Galang Singapura – D1 – The Districts

Can’t believe it took me a year before I managed to do a blog post of our 1st international trip. On January 14, marks the date that we were able to visit Singapore, all via DIY tour. This Galang Singapura is a blog-series of our 4 days stay and it will mostly contain our first-timer experience and know-hows abroad.

Little India

Before we go into the trip details, we will also share some tips  for first time international flyers. Make sure to check-in online so you can have your boarding pass, don’t forget to bring your passport, government issued IDs, government issued certificates (birth cert., marriage cert.) to serve as supporting documents. We also photocopied our company IDs just so we have a proof of local employment and that we don’t have any plans to work abroad.  So here’s the summarized process from NAIA (PH) up to Changi Airport (SG), which we think is also applicable to other non-visa Asian countries:

• Look for your airline counter and check-in (if you haven’t checked in online)

• Bag Drop, check-in your luggage/s

• Pay your Travel Tax (the ground stewardess will instruct you where to go)

• Return to the airline counter and show them the receipt
• Enter the International Departures wing, fill out the Immigration Card, prepare all your travel documents and IDs

• Fall in line at the Immigration Counter, wait for your turn and just honestly answer all the questions of the Immigration Officers
• Once you passed the Immigration gate, you can now proceed at the boarding gate of your airline and wait for the departure announcement
• In the middle of the flight, the stewardess will instruct you to fill out another Immigration Card, but this time it’s for the country of which you’ll arrive in
• Look for the Immigration and fall in line again. In Singapore, the Immigration Officers will ask for your passport and they don’t talk that much, they will just stare at you for a few seconds and look at their monitors. Once your passport has been stamped, you’re good to go and proceed in the baggage claim.

Getting There

All thanks to CebPac’s Piso Fare, we scored our first international trip, without even knowing it would be on The Lion City of Asia! It’s a 3 hour flight from Manila, Philippines and you will land on The World’s #1 Airport, the Changi Airport. We will also do a separate post for this. 

Clarke Quay Station

Since our arrival at Singapore is 11:55PM, we opted not to check in at a hotel, we spent hours inside the aiport while waiting for the sun to rise, maximized their fast WiFi, watched TV, did a Terminal 2 tour, lounged at their so many couches. Nearing 6:00 am, we left the airport and started our commute ala local style. We took the train from Tanah Merah station to Clarke Quay station, where our booked hotel is located.

Where to Stay

We arrived at 7:00 am in Hotel Conforto, a 5 minute walk from Clarke Quay station. Since check in time is 2:00 pm, we asked the front desk to safe-keep our luggage first. We chose this hotel for it’s positive feedbacks from Agoda, fair hotel rates, convenience of location, and by our colleague’s recommendation who also went to Singapore (2016). During our stay, we experienced what this hotel offers: free Wi-Fi in all rooms, daily housekeeping,, 24-hour front desk, luggage storage. Our room and the whole hotel is clean, the surrounding is quiet, it’s a small hotel suitable for practical travelers. Overall, we recommend Hotel Conforto to our friends and readers who plan to visit Singapore too.

Getting Around

Singapore is a small island-city that can easily be roamed. We are so impressed with their public transportation system, even travelers can easily adapt on the locals way of commuting. The secret in effortless city tour? Singapore Tourist Pass! A card that offers tourists unlimited travel (yes, unlimited) on SG’s basic bus, MRT & LRT for the valid duration. No need for travel agencies, we roamed around the city, with the help of it’s efficient transport system. Taxis are also available but fares are higher, starting around $3.20.

 

Local Quirks

Singlish is their own version of English, they use local catchphrases & lingo (Lah, Chope, Shiok). Mandarin, Malay are also dialects they use. Queuing Up, we noticed on some restaurants & stores that Singaporeans tend to line up. We learned that in SG, they really wait in line for the latest and the best food, item, etc. knowing that it’s all worthwhile after hours of waiting. Do take note as well of the things that are banned in Singapore, do a quick search and you’ll be surprised to learn more. Yep, selling and chewing gum are both banned, eating inside the public tranpos is banned. Food in SG is a bit expensive. Fast-food chains like Burger King, McDonald’s is like twice the price here in PH. Same goes to their mineral water and other beverages. We also dined at a local eatery / hawker for an experience. They are fond of spice, curry kinds of meal, usual serving is good for 1 person only.

The Districts

So here’s a quick description of each district / neighborhood around SG to give you a hint of what each place tackles:

• Chinatown – culture and nightlife, we also bought most of our souvenir items there

 

• Little India – authentic Indian food, bargain shopping (jewelry, spice shops)

• Kampong Glam – hip and funky, Instagram feed goals, Haji Lane
• Katong – heritage and culture
• Tiong Bahru – hip cafes, Instagram feed goals
• Marina Bay – Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay
• Sentosa – Universal Studios, Resorts World Sentosa

 

• Bras Basah. Bugis – art and culture, shopping, museum hopping

• Orchard Road – high-street and luxury finds
• Civic District – historical sights

 

We’ll still update this post or do another one, should there be other helpful tips and experience that comes to our mind that falls into this category. In the meantime, this wraps us our 1st post of Galang Singapura blog series. Looking forward to blog the Universal Studios Singapore soon!

Please rate our post, thanks!

Vlogged! Singapore

Galang Singapura, do watch out for our Singapore blog. 🙂

First Time Flyers Guide (Domestic)

We admit it, at first, we’re not really fond of promo airfares, our mindset’s not prepared for flights yet hehe. Whenever our colleagues goes into rush when a piso fare is announced, yeah we just don’t mind it haha. Then last February, out of curiosity, we booked online with Cebu Pacific. And you know what this means? Yes, here’s our dummies guide to first time flyers like you, like us..yep, at the age of 24 y/o, finally we rode an airplane hahaha 🙂

Commuting to NAIA? Most of domestic flights are in NAIA Terminal 3. Taxis are the easiest way to get here but it’s pricey. We rode the taxi from Taft Avenue, Manila w/c costs us around Php 150.00. Or you can ride the airport shuttles at EDSA Taft across Metropoint, fare is Php 20.00 each. This is cheaper but going to EDSA Taft is another haggard situation you may want to consider hehe.

You’re now at NAIA? You’ll see gate entrances w/ numbers, then your baggage, hand carry will pass through a scanner and you’ll get a body inspection too. No need to remove your watch, earrings, accessories, shoes. Get your bags from the scanner and now you’re inside the airport, you’ll see this…

You have boarding pass?  Near the check in counters, there are booths where you can print your boarding pass. You can also do this online, all thanks to CebPac’s updated email notifications. If you don’t have a printer, a screen shot of your boarding pass will do too. We did this on Puerto Princesa Airport & the crew accepted our boarding pass screenshots. Boarding pass needs to be presented in check in/bag drop counters so they can issue another printed boarding pass that looks like a receipt w/ attached baggage number.

 

Have you checked in yet? Nope, this is not about checking in w/ your social accounts to update that you’re in the airport hahaha (I know you do!). See those counters w/ airline labels? This is where you need to have your baggage be checked in. CebPac also sends an email 2 days prior to your flight, asking you to check in. In our case, we checked in online then we also checked in at the airport haha to be sure. We arrived 2 hours prior our flight schedule. Below are some of photos we took for your easier guide 🙂

Boarding Pass & Check In Done? Now what’s next? You’re free to roam around & take pictures in the airport, haha.

I’m serious, this is your free time while waiting for your boarding time. Or you may just proceed to the gate number indicated in your boarding pass.

I’m at my assigned gate number.  Just sit back, a few minutes before boarding time, pay attention to the announcements. The airline crew will explain your flight’s boarding announcement. Remember that guests seated at rows 1-15 enters the front entrance of the airplane, while rows 16 up take the rear entrance. Be kind enough to give way for elderly, pregnant, disabled persons. (O diba kabisado?!hehe) 

Inside the plane. 

For 1st time flyers or not, admit it, we all took photos inside the plane haha :p Aside from this, place your hand carry bag on drawers over head or under the seat in front of you. Pay attention to what the crews are discussing, they’ll have a game later on the flight where you can win airline goodies. Also, take time to read the safety instruction card.

Take note. 

• Mobile phones / any electronic devices should be switched off while inside the plane. Haha but we now have airplane mode in our mobile phones, etc. so this solves it.
• Never travel w/ an empty stomach, neither eat in full, avoid oily foods too.
• Seats located across the airplane wing gives a more stable motion in flight. We had seats like this on our flight back to Manila, but we found it bumpy hehe.
• Terminal fee in NAIA is included on your booked airfare, no need to pay in the airport. While terminal fee in provinces are not included, so you still need to pay for it.
• If possible, be at the airport at least 2 hours prior your flight schedule. Daig ng maagap ang masipag 🙂

I guess, these are the basics that every first time flyers should know. Have a fun and safe flight!

Thanks and please rate. 🙂