You know what I hate about getting old? Having young people treat me like I’m old. 

Case in point: when we arrived in Doha we had to descend an old fashioned set of roll-up stairs to reach the bus that would transfer us to the terminal. Worrying about Judy, I took her 33-pound carryon bag with mine and my backpack and  started down. The flight attendant, a young gal not much more than twice as big as Judy’s bag, took it from me. We all made It but not without a struggle. 

Check out the pictures of the business class bus. No cattle car accommodations like in coach. 

OK, I’m a sexist, treat other oldsters like they’re old and did indeed need the help but it bugs me to not be able to do what I used to. 

The real question is whether or not a pair of 76 year olds like us should be flying around the world. Many of our like-aged friends call us crazy.  So far we’ve been in the air on three flights for a total of 22 hours: Tampa-Miami (1.5), Miami-Doha (13) and Doha Singapore (7.5). And it will take us another 15 or so hours to get home. 

The secret to old-age long-distance flying is, we’ve learned, business class. Yes, it’s expenses (sorry kids about the inheritance thing). But a lie-flat seat makes all the difference. We’ve done our share of long flights in coach when we were younger (China, Japan, SE Asia, New Zealand to name a few) and while we survived it wasn’t pleasant. This time with six hours of sleep to Doha and three to Singapore were feeling pretty good.

But enough about us. Our seats today not only lie flat but also make up into a double bed with aisle-side panels that slide to make a comfy suite. We’re thinking about buying a pair of lie-flat seats to replace the love seat in the family room. 

Plenty of good eats, too. I had the foresight/made the mistake of preordering low salt meals. The first go was ok but when I was offered the exact same meal the second time I said, “damn the salt! Bring on the beef bourguignon!”  Pass the Lasix, please. 

Our seats are in the middle so no out the window pictures But the TV has three camera views – one mounted on the tail,, one just aft of the nose gear and one looking straight down. There’s also a fascinating map that give a clear view of where we are and where we’re going. We’ve watched that more than movies.  I’ll post some screenshots to give you an idea. 

By the way, the Doha airport is right up there with the best. Amazing what a few barrels of oil can buy.

So now we’re flying down the length of Malaysia (Singapore was for a few years part of Malaysia) and will be landing in a few minutes.

Well, the landing was a success and so was the taxi ride to the hotel, about 20 minutes along the waterfront, the roadway edged road with flowering shrubs and magnificent skyscrapers making for an interesting skyline.

Check in was pleasant but, being only 10 AM, our room wasn’t ready. Not to worry, the nice lady gave us a pass to the 57^th floor and the infinity pool. We went up and hung out waiting for the call. We had a sandwich and finally the call came at 1 PM. Our very nice room faces the city as you can see from the pictures.

The Marina Bay Sands hotel is the iconic skyline feature of Singapore. It’s actually three 55 story towers whose tops are joined together with a ship-shaped structure that holds several restaurants and an infinity swimming pool most of its length.

Amazingly, neither of us was tired so we set off to see the Gardens by the Bay, a route clearly marked by signs in the hotel lobby. The Gardens by the Bay hike didn’t pan out for reasons we still don’t understand. We ended up walking perhaps a half mile on a hot boardwalk in the noonday sun. Yeah we saw some nice views but nothing we can’t see from our hotel room. We met a couple from Seattle who had fallen into the same trap. Eventually we figured out that if we went out the opposite side of the hotel, we’d reach the park we’d seen from the top floor of our hotel. On our errant hike we did discover a fantastic shopping mall that includes every high-end retailer I’ve ever heard of and a bunch that are new to me.

The park features a number of structures including huge towers shaped like trees. There are two other structures that house some sort of botanical gardens. We’ll have to explore more tomorrow afternoon and report back. For now, you can get an idea from the pictures.

We made it back to our room around 4 PM and immediately donned our swimming togs and went out for a margarita in the infinity pool. Very refreshing.

Next back to the room to shower to wash off the trail dust that didn’t get removed in the infinity pool, a quick nap for Judy and some picture work for me. Finally, dinner at the Spago restaurant on the top floor overlooking the pool and city lights. Judy had duck and I had sea bass done in a traditional Singapore preparation. Both very tasty.

Now it’s 8:30 and with all the activity today we should be in good shape for a night’s sleep. But our clocks are 13 hours out of whack (it’s 7:30 AM home) so we’ll see.

It’s always nice to have Day 1 under our tourist belt. It shows that we’ve still got what it takes to tour with the best of ‘em. There’s hope for success on Day 2 and beyond.

Tomorrow it’s Eat Like a Local touring in the morning.