The journey was surprisingly smooth to get here. Qantas were an efficient airline to fly with and the flight was sandwiched between two well-executed transfers. It did tickle me how the Malaysian taxi driver was trying to find me based on my WhatsApp profile photo. Inevitably the reality of the post thirteen hour flight and absence of makeup made me look perhaps not as recognisable as my relaxed, fully made up online persona 🤣

It was a breeze through Changi airport (I would even go so far as to say one of our most straightforward airport arrivals ever-particularly outside of Europe) and a very pleasant stint in the Heathrow club lounge due to a perk of dear hubby’s job. Elsie basically snacked non-stop for 20 hours; even during ‘sleep time’ on the plane she couldn’t resist the slice of calzone that was being touted.

Our apartment is on the 25th floor eek… 🤢😳 Upside is that it affords an amazing view of Singapore, Johor Bahru and the straits which divide them. I did have to have my pep talk with the kids about not opening windows or going out on the balcony unattended. It is excellent value for money however, with three large bedrooms, two bathrooms and a central location. At first glance, it seems to be cheaper to eat out than cook at home 🤔. The supermarket prices seem comparable with England and taxation on alcohol makes an average bottle of wine around a tenner, which is more than I expected.

It is 10:30pm and I am trying to get my brain to stop trying to remind me that it is 3:30pm in the UK. I am surprised how big a psychological effect it has watching your mental mid afternoon world get dark: I am actually feeling sleepy (but then I do quite like an afternoon nap so may wake up 20 minutes after going to bed).

Depending on which way you look at it, we were lucky that we didn’t have a huge amount of sleep on the plane, so should catch a few zzzs tonight, but military as I am, I will be setting the alarm clock for 9am (bearing in mind that I haven’t slept beyond 6:30am for a decade) to give us a fighting chance against jet lag. Maybe a glass of wine will help 😉