Early morning, 7:00 AM

1. We Leave for the Airport

Early wake-up, two backpacks weighing like two 30kg refrigerators each (I’m carrying both of them, of course!), and off to Mallorca airport.

The journey will be long, because we’re headed to Bali, and our flight includes 2 layovers: Zurich and Singapore!

Despite this, the excitement is high, as this trip is our FIRST trip together alone (incredible to think now how much time has passed!).

Obviously, the first trip together, the first real “vacation,” is a bit like a honeymoon… you hope everything goes well and that you get along the whole time!

Full of high hopes, we check in the refrigerators luggage… and ready!

(The face of the hostess who checked us in early in the morning was a bad omen that unfortunately I didn’t catch at the time) xD

First Layover All OK

The first flight to Zurich flew by, it was very short.

As soon as we arrived, we ate something, Isa went to smoke a cigarette (remember this detail, it’s important!), and then we waited for the departure of the next flight, about 4 hours later.

When there’s about an hour left before departure, Isa goes to smoke another cigarette (note this well), and then hand in hand we board the flight to Singapore, a 10-hour flight.

We Arrive at Changi Airport in Singapore

If the first flight to Zurich flew by, this one even more so (at least for me!).

Not because it was shorter, quite the opposite! But, being almost entirely at night, I was able to activate my travel superpower (sleeping anywhere and in any condition like a German after Oktoberfest) and when I opened my eyes we were practically landing.

Rested and relaxed, I turned to Isa who obviously, between one movie and another, had barely slept (well, she doesn’t have that superpower of sleeping anywhere, she has the opposite superpower, the one of being able to stay awake always and everywhere like a caffeine addict after their thirty-sixth cup of strong coffee!).

While I felt fresh and rested, she, from not sleeping, seemed a bit stressed (normal if you don’t sleep all night…), but whatever, we get off and for the moment, everything’s still OK.

Then, we get hungry, so we think it’s a good idea to find a place to eat (during this layover, we had about 2 and a half hours!).

I see a sign, and suggest going to Burger King (at the time we both loved junk food!). It wasn’t exactly close, like 10 minutes away, but we had time.

Isa tells me she’d like to smoke, but in the end agrees to smoke after eating since there were no smoking rooms in sight.

We head toward Burger King, navigating Changi Airport, one of the largest airports in the world…

Changi Airport is truly immense, a mini-city practically.

There are movie theaters, tropical gardens, rain fountains, suspension bridges, and many, many shops!

Despite the tiredness, Isa likes to look around and browse, so to get to Burger King instead of 10 minutes it takes us 50 (but whatever… we have time, right?^^).

Long line to order, slow service by Singapore standards (it was my third time here, and it was, by chance, one of the slowest services I’ve experienced in Singapore).

In total, between one thing and another, eating takes us about 40 minutes. Little coffee… and after the coffee, Isa gets the urge for a cigarette.

This time, it becomes a powerful urge…

“Alright,” I tell her.

“Let’s look for the smoking room, but remember we have an hour and this airport is huge to navigate.” OK. We start searching for the smoking room.

I see a sign, and point the way.

I wish I hadn’t! This is where our ordeal began!

We walk and walk.

Where is this damn smoking room??!

We walk and walk.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes.

Every now and then, another “Smoking Room” sign appeared pointing still ahead.

We were walking down an endless corridor, and the signs always indicated “still ahead.”

At the same time, though, we were moving away from the gate where we were supposed to board shortly.

Isa’s anxiety, nervousness, and anger mount. After over 11 hours of withdrawal she can’t take it anymore, and just the idea of not being able to smoke for another 5 hours until Bali sends her into a rage.

“I told you I needed to smoke before eating!” she tells me, fuming from her ears (what a sudden mood change!).

Honestly… how far can a damn Smoking Room be???

“You wanted to eat” – she tells me, starting to breathe fire.

We walk another 10 minutes, nothing… the Gobi Desert, this Smoking Room can’t be found!

I try to convince Isa that we need to go to the gate so we don’t miss the flight, and there she explodes furiously.

“Well blah blah blah blah blah and blah and *lots of other things women say when they’re angry and you just can’t reason with them*”.

Nothing, we have to go, the smoke will have to wait.

I felt bad for her, I really felt bad deep down, but after 40 minutes of searching I didn’t know what to do anymore either… even the info points were telling us we’d have to keep walking in the opposite direction!

We go to our gate, Isa practically doesn’t talk to me anymore, closed in on herself and in her frustration. Not exactly a great start to a vacation.

The Flight Is Even Delayed…

Arriving at the gate we sit on the floor because all the seats were full.

Then, the flight attendant announces that the flight is also delayed.

First by 20 minutes – and Isa already blaming me “you and your hurry! See, we could have made it to the smoking room??!“

But with 20 minutes, it was too late now.

Then, bad luck has it that the problem continues (you know when the stars are against you and you’re powerless? When your opponent is full of aces and you only draw duds? Well, that was the situation…).

After 20 minutes, the speaker announces another 20 minutes of delay. Silence. We stay put waiting at the gate. The sweet and beautiful girl I knew was gone.

I turn to my right, and see with surprise a smoking three-headed fire-breathing dragon, a biblical hydra…

Nothing, better not investigate further how she’s doing, I turn back around and sadly wait for the gate to open.

We didn’t talk to each other for practically

the entire last leg

Arriving in Bali was really strange.

On the plane we practically didn’t talk to each other.

Isa was in her own world, frustrated (it’s incredible what nicotine withdrawal can do!), and at this point I put on my headphones and reactivated my superpower (dormouse mode).

Four hours and we arrived.

We grab the refrigerators luggage, rush out of the airport and FINALLY Isa lights a cigarette and POOF…. she’s back to herself!

Suddenly, with the power of a cigarette (damn nicotine!!!), Cerberus had turned back into a sweet and gentle puppy excited for the start of the vacation.

Our driver was there waiting for us, we load everything and arrive at the hotel.

Conclusion (and Solution for the Future!)

And here we are!

After checking in and seeing the hotel, the room and the pool, Isa completely recovered, and from there on, the vacation became memorable for all the most beautiful reasons (we have a complete guide to Bali if you’re interested in checking it out!).

I, on the other hand, from this trip understood the importance, for a smoker, of that damn cigarette (and for smokers’ partners too!) 🙂

HOW TO AVOID WHAT HAPPENED TO US?

Searching online for a solution for the future (I’m a forward-thinking type hehe) I came across Smoking Airports, a fantastic site focused exactly on smoking areas at airports around the world.

With a few clicks, it lets you discover which airports allow smoking, and provides precise instructions on how to reach the nearest smoking areas to your location (before or after security check, near gates, during transfers, etc.).

Plot twist: I discovered afterwards that in Singapore we actually had a smoking room nearby, practically behind the Burger King where we had started from – but I never told Isa haha).

On the return, we had a layover at Bangkok airport and, cleverly, I already knew where the Smoking Room was. Isa happy, and my ears too! haha

That said, besides pointing out this super-useful platform, I also want to emphasize that anyone can be a “contributor“ and therefore leave information, photos, reviews, and their own experience to help others avoid transformations into three-headed dragons (and you can even receive credits and rewards for doing it!).

That said, beautiful people, before I go as always I have a few questions for you:

• Has such an unpleasant situation ever happened to you at the airport?
• Related to smoking or other travel mishaps?
• What was your worst plane journey and why?

Let us know in the comments below! 🙂

Thanks for reading, and safe travels!

See you in the next article! 🙂

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