Changi Airport

As promised at the beginning of our trip, here's a post with more details on Changi Airport in Singpore.  Apparently rated the number one airport in the world there's certainly a HUGE array of things to do here, free and not so free.

After a relatively quick two and a half hour flight from Bali, we arrived at Changi around 6pm.  Our first order of business was to check our bags so we didn't have to lug them around with us for five hours.  We were able to do this pretty seamlessly in about a five minute walk from our gate for about $8 USD.  Once our bags were secure, we headed out in search of food.  

On our first trip through Changi we'd notice a second floor street food food court and there was a dish that we'd missed during our trip through Singapore, so we decided to start there.  We ended up with a meal of mussels, fried rice, boiled eggs, and the missing dish, carrot cake, which isn't at all what we think of as carrot cake.  It's like an omelet with mixed vegetables and a sweet soy sauce.  Soooo good!

Carrot cake, soooo good!

After our meal we had more options than we could ever have time for.  First we wandered over to the butterfly garden, which is free and beautiful.  I got some great shots of really gorgeous butterflies.

From there we decided we wanted to take advantage of a quick massage in the transit lounge before boarding our 18 hour flight.  We'd used the transit lounge on our way in because it was connected to our hotel and offered free breakfast during our stay.  The massages were sadly not free, but well worth the $30 USD each.

By the time our massages were over it was about 9:30 and we had an hour before we needed to pick up our bags and head over to Terminal 1 where our gate was located.  I'd read about the Long Bar, located on the second floor of the Duty Free DFS wine and spirits store.  It's a tasting bar that offers a free sample of a high end spirit or a cocktail.  The bar was empty when we arrived and the bartender, Jennifer, was great.  I opted for a side car and Landry had a sample of a high end single barrel whiskey. 

The side car was so good I forgot to take a picture until the glass was empty.  Oops!

While we were enjoying our drinks, Jennifer told us about how she'd been offered her job in Singapore through LinkedIn.  At the time she'd been working for 14 years in Dubai, but had always dreamed of living in Singapore.  She and her husband made the decision that she would move to pursue the job while he remained in Dubai at his job.  And their kids, 17 and 18, are living in the Philippines where they are originally from with family.  Their story just reminded me that families all over the world live in a variety of arrangements that work for them and make them happy.  It's refreshing to hear people share stories outside of the American box I sometimes get stuck in and know that possibilities really can be endless.

After we finished our drinks and wandered through the limited edition section of the store, which included a bottle of wine made with diamonds and a sapphire that costs upwards of $100,000 USD (!!!!), we went to pick up our bags and took the train over to Terminal 1. 

I meant to take more pictures like this and forgot.  But this gives you a sense of the utter luxury on display at Changi.

The only thing I missed at Changi that I REALLY wanted to try was the tallest airport slide in the world.  I was surprised that there's more than one, but apparently there are.  It goes from the first level all the way down to the third level of the basement.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that you have to go out through immigration to get to it and we waited too long into our layover to be able to get out.  In lieu of being able to show you our own pictures or videos, I've provided a link to someone else's experience here so you can still get the idea.

Our flight home was pretty uneventful.  I am grateful to Singapore Airlines for their amazing crew that made 18 hours comfortable and enjoyable.  The entire 18 hour flight to Singapore was in the daylight because of the flight path we took.  One the way back we saw two sunrises and a sunset (two if you count the one before we left Singapore). 

Goodbye Singapore!

Hello Newark!

This trip was truly a bucket list dream come true and I can't wait to set off again on another travel adventure!