1 day and 1 night in Manchester, United Kingdom

And so my little escapade to my favourite country began on 27th February 2009, when I boarded SQ327, a direct flight at 11.55pm from Changi Airport Terminal 3 from SIN - MAN.

It certainly was a little of a mad rush, from my work that Friday evening, to packing for my trip (including some time to panic here and there...) and prepping myself for the trip.

And then the car trip to the airport just felt like it was just another day, almost as if I was due for another night audit in the transit area.

However, this time it was different.

I was with my good old worn-out pink backpack, which housed my winter essentials (black leather gloves, checked; favourite army-like jacket, checked; camera charger for a shutter happy me, checked, good brown boots which lasted my exchange days in Newcastle in winter 2006, checked...)

Almost the same, but yet different.

I was travelling alone for the first time on a long-haul flight (discounting those adhoc EasyJet flights from Newcastle to Paris, London etc),

Also my first flight to Europe alone and a monumental one at that since it was my second SQ flight to Manchester (my first SQ flight was to Brisbane way back in 2002),

Most importantly, I had never been to Manchester and a normal rational me would never fly alone to a European city, with no inkling of where to go, what to do, where to sleep... at such a short notice.

I decided within.... a day? After hearing my colleague suggest that I might as well use my privilege tix to somewhere I love.

London was fully booked, and Manchester was my next immediate choice.

Knowing fully well I'd depart SIN at 2355 hours local time on 27 February 2009, arriving at 0615 hours local time on 28 February in Manchester and leaving at 0915 hours local time on 29 February 2009, reaching Singapore at 0600 hours local time on 1 March 2009.... taking into consideration the time difference, I would only have about one day and one night on ground in Manchester, and I'd have burnt most of my time onboard the aircraft.

Thank goodness for inflight entertainment. Never the kind to hanker over such inflight service, I found my time well spent onboard the two flights to and fro Manchester.

I watched Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie with the Audio-video on demand, and finally I understood the whole plot. For the longest time since I watched this in JC during a lit lesson, I couldnt understand and didnt have time to rewatch this film for years. And now, I am really beginning to feel that several French films are really.. fun and eccentric, many a times unreplicable by other kinda films. They have this twist that keeps the audience just enthralled with the interesting puns and philosophies of life. Think Hors de Prix, 48 Heures Par Jour, Jeux d'enfants... These films never fail to amaze me and the closet film maker wanna-be hopes to find inspiration one day to be able to think of a plot like that... just someday.

I also watched Madagascar 2 and laughed so heartily the other British passengers were looking at me. How can anyone not love Alex and his antics and his illusions of seeing his friends as pork chops, really?

That said, I arrived at Manchester Airport on 28th February at approximately 0615am local time in the blistering cold of 5 degrees.