SINGAPORE DAY 1 (Singapore Flyer, DUCKtour and Gardens by the Bay)

We had an early first day kick off in Singapore.

• 6am - flight out Manila via PAL.  My husband and I had 3 options in going to the airport: park and fly, rent an airport transfer or ask a friend to bring us to the airport.  For safety reasons we opted for park and fly (will write a detailed review on this later).

PAL left Manila on time and we arrived in Singapore 3 hours and 40 minutes after.

• 10am - Arrived at Changi airport Singapore. It took us less than an hour to clear immigration and collect our baggage; Bought Singtel's Hi! SIM Card at Changi Recommends outlets.
 
• 1030am - Left Changi via taxi (SGD25) and arrived at Royal Plaza on Scotts (RPoS), Orchard 20 minutes later. 
 
• 11am - It was real nice of RPoS to accommodate our request for an early check-in. We were able to freshen up before heading to our next agenda.
  

Note:  I bought the Singapore Flyer, DUCKtour and Gardens by the Bay tickets through Asia Travel.  You can get these tickets cheaper at travel and tour agencies at Lucky Plaza in Orchard, but again we opted for convenience.  I do not want to drop by Lucky Plaza to pick up the tickets.


SG Flyer and DUCKtours are located in the same building.

• 12nn -  Singapore Flyer and Journey of Dreams. We exchanged the Asia Travel e-mail vouchers at the Singapore Flyer Counter, Guest Services Lounge 1st Level (Note: In Singapore, floors starts at Level 1 and not Ground Floor).   

• 1230pm- Lunch at Popeye's located at Level 1, Singapore Flyer  Building.  I wanted a fast and safe first day lunch for the kiddos and ended up with a Family Chicken meal package (less than SGD25 for a full meal with drinks and desserts for 4).

• 130pm  - The Original Singapore DUCKtours. We exchanged our vouchers at the Singapore DUCKtours Counter. The tour lasted for about 1 hour and included land and  water tours.  We were able to see and get good pictures of the major Singapore structures such as Esplanade, Merlion,  SkyPark and Art Science Museum, saved the tired feet. 

This is a good way to see Singapore without tiring the kiddos. (Note: Remember to call in for tour reservations.  I called in from Manila 3 days before the actual tour.  I saw guests turned down since they were not able to reserve slots even with travel vouchers.)  


We left SG Flyer via taxi (SGD8) for Gardens by the Bay (GB).  Singaporeans would tell you GB is a short walk from the Flyer, but it was really quite a long walk from SG flyer. You would have to cross a hi-way bridge under the scorching heat.     

• 3pm - Gardens by the Bay (GB). The e-mail vouchers were exchanged for tickets at the Friends of Gardens by the Bay Office (It is a separate counter and is located across the main ticketing counter). Our package included entrance to the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. Touring both domes took us about 3+ hours.

Missed due to time constraints:

• SG Flyer: Singapore Food Trail (This was our first choice for lunch.  The center is located right next to the DUCKtour boarding center).
• GB: Outdoor Garden Tour (We figured, we would have enough garden inside the air-conditioned dome, so we gave this one a skip), Super Trees and Far East Organization Children's Garden and Playground (The boys were pretty tired and exhausted from visiting the domes and the playground was a skip as well).

We left GB via taxi (SGD20) around 6pm.  We headed straight to the hotel with hubby ordering take out (in SG the term they use is take away) at KFC (which luckily has branch located right across our hotel).


First day accomplished! 

Check out the rest of our Singapore-Malaysia escapade here:

Day 1 - Singapore City
Day 2 and 3 - LEGOLAND Malaysia
Day 4 - Jurong Bird Park and Science Center
Day 5 - Singapore Zoo (with breakfast with the Orangutans)
Day 6 - Sentosa Island
Day 7 - Universal Studio Singapore 
Day 8 - SEA Aquarium and Vivo City