Singapore Airlines A380 themed Birthday Cake

on November 13, 2018 in Featured with No comments

This year ( 2018 ) , I turned 18, and this year’s birthday is probably the best Birthday in my life. With getting birthday surprises from cabin crews of Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia,

And coming home to an A380 Singapore Airlines themed BirthdayCake. A380 is one of my favorite aircraft because until now it is still the biggest passenger plane in the world. Next, it is two storey high, and the amount of space inside the aircraft gives airlines the freedom to design the cabins with innovative products. And look at the wingtip, it used to be the only aircraft with that kind of wingtip, but now since Boeing released their 737 Max, these are the two aircrafts with these kind of wingtips. And ofcourse, Ive always wanted a Singapore Airlines birthday cake, because it is my favorite airline in the world.

All of my family member’s birthday cakes are beautifully made by Le Soho Cupcakes ( Instagram : @LeSohoCupcakes )

This year’s A380 cake is made by Le Soho Cupcakes too. I requested SQ and A380, only that 2 factors matters to me, I trust the rest to them.

Taadaa! My Singapore Airlines A380 themed Birthday Cake. Let me list down the features of this cake :

The A380 is legit! 2 storey, with 2 sets of windows ( 1st and 2nd floor ) , 4 engines, the wings, the SQ Logo
Singapore Airlines cabin crew uniform patterms ( in blue ) on the sides of the cake base.
Indonesian passport with the same thickness in real life
SQ Krisflyer card, with my name, birth date printed ;)
The Burberry teddy bear keychain I always bring with me whenever I travel.
Singapore and Hongkong flag. Well, SG and HK is the 2 most frequent routes I take :) I fly to Hongkong via Singapore once a month.

Kudos to Le Soho cupcakes for this beautifully crafted cake with intricate details, I bet it takes a whole lot of social media stalking :p

Happy me with my SQ A380 themed Birthday Cake :) Came home to this cake from my Garuda Indonesia flight from Bali.

My best friend made another SQ Birthday cake for me, check her bakery Instagram @Lesucredupatisserie

I got the chance to celebrate my birthday again with my students at my Rumah Belajar, along with students whose birthday falls in June as well :) What a blessed Birthday.

Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge ( Singapore ) Terminal 3

on November 13, 2018 in Airport Lounge with 3 comments

The lounge is huge, but not big enough to accomodate so many business class passengers, especially the ones on transit for long haul flights. So the lounge, most of the time is packed, you really have to go through every side of the lounge to grab a seat. It depends on the times of the day. Especially at night, many passengers are waiting at the lounge for their long haul

Everything is self-service, maybe unless the liquors , you have to ask the lounge staff.

I love the TWG Tea selection. There were 2 TWG Tea corners with their gigantic tins and a variety of choices. SQ also serves TWG tea onboard on Business & First class , I think they are the first in the world to serve TWG, since its first launch.

What I love about SQ's SilverKris Lounges around the world is the fact that they use the same tablewares ( plates, bowls ) with the signature silver lining. (:

The food options is great considering it is an airport lounge, not a hotel buffet. There are several cuisines, Chinese, Singaporean, Indian and many others. I think they also have a special made to order kid's menu ( by request )

There's a small salad bar, cheese station, light bites and desserts.

Time for salad ;)

The restroom is super clean and huge, with many amenities provided for instance mouth wash, and others which I totally forgot ( my bad )

They also provide clothes straightener machine, which was cool, and was usually used for coats / jackets.

Mom and I 😊

For the magazine selections, theres lots, and also not to forget, they display their onboard magazine as well ;)

There’s always room for desserts! 😊

As the World's best Airline 2018, and the fact that SQ is their homebase, I expect SKL to be bigger and better. Hopefully, they'll upgrade soon.

SQ also have a SilverKris Lounge in Terminal 2. Most passengers prefer SKL T3 than T2. But I personally love the T2 one more because its much smaller, less packed which somehow makes it a little more 'exclusive' than SKL T3.
If im not mistaken, SilkAir business class passengers can also enter SKL T2, correct me if im wrong. And most people also said that people in SKL T2 are mostly biz class passengers flying short haul SQ flights ;)

SQ's Gold lounge is exclusive to their Gold members ( they can relax and rewind at this lounge when theyre flying Economy )

And The Private Room in Terminal 3 is exclusive to their First Class passengers. Not even their PPS members can enter this specific lounge. Its that exclusive ;)

Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge ( HongKong )

on November 13, 2018 in Airport Lounge with 1 comment

We were greeted by the friendly lounge staff. The lounge is located near the gates 16-18 ( SQ's usual lounge ) with 7 daily flights to and from Hongkong ) excluding SQ's cargo plane !

It was one of SQ's prime and profitable routes. SQ's san fransisco flight connects to and from Hongkong with daily flight SQ01 and SQ02 ( HKG-SFO ) ( SFO-HKG ) respectively.

Its a morning flight, we arrived at around 6 am, before entering the seating and food spread area, there were corridors, between that was the restrooms, clean, huge and well-designed. Modern & minimalistic.

There was a bar after the corridor and before the seating area. All the lounge staffs were friendly, you can hear 'good mornings' everywhere. I love SQ’s consistency in service, whether in ground or onboard. Kudos to their HRD team 

The lounge was quiet, calm and peaceful. Which makes it exclusive, although its not a big space. The choice of food is great, considering Hongkong is not their homebase. And I appreciate enough the fact that it is not a shared lounge. ( Unlike SkyTeam's lounge in HKIA - nothing special )

The choice of food were mostly chinese cuisine, acceptable cause mostly their passengers must be mostly asians on this route. The lounge staff greeted me and asked whether I wanted to try their Hongkong milk tea, she spoke to me in perfect chinese.

As what I can remember, There's a small salad bar and light bites ( which are DimSums ).

And cute, just like what Ive mentioned on my SKL Singapore Review, they used the signature silver lining table wares in SKL Hongkong.

I love the ambience of this lounge. Weird but I love SKL Hongkong more than SKL Singapore ( their hub & homebase ).
Dimsum to start my morning, so Chinese hahahhaha.

brekkie usuals, omelette, sausage, more dimsum ;) , chinese style rice vermicelli…
SQ’s signature lounge sofas, I love the pattern and unique shape. I think other SKL’s around the world

has quite similar features. Like the sofas, work stations, tableware and cutleries. Consistency or branding, I don’t know, hahahaha.but definitely a plus point.

Garuda Indonesia Business Class Lounge ( Domestic - Jakarta, Indonesia )

on November 13, 2018 in Airport Lounge with 1 comment

Airport code : CGK
Airline : Garuda Indonesia
Terminal : 3 Ultimate

At the time of this short lounge review, I was flying with a morning flight. I arrived at the airport at around 5 am. And the lounge was packed. It was difficult to find a seat for 4. The lounge is noisy. frequent flyers knew how difficult it is to find a seat at Ga’s domestic lounge during peak hours 🤪

For me, the space of the lounge is quite small. For the fact that Garuda Indonesia operates flights to all cities / provinces around Indonesia, and the increase of business class passengers. Plus, it is the homebase, government owned, Should give them more power, authority and right for more space eh?

Who can enter this lounge? Business class passengers & ( If I’m not mistaken ) BNI Emerald cardholders. Do note you cannot use Garuda Citibank CC to enter this lounge.( perks of having this CC is extra baggage allowance of 20kg and other perks check their website for more info )

I think that it should be more private as it is not a shared or joint lounge like owned by an alliance and used by all its member’s passengers. But then again, I think the space is quite small.

For the design of the lounge itself, just decent, nothing spectacular but not bad either :) we all know what to expect from airport lounges, except First class lounge teehee

There’s leather sofa too. And one thing I observe from Garuda is that they sell onboard duty free products on the ground at their lounge as well. So their staff go around the lounge and pushing a cart with many duty free products. Perhaps to increase duty free revenue? Anyways i think its a nice act as long as theyre not pushy and not block the way, ofcourse.

Regarding the lounge food, for me its decent. Not much variety, but they do have live egg station, Indonesian option, and salad station.

I do apologize I didnt take any photos of the food options. I will update this article again next time I fly with GA.

Esplanade Lounge Jakarta Terminal 2 ( SQ )

on November 13, 2018 in Airport Lounge with No comments

Just when I finished writing this article, I got news that Singapore Airlines will be moving from terminal 2 to Terminal 3 ultimate ( a less passenger-friendly terminal to me – because of the long walks and lack of signposts ) Singapore Airlines business and first class passengers might use Garuda Indonesia’s executive lounge or the Sapphire lounge ( part of Plaza Premium Lounge ). I will really miss esplanade lounge, because to me it is probably the best or more decent lounge here in Jakarta 

Before entering the lounge, we pass through a corridor with glass sidelines and flowers on display. It's lovely :) the corridor somehow gives it an exclusive feeling.

I love the interior of the lounge. Its far from spectacular, but its cozy enough. At least better than GA's lounge. Also, though the selection of food is not much, all of the food served tastes good. Like whats the use of putting so much choices but all the food tastes horrible.

The next good thing is the service, the lounge staff was attentive, friendly and helpful. They were all smiles.

Once we arrive at the lounge, the lounge staff quickly greeted us and asked us what we'd like to drink. Then they came with a cup of tea ( our choice ).

The choice of reading materials is exceptional. A variety of magazine from different categories and fields were on display in a long shelf.

Also, I like how the passengers on the lounge are so chill and really only mind their business ( this is not the case in some other lounges, hahaha )

The restroom is just okay but clean enough, clean is an important factor which I really appreciate.

Perks of being a biz or first class passenger of SQ is the fact that there is a dedicated immigration, the staff will help you with your passport and escort you to the lounge. The immigration area is just right on the left side of the check in counter, just few walks away. In contrast, for Economy class passengers, its quite a looong walk to the regular immigration area lol.

Anyways, I don’t know if this dedicated immigration lane will still be available when they move to terminal 3, because Garuda’s business class passengers get to do immigration in a priority lane, but you still have to queue for it, its just in a less crowded lane. Whereas SQ’s dedicated immigration is that you can just hand your passport to the staff and go straight to the lounge, the staff will arrange and look for you at the lounge once it is stamped already. And mind you, garuda Indonesia is based In Jakarta, government owned as well  think about the power, right and authority they have in this capital city.

But I do think SQ will do everything they can to continue giving their premium class passengers those perks.