Singapore

Airline: Emirates

The Journey

Starting with the usual trip to London Gatwick we settled for a Wagamama’s breakfast due to the queue outside of Jamie Oliver’s. A choice that we later banked and have used ever since.

Travelling with Emirates we knew the journey would be perfect and again was given more food that any stomach should accept. With Emirates, all flights stop through Dubai so our 2-hour stopover gave us a little time to explore the airport.

The second flight was much the same with another 2 meals – this really wasn’t needed, but we ate it anyway.

Now the drama began when we landed in Singapore. After we cleared passport control and collected our luggage, we went out to the arrivals hall to find that the transfer we had been arranged via the package provider had not arrived.

We waited around for an hour trying to be patient and then used the customer service desk to call the transfer company direct. They had no information regarding our booking and therefore there was no transport coming for us.

We were furious especially as this was now going to become our added expense. We hailed our own taxi and were taken to the hotel.

A 30mins journey and we were there.

Can you believe that the return transfer didn’t arrive either? I had never been so disappointed in the holiday provider, especially with the anxiety it provided throughout the journey for missed flights etc.

After a long war we were given a refunded for the taxi’s we had to source and given compensation but continue to be amazed by the amount of errors that were made throughout this trip by a very established holiday provider.

The hotel experience

Walking into this 5* hotel we already knew that whilst the journey had been problematic the stay would be incredible.

Staying in the tower (Standard) wing we didn’t expect this to even be high-class. Automatic lights and curtains and lounger bigger than many sofas in peoples living rooms and a glass wardrobe, we were in heaven.

Having been the flagship hotel of the chain and built in the 1970’s, it had recently been refurbished and we were grateful for being able to walk in this blessing.

I remember being in a nose-bleeding high room on floor 20+ and the views were of the city and pool. I would sit at the window and just watch for long periods at a time and when it rained, it just continued to add to the character.

Food

We stayed Bed and Breakfast for this trip as we knew we’d be out exploring a lot. The breakfast was buffet style and really set the bar high for the rest of the trip (Malaysia and Dubai just couldn’t compare).

We also experienced the lunch here for one day – it was very pricey around £120 for 2 with a soft drink, but for a splurge and not having to go out I was okay with it. (And mum paid, so it’s always better when you’re not paying for it)

Singapore doesn’t have a native dish and it’s mainly made up of Malay and Chinese heritage. Therefore, there was no particular dish that we were out to try. We mainly lived on western food as a result, but we did find a nice Mexican burrito place in one of the million malls. If I could find it again, I would definitely have that Salmon burrito.

They have strange price tags such as 6 apples for £20 – who would buy apples for twenty-quid?! They also have a thing for macarons and again they were priced with like they were gold-plated – madness, but Singapore is a place of wealth. All malls are designer and the street for as far as the eye could see is full of them.

Weather

The weather is warm and humid. We had our hair away for this trip, mine in crotchet braid and mums in plaits. We were very happy we did as the changes in climate would have meant a lot of work for our natural hair.

We thought we were being smart one day and put on ponchos. Big, big mistake as we began sweating, it began to stick to us, so we took them off .

Places of interest/activities

We completed 3 tours:

Night Safari ticket, priority tram ride and return transfer
Half day Singapore City Tour
Singapore night tour – Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands skypark and river cruise

Only being in each country 3 nights, meant we had to be strategic with our time. Arranging each via GetYourGuide, Viator and Tripadvisor we covered everything you can want in Singapore.

We’d recommend them all, but my favourite were the 2-night tours. Gardens by the Bay at night is a must.

The F1 races occurs in Singapore every September and I was gutted to have just missed it. If this is your type of thing, time it better than I did.