot of Nigels in Singapore for some reason.
Milton
Lena
Andrew
Kristiana
Caleb
And of course our favourite Kiwi, my intern and good friend Jared and his girlfriend Sharmane.
Without you guys this whole trip would've been garbage.
And thanks to all the sponsors that let me film in their locations:
The Marina Bay Sands,
The Singapore Flyer,
The Auckland Sky Tower,
The Auckland Dolphin & Whale Safaris,
The Willowbank Wildlife Reserve,
The Whakarewarewa living Maori village,
The legendary black water rafting in Waitomo
and time unlimited tours.
You guys made my stay so amazing.
Oh, and technically we weren't sponsored, but we went in a haunted house, mhmhmm.
So, in order to get to these places I had to fly.
I love flying, in addition to fighting traffic tickets via trial by declaration and winning, it's one of my favorite pastimes.
However, not all airlines are created equal
and I had the pleasure to experience 3 of them:
Singapore Airlines,
Air Asia
and Air New Zealand.
So here's my review.
Going from LA to Singapore I flew Singapore Airlines.
Now my philosophy is:
"You can really tell how good an airplane is based off of how well they treat their economy class."
Because you know, I'm always pretty much gonna fly economy clas, pff I can't afford no first-line pfhehe.
Needless to say, Singapore Airlines was unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
First of all, just when you arrive on the plane and get to your seat immediately you get a little gift,
it's like this little pouch with little socks and a toothbrush in it.
Just just as a gift!
I still have the socks! These...I love these socks!
When I saw it I was like: "Really? I matter?"
And if you lose the toothbrush it's okay, because the bathrooms have more of them
and cones!
Seat was comfortable and I love how they had plug outlets so that I could charge my laptop
as I was getting my work done.
The entertainment repertoire was amazing, I actually ended up watching this really cool French animation film
it was called "Avril et le monde extraordinaire",
if you really like that Jules Verne Steampunk alternate universe stuff
then this movie's for you, totally recommend it.
I even played this really cool awesome trivia game in which I got all the highest scores.
I think partially because I was probably the only one playing.
The flight attendant staff was incredibly friendly
and one of the coolest thing was you could order snacks and drinks anytime you wanted.
But they give you this little menu and it literally says on it like:
"If you want any of these cool snacks just ask a flight attendant."
They had like chips, they had like sandwiches, they had chocolate, they had everything.
Keep in mind I am in economy class!
Even alcoholic drinks!
I tried a Singapore Sling for the first time,
gotta admit I wasn't really digging it,
it was like 90% juice and like 10% gin, but ehh hey, I tried.
It came with the package so why not?
And if you felt too sheepish to call up a flight attendant to get you snacks,
you could literally just walk to the back and grab them from a tray that they had on display,
like here, help yourself!
Now when I fly internationally, I have a little trick up my sleeve.
Whenever I book my flights online
there's usually like this "special meal option" that you can click on
and I usually do that because those meals are typically healthier, cooked better
and you get to be served first.
On this flight I chose the hindu meal and the kosher meal.
Both were really good, however I was a little confused
because I kind of assumed that the hindu meal would have no, like it was vegetarian,
but you know I found shrimp on one of my hindu meals,
is that okay? Hindus can you eat shirmp?
Oh my gosh, the flavors uhh, the spices, the curries uhh so good.
Kosher meal though was the best!
Oh my gosh they gave me like 9 different things that I could eat.
I had stuff like smoked salmon, you know this really good stir fry thing
and like an apple cake
and was made by this company in London
specifically sent over just for my flight to Singapore.
I'm only gonna get kosher meals from now on,
oh my god that was the best flight meal I've ever had.
The best part though was the plane made me feel like
I wouldn't even care to go to first class,
like everything I needed was right here in my economy seat.
Now, Singapore Airport was really cool, it's one of the best airports in the world.
However, getting Wi-Fi there is so frustrating.
You have to like give them your e-mail and then your phone number
and then they send you a QTP code but if you don't have roaming then it won't get sent to you,
it's so frustrating!
So anyway, that was Air Singapore..
*sigh* then there was Air Asia.
For those who don't know, Air Asia is a budget airline,
so already coming into this I kinda had low expectations,
but I just didn't know HOW LOW my expectations had to be!
And I'm sorry I have to be completely honest,
but Air Asia was the worst international flight I've ever taken in my life.
First of all, before I even got on the plane,
the ticketing agent printed out my ticket,
but then she's like: "Oh, I need to see your departure flight from New Zealand back to LA."
The a-a-apparently this is a policy I had never even really heard of,
you think I would because I travel a lot, but I never heard of that policy.
So I was like: "Why would I have my return flight to LA if I'm not even in New Zealand yet?"
So what the agent did was she really ripped up my ticket right in front of me
and told me to go to get services.
Seriously, like WHO rips up your ticket right in front of you?!
That was the weirdest and the worst experience I've had with the ticketing agent.
So I went to get services, yadda-yadda-yadda we made a compromise,
I had to show them my e-mail with my confirmation with Air New Zealand to LA for some reason.
I got to my seat, the tray tables were dirty
and there was like a kid that drew on it and with like pen or something and they just didn't even bother.
Of course, there was no service,
I couldn't even get a cup of water,
the only people who got stuff for the people that pre-ordered meals
or people that bought stuff off of cars that came by.
That was expected though.
The bathrooms were dirty,
there was no entertainment, there were no video screens anywhere,
it was literally just you sitting and looking at the seat in front of you.
The only good thing about the airline was that it was cheap and that you could recline your seat,
but that was about it, literally that was about it!
Air Asia, I'm sorry but
you sucked.
But I got miles!
So thank you for that, but I'm probably gonna use those miles towards like a Qantas co-chair alliance flight
or something, not on you.
Finally coming home, I flew on Air New Zealand.
This was a refreshing airline that I heard so much about, now so excited to finally experience.
First of all for those who don't know, Air New Zealand is known for having some of the best safety procedure
videos out of any airline.
I was pleasantly satisfied to see this one starring Anna Faris dressed as a cop with a moustache.
The seats were comfortable, the entertainment was great,
I love how they had like a whole selection of New Zealand based Kiwi movies.
Jared recommended that I should watch Hunt for the Wilderpeople and it was a
it was an endearing semi-comedic film that I enjoyed.
The bathrooms were all decorated in different styles.
The one closest to me had a really funny portrayal of a library with funny titles on each of the book spines.
The seat each came with plug outlets which was great,
I actually edited some of the Fiji episode on the plane!
Service was great, however I forgot to book specialty meal so I just took the generic meals
that came with the flight but they were great too.
Or maybe there wasn't an option on the website,
I'm not sure, maybe there was, maybe I just missed it.
Now they didn't have any "gifts" or extra "snacks"
that you could get in the back like Singapore Airlines,
but that's okay 'cause I was too busy sleeping or working on my laptop.
Only problem I had on the flight was that when I was working on my laptop
the guy in front of me leaned his chair back so far that I could barely get any work done
'cause the tray angle was like crushing my laptop
so I was like:
Very comfortable flight though, I got some good sleep
while listening to Sibelius on the plane radio.
Now if I had to rank them,
of course Singapore Airline would be on top
and then Air New Zealand make a bold confident 2nd place that I'm proud of
and Air Asia doesn't even get the place in 3rd.
Air Asia is like the janitor that has to sweep up the podium after those 2 airlines step off
while 3rd place is left empty and vacant.
Seriously, Air Asia, get your act together.
And with that being said a lot more Geography Now! stuff is coming up in the next few weeks.
Stay tuned, stay cool!