Saturday 28 July 2007

Airebus to Singapore

This trip down to Singapore, I took the Airebus down. It was my first time taking a luxury coach as I normally opt for the cheaper First Coach or transnational buses that depart from Pudu. Was it worth the additional price we paid?

Firstly you can't beat it for convenience. It departs from Midvalley and arrives smack in Orchard which is so easy if you're staying on Orchard or even to take connections to other parts of Singapore. Plus it takes the second link which has a much faster and more pleasant immigration check-in compared to the Woodlands one which never fails to be terribly jammed, especially on Friday nights!

It serves a meal, supposedly hot but when we ate it, it was cold! But at least you don't have to worry of hunger pangs on the bus. The meal going down was pretty crappy but the one they had on the way up was quite palatable. Plus they give you a little bottle of water which First Coach does too.

Their seats are big but you usually get that with all VIP coaches that go down to Singapore. My grouse, though, was how cramped the aisle was upstairs. It hardly allowed you to walk through it if you had bags or luggage you wish to carry with you onboard.

And my biggest grouse was that they didn't have any blankets unlike their competitor, Aeroline. We were neck to neck with another Aeroline bus and when we were at the immigration checkpoint, I noticed the Aeroline stewardess clearing away blankets from the individual seats. My request for one on the Airebus was met with a "We don't have any blankets". Thumbs down for that.

We also noticed that Airebus does a turnaround with the exact same bus! So that bus that comes up from Singapore will go back down again with less than a half hour break! How scary! I hope for the sake of their passengers' safety they change drivers and regularly maintain their buses!

So, is it worth taking the luxury coach down? It really depends on what your most important wants are!


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