Tag: itinerary

Escape Plan to Hong Kong November 2017

Escape Plan to Hong Kong November 2017

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Hong Kong 2017:

Total duration 5D4N
Singapore is in the same time zone as Hong Kong.
Flight time is 4hrs on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Hong Kong.

Morning flight on 24th January at 955am and arrival in Hong Kong at 155pm.
Return flight is on the 28st January at 210pm and arrival in Singapore at 610pm.

Day 1 Arrival at Hong Kong and visit to the Peak
Day 2 Disneyland
Day 3 Ngong Ping and Citygate Outlet Mall
Day 4 Shopping Day – Esprit Outlet at CHKC
Day 5 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was to get away from Singapore to celebrate our son’s birthday by bringing him to the nearest happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! It was also a good time to visit, given that the weather near the end of the year was nice and cool.

Budget nature: Slightly expensive due to costly hotels and Disneyland, but offset by outlet malls savings.

We had chosen to stay in a apartment close in Tsim Sha Tsui close to Harbour City for most of the days and accommodation in TST are priced higher slightly. The 1N stay in Disneyland was expected to be expensive, even on advance purchase with free upgrade. However, it was just worth it to experience this luxury once in a while

Complexity: Easy to get around with the MTR.

The places we covered were very accessible as every tourist would probably go. Plus the fact that the hotels we chose was in an accessible place, it was easier comparatively. We chose to take the taxi for both trips from and to the airport, just for convenience’s sake.

Escape to Nikoi Island November 2017

Escape to Nikoi Island November 2017

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Nikoi Island 2017:

Total duration 2D1N
Nikoi Island is in the 1hr ahead of Singapore. Ferry time is 1hr on Bintan Resort Ferries from Singapore to Bintan, land transfer of 1hr drive followed by a speed boat transfer of 20mins. Return is the same in reverse.

Ferry from Singapore to Bintan at 1110am, arriving at 1110am in Bintan. Return ferry from Bintan to Singapore is at 335pm and arriving in Singapore at 535pm.

Day 1 – Arrival in Nikoi Island
Day 2 – First time fishing and Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned as a getaway birthday trip for me. It was initially intended to be a 3D2N private island resort experience but was cut short due to my kid getting a fever and we absentmindedly left the paracetamol at home.

Budget – Expensive, made worse by forgoing one night stay.

As this was a private island, what would you expect? Accommodations were comfy but modest but they are all villas and nothing less. There were just one restaurant serving fine dining cuisine that was delicious no doubt, but without choice, one had to full board SGD100-ish a day. Had to booked an urgent boat on Emerald class which increased the costs further and the private land transfer from jetty to jetty cost money too.

Complexity – Easy

Since it was all integrated, what came with the price was the convenience and the exclusivity of private travel (except for the boat transfer to the island). The short cut to the front of the queue at the immigrations was awesome!

Escape plan to Thomas Town Johor October 2017

Escape plan to Thomas Town Johor October 2017

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Thomas Town Johor 2017:

Total duration 1D
There is no time difference between Singapore and Johor.

Day 1 Thomas Town, Hello Kitty Town and Puteri Harbour

This trip was planned as a weekend activity with our boy, an impulse to leave the country for a Saturday for some fun.

Budget – pretty affordable.

Since it was a really short day trip, we didn’t manage to spend the SGD $100 that we exchanged for the trip.

Complexity – Driving took only 15mins from Tuas Checkpoint

It was a pretty straightforward drive just like the one to Legoland. Even better with a preloaded Google map. The crappy experience was only the one where we got stuck for 2hrs on no-man’s land. The causeway one might be faster option.

Escape to Kuala Lumpur July 2017

Escape to Kuala Lumpur July 2017

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Kuala Lumpur 2017:

Total duration 5D4N
Kuala Lumpur is in the same timezone as Singapore. Flight time is 1hr on Silkair from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Return is 1hr on Silkair from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur at 1015am, arriving at 1115am in Kuala Lumpur. Return flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is at 510pm and touching down in Singapore at 610pm.

Day 1 – Arrival in Kuala Lumpur and Sunway Pyramid Mall
Day 2 – Sunway Lagoon theme park and the Parenthood
Day 3 – Sunway Pyramid and transfer to Kuala Lumpur downtown
Day 4 – Sungei Wang, Berjaya Times Square and Indoor Theme Park
Day 5 – Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned as a getaway birthday trip for mommy. We didn’t plan anything other than a visit to the Sunway Lagoon theme park. The rest of the trip was based on ad hoc shopping and just on impulse visits.

Budget – Quite affordable other than the accommodation.

Everything was quite affordable comparable to Singapore, especially with the currency of 1:3.1 now, effectively reducing the costs of living by a third. With free wifi at airports and hotels, Grab and its promos reduce the costs of transport as well. The accommodation was expensive but it was chosen for the purpose of comfort, and was worth it in my opinion.

Complexity – Easy with Grab

We didn’t go many places and for transfers, Grab was a good choice. For the visits around the area, walking was our choice and it was quite easy since everywhere was within 15mins walking distance.

Escape to Victoria & South Australia April 2017

Escape to Victoria & South Australia April 2017

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Victoria & South Australia 2017:

Total duration 16D15N
Melbourne is 2hrs ahead of Singapore. Flight time is 7hrs 25mins on Scoot from Singapore to Melbourne.
Adelaide is 1.5hrs ahead of Singapore. Return is 7hrs on Singapore Airlines from Adelaide to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Melbourne at 115am, arriving at 1040am in Melbourne. Return flight from Adelaide to Singapore is at 910am and touching down in Singapore at 310pm.

Day 0-1 – Arrival in Melbourne and R&R
Day 2 – Victoria Market, Federation Square and Newquay promenade
Day 3 – Melbourne to Belgrave, Puffing Billy train ride
Day 4 – Belgrave to Squeaky beach and overnight at Phillip Island
Day 5 – Inverloch, the Caves beach and Penguin Parade
Day 6 – From Phillip Island to Queenscliff Big4 Beacon Resort
Day 7 – Coogoorah Park, Split Point lighthouse and Koala spotting
Day 8 – Otway lightstation, 12 Apostles and the other rocks
Day 9 – Port Fairy to Robe – Tower Hill Reserve and the Blue Lake
Day 10 – Robe to Victor Harbour – Kingston Lobster, Meningie and Victor Central
Day 11 – From Victor Habour to Kangaroo Island Emu bay – R&R
Day 12 – Flinders Chase National Park and Vivonne bay
Day 13 – Raptor Domain and Seal bay
Day 14 – Arrival in Glenelg, harbour town outlet shopping and Beachouse
Day 15 – Botanic Gardens and Rundle Mall
Day 16 – Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned to as one of our annual trip for 2017. There were 2 days of public holiday in May and therefore to maximize the usage of our leave, we chose to do it at this time of the year. Torn between the choices of going to Central Europe and South Australia, we ended up with SA because of the ease of logistics arrangements.

Budget – Not cheap.

Costs of food were expensive since food court was not usual in towns outside the main cities. Costs of accommodation were not cheap either especially when we need a kitchen to cook. Fuel was thankfully way cheaper than Singapore and with the not too bad exchange rate, costs were balanced out.

Complexity – Easy with GPS downloaded into the phone in a car

The initial traveling plan was to drive around with a data enabled phone but since we could actually download the google map onto the phone, we didn’t need data at all! Paved roads most of the time was easy to drive though some of them were a little bumpy for an Elantra. Signboards were everywhere. Since attractions were far from one place to another, driving would be the best option for a family traveling from one spot to another.

Escape plan to Dubai January 2017

Escape plan to Dubai January 2017

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Dubai 2017:

Total duration 4D3N
Singapore is 4hrs ahead of Dubai.
Flight time is 7hrs 25mins on Emirates from Singapore to Dubai.
Return is 7hrs on Emirates from Dubai to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Dubai at 935am, arriving at 1pm in Dubai. Return flight from Dubai to Singapore is at 930pm and touching down in Singapore at 830am.

Day 1 Arrival in Dubai and check in Al Burj Arab hotel
Day 2 Al Burj Arab and Souk Madinat Jumeirah
Day 3 Creek Park, Dolphinarium and Dubai Fountain
Day 4 Al Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned to celebrate our 10th year marriage anniversary. I thought that it should be something of significance and suggested we stayed in the world’s most luxurious hotel (dubbed the only 7 star hotel in the world) for a night to celebrate that. At the same time, we were doing this over the long weekend offered by the Lunar New Year so as not to overspend on our precious leave.

Budget – Budget buster and rightfully so.

Dubai was known to be one of the most expensive cities to live in and therefore, holidaying in Dubai was expected to be expensive as well. Of course, the one night of indulgence in the Al Burq Arab costed as much as a pair of plane tickets to Europe made the costs even much higher.

Complexity – Easy with the taxis that ply the roads

Moving around Dubai were relatively easy for us since we took taxis from location to location. The taxis were not expensive, clean, safe and available mostly and thus a good choice for a couple with a toddler. Jams could be bad during the peak hours in downtown and that was the only downside I could think of.

Escape plan to Legoland Johor 2016 NYE

Escape plan to Legoland Johor 2016 NYE

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Legoland Johor 2016:

Total duration 2D1N
There is no time difference between Singapore and Johor.

Day 1 Arrival in Legoland, Waterpark and Fireworks
Day 2 Legoland theme park and Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned as a getaway to celebrate the New Year of 2017. We didn’t cater any trips and therefore a short escape to Legoland to spend the night was planned instead.

Budget – expensive in theme park.

As expected, theme parks were never cheap places to visit. The hotel stay itself costed SGD$500 already and things sold in the theme park were expensive. However, there were some discounts for purchase of the 2-day tickets, for about SGD$160, together with the hotel stay.

Complexity – Driving took only 15mins from Tuas Checkpoint

It was a pretty straightforward drive, with signboards showing directions to Legoland. We were surprised that it was even that close! However, I felt that the area around it was still a little undeveloped and thus secluded and personal transportation should be easier and offers more flexibility, though there should be available day trips and transportation options available.

Escape plan to Taiwan November 2016

Escape plan to Taiwan November 2016

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Taiwan 2016:

Total duration 9D9N
There is no time difference between Singapore and Taiwan.
Flight time is 5hrs 35mins on Scoot from Singapore to Taipei.
Return is almost 5hrs on Tigerair from Taipei to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Taipei at 1255am, arriving at 530am in Taipei. Return flight from Taipei to Singapore is at 155pm and touching down in Singapore at 650pm.

Day 1 Arrival in Taipei and some shopping
Day 2 Cat Village, Jiufen and Shifen
Day 3 To Hualien and Qi Xing Tan
Day 4 Tokoro Gorge
Day 5 Landslide on the way to Cingjing
Day 6 Arrival in Cingjing farm and Old England tea and Swiss Garden
Day 7 Cingjing farm visit and arrival in Flying cow ranch
Day 8 Flying cow ranch, Leofoo village and stay
Day 9 Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned to celebrate our boy’s 2nd birthday. Therefore, most of the destinations in the itinerary were more catered towards his interests ( but since he arrived, most of our trips were already like these).

Budget – affordable most of the journey until the visit to Leofoo village which was quite expensive.

Taiwan was a country known to be affordable if we want it to be. Taking public transport such as the trains and staying in Airbnb helps keep the costs down. However, travel in less developed areas required us to book a driver or self drive which was not too bad. The only big spendings we had was the Flying cow ranch farmstay in a private villa and safari hotel in Leofoo village which was expected to be expensive.

Complexity – High without car. Ours made easy due to car and Google maps on data plan.

The public transportation in Taipei city was easy to use and therefore getting around was straightforward. Out of the main city and into the mountains and farms then a car is a must or private car is a must as public transportation would require quite a bit of planning and a lot time. Road signs would require a little to get used to but it’s not too difficult if you know Chinese. When going through the mountains, we learnt to read road blockages due to landslide. Knowing where to get the most updated news is essential as most of the mountainous roads are single lane and only one way there and planning ahead helps to avoid a long detour. Sometimes there are no data signals on the mountainous area but it is not difficult since there is only one road to navigate.

Escape plan to Croatia/Slovenia September 2016

Escape plan to Croatia/Slovenia September 2016

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Croatia/Slovenia 2016:

Total duration 18D18N
Singapore is 6hrs ahead of Croatia and Slovenia.
Flight time is 11hrs 25mins on Turkish Airlines from Singapore to Istanbul, Turkey followed by a 1hr 50min flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia after about a 4hour transition at Istanbul.
Return is 2hrs 30mins from Salzburg to Istanbul, a 11hrs layover then a 11hrs 5mins flight from Istanbul back to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Istanbul at 10pm, arriving at 425am in Istanbul and fly off again at 920am arriving in Dubrovnik at 1010am. Return flight from Salzburg is at 1125am and touching down in Istanbul at 255pm and flying off at 150am and finally touching down at 555pm.

Day 0 Flight to Istanbul
Day 1 Arrival in Dubrovnik, old town visit
Day 2 Day trip to Perast and Kotor
Day 3 Day trip to Mostar and Blagaj Tekke
Day 4 Dubrovnik to Neum to Split
Day 5 Day trip to Hvar and Stari Grad
Day 6 Krka National Park waterfalls and Sibenik
Day 7 Split – Diocletian Palace and old town
Day 8 Split to Trogir to Zadar
Day 9 Plitvice National Park waterfalls and towards Zagreb
Day 10 Zagreb old town towards Opatija, Motovun visit
Day 11 Opatija to Pula to Rovinj
Day 12 Rovinj to Porec, border crossing, visit Postojna Cave and Predama Castle to Ljubljana
Day 13 Ljubljana old town and castle
Day 14 Ljubljana to Skofja Loka to Lake Bled, Bled castle
Day 15 Lake Bohinj and Trenta Valley
Day 16 Lake Bled to Salzburg, Mirabell gardens
Day 17-18 Flight to Istanbul then Home Sweet Home

This annual family trip we wanted to do a road trip as it would be easier for us to manage with toddler in tow. With a car, we could get from place to place at our own pace. A few other options did surface (such as Eastern Europe – Prague and Budapest) but we were more in favour of this itinerary as we thought in terms of security these countries had less issues as it seemed less popular amongst tourists and therefore lesser target for security issues. Though we had concluded that it was really difficult to travel with a toddler from our Europe trip last year, I guessed wanderlust got the better of us?

Budget – Depends – budget buster for us due to choice over comfort.

The total amount spent was about 12k SGD, mostly coming from the plane tickets and the car with all the tolls and petrol. Accommodation was the other major contributor especially in Turkey airport. Food expenditure was not very high and comparable to Singapore’s standard of eating out at a normal restaurant, unlike in other European countries. Croatia had its own currency and there would be some losses due to double exchange from SGD to Euros to Kunas.

Complexity – High without car. Ours made easy due to car and Google maps on data plan and GPS.

Although there were multiple border crossings, it wasn’t really difficult with our own transport since we have everything with us most of the time. Road signs were clear and easy to navigate. Only roads in old towns were narrow and parking were challenging to find. We had to purchase data SIM (12-15euros?) which eased the navigation bit as Google map was accurate to the dot. The map that was used in my Garmin GPS was neurotic, often choosing the smaller roads which made the journey longer than it should have been thus unreliable.

Escape plan to Bali July 2016

Escape plan to Bali July 2016

Posted on by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Bali 2016:

Total duration 5D4N
Singapore is in the same time zone as Bali.
Flight time is 2hrs 40 mins on SQ from Singapore to Bali. Return is just 2hrs 20mins from Bali to Singapore.

Morning flight on 13th July at 925am and arrival in Bali at 12:05pm.
Return flight is on the 18th July at 13:05pm and arrival in Singapore at 3:45pm.

Day 1 Arrival at Bali
Day 2 Stay in Villa, swim in pool
Day 3 Day trip to Ubud Monkey Forest, Ulun Danu Temple and Tanah Lot sunset
Day 4 Bali collection and Nusa Dua dinner
Day 5 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was planned as a short escape to a beach resort to celebrate wifey’s birthday with a toddler in tow. It was planned as a relax holiday to just enjoy the luxurious villa and a bit of sightseeing.

Budget nature: For a luxurious and comfortable villa, it will not be cheap.

The resort accommodation was not cheap but we felt like royalty while staying at the resort (only maybe poorer after the trip). But seriously the staff was amazing with the services, especially when they tried to entertain my toddler as he got fussy. The butler was always there when you need attention. And 2 birthday cakes, thumbs up!

Complexity: Easy

We had airport transfer which was not cheap again. We also booked the driver direct from the resort albeit somewhat more expensive then what could be found outside.