Our flight to Singapore was scheduled at 9:50 AM, with an hour drive we were scheduled to leave the Conrad after 7:30 AM. We heated the breakfast and got juices from the breakfast (Zest). The bellman came to take our luggage and we went to the lobby. Our butler, Natt, was waiting for us there with a new pair of monogrammed slippers (after housekeeping took them out of the room for cleaning…). They gave us again a small star, a lizard and a turtle plush for our daughter. The nice Toyota SUV was waiting for us but we had to wait for them to bring a car seat.
Last morning at the Conrad:
Goodbye:
The stay at the Conrad was really amazing! Besides the fact that they gave us a 2 nights free upgrade to the 2 bedroom villa, they were extremely helpful for everything we needed throughout the stay. Our butler Natt was always here to help us with anything we needed with just a WhatsApp message. She brought us a big case of water bottles at the beginning of the stay and always made sure we have everything we need (I tipped her nicely that day). The staff were always very nice to us and especially with our daughter, sometimes going out of their way to bend and smile at her. The staff at the Turtle (kids) club were really amazing and so kind, although we didn’t take much advantage of their free service.
I also forgot to mention that on the 2nd of our stay I bought Diapers and beers from the
Tops App, it was very easy to buy (with a US CC) with free delivery and the hotel staff brought it to the room. I knew about this app before leaving the US and was planning on buying diapers locally instead of schlepping them.
We drove about 50 minutes to the airport. This day (February 2nd) was the first day that Singapore banned all travelers that were in China in the past 14 days and the hotel sent me an email to make sure we weren’t in China previously. The terminal is open to the outside (a bit like in Kauai) and they have a nice rest area outside between the baggage drop and security.
I asked the lady at the counter to check through our luggage to our final destination (MLE). We had 2 separate tickets to fly to Singapore and then to MLE with 2 different airlines, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines. Since SilkAir is the regional wing of Singapore Airlines I figured it would be easy to check through and we won’t have to take our luggage for our 8 hours layover. Nevertheless, the lady had to make 2 phone calls and another 15 minutes on her computer to get it done.
On the way to security:
After we finished with our luggage I had to exchange all the Bahts I got from the Hotel to USD. The exchange bureau had a really good rate but they were missing some bills so I had to mix some USD and EUR, then I checked the XE app and realized I got the exact exchange rate, go figure.
After security, we went to the Blue Ribbon lounge (Bangkok airways) with our PP card. Since we were a bit late because of the car seat, check through process, and the exchange bureau procedure, we had only 10 minutes to grab fruit and juices and to head to the airplane.
Our flight was half empty and we were seated in the first economy row (bassinet) with 3 seats. The crew were really nice and brought us a plush airplane with their logo. On our short 2 hours flight, we were seated next to a German couple with a toddler, they were the previous months in China working for a german company and spent the past few weeks in Thailand for vacation, now they had to go back to Germany because of the virus.
Approaching SIN airport:
It took only 20 minutes from the time we landed till we were in the Taxi.
The army was screening everyone for fever at the airport and someone came to check the temperature of the baby in the stroller.
We booked a cab through Grab, and this time I was able to pay with my US CC (unlike Thailande). We drove 20 minutes to the
Jacob Ballas center for SGD $17 (USD $12), to meet my young brother and eat lunch at Awafi restaurant. My brother arrived in Singapore 2 weeks earlier, he came for Shlicus for the year. Although we were planning anyway to transit through Singapore, it was another good reason to be there.
On the way:
At the entrance, someone came to take our temperature and we passed security easily because they knew my brother.
We went to the restaurant upstairs and ordered a Falafel plate (comes with a few Pitas), a chicken salad and Fries. The menu is very limited and the chicken is not so fresh usually, but the Falafel and salad were good and affordable prices. Since we also ordered meals for our Maldives trip through the restaurant, I paid all the balance at once, I paid USD $107 for 4 meals and what we ordered that day.
After lunch we were headed to the
Gardens by the bay we had to pay by cash only for the Subway so I withdrew money with my SoFi money card and paid about $5 for 2 tickets RT.
Marina Bay:
#futuretogether exhibition: (very nice at night)
Since it was raining a bit (for 5 minutes), they closed temporarily the
Supertree grove. We decided to buy tickets for the
Flower Dome and the
Cloud Forest, we paid SGD $58 for both of us for the admission in both places. It was really worth it to visit them. They have beautiful sculptures and flowers but I’ll let the picture speak for themselves.
Flower Dome:
Cloud Forest:
We spent about 45 minutes in each place and walked back to the subway.
We went back to the Jewish center to pick up our frozen meals and took a Grab to the airport. We checked in the carry on with our meals and went to shower at the Ambassador Transit Lounge. The lounge is not of the nicest but was enough to be refreshed from the long day.
Sunflower Garden at Terminal 2:
(our original plan was to spend the night at the Four Season in Singapore and fly Monday morning to MLE. Since we had already a short stay in the Maldives, we decided to spend the night also at the Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives and just tour a bit during the layover. We used a free weekend night for that Sunday night at the hotel and arranged the boat transfer to the hotel at 10:30 PM since they do the Yacht transfer for any flight at any time. I changed our flight and
got refunded 50% of the miles and also the
change fees were refunded).
We boarded the flight, a few months earlier they changed this route to the Dreamliner instead of the A330, we got again bassinet seats. The crew are really the nicest in the air, even in coach, and they brought us a big amenity bag for our daughter (diapers, Lion king’s plush and a baby bib), it’s interesting that on the way back, on Business we didn’t get this amenity bag.
The flight of 4 hours went very smoothly, they have lots of programs and a rich selection for kids, and again we got an extra seat next to us.
When we landed, I saw a China Southern aircraft (probably
CZ3059/3060 to CMB and then CAN). At the immigration, they handed a paper to everyone about the Coronavirus. It had medical questions and also questions about recent travel to China. It seems to me that they began to ask to fill up this form that same day and maybe we were from the first. The next day (2/3) it was announced in the media that Maldives bans all travelers from China. (I don’t know if the travelers from Guangzhou, China were allowed in or were sent back, from what the hotel staff told me later, I believed they weren’t allowed in).
While we waited for our luggage to come, 2 guys that didn’t speak English approached me to offer some help, I asked them if they were from the hotel and they said yes, although I knew they weren’t, I let them help me for a $2 tip. After we passed the customs there was a guy waiting for us with the hotel sign and told us that we’ll be the only ones on the Yacht so we are not gonna have any wait time.
After going out of the airport to the fresh air, we waited less than 5 minutes and the Yacht approached the dock. It’s a beautiful large
Princess Yacht about 55 ft long with 2 rooms downstairs we sat on the couch on the main deck and they served us fruits and juices.
The bedroom downstairs:
They also took our passports to send a picture to the hotel to make it faster for the check-in. The crew (4) onboard was really nice, they put the Baby Shark music for the baby. It was an hour boat ride, a bit longer than usual because of the rough waves during the night. When we approached the deck there were 5 people from the hotel waiting and waiving from the deck, a warm welcome.
The original price for the boat transfer was $700 (+23%) /P RT and free for children (in 2020 they reduced it to $600 RT++ for new reservations). Because there was an old language in their website until February 15th 2019 (the exact date we reserved 2 of our nights) for $370++ RT,
they honored this price for us.
We arrived at midnight to the hotel and the only thing we wanted was to get to our room as soon as possible, we were tired from that long day and it was time to have a good sleep. From the dozens of requests I sent the hotel prior to my arrival was to get an overwater villa in the 100’s, for many reasons that I’ll explain later it was important for me to not be in the 700’s in the north but in the 100’s in the south.
Our butler
Shiam brought us to the reception which is next to
Peacock Alley and told me that we got a Villa in the 700’s… Although the hotel
upgraded/downgraded us to the Overwater villa from the standard beach villa for the whole stay, I wasn’t happy that they didn’t allocate us to the south side. We had to wait for another 40 minutes until we got a room in the 100’s and made it ready. Because it wasn’t the room they prepared originally, it was missing the crib, amenity kits, the Kosher wine and welcome fruit basket (they brought all of it later on and the next day). We went to sleep around 2 AM in the gorgeous Villa, more of it in the next installment. When we woke up in the morning we already forgot all about it.
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