With my European holidays coming to a close, I had the unfortunate event of 2 out of my 3 flights back to Australia be cancelled and rebooked. It wasn’t ideal cutting my holidays 2 days short and leaving me with a 24 hour layover in Singapore. All in all, it wasn’t too bad but I had not anticipated another country stop before going home.
Something similar happened when I landed in Europe, my last flight was cancelled and I was put up in a hotel and rebooked onto 2 flights to reach my final destination 1.5 days later.
I’ve never had so many flights cancelled on me and am sure that this is the last time I’ll be flying with this carrier.
The silver lining was that my luggage was not lost with all these flight cancellations.
To make the best of my situation, I ended up booking a hotel halfway between the airport and city centre (and after having been told my hotel could be reimbursed to now being told it can’t be- to be continued….). The cost of accommodation around the airport was astronomical and with that much time, I thought that maybe I would be better off exploring a little bit rather than walking laps in the airport. I landed late afternoon and my departing flight to Australia would be the next night.
After I landed, I needed to collect my luggage as it wasn’t going to be checked through to Australia. I was irritated when I found out but was so honestly over this airline by now. Not wanting to haul a packed to the limit suitcase around in Singaporean climate, I checked it into a luggage storage facility at the airport which cost $15 for 24 hours.
Navigating the metro system was easy enough and I opted to just tap on and off with my money card instead of buying a pass. My accommodation was located near hawker markets (woohoo!) and shopping centres so after checking in, I walked around outside exploring and trying to adjust to a new timezone.
Egg noodle soup with fishballs
Out of the restaurants at the hawker markets that were open, I opted for the above egg noodle dish with fishballs. I missed egg noodles so much which doesn’t make an appearance in South Korean cuisine. I spied some Indonesian desserts too but was already full from my dish and hot weather.
I decided to head into one of the shopping malls to have a look and walk. I grabbed a bubble tea for dessert. At this point, I got a notification from my bank asking me if I had made a transaction. This is weird, I thought. I had not got a notification from them during my entire trip abroad. After logging in to check, you can imagine my horror when I saw many many unauthorised transactions on my card. I hurried back to my hotel so that I could lock my card.
Obviously, this had put a further dent in my mood. Oh well, I thought. They’ve spent my money. I would just need to wait until I’m back home to deal with it.
Luckily I had some cash on me.
I did not sleep much or soundly that night but enthused by another chance to eat at the hawker’s market, I went out mid morning and found some delicious thousand year old egg congee with freshly made youtiao (fried dough). Also known as century egg, these preserved duck eggs are dark/black in colour and having it with congee (rice stew) is a classic dish. I tried it with a raw egg added for the first time.
I also saw some soymilk being sold at the stand next to the congee stand and got one to go.
My morning stroll took me the Peranakan Houses which are such a feast for the eyes. The area where these houses are isn’t very long but to get here, you get to also walk past Peranakan shop fronts (all the other pictures in this post) which are as beautiful.
Peranakan Houses
Peranakan Houses
By now, the heat and humidity were on its way up and I was not feeling so good so I took refuge in a shopping mall to keep out of the heat. Soon after it was time for lunch (no picture) which was more egg noodles with wontons and Chinese bbq pork (char siu) to then off to the airport early.
At the airport, I had plenty of time to find the waterfall in Singapore Jewel. The terminals are all easily connected with a sky train so it’s easy to go from one to another. The waterfall is impressive and a beautiful sight with the plants surrounding it. After wondering inside in the mall area, it was time to pick up my suitcase and make my way to my terminal ready to check in.
Have you had a quick layover in Singapore? What did you do? Has anyone else had such bad luck with flight cancellations?
Leave a comment