Our Scoot airlines experience and 30 hour layover in Singapore. Featuring a capsule hotel, some pretty gardens and Sam being over friendly with the merlion!
Welcome to the first entry in the adventures of Lucy & Sam do travel things!
After months of planning, we finally stepped out the door with our backpacks and set off on our European adventure!
Scoot is Singapore Airlines budget airline. And budget it is! It was a third of the cost of flying with any other airline. We thought we were well prepared for the flight but as we were told we were “in for an experience” - and what an experience it was!
We probably cut it close getting to Melbourne airport only an hour and a half before the flight but as with all things Melbourne airport, we were checked in and through security within fifteen minutes of arriving. Scoots model is very add-on orientated. You want food on your flight - you pay for it. You want water on your flight - that water ain’t free. However, you can bring your own water on the flight. So my first stop after security was to fill up 2 x 1.5 litre bottles of water to get us through the 8 hour flight to Singapore.
The flight was of course delayed (typical budget airline). However, there was some nice reassurance that our bags were actually on the plane - our newly invested Apple Airtags doing their thing!
For a budget airline, Scoot is actually flying some relatively new aircraft. Both our flights were on Boeing-787 Dreamliners. However, it was very apparent on boarding the aircraft that they were definitely scrimping on maintenance. The overhead lockers were scuffed up and the ceiling of the cabins looked like they had some sort of mould or smoke staining. The stickers and signage on the air craft were also peeling off and all of Sam’s chair buttons were broken. About mid-way through our flight, the seat row a few in front of us actually collapsed and they had to move those passengers to new seats.
I was very surprised at the leg room and the seats themselves were comfy enough. We had pre-ordered one meal (because technically no outside food is allowed on the aircraft) which consisted of ginger chicken on rice. It was relatively tasteless and came with a weird pack of tiny soft cookies and a soft drink.
The worst part for me was the bathrooms. They were definitely not cleaned regularly during the 8 hour flight. I honestly felt for all the passengers sitting next to the bathrooms (especially the ones who were conned into an upgrade for the extra legroom). Our seats themselves weren’t the cleanest - they definitely hadn’t cleaned the tray tables between our flight and the previous and Sam had strands of hair stuck to his window shade.
Entertainment-wise, Scoot offers nothing. We both knew this so had pre-prepared our iPads with downloaded movies and TV shows. However, if you want power at your seat you have to pay for it. Both iPads just managed to last the distance (Sam was gaming so ran out of power about three quarters of the way). Thank god for noise cancelling headphones. I honestly wouldn’t have survived either flight without them.
We came in to Singapore airport 20 minutes later than scheduled but relatively unscathed. The flight actually went quite quickly in the end. Would I fly Scoot again? Yes, surprisingly. The next flight to Berlin was a massive improvement and you can’t argue with the price. I’d much rather spend my money at my destination. You just have to go in with the knowledge and preparation of what to expect.
We decided to break up our flights and stop for 30 hours in Singapore. Initially we were going to train into the city but at the baggage claim area there were a heap of discounts for different ride share companies (apparently Uber isn’t a thing in Singapore). We scored a 15SGD (AUD$16.50), ride to Chinatown which, after the flight, I was very happy to pay just to get to our accommodation to relax.
We decided to try something new and stay in a Capsule hotel. If you’ve never heard of them, a Capsule hotel is full of what I would describe as enclosed bunk spaces. It’s like a hostel but with the addition of a semblance of privacy as each capsule can be closed off. The capsule was just high enough for Sam to sit up in and came with lockers and power in the capsule for charging devices. It was an experience - one I won’t do again. My main gripe was the capsules got very warm during the night. There’s no air-conditioning in the capsules so you ended up having to open your capsule to the main room which kind of defeats the purpose of the capsule for privacy. The bathrooms again weren’t very clean and got very hot as they had no ventilation. Again, it was relatively cheap for $117AUD for both of us in the heart of Chinatown - it even included breakfast the following morning!
We arrived at our accommodation around 8pm so decided to try find something to eat. Our first stop was to a Hawker Hall but unfortunately we had no Singaporean cash on us so weren’t able to purchase anything. I had read online that the majority of places in Singapore accept card however now I know that small food vendors don’t so will be better prepared next time. We ended up having a nice dinner at Jia Rui Yipin washed down with some Tiger beer - so a success in the end!
Also, I can’t escape work apparently!
After a very sticky, hot night, I awoke to my 32nd birthday! We had breakfast at the hotel which was ok. Sam was a little harsh but I didn’t think it was too bad. They had cereal, toast, eggs and fried noodles as well as tea, coffee and juice.
We then decided to go for a walk around Chinatown before we had to check out. It was interesting how many coffee houses there were in the area! The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple was beautiful and we arrived in time to listen to the morning chanting. Unfortunately we then got caught in a passing thunderstorm and had to hightail it back to the accommodation.
The hotel was great and agreed to hold our bags for the day so we checked out and headed over to the Gardens By the Bay.
We meandered through the gardens until I spotted Shake Shack and got super excited. If you don’t know, Shake Shack is an American burger chain and one of my guilty pleasures from my time in the states. Unfortunately the Singapore version was not as good but it was nice to escape into the air conditioning as it was so hot and sticky.
We stopped at the water lilies by the Art Science museum where I had a visit from a multitude of fish friends!
We then ended up in the Marina Bay Sands shopping centre (again to escape the heat). We then spotted the Apple Store, which obscenely takes up a prime waterfront position.
After a quick Starbucks break we continued around to the Merlion where I got a silly photo of Sam!
Earlier, we had walked past the two massive domes of the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. We had looked at the entry prices and initially decided to pass but with some time left, we decided to head back and go through the Flower Dome. It was as expected, a bunch of pretty flowers! The air conditioning was nice but our main source of entertainment was watching all the influencers striking poses.
For dinner, I spotted a Mexican place (Chimi’s Mariner Bay) and was instantly gunning for the margarita’s.
Our time in Singapore had come to an end. We had a nice day exploring but by the end I was looking forward to leaving. Apart from the pretty gardens and the opulence of the waterfront buildings, Singapore really doesn’t have much else going for it. I’m sure other people would enjoy Singapore - maybe we just didn’t do the right things! It was definitely a good stop to break up our journey - I don’t believe we would have got to Europe as well rested as we were without the stopover.
The hotel still had our bags and very kindly even let us have a shower before we headed off to the airport! It was very appreciated after walking around in the heat!
Next stop Berlin! ✈️