We arrived in Singapore on schedule after our nearly 19 hour flight from Newark on Singapore Airlines. It’s presently the longest direct flight in the world, though flights scheduled to originate in Australia in the near future are expected take that accolade. Despite the length, it wasn’t a bad experience.

Singapore Airlines is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best airlines, and while we haven’t experienced the competition — Mideast carriers like Qatar Airlines are considered similar — we were happy. Granted, we did pay up for business class, a concession to age and a willingness to splurge, but given the length of the journey it seemed a wise investment. The lie-flat seats are a must for that length of a trip, which include a kind of mattress pad to make it seem more bed-like.

The service onboard is top shelf. It really puts the experience of flying on the big U.S. carriers to shame. (Forget about the budget carriers; they at least aren’t claiming to provide a stellar onboard experience.) Singapore Airlines has a reputation for hiring attractive women and men as cabin attendants, and I can confirm that to be true. In addition, while it might seem like an oxymoron for an airline, one of the highlights was the food, which was outstanding.

There is a selection of Asian and Western dishes to choose from. We pre-ordered a veal chop for our first meal, and a scallop/shrimp dish over pasta for our second. Both were excellent. Appetizers included a smoked trout and later another shrimp-based dish. (Had we known the latter was the appetizer offering we would have pre-selected something other than the shrimp/scallop entree, but that’s a first-world problem if ever there was one.)

We arrived too late in the day to really experience much of the city, but we did get out for a brief walk and a late meal. Despite the quality en route it had been several hours since the last meal service. As I write this we are getting ready to embark on our first day of touring the city. It’s raining, and the forecast suggests it could rain for the next couple of days, but we are prepared to make the best of it. On our arrival day it was humid and warm, but there was no rain as we briefly explored.