Shopping Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

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.

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to South Korea 2011:

Total duration 13D12N
South Korea is 1hrs ahead of Singapore.
Flight time is 11hrs 50mins on Cathay Pacific with a transit at Hong Kong before arrival at Incheon Airport.

Morning flight is on Cathay Pacific on 26th October at 1:15am and arrival in Hong Kong at 5:10am and depart Hong Kong at 9:30am and arrive at Seoul at 2:05pm.
Return flight is on Cathay Pacific on the 7th November at 10:15am and arrival in Hong Kong at 1:15pm and transfer to 4pm flight and arrival at 7:45pm in Singapore on the 7th November.

Day 1 – Arrival in Seoul, Jogyesa Temple and Jonggak shopping.
Day 2 – Palace hopping, Seodaemun Prison and Shopping
Day 3 – Mt. Sorak and Sinheungsa Temple
Day 4 – Seoraksan cable car, Gwongeumseong Fortress and bus to Daegu
Day 5 – Day trip to historical town of Gyeongju
Day 6 – Beomeosa Temple, Geumjeong Fortress, Seokbul-sa Temple and Jagalchi Market
Day 7 – Yonggungsa Temple, Gwangandaegyo Bridge and Busan shopping
Day 8 – From Busan to Jeju and Mysterious Road, Miniature Land and rocks
Day 9 – Seongsan Ilchulbong, Manjanggul Lava Cave, Sangumburi Crater, Jeju Folk Museum and Haenyeo Woman Divers
Day 10 – Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff, Teddy Bear Museum, Sanbangsan and flight from Jeju to Seoul
Day 11 – DMZ tour – world’s most heavily fortified border
Day 12 – Shopping again at Seoul
Day 13 – Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was planned to cover 2 days of public holiday consecutively to minimise the number of leave days required, so that 7 days leave yielded 13 days of holidaying.

Budget nature: Affordable outside city.

Other than the big cities where prices were expected to be higher, moving around the other areas of this big country can be pretty affordable. Take public transportation and stay at non-luxurious accommodation to bring costs down.

Complexity: Not so straightforward.

Cities and tourist places were very well connected with public transport. However, language became a barrier for communication especially outside Seoul. The hand language worked though, and the translation on Lonely Planet guide book made it easier.

Driving in Jeju helped to us to get from places to places effectively in the huge island and since traffic was light, it was not difficult to drive.

Escape Plan to Hong Kong November 2017