Escape plan to Seychelles February 2018

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Seychelles 2018:

Total duration 12D11N
Singapore is 2.5hrs ahead of Sri Lanka and 4hrs ahead of Seychelles.
Flight time is 4hrs on Sri Lankan Airlines from Singapore to Colombo and 4hrs on Sri Lankan Airlines from Colombo to Mahe.

Afternoon flight on 9th Feb at 3pm and arrival in Sri Lanka at 420pm followed by a transit duration of 15hrs 25 mins.
Morning flight of 8am on 10th Feb and arrival in Seychelles at 1035am.
Return flight is on the 19th Feb at 535am and arrival in Colombo at 1120am followed by a transit duration of 13hrs 40min.
Morning flight of 1am on the 20th Feb and arrival in Singapore at 730am.

Day 1 Transit stay at Negombo
Day 2 Arrival into Mahe
Day 3 Anse Interdence, Anse Royale town and Maria’s rock cafe
Day 4 Ferry to La Digue
Day 5 Anse Source D’Agent beach and Giant Tortoises
Day 6 Valentine’s on Praslin
Day 7 Valle de Mai and the Coco de Mer
Day 8 Curieuse island, Giant Tortoise and Anse Lazio beach
Day 9 Mahe and The Magic Circus of Samoa
Day 10 Beau Vallon beach
Day 11/12 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was to utilised the long weekend from the Lunar New Year to get away for some R&R. Since during this period of time, the northern hemisphere would always be cold and we did not want to go to Australia (again!) and coupled with the irresistible airlines deals offered in December by Sri Lanka airlines, we decided on a visit to Seychelles for CNY.

Budget nature: Very expensive due to costly hotels and food.

Most of our budget was spent on food as each restaurant meal can turn up to about 60SGD per meal. Accommodation was overall costing higher than those we normally take in other parts of the world but these were pretty close to the beautiful beaches/waters. Although fuel price was comparable to that in Singapore and Seychelles islands being relatively small, we did not spend a lot of pumping gas. Activities and trips were not cheap and were offered in Euros.

Complexity: Easy to get around in a car.

It was easy to drive around in a car as the islands were served by a single lane road most of the time. However, in order to get from the east to west coasts, we had to cut across the hills by going through curvy hilly roads that might be difficult in terms of road sickness and also at night due to the lack of lights.

Escape Plan to Egypt August 2008

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Egypt August 2008:

Total duration 9D9N
Cairo is 6hrs behind Singapore.
Flight time is 11hrs 20mins to Cairo, Egypt, transiting through Dubai, UAE.

Flight was overnight flight on Singapore Airlines on the 22nd August at 2:20am and arrival in Cairo at 7:40am.
Return flight was on Singapore Airlines on the 30th August at 2:30pm in Cairo and arrival in Singapore at 6am.

Day 1 – Arrive into Cairo, Giza Great Pyramids
Day 2 – Alexandria, Catacombs, Pompey’s pillar, Al Morsi Abu Al Abbas mosque, Quit Bay forte and El Montazeh Park
Day 3 – Egyptian Museum, Saqqara, Ben Ezra Synagogue, Amr El A’as Mosque, Khan El Khalili Bazaars, overnight train
Day 4 – Aswan, Unfinished obelisk, Abu Simbel Temple, River Nile cruise.
Day 5 – Temple of Philae, Temple of Sobek and Kom Ombo temple
Day 6 – Edfu temple, Dendara Temple complex
Day 7 – Colossi of Mermon, Temple of Hatsphepsut, Valley of the Kings, Temple of Luxor and Karnak
Day 8/9 – Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was one that was planned on a hunch. Thought we wanted to see something different so we just went into a tour agency and booked a trip to Egypt.

Budget nature: Expensive

As this was booked really late, flights are costly. The tour package did not include many places of interest but rather as options. We had to visit Abu Simbel so associated travel costs also increase.

Complexity: Not too difficult

Since we were on tour, it was pretty simple, as the guide was mostly there all the time except when we had to board a train to get to Aswan that we were on our own.