Tag: solo travel

Singapore is our first international and third mom-daughter trip. Though we traveled to Singapore during one of my husband’s work trips, all the sightseeing was left to us.

Before I start off on my weekly itinerary of our Singapore trip, a few things helped me float.

Keep one itinerary a day – Traveling with toddlers is not like planning with adults. You always need to have a contingency plan. Planning an activity or one visit per day ensures:

• Not too exhausting for the child.
• Be prepared for situations where uncertainties, like her health or weather condition, impact minimal rescheduling.

Carry a stroller – this is a must! Singapore has tons of things to see and loads of walking. I am sure I would not be able to cover it if I had to carry a 14-kg child and a bag. Many times, my daughter would fall asleep in the stroller, and it was okay to carry her around.

Choose peace over perfection – The thing is, in an unknown place, when you are the only known factor for your child, if you lose your cool, it gets them into a helpless situation. So, as an adult, it is up to us to control our expectations and let them be kids.

Okay, now into the details:

We stayed in the “Village Hotel Bugis” in the CKP area, which is close to my husband’s office and also a central point for any kind of walk around or finding a cab ride.

Here is my day-wise itinerary:

Day 1: Explore Bugis Street Shopping:

We landed on a Sunday morning, jetlagged, and kept the day mostly to rest. In the evening, we walked to Bugis Junction. This is a buzzing place to catch up on local eateries and shopping (both streetside and mall). We just enjoyed food at an old hacker restaurant and street food.

Day 2: Garden by the Bay

We covered three venues:

1. Cloud Forest ft. Avatar: This place brings back the memories of Jake Sully visiting the forest of Pandora in Avatar. This park is situated on six levels, with each level hosting some theme, activity, or experience from the movie Avatar. 

Must try: Cloud Walk, Secret Garden, Cloud Forest Theatre (light show)

2. Flower Dome: This place is ideal for anyone who loves flowers or is interested in different species of plants. Also, a must-go for Instagram click. My daughter was totally smitten by this place, especially the Chinese New Year décor, which made it a super hit.

3. Floral Fantasy: Floral fantasy has a dreamland effect about it. It’s peaceful, and by the time we were in this place, my daughter was completely tired. So, it was more of a peaceful time, soaking in the serenity of the place before calling it a day.

Debbie’s insight:

• Pre-book your tickets from Klook helps a lot to skip the queue.
• Floral fantasy is farthest from entry. You can walk or take a buggy ride. The tickets for the buggy ride are not available online; you will need to buy them at the venue.
• It is a huge park; people come here for their walks, jogging, exercise, etc. So, if you do not want to visit all these paid venues, you can also get a general ticket to go around the park.

Day 3: Art and Science Museum and Merlion Park

The “Future World: Where Art Meets Science” gallery in the Art and Science Museum, located at Marina Bay Sands, is a must-visit if you have kids.

This place will elevate your senses with light, color, simulations, and art. There are activities like:

1. Activity 1 (Sketch Flight) : You can color pictures of sea creatures (like fish, octopus, lobster, etc.) and scan them (do not forget to write your name on them) and then watch the colorful drawing come live and swim on a giant interactive screen.
2. Activity 2 (Sketch Flight Simulation) : Same as Activity 1, but with birds and airplanes. The fun part is that you also get a simulator to navigate it on the giant screen.
3. Experience Autonomous Abstraction : This is a room where images of flora and fauna are projected on the walls. It has an infinite feeling.
   Crystal Universe : This creates the illusion of stars moving in space with an infinite number of crystal lights.

Merlion Park:

The famous statue of Merlion, a half-lion and half-fish mythical character. This was a touristy place with loads of eateries around. We got some great clicks and spent some time on the dock.

I love to share one non-touristy thing that we did: walk from Merlion Park to our hotel. Walking through some no-vehicle streets around the Parliament, National Gallery Singapore, and the Art House. It was a lovely walk for me and a peaceful sleep time in the stroller for my daughter.

Day 4: Universal Studios and S.E.A. Aquarium

Universal Studios: A Few things that you need to know before you plan a trip to Universal Studios:

1. Most of the rides are not allowed for kids under 4 years old. So, you may want to skip it if you have a younger child. I did not (my daughter was 3 years and 3 months old). We were allowed on 3–4 rides; meeting animation characters and the overall fantasy land feel were fun.

2. Please buy an express ticket. I did not see any express ticket options on Klook, so I bought it at the venue. It was worth it. Saves a lot of wait time.

3. You can exit and enter multiple times during the open hours.

4. Unlike most of the places in Singapore, Universal Studios is an outdoor venue, so there is no central air conditioning. Be prepared to bear the heat.

S.E.A Aquarium: This was a huge hit with my daughter. She loved the experience of being near so many sea animals. The entire experience of sharks swimming above your head or large manatees in huge aquariums was thrilling to watch. The aha moment was when two dolphins rubbed noses on the glass wall across from my daughter and two other toddlers.

Debbie’s insight:

We were told there is a dolphin show hosted at this venue. It wasn’t running while we visited, check it out for your visit.

Day 5: Marina Bay Sands-Skypark

The morning was mostly spent relaxing at the hotel pool. We spent the evenings at Marina Bay Sands Skypark. The view is spectacular from the 56-story building. You can see almost all the attractions of Singapore from their deck.

Debbie’s insight:

Ensure you book this visit on the day when there are light and music shows. The experience is enthralling.

Day 6: Mandai Wildlife Reserve: Singapore Zoo, and River Wonders

Our sixth day was extremely exciting for my daughter. The Mandai Wildlife Reserve is almost an hour’s drive from the city center.

River Wonders:

It hosts an extensive and diverse collection of aquatic animals. They also have a large water body where they take you in a boat.

Singapore Zoo:

It’s everything that you expect a large open habitat would be, including the number of species of animals’ birds. Most of them are in an open enclosure with a large area for movement.

Debbie’s insight:

• River Wonders was a larger version of S.E.A. Aquarium; the collection of species was much larger, but the concept was the same. If you plan to come here, you can skip the S.E.A. Aquarium.
• River Wonder has a huge water body inside the establishment, and they take you on a boat ride. However, this ride has a height and age cutoff for children, which did not work for us.
• There is a hop-on, hop-off tram ride in the zoo. It is not very helpful. You can barely see the animals from the tram. It’s more like a speed tour.
• Lots of outdoor walking, Carry water and your caps.
• The zoo has a night safari; we skipped it.

Day 7: ChinaTown and Night Cruise

The last day in Singapore was more of a ‘me time’ while hubby took care of the kiddo.

To me, traveling is about experiencing the culture, people, and food. In Singapore, I experienced the aura in Chinatown. This place felt right out of a Hollywood movie. Busy lanes, jaw-dropping street art, kind and gentle smiles, old shops selling knick-knacks, kind shopkeepers, and an amazing opportunity to shop for unique souvenirs

We closed the evening by enjoying a night cruise boat ride from Marina Bay Sands. It’s a great 40-minute ride. You get to see all the major attractions at night, including the Merlion statue.

Debbie’s insight:

• Check out the dollar store for souvenir shopping.
• I am glad I explored Chinatown on my own; it is not possible to push a stroller in that crowd.
• There are some amazing street artists to pose with.
• Do not miss out on your lunch at Hawker Chan (1 Michelin Star) or the food court at Maxwell Food Centre.

Day 8: Changi Airport

Well, as many of you may already know, Changi Airport has a lot to cover. So layovers at Changi are bliss. We spent some time on our day back at Jewel and the Butterfly Garden.

Local travel recommendations:

1. Opt for CDG cabs over Grab; they are a few bucks cheaper. You can download apps on your phone.
2. Grab delivers food, so if you can explore Grab like Swiggy or Zomato,
3. When booking a cab, select options if you are traveling with kids. Please ensure you select that while making your cab reservations. Protocols are pretty strict here; they would cancel your booking if you made a reservation claiming only adults as passengers.

Shopping Recommendations:

1. Bugis street
2. China Town (Dollar Shop)

About Me:

My name is Deboshree Roy, a mom to a 3.5-year-old toddler, an ex-corporate executive, an aspiring entrepreneur, and a wanderer at heart. Currently, I am on a work break, experimenting with the fangs of entrepreneurship and exploring an interesting juncture of parenthood.