10 hours to explore Singapore

My time in Singapore felt like it was over quicker than the blink of an eye!

I'd been lucky to have three seats to myself on the flight so had been able to lay out and have a snooze so woke up when they announced we were commencing our descent into Singapore. I said morning to Sam and then we were landing and ready to disembark the aircraft!

I was ahead of him so sadly didn't see him again to say goodbye but thankfully found him easily on Facebook so I could wish him well on the rest of his travels.

Luggage didn't take too long to arrive and immigration had been super speedy because it was half 1 in the morning! I got myself onto the wifi and booked an Uber to take me to Met a Space Pod at Little India. That equally didn't take too long and I got there just after 2.30am. The desk wasn't 24hr so I had to buzz on the door for someone to let me in and my key card and instructions for everything were left on the reception area; everything was so quiet and I couldn't work out whether anyone else was around!

The dorm room was so quirky but I loved it! Each bed was a space pod so it was white with blue and white lighting inside and each pod had its own controllable air con, tv with remote, duvet, two pillows, two towels (hair and body) and a pull-out lap tray.

I messaged the family whatsapp group to let them know that I'd arrived safely and had a moment where I worried about how much Fiji was costing me. It was far more than I had budgeted for before I'd known about the island hopping packages, leaving me less for NZ and Aus; two weeks there was the equivalent of a month to 6 weeks in Asia! They calmed me down and I managed to get some sleep before getting up at 9.30 the following morning for some breakfast.

There was still nobody around whilst I helped myself to peanut butter on toast, an apple and a coffee. Even at 10am when reception is supposed to open, no-one turned up. I packed my bag and showered ready to move to the Met a Space Pod at Boat Quay (even the bathroom was quirky and had plants and astro turf on the walls!)

Walking out of the bathroom, I finally discovered some people; the cleaning ladies and reception! It transpired after a conversation with the receptionist that the hostel was only a week old and I'd been their only guest the night before. That's why I'd managed to get an introductory cheap rate - it was only after booking the Boat Quay location that they told me about the new one at Little India and given me the code for the discount.

I ordered an Uber and checked out and they told me my bed wouldn't be ready at Boat Quay but that was ok, I just wanted to get there and drop my bags off so I could start exploring as I didn't have too much time.

The journey only took about 15/20 mins and I was dropped a road away as you couldn't drive on the quay itself where the hostel was. I used maps.me to check I was going in the right direction and knew I was in the right place as soon as I saw the Prince of Wales pub below Met a Space Pod which reminded me of my brother Barry as that's the name of his pub too!

Once I'd dragged my case up the flight of stairs, I spoke to the reception lady who reiterated what the lady at Little India had said about the room being ready but I was surprised they couldn't give me a locker so I just had to lock my valuables into the suitcase! After that, I filled up my bottle of water, grabbed a couple of maps from the counter and made my way to Raffles Place MRT station which was only a 5 minute walk away, looking along Boat Quay as I went.

I already had a rough idea of what I wanted to do for the day but added a couple of stops in once I was there. The MRT has a special tourist pass that you can buy which is only $10 for a day of travel on the train and buses too. I only used the MRT but it was a great way to get around the city and everything was well signposted in English and easy enough to follow even if you've never used it before.

My first visit was to Bugis Street to see the market as I wanted to know if it was any different to how it had been when I was on my school trip back in 2007. Suffice to say, it looked like it had more stalls but hadn't changed at all! I had a look to see if I could find any flip flops that didn't have the bit in between your toes so my foot couldn't get blistered and infected again but none were any good and the same with the watches after mine broke at Halong Bay when I went kayaking; I couldn't find another one that I wanted.

After an hour or so looking around there, I had a quick McSpicy Chicken burger meal at McDonalds to tide me over and looked around Bugis Junction to see if I could find any flip flops or a new waterproof cover for the back of my GoPro where mine had a tear in the touchscreen part and I was worried it would leak in Fiji. Another hour or so passed as there were two malls to check and although I didn't manage to find something for my GoPro, I did get a Birkenstock style pair of flip flops that were cheaper than the Birkenstocks I'd seen in the previous shops. I walked into Starbucks and treated myself to a sparkling lemon iced tea with hibiscus to cool me down and keep me going and then made my way back to the MRT to get to my next destination; Clarke Quay.

It was lovely and sunny which made Clarke Quay look even more inviting when I wandered around and just as I remembered it only this time, I wasn't 17 trying to worm my way in to the Ministry of Sound nightclub!

When I'd finished wandering around, it was back to the MRT for the next stop of the day; Chinatown. I got off at Chinatown Point and peeked in some of the shops there to see if there were any flip flops and then walked along until I came to the market. It was a lot more bustling and had colourful kimonos and other souvenirs on sale so I browsed through the stalls and bought some postcards there.

There was also a temple at the end of the street that I got to see before I turned back to walk through the market again and get the MRT to the Gardens by the Bay.

The Gardens by the Bay was just what I expected after being shown photos of it by Uncle Mark from his visit. The only exception was that they'd opened their Christmas Wonderland so it had Christmas trees, decorations and other festive displays and statues.

I got a pass which gave me a shuttle ride and access to the two conservatories.

There was no one else on my shuttle so I got chatting to the driver and he asked me all about my travelling saying how brave I was; I didn't feel brave, just another traveller doing their own thing!

He dropped me off at the Flower Dome so I wandered in to see a huge Christmas themed spectacle in the centre which was lovely! The rest of it was really relaxing wandering around seeing all the different flowers and trees which were sectioned off by different locations around the world.

The sun was starting to set so I decided to make my way across to the Cloud Forest so I could catch a glimpse of the Supertree Grove afterwards whilst it was still light. This was a lot more like a rainforest with a waterfall, huge trees, plants and displays all spread out amongst 7 floors.

When I'd finished there I wandered around the gift shop and then made my way towards a small cluster of super trees that were right next to a big overhead Christmas lights structure.

I sat down on a large rock and quietly absorbed the atmosphere taking in the large trees lit with twinkly lights, the Christmas lights and the music.

Not sure quite what it was but I was completely overwhelmed with emotion and became really tearful. I think a lot of it was the realisation that I'd not be with my family for Christmas which is such a big thing for all of us as we love it so much but I think it was also because it was the first time I'd seen so many decorations and it had felt anywhere near Christmas.

I wandered around having a look at the Silver Garden and then made my way towards the Supertree Grove for the evening light show at 8.45pm.

When I tried to get in, they told me that although it's normally free, because the Christmas Wonderland had started, I would need to go to the customer service and pay for an entry ticket in order to get in. The queue was really long and I was so worried I'd miss the start but luckily I made it with about 5/10 minutes to spare which allowed me to have a wander along the stalls in little Christmas cabins and find a good spot to sit and watch the lights.

The music started up and the lights twinkled away along to the different songs, including the absolute classic that is Mariah's All I Want for Christmas! I could have watched it for a much longer period of time but sadly it only went on for about 5/10 minutes or so but it was still worth watching.

By the time it had finished and I'd been around all the stalls and garden area, I was exhausted and hungry! Sadly for me, the closest thing that was open was McDonald's so I walked in and ordered a grilled chicken wrap and then left to walk back to the closest MRT station, taking a little accidental detour along the waterfront and through the Marina Bay shopping mall.

I hopped onto the MRT back to Raffles Place which didn't take too long and then wandered back to the hostel. I realised I'd not been given my bed yet or key as they weren't ready when I'd checked in but thankfully the lady on reception was still there when I arrived, despite it being just after 10.30pm! She handed me my key and locker details and then she left.

This is where the trouble started! I'd dropped my bags in the room and started sorting out my valuables in my locker and was going to the bathroom to get changed into my pjs. When I came back, I realised I'd left my key card in the locker and couldn't for the life of me remember the code for it...shiiiiiiiit! I looked around to see if there was any of my paperwork on the desk where I'd just spoken to the woman and tried a whole bunch of combinations but had no luck. I thought I was screwed but then saw on a photo screen that there was an emergency number you could call - trust me eh! Haha!

When I got through to the lady, she looked for the locker code and rang me back - absolute relief! I grabbed everything I needed to take to bed including my electronics so I could charge them for the flight and then I hit the hay fairly late after writing out all my postcards and messaging home.

I certainly felt like I'd not had a lot of sleep when I woke up and could have laid in bed for longer but I was looking forward to just getting on the next flight at that point.

I showered, got dressed and made my way upstairs to find the kitchen so I could have breakfast. I pulled some bread out of a bag where everything was laid out ready and shoved it in the toaster only to find that it was broken; just my luck! Luckily they had cereal on offer too so I helped myself to chocolate shreddies and a cup of tea instead.

I booked an Uber ensuring I had plenty of time compared to what it was like in Canggu and dragged my stuff downstairs and down the road to meet the driver who took me to the airport. He asked me questions about travelling and told me how dangerous it could be when you're on your own in case you had an accident, stating he would never let his daughter go and were my parents happy for me to be away?! I told them it was fine with them and I would be ok; he was starting to wind me up so I couldn't wait to be out of the car!

The airport terminal 1 had a huge kinetic rain display which was awesome to watch in motion so I stood and looked at that for a while completely mesmerized.

Despite them telling you that it's best to be 3 hours ahead (i'd only gone so early this time as so many people had raved about Singapore airport!) it definitely wasn't worth it! The check-in desks weren't open so everyone waiting had to queue for about half an hour or more. The lady was lovely when I finally got to the desk and I asked her if it was a full flight. She said there were only a few empty seats so I asked her if I could move to a two with no-one next to me so I could stretch out on the plane. She changed it with no problem and said she would try her best to make sure no-one filled the space next to me; result!

Security didn't take too long to get through and I posted my postcards as soon as I got to the other side. Wandering around, it was pretty huge! I had a feeling that the incredible elements of Singapore airport were probably in the other terminals as there only appeared to be shops, a few food outlets and a couple of garden spaces where people could get some fresh air or have a cigarette.

After buying some snacks and strepsils (my throat was on fire!) I found myself sat in Burger King eating my way through a Whopper Western Style to tide me over until the flight where I knew I would be fed again and it was also the cheapest option although I was definitely getting sick of fast food by this point! On the plus side, the triple filling Kit Kat I had bought for dessert was an absolute winner!

Strangely enough, when I walked through the boarding gate, they took my water from me and said I wouldn't be allowed it on the plane just like they did when I was in Hong Kong. The guy was nice about it though and said I could drink some before I went through to the gate so I just downed the bottle and wandered through to get my ticket checked and board the plane, messaging the family WhatsApp group to say I was on my way before my wifi went!

I had two seats to myself which was a relief as it was a 10 hour flight and I was really excited to get to Fiji and start my two weeks of island hopping!

There wasn't too much going on in terms of films but I watched Elf to get into the Christmas spirit, listened to Sam Smith on repeat and did a lot of snoozing!

Today's quote to end up on comes from one of the masters himself; Buddha: "The problem is, we think we have time."

Ciao for now! Xxx