We have booked our flights and are flying via Singapore.(1st time ever in the country)
We are having a stopover for 2 nights and 3 days.
Singapore Airlines have given the usual free excursions ie zoo,night safari,river cruises to name but a few.

Need to ask a few(lots) questions

How tired were you when you arrived in singapore, can you face any trips on the day that you arrive with the kids in tow.

Is it better when you arrive, just to have a relaxing time in the hotel and make the most of the following days? or go for it?

Any PERSONAL recommendations for sights to see and things to entertain the kids?

Any places to give a miss?

good places to eat that are Very child friendly? :bouncing smiles:

Now for the best part :D what are the best buys?

God this sounds like interrogation :ph43r:

Hope you can help on this one

Laurie

LEFT TO ORGANISE EVERTHING AS MARK IS IN FRANCE TILL SUNDAY :(








Any one gone this way?

Hi Laurie

we lived in Singapore for a short time and we loved it, the zoo is fab if you go early or book it with your hotel ,you can have breakfast with the orangutangs , the night safari we didnt do but we know people who really enjoyed it, Sentosa Island has a nice beach you get over there by cable car worth a visit I would say, theres lots to do if you want to eat out in the evening boat quay is lovely set along the river lots of different resturants to choose from and child friendly, theres loads of shops but if you wanted to stay in the hotel and relax they usually are to a high standard, as for eating the whole place just smells wonderful theres food places everywhere the most popular being the hawker centres which serve chinese/malaysian food sooooo cheap and fresh the goods ones will be filled with singaporeans I would try and see at least a few sights if I were you good luck oh forgot to say but you probably already know its very hot and humid even the zoo has air con shelters scattered around so you can have a breather

Hope this helps Donna&Tom

Thank you Donna & Tom

The guy at the airline said it would be advisable to take 3 changes of clothes per day due to humidity :o

Do you think this is a bit excessive or realistic?

cheers
Laurie

My advice would be:
Don't go shopping until you have had a good rest.
Many of the shops are experts at parting you from your money.Also check UK prices first before you buy a 'bargain'.
Otherwise have a good time.

G

A beautiful country, we only spent three days there as part of a Far East trip but it is one of countries we really want to go back to. Didn't visit the zoo - but I've heard it's brilliant. If you get a chance to go to the China Town complex it is great, very good for clothes shopping and the Hawker centre is excellent.

The Hawker centres are so clean and the Singaporeans are very proud of that - you can just taste so many different foods there. :D

Make sure that nobody has any chewing gum on them though - it is banned. It is the one country that we felt completely safe in - which must be contributed to their effectiveness in dealing with crime! :unsure:

If we go again we will definately go to Raffles for afternoon tea but that probably wouldn't be top of your list as you'll have youngsters with you!

Enjoy!! :mr man:

When I used to work in Singapore I found I had no jet lag at all if I took the 10.30 pm flight from Heathrow.
You arrive in your singapore hotel about 6pm the next day.
This gives you enough time for a a quick shave and shower and a few drinks before slumping into a coma about 11ish;
I used to wake up the next day feeling as fresh as a daisy.
Dont ask about the trip home zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

With clothes I just remember arriving in the evening and walking out of the airport in to a oven.
You get used to the heat very quickly, personally it did not bother us after the first day.
It is high humidity out there but the singaporieans know how to keep themselves cool, just follow their lead.

Cheers,

Donna Tom and Kids
:thumbs up:

I only ever spent 24 hours in Singapore, in 1990. We were on our way out to Oz at the time and had my 89 year old grandmother travelling with us. We visited the bird gardens, which we absolutely loved.

One abiding memory is of lunch in the bird gardens, with Grandma looking a bit aghast at the singapore noodle type offerings and going for safety with a burger. When I ordered the burger the guy took a bun and ladled a kind of wet meaty gloop onto it :unsure: Still, she did say it tasted fine at least :lol:

I definitely recommend taking an elderly relative on any international flights, you all get treated like royalty. We were taken onto all the planes first and at the other end, stayed seated while everyone else got off. Then we were ushered right to the front of the queue to be first through customs etc.

Elaine

We have only ever stopped over at Singapore airport enroute to Oz - for the usual 4 hours-ish. If like us you have young children, by the time you reach there at 6pm-ish having flown for 13 hours through (our) night with NO sleep (you know what it's like on a plane!!) the last thing you'll be fancying is a bit of sight-seeing!!

I agree with the earlier suggestions - have a shower, something to eat and pack yourselves off to bed that first night, then you'll be in the right time zone and ready to check everything out the next morning.

We fly next Tuesday via Kuala Lumpur. :huh:

Julia

How do you all survive on such a long flight with small kids? What tips can you give for entertaining the kids?

Sasha :)

My best advice? Drug them!! We take Phenergan with us, just in case things get desperate, although we are quite loathe to use it as it knocked Megan out for 10 hours when she was little! :rolleyes:

Pack lots of colouring books, pens, travel games, game boy type things (as long as they aren't noisy!) anything magnetic, fuzzy felt etc. It's easier when they are Megan's age (6) as a two year old is basically unentertainable after about the first hour!

And try and keep your sense of humour!!

Julia

We went via Singapore and were there for 4/5 hours and made use of the swimming pool there,very very refreshing after the 12 hour flight. My oldest Ryan (5) was fine but my youngest Jack (4) is a little fidget and basically fidgeted for 11 hours and then fell into a deep sleep just before landing :sigh: But he was ok. I spent a couple of hours with him having 1 1/2 seats all stretched out and me having 1/2 seat to my not so small bum!! Having said that just take it as it comes, we packed lots of bits and pieces to do but the boys didn't touch them. The crew were fantastic (singapore airlines) and the boys were fascinated by the tv and a seemingly endless supply of food for them.
Whatever happens like Julia said, keep your sense of humour, you know the flight will end and you will get to chill out eventually. :D

Just to cover an alternative option, we came the other way round the world. On the way we visited the US for a few days to take in Disneyland, then Fiji for a week, then into Sydney for a week with relatives and finally on to here. Since our stuff was making its leisurely way by sea there seemed no point trying to beat it here and then having to do without. US was a seriously expensive place to be (foodwise allow £100 per day for family of 4, even self catering breakfast and lunch!) but Fiji was dirt cheap and gloriously relaxing.

Apart from the first leg to the US the jetlag was negligible and we allowed ourselves a lazy day to catch up before hitting the Disney parks. Of course, it means you 'lose' a day crossing the international date line the wrong way, which is quite amusing!

Our early legs were BA, then onto Qantas/Pacific Airlines. We found the planes mostly had screens in the back of the headrests so you could watch a whole selection of films on several different channels and keep track of where you were on the journey. You get the latest Disney, we watched Finding Nemo and Spy Kids 3D right back in October.

We were also able to log onto the website in advance and book childrens meals for the kids, plus they got goody bags with colouring and such in them - coming into Oz it was all branded with Vegemite including a rubber and pack of cards.

Elaine

Elaine

My neighbour who is going out to see his son in Oz told me that by going the American route you get more luggage allowance plus you tend to get more leg room, is this true? He's having a stop over in Hawaii - nice! B)

Have you gone the other way round to compare the two?

Sasha

Hi Sasha

As we have pr visa. Singapore airlines have given us a baggage allowance of 40kg per person :D

The did offer us extra leg room free of charge.
These seats are located at the emmergency exits and unfortunatly children are not allowed to occupy these seats for safety reasons :(
So we are unable to take up the offer.

Laurie

Re luggage allowances - by coming via the US everyone gets a 40kg luggage allowance, which is carried through on the whole trip, so even our final flight from Sydney to Adelaide had this allowance. Though our cases were nothing like the maximum we could hardly carry them as it was, not to mention only just getting it and us all into one large taxi - and don't forget to order that large taxi for any transfers you book in advance!

If you are emigrating - ie travelling for the first time on a migration visa - you also get a 40kg allowance on other routes. However, in our case with the spouse visa we were not considered to be 'emigrating'.

Also, if you make a separate trip to validate your visa before you actually emigrate you have probably lost the opportunity to use the extra allowance, although I do know of one person who managed to persuade the airline to allow it anyway.

I guess you'd have to make final checks with the travel agent/airline anyway to be absolutely certain in your own circumstances.

Elaine

Hi Laurie,
Great that you've got flights booked. when are you going, did you book for the 27th?
laura x

Hi Laura

Yep we got the 27th.

Huge Family Farewell party on Good Friday. So would imagine emotions will be running high. Not really looking forward to that bit :what?:

The kids are not going back to school after the easter break, we are going up to London for a week before we fly to spend some quality time with our rellies.

will e-mail you to catch up next week.

Speak to you soon

Laurie

Good luck Laurie as I expect it will be an emotional roller coaster for the next couple of weeks.

Sasha :)