Back in 2001, my friend Paula and I decided to go to Europe for a holiday. I had always wanted to go to Italy and especially Florence. The reason I wanted to go to Florence is that I collected Giuseppe Armani porcelain figurines and wanted to visit the factory where the figurines are made. However Paula convinced me that as we were going to be flying all the way to Europe from Australia, we should visit a few more places than just Florence. So that’s what we decided to do. Unfortunately my husband was unable to join me on this trip.
The first thing we had to do was plan where we wanted to go, and then as the reality of the time and expense of doing everything we wanted to do set in, it was time to do some serious culling. We finally decided to go to London, with a stopover in Singapore, then onto Paris, Munich, Saltzberg, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Pompeii.
The ladies that we worked with at Medicare, brought us a cute little stuffed toy dog to take on our travels and he was called ‘Chilli’. His adventures will also be included in our travelogue. In fact here he is in Singapore.
After the excitement of planning the trip, with the fabulous travel agent from American Express, we s flew down from Brisbane to Sydney and then over to Singapore. We flew with Singapore Airlines and the flight attendants were friendly and helpful and the food was tasty. The flight took approx. 8 hours, most of which was spent flying back over Australia.
What a pleasure it was to land in Singapore, the airport is really lovely with lots of beautiful orchid garden arrangements. Nowadays there are 10 themed gardens to explore, both indoor and outdoor.
- Terminal 1: Water Lily Garden, Cactus Garden, Piazza Garden, Sculptural Tree Garden.
- Terminal 2: Enchanted Garden, Orchid Garden, Sunflower Garden
- Terminal 3: Butterfly Garden, Crystal Garden
- Terminal 4: Steel in Bloom
If you have to be stuck in an airport then Singapore is the place to be. The terminal is set up with two, free 24 hour movie theatres, as well as free LAN gaming, XBox and Playstation 3 games to entertain you. Other facilities include:
- Swimming pool
- Transit hotel
- Free sightseeing tour (if you are there for more than 5 hours)
- Shopping
- Free internet access and over 800 charging points.
- Gardens to stroll through including the the Butterfly Garden with over 1000 tropical butterflies.
- Fully equipped gym with shower facilities
- Free foot massage machines
- You can even get a haircut at the Ambassador transit lounges or the Plaza Premium Lounge
These are just a few of the facilities offered. Changi Airport is really designed with the tourist in mind.
I was so excited I could hardly wait for this adventure to start. We only had two days in Singapore so we had a lot to fit in. And while we were there we stayed at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel.
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