Top Tips for Family Travel
- For those of Indian origin, watch out for changes in the applicability of PIO cards.
- Using Miles or buy a ticket? Its amazing but one pays almost as much on taxes using miles on SQ, as when buying an Air India ticket outright.
- Especially when travelling with kids, charge (& TAKE) all devises and favourite things in hand luggage. Obvious, but one always forgets something here, as we did.
Miles or Cash?
I booked the tickets a month earlier for our July 6 flight. Buying a Singapore Airlines ticket is always too expensive for family travel so is never an option. But even when it came to using miles on Singapore Air, taxes cost about U$350, vs buying an Air India ticket for about U$400, so I chose the latter.
The Day of The Journey
We got up at 6am, planning to leave at 7 to catch a 9am flight. Â Though packing for the kids had started 24 hours earlier, there was lots of last minute things to finish. We were ready at 7 when we discovered that both my wife and I had thought the other was calling the taxi! Â Eventually we were away by 7.20 and got to Changi airport in good time.
Flying home to India is always special. Starting with luggage, a recurring theme in my family. Â This time, with 4 suitcases, 2 smaller check-ins and a hand-luggage apiece, the 4 of us fitted into a Grab with capacity for 6 large cases. The 2 smaller items where leftovers from my parents trip that I wrote about on July 1 – so actually their luggage was more like 135kg!
After a smooth checkin and shopping for chocolates (I always regret not having bought more), next stop was the Star Alliance lounge. My son devoured French toast & maple syrup, while I had 2 (yes 2) delicious Indian vegetarian breakfasts. After security, while we waited to board, my wife and I chatted in Hindi about something we didn’t want others to overhear. This works normally, but we forgot we were surrounded by Indians bound for Delhi who understood every word!
The 5 hour flight was smooth. The kids had a good fight, or rather we did, as they took care of themselves. I saw London has Fallen (3 stars from me – trying to be a James Bond but didn’t make it). And Eye in the Sky (5 stars and one of those cases where one is watching the end tantalisingly as the plane taxied to a halt).
To PIO or not to PIO?
At Singapore checkin, I gave both our PIO (Person of Indian Origin) cards & electronic Visa’s, and the person asked why I had both. The High Commission website had said PIO cards were not valid after June 30, but it seemed they still are. When we reached immigration in Delhi, I got the grilling of my life. I gave only the PIO cards, and after checking the system the officer asked whether I had applied for an electronic visa. When I said yes, then he asked then why did I gave him the PIO card and why I am I not in the electronic visa queue? Â Things sounded iffy and I was wondering what we would do if not allowed in.
Then he asked what address I gave for the electronic visa, and I said “I think my father’s”. He asked, “You think”? By then I was almost booking our flights back to Singapore. He asked if we normally stay at home, and when I said yes, he asked then why did you stay in a hotel in 2013? While this was going on, my kids getting impatient were playing on the barrier & I was waiting for another rebuke.
Luckily, we all entered India, though I still don’t know if PIO cards are valid or not. By the way, converting a PIO to an OCI takes 3 months, so fellow Indians plan carefully!
Despite, all this, the delay at the luggage carousel, the humid heat as we emerged form the terminal, and the fact that the 2 cars that had come for us were in different car parks, it WAS wonderful coming home.