Travel for the sake of travel - last hurrah before baby

billmurray

Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Posts
231
Back in Jan 2026 - I booked an extremely short solo furlough for May 2026 to burn through my near 1m VFF points with the imminent arrival of baby #2 in July . We have done well with our first kid, clocking in 8 international business class flights. Now he's 2 years old, any future family trips in J will be near impossible.

I wished to experience QA J and in Jan I was able to book SYD - SIN, SIN - DOH then DOH - SYD, all in J. My SIN - DOH flight was cancelled nearly 4-6 weeks ago when the M.E war kicked off (only notified of this fact through Flighty, no formal email from VA or QA), so was on the hunt since then to save my trip.


I found a SIN - SYD in PE, which i booked as a backup, but this was an unacceptable way to travel. Weeks went by, checking daily, exhausting all routes & options to fly home in J but with no luck. Running concurrently, to continue my love affair with Japan, I had an alerts saved for direct flights, when yesterday morning a HND – SYD become available which I booked immediately. Spent all day yesterday trying to leapfrog to Japan, only option I could work out was SIN - HAN - HND flight with SQ – and was going to book it the next day after thinking it over.

However, fortune struck late last night - i was checking one last time before going to bed and i spotted the elusive F rewards seat. It was SIN - SYD, BA via QA. 75k AVIOS points & $450 in taxes. Although the older 787 product, and an overnight flight, i booked it because why not, i believe I also have access to the Qantas F lounge?

Accommodation booked with Accor, using the free night stay via Amex Platinum. So for now, I’m fully committed to 3 full days in Singapore (unless a SYD - HND flight becomes available in the interim).

Plan to bring nothing but a backpack and a camera. Leaving on Thursday 7th 3pm and come back Monday 11th 6am. Just need some ideas of things to do in Singapore now (Except for the standard touristy things).
 
Some suggestions for Singapore :-

- a visit to the island of Pulau Ubin. One of the last bits of jungle and kampong style living in Singapore. You have to catch a bumboat from Changi Pointe to get there. As an extra treat Changi Village Hawkers Centre is also probably one of the last 'traditional' hawker centres with very traditional food at great prices.


- if you are a bit of a nature lover visit the Sungei Buloh Wetlands. Mangroves mud flats and the chance of seeing crocodiles and otters.


- walk the southern ridges trail. Great views plenty of interesting vegetation and animals to see


- 'climb' Bukit Timah Hill

 
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