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I hope you are well. My name is Christian, and welcome to my channel Backpacking Bananas. I'm currently at Sydney International Airport in the waiting room, because I'm flying to Greece today. Yes, again, this is the second time in 2 months that I'm flying to Greece. I'm making it to the end of the European summer, and I'm very excited. This time I'm not even going to the UK. it. I think this is the shortest amount of time I've ever spent on the other side of the world, flying in solely for this purpose, if you know what I mean. I will only be in Greece for 5 days and then I return to Sydney. You may be thinking: Christian, why are you doing this? This is the wedding of one of my best friends. I can't miss it, and I'm so happy about it
. So, in this video, I just wanted to take you on a journey with me, because I'm flying Scoot again. Last time I posted a video of me flying two long-haul Scoot flights, you had a lot of questions, so I just wanted to document the trip again, but I'm specifically going to focus on my layover in Singapore in this video because this time I don't just have 1 hour. I have about 5 and a half hours. So that's quite a lot of time. So I'll show you what I'll be doing in Singapore. But right now I'm just in the waiting room. This seems to be the only lounge I have access to with my Lounge Key card at Sydney International Airport. This is the Plaza Premium Lounge. And, to be honest, he's not that great. Well, he's normal. There is free food, drinks, etc., but it is
very small. There are n't many options there. And the fact that this is the only option for Lounge Key in the entire airport-I expected more from Sydney. But still, I'm grateful to have access to at least some kind of waiting room. As usual, since Scoot doesn't serve food, I'm trying to eat as much as I can right now. Luckily, it's lunchtime because I don't plan on buying food while I 'm on the plane. And then of course I'll eat again when I get to Singapore. So, I ate penne pasta with mushrooms. There was a small beef pie. I took some cheese. And if I find any little things in this room that I can take on the plane as a snack, I'll definitely do that too. Interesting. Hooray. I got to Singapore Changi Airport. Is this the
best airport in the world? I think that's exactly what it was called once. So, the first thing I'll do is connect to the local free Wi-Fi. But before that, I need to turn on Surfshark, which is the kind sponsor of today's video. In case you didn't know: when you connect to an open Wi-Fi network, like at a large airport, your device is at risk of being hacked, which is pretty scary, especially in such a huge place. But when you turn on Surfshark, it acts as a virtual shield for your device to keep you from being hacked. And that's not all, Surfshark has many other benefits that are especially useful when traveling. You can change the virtual location of your device to almost anywhere in the world. So, if you're traveling to another country or even at
home and can't access a media or streaming service because it's not available in your region, you simply select a country in Surfshark where that service works and it's instantly available, which is great. And, of course, I have a discount for you. You can start a 7-day free trial of Surfshark and get four extra months for free by simply using my code backpacking or by following the link in my description: surfshark.com/backpacking. Last time I was in Singapore I was at the Marhaba lounge, it was pretty good, maybe I'll check it out again. I have 5 and a half hours here-that's a pretty good amount of time. So maybe I'll visit a few lounges, but this time I want to try
something new. I'll try to find a SATS or Plaza Premium lounge. Plaza Premium is usually pretty good. Okay, here's this one. It says here that SATS is located here. I just did a quick Google search asking which of the lounges I have access to is the best. And he showed that of all the options available to me, this one had to be the best. Here he is. Damn, I can already see the sign that entry is by reservation only. The lady said there were no seats available right now, but if I came back at 8:30, which is about 45 minutes away, they might be able to accommodate me. I asked if I could reserve a seat. She replied: no, the queue is in the order of the live queue. So maybe I'll go to another lounge for 45 minutes and then try to come back to that one. This is the Plaza
Premium lounge, they have a small buffet, but they also have a small a la carte menu, which is quite nice. Not all lounges offer this. So I ordered rice with chicken. My God. Eating Asian food in Asia during such layovers is a real treat . You don't think, "Oh, I'm in Australia and I'm flying to Europe." You don't expect to get such a small piece of real Asia along the way. The first flight went by very quickly. I watched almost the entire first season of " Clarkson's Farm." I can't believe I have n't seen this yet. It came out probably 6 or 7 years ago, but I enjoyed it immensely. I managed to eat all the snacks I brought
with me. Although, to be honest, I didn't take much. A couple of apples, a few oat bars-and that's basically it. So after an eight and a half hour flight, you can imagine how hungry I am now. Now, being in this lounge, I realize that I have been here before. I remember getting stuck on a delayed flight to Perth a few years ago and spending about 6 hours there; It was very comfortable here, but I remember wanting to take a shower, because they are here, but they are not included in the price of the Lounge Key. And it costs about $24, which is quite expensive. At exactly 8:30 PM, I decided to try again to get into the Sats lounge and was thrilled when I was let in right away. At
first glance, this lounge appeared to be much more spacious, had more seating than Plaza Premium, and had an overall more relaxed atmosphere. The food area also looked much larger, so I went to take a closer look, curious. Coffee is here. Well, there are definitely more food options here. Oh, it looks delicious. I always find this funny. They remind me of a house party where you pour yourself drinks. I grabbed some of the traditional Singaporean laksa soup. And I also added rice to it, which is not very traditional, but I just wanted a little more carbs. I got my own little booth. Can we say that this lounge is good? It seems to me that it is very peaceful here. The only thing I would improve here is maybe add some soft, soothing music, because right now it's
almost completely silent, which makes the atmosphere seem a little dull. Although I think it's better than Plaza Premium Lounge. I think Google was right about the food options being definitely better here, and I think there are also a few more seating options, which are quite comfortable. I know some of you might be thinking, " Christian, you have 5 and a half hours in what is probably the best airport in the world." Why don't you go explore? Because you can do a bunch of incredibly cool things at Singapore Airport. I will be completely frank with you. I am tired. I am hungry. I need to charge my devices. And at times like these, I want nothing more than to just
relax in the lounge. I'm allowed to be here, in this particular lounge, for 3 hours, but I've been delayed in airport lounges many times before, and no one has ever come up to me to show me out the door. Never. I think I once sat in an airport lounge for seven or eight hours. I wonder if any of you have ever stayed in the lounge too long and had someone try to kick you out. I just discovered massage chairs. At first I thought there was nothing in this corner, and then I was just thinking about how I wish there was a spa at Singapore airport, and I thought I would 100% go for a massage if there was one. This, this is the best alternative. Oh friends, I am very, very tired. Now… what time is it? Seven
minutes to one in the morning Singapore time, which means seven minutes to three in the morning Sydney time. I usually go to bed at nine in the evening. So this, this is a real test. I have already taken out my contact lenses. Glasses in place, hair like Hermione's. There's about half an hour left before boarding begins, but I'm already heading to the boarding gate, because if I stay in this lounge any longer, I'll probably fall asleep and miss my flight, which would n't be a good idea. Even though I'm very sleepy, I'll still take my little antihistamine sleeping pills to finally knock myself out, because I hope to sleep through this 12- hour flight from Singapore to Athens. It would be great
if I could do that, because then I would wake up in Athens at least a little rested. Oh, I just found a 7-Eleven. This could be the perfect place for a snack. I 'll have some cashews. And some other incredible chewy candies. They also had sandwiches, but honestly, I'm going to sleep. I don't think I'll want to eat much. I may regret this decision later, but we'll see. Well, let's fly. So, I fell asleep as soon as I got on the plane. I just woke up. Rainbow backlight is on. And I think I broke my own record for the longest and best sleep anyone has ever had in economy class, and on a Scoot flight. I'll show you-the score is 81. 9 and a half hours of sleep.
This is truly the best sleep I've had all week. I can't believe it. And I still can't believe I woke up with about an hour left before our destination. What is happening? I am so pleased. Very, very satisfied. Honestly, the method is simple - just " disconnect." You will need a blackout sleep mask. This one is from Amazon. It costs about ten pounds. A nice pair of earplugs. I use Loop Quiet earplugs. They are more expensive. As for earplugs, they are quite expensive. Somewhere between 20 and 25 pounds. But it's worth it.
They completely block everything around. And, probably, those pills I took before the flight helped too. They were antihistamines, but the ones that make you drowsy, I bought them over the counter. They are called promethazine. Please return to your seat and fasten your seat belt. OK. For your safety, using the toilets is prohibited. What else can I say-my place was quite comfortable. I'm sitting by the aisle in the middle row, and the seat next to me is empty. So I had plenty of space. The seats on Scoot recline, which few people know about because it's a budget airline; I know that many low-cost airlines don't allow you to recline the seatback, like EasyJet or Ryanair. But of course, if you're flying long- haul, you can recline your
seat just like you would on any domestic flight. So, I'm going to pack my things in my bag now. Athens Airport is known for always having huge queues at customs upon arrival. I need to catch the bus, so I want to get off the plane as soon as possible. If I sat in the back, I could have stood in line for an hour, especially if we were n't the first to arrive. I've flown this route before and I know that going through security can take a long time. So I hope we're lucky, we wo n't arrive last, and I won't end up at the end of the line. Heat.
