journal of a wanderlust mom: Singapore

Staying inside the airport for several hours is sooo boring! For me it's a waste of time but not when you're in Changi Airport. I was able to shop, watch a movie, have a foot massage and more.

Unable to join the Singapore City tour that we have planned out we decided to just stay inside the airport to wait for our flight. Since we have at least 3-5 hours to kill we decided to check in early and roam around the airport. First stop Sunflower garden. For some reason it is hotter in Singapore compared to Manila so when we went outside the garden we could feel the heat of the sun. Due to lack of sleep we felt relieved that we did not go on the Singapore City tour that we planned prior to us arriving in Singapore. After that we went to the movie section of the airport to watch half of the movie since we already watched it "The Tooth Fairy" I think that was the title. After having enough rest we went to the internet section, checked some mails and went on our way to continue touring the airport. Our next stop the perfume and cosmetics department. Of course he bought himself a perfume and I bought myself a lipstick and lip gloss and something to give to my mom.

There's really a lot of things to do in Changi airport. You can swim, sleep, shower, stroll and hang out at the butterfly garden or simply shop or do a window shopping. You just have to be ready to walk for hours and transfer from one terminal to another via their very own train.

But if your feet gets too tired from too much walking you can always stop by any vacant foot massager found scattered in the airport (specifically near gates and walkalators).

It was our first family trip to Singapore. Unfortunately, my eldest sister did not go with us because she went there a month before we did.

Our flight was the first flight out of Manila via Philippine Airlines. The flight was at 6:15 am and we arrived in Singapore after a 3 hour flight at around 9:15 am. Our flight landed at Changi Airport Terminal 2. After picking up our luggage we then went to the taxi/cab lane. Please note that the maximum passenger that a cab can accommodate is only 4 persons, one person seating in front along-side with the driver and 3 at the back. They also have limousine taxis which charges double compared to the normal cabs.

We stayed at Melville Park condominium which is a bit near to Simei MRT station with my Mom's friend.

There are four ways to tour Singapore. First, riding the MRT. If you will ride the MRT most of the time then I would advise you to buy a MRT card, but if you will not use it often then you can just buy when your going to use it and get the $1 refund after use. Second is riding the bus. Tourists, like us did not have a hard time riding their buses. All we had to do was to take note of the bus number going to our destination and the bus number so that we'll get home. If in anyway that you have missed your supposedly dropped off, you can just stay on the bus and it will stop on the bus terminal where all other buses will stop. From there you can just ride another bus. Third, is riding a cab. Of course this option will put a whole in your pockets or at least it depends on your budget. The only advantage in picking this option is that you will not get tired of walking and getting lost :) but then again you also won't be sure if the route taken is the short cut or the long cut. But always take note that when riding the cab just choose the normal kind of cabs since limousine cab has a different charge and if you will ask your cab driver to use the toll gates to avoid traffic, the toll fee will be added to your total cab fare rate. The last option is joining a tour. The only advantage for this option is that you'll never get lost and you'll be sure that whatever happens, the tour will end the time they say it will end on the itinerary. The only disadvantage is you don't control your time. Since it is a controlled tour the tour guide would always insist that you have to move on to the next stop.

For our first day, we toured the city by ourselves. We only needed our map and walking shoes/sandals and of course some cash.

Our first and only stop that day was the Singapore Botanical Garden. The park was open for everybody. It is open from 5:00 am up 12:00 mn and the good thing is that the admission is free. I saw a lot of Singaporeans both young and old exercising and doing yoga and a like.

I know I've mentioned that the entrance fee for the Botanical Garden is for free. However, there is a part of the Garden that has an entrance fee and that is the National Orchid Garden. The entrance fee for adults is $5.00 and $1.00 for students but you have to present your ID.