2 months, 2 kids, 2 continents (technically)
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I can nearly see my room at Raffles - if I squint.
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It's the additional taxes that make the difference as we are used to having the final price shown (inc GST). 10% service tax and 7% GST pushes the price up a lot. The SIN metro would have been a good option to get back to the hotel (though a change of station). The City Hall station is in the Raffles shopping centre.
Edit - just saw you were using the MRT on the next day
We had quite a few coffees (and breakfast) at The Provider at the shopping centre - great coffee but then we discovered it came from Melbourne!
Yep. Once we figured out the MRT everything got much easier.
We did try providor. Probably the best coffee I had in SIN.
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Thanks for a great TR - sounded such a wonderful time to visit family and take the little ones on such an adventure.
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Danged autocorrect - of course I meant Providore
Some thoughts on Fairmont Singapore: generally pretty good and would recommend. Early check in the morning on arrival via ALL Gold status was very helpful. Really good location, especially once we worked out you can access two MRT stations without leaving the building. Also we made some good use of the Raffles City shopping centre: had some decent meals in the restaurants down there on a few occasions.
On the negative side: quite bad insulation in the rooms. We had one night with very noisy neighbours and even after they’d gone, every time someone in a nearby room flushed the toilet you could hear the water noise at all hours of the night.
Also a very dumb sensor light situation. The lights in the corridor to the bathroom would come on if you went past in the night. Nice concept, and sometimes they automatically shut off again after a period of no movement. But if they didn’t, the only way to turn them off was to use the master switch. Which was a toggle, so you had to turn *all* the lights on again first, and then shut them off. Not great design.
SQ207 back to MEL: firstly, no functioning wifi for almost the entire flight. Also, remember that Krisshop voucher I was given way back at the start when one of my BTC options wasn’t loaded? It’s not hugely easy to use Krisshop as a non Singapore resident. So I thought it would be a nice idea to pick up a few gifts for the kids to collect on our flight today. A nice end to the trip. Except… the order was not loaded onto the flight. Apologetic flight crew, but not much they could do at 30k feet. Have sent an email (and the crew submitted a report), so we’ll see what if anything happens from here.
Flight itself was very pleasant. Regional J so we hopped back in row 19 with the kids in the middle. Watched a couple of good movies and enjoyed the hospitality.
Satays…
BTC Singapore Laksa. (“You’ve made a good choice”, said the crew member on delivering the dish. “One of our most popular”)
Big call here, but this might just be the best meal I have ever had in the air. Strong recommend. Washed down with a Bordeaux and this big, dumb, entertaining Nic Cage movie.
Views:
On the negative side: quite bad insulation in the rooms. We had one night with very noisy neighbours and even after they’d gone, every time someone in a nearby room flushed the toilet you could hear the water noise at all hours of the night.
Also a very dumb sensor light situation. The lights in the corridor to the bathroom would come on if you went past in the night. Nice concept, and sometimes they automatically shut off again after a period of no movement. But if they didn’t, the only way to turn them off was to use the master switch. Which was a toggle, so you had to turn *all* the lights on again first, and then shut them off. Not great design.
SQ207 back to MEL: firstly, no functioning wifi for almost the entire flight. Also, remember that Krisshop voucher I was given way back at the start when one of my BTC options wasn’t loaded? It’s not hugely easy to use Krisshop as a non Singapore resident. So I thought it would be a nice idea to pick up a few gifts for the kids to collect on our flight today. A nice end to the trip. Except… the order was not loaded onto the flight. Apologetic flight crew, but not much they could do at 30k feet. Have sent an email (and the crew submitted a report), so we’ll see what if anything happens from here.
Flight itself was very pleasant. Regional J so we hopped back in row 19 with the kids in the middle. Watched a couple of good movies and enjoyed the hospitality.
Satays…
BTC Singapore Laksa. (“You’ve made a good choice”, said the crew member on delivering the dish. “One of our most popular”)
Big call here, but this might just be the best meal I have ever had in the air. Strong recommend. Washed down with a Bordeaux and this big, dumb, entertaining Nic Cage movie.
Views:
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve really enjoyed writing this so glad to hear that people have enjoyed following along. Now it’s my turn to live through other TRs while I wait for the next trip!
drron
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I really enjoyed the TR. what a wonderful time for the children.
We also loved the Fairmont. A great position. just past Raffles city is Chijmes full of restaurants including a couple of Michelin starred ones. So when without the kids...
We were lucky and stayed at the Fairmont on a luxury escapes deal which included Gold Lounge access. it was fabulous.
We also loved the Fairmont. A great position. just past Raffles city is Chijmes full of restaurants including a couple of Michelin starred ones. So when without the kids...
We were lucky and stayed at the Fairmont on a luxury escapes deal which included Gold Lounge access. it was fabulous.
Matt_01
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I chimed into this TR on page one as it involved kids in J and my daughter is yet to travel international Y. I am no expert when it comes to TRs however you seem to have found a balance between what to post and when. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading each of you posts and the France section has given us some further planning considerations for 2023.
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Matt_01
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IME most of the little horror travellers have been adults flying on the company's dime.
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Right. That’s a wrap from me. I’ve really enjoyed writing this and it seems you’ve all enjoyed reading so will definitely TR again.
We had an absolutely fantastic trip and were very lucky really that we had no major disruption to our plans: we dodged rail strikes, didn’t lose any luggage, had no major delays along the way, and COVID didn’t screw things up for us either.
On that: as many of you know Europe has very much moved on. No restrictions at all in the UK or France, and really the only thing left that we encountered was masks on public transport/taxis in Spain. Our vax certs were checked once (in line to check in for the Eurostar at St Pancras). Spain required a form to be filled and QR code to be generated, but no one at any point checked the actual vax certificates, they just trusted the date of last vax I entered on the form. Singapore requires an online form for entry, but it doesn’t ask for vax details and our certificates were not checked at either check in or Changi.
Singapore of course is still very mask-focussed, with them required indoors and at semi indoors places like Hawker centres. I’ve no philosophical objection to wearing them, but a bit of a culture shock getting used to it again after so long in the Euro bubble.
Not that COVID has gone away, of course. Noticed a lot of, ahem, *meaty* coughs in Barca in particular…
Would I change anything if I was doing the trip over? Not really—I think we got most stuff right. A good balance between seeing stuff and seeing friends and family. And a good amount of time in each place so it didn’t feel like too much rushing around. Probably the only big change I’d do would be to try to avoid flying within Europe. Train travel there is generally so much more pleasant. (We’re really spoiled having QF and VA here—for all their faults, the Aus domestic travel experience is just so much more pleasant than the intra-Europe low cost carriers).
The children travelled well. They are generally pretty well behaved anyway, and we have been training them from an early age so they are quite used to eating in restaurants (we always have colouring and/or toys with us to keep them occupied!) A couple of times we even had compliments from wait staff (in Paris, the waitress said how nice it was to see kids “doing kid stuff”—colouring in this case—rather than being shoved in front of an ipad, and in Saint-Émilion a waiter whispered to me as I was taking 3yo to the bathroom “your children are much better behaved than this other family”, gesturing to a Spanish family in another part of the restaurant), so we must be doing something right.
When are we off again? Well, no more 8 week adventures in the near future for us, sadly! The only thing booked for now is a week in Noosa in late January, staying at the Sofitel. We did this last January and loved it, so we’re going back. I may do a little TR on that, but that will be mostly food, beach and pool time.
It looks like I may have to do a work trip to visit a customer in South Africa next month, but not sure if there’s enough to write about as I’ll mostly see the inside of an office in Pretoria. And, <gasps>, I suspect they’ll be sending me there and back in Y. Quelle horreur.
But now it’s time to enjoy everyone else’s TRs and start planning the next proper trip. Some of our London friends are moving to Seattle, so there may be a US jaunt on the cards in the next year, and we really want to do a family Japan trip (I did a bunch of work trips there in the last couple of years before COVID, so really want to show the rest of the family what an amazing destination it is).
Anyway, as the pig says, that’s all folks. Thanks for your company.
We had an absolutely fantastic trip and were very lucky really that we had no major disruption to our plans: we dodged rail strikes, didn’t lose any luggage, had no major delays along the way, and COVID didn’t screw things up for us either.
On that: as many of you know Europe has very much moved on. No restrictions at all in the UK or France, and really the only thing left that we encountered was masks on public transport/taxis in Spain. Our vax certs were checked once (in line to check in for the Eurostar at St Pancras). Spain required a form to be filled and QR code to be generated, but no one at any point checked the actual vax certificates, they just trusted the date of last vax I entered on the form. Singapore requires an online form for entry, but it doesn’t ask for vax details and our certificates were not checked at either check in or Changi.
Singapore of course is still very mask-focussed, with them required indoors and at semi indoors places like Hawker centres. I’ve no philosophical objection to wearing them, but a bit of a culture shock getting used to it again after so long in the Euro bubble.
Not that COVID has gone away, of course. Noticed a lot of, ahem, *meaty* coughs in Barca in particular…
Would I change anything if I was doing the trip over? Not really—I think we got most stuff right. A good balance between seeing stuff and seeing friends and family. And a good amount of time in each place so it didn’t feel like too much rushing around. Probably the only big change I’d do would be to try to avoid flying within Europe. Train travel there is generally so much more pleasant. (We’re really spoiled having QF and VA here—for all their faults, the Aus domestic travel experience is just so much more pleasant than the intra-Europe low cost carriers).
The children travelled well. They are generally pretty well behaved anyway, and we have been training them from an early age so they are quite used to eating in restaurants (we always have colouring and/or toys with us to keep them occupied!) A couple of times we even had compliments from wait staff (in Paris, the waitress said how nice it was to see kids “doing kid stuff”—colouring in this case—rather than being shoved in front of an ipad, and in Saint-Émilion a waiter whispered to me as I was taking 3yo to the bathroom “your children are much better behaved than this other family”, gesturing to a Spanish family in another part of the restaurant), so we must be doing something right.
When are we off again? Well, no more 8 week adventures in the near future for us, sadly! The only thing booked for now is a week in Noosa in late January, staying at the Sofitel. We did this last January and loved it, so we’re going back. I may do a little TR on that, but that will be mostly food, beach and pool time.
It looks like I may have to do a work trip to visit a customer in South Africa next month, but not sure if there’s enough to write about as I’ll mostly see the inside of an office in Pretoria. And, <gasps>, I suspect they’ll be sending me there and back in Y. Quelle horreur.
But now it’s time to enjoy everyone else’s TRs and start planning the next proper trip. Some of our London friends are moving to Seattle, so there may be a US jaunt on the cards in the next year, and we really want to do a family Japan trip (I did a bunch of work trips there in the last couple of years before COVID, so really want to show the rest of the family what an amazing destination it is).
Anyway, as the pig says, that’s all folks. Thanks for your company.
VPS
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Many thanks for an excellent TR - I must admit I have a very soft spot for London so loved all the photos while you were there.
I know how time consuming writing a TR can be so well done for doing as you went especially with young children
I know how time consuming writing a TR can be so well done for doing as you went especially with young children
Lemon_Party
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Thanks for a great TR - setting off in a month for a mix of Europe and UK and the first long haul experience with our little one. Good to see how much you can still achieve with children on tour and your trip has me wishing we’d put Bordeaux on the list!
A small PS wrapping up a few loose ends…
After some back and forth with customer service, Hertz France refunded the spurious €70 cleaning fee. Result.
On the downside, returned home to a mountain of post including a letter from Hertz France telling me we got a speeding ticket and they have passed our details on. Date and time of the offence are within an hour of getting the car but no more details than that. My fail here—the indication to slow down on driving through a town in France is the sign with the town name (there’s no explicit speed limit sign when it drops to 50). Must have missed one at just the wrong time when there was a camera. Oops. Haven’t received the actual fine yet, but online research suggests it will be €135 (or €90 if paid promptly). We’ll call that a draw.
I didn’t mention this at the time, but Europcar emailed *a week* after we returned their rental at MAN alleging that we damaged one of the tyres. I’m sure we didn’t. This was not picked up on return (I stood there while the car was checked over) so something suspicious going on there (there was already a heap of damage on that vehicle when we got it so not surprised we didn’t spot it if pre-existing). Have emailed customer service and still waiting a response. Ultimately our AMEX insurance should cover whatever they end up charging for this, but it’s sure to be a faff sorting it out. We really didn’t have the best luck with any of our car rentals tbh.
Krisshop made good on their failure to load my order onto our last flight (which I only ordered because they gave me a voucher for failing to load my BTC selection on the first flight). They don’t normally ship outside of Singapore, but they made an exception in this case. This box arrived today by DHL…
Some treats for the children…
My next trip will be for work in September to South Africa. Tickets booked and I am indeed slumming it in Y this time. Really need to have a word with our CEO about our long haul travel policy...
That said, revenue ticket prices are insane at the moment. Flying SQ MEL-SIN-JNB at ~$3.5k for Y (the other option was a slightly shorter QF itinerary via SYD, at well over $4k, although tbh if I have to go Y, prefer SQ over QF, plus have lounge access via VA status during the 1.5 hour stopovers in SIN). J would have been ~$11k. For context the last time I did this trip (in 2018) the flights (also in Y) were $1.3k. I don’t think there will be enough to justify a TR but I may post some updates from the KF Gold lounge in SIN. Be interesting to compare to our recent visit to the SK (J) lounge.
After some back and forth with customer service, Hertz France refunded the spurious €70 cleaning fee. Result.
On the downside, returned home to a mountain of post including a letter from Hertz France telling me we got a speeding ticket and they have passed our details on. Date and time of the offence are within an hour of getting the car but no more details than that. My fail here—the indication to slow down on driving through a town in France is the sign with the town name (there’s no explicit speed limit sign when it drops to 50). Must have missed one at just the wrong time when there was a camera. Oops. Haven’t received the actual fine yet, but online research suggests it will be €135 (or €90 if paid promptly). We’ll call that a draw.
I didn’t mention this at the time, but Europcar emailed *a week* after we returned their rental at MAN alleging that we damaged one of the tyres. I’m sure we didn’t. This was not picked up on return (I stood there while the car was checked over) so something suspicious going on there (there was already a heap of damage on that vehicle when we got it so not surprised we didn’t spot it if pre-existing). Have emailed customer service and still waiting a response. Ultimately our AMEX insurance should cover whatever they end up charging for this, but it’s sure to be a faff sorting it out. We really didn’t have the best luck with any of our car rentals tbh.
Krisshop made good on their failure to load my order onto our last flight (which I only ordered because they gave me a voucher for failing to load my BTC selection on the first flight). They don’t normally ship outside of Singapore, but they made an exception in this case. This box arrived today by DHL…
Some treats for the children…
My next trip will be for work in September to South Africa. Tickets booked and I am indeed slumming it in Y this time. Really need to have a word with our CEO about our long haul travel policy...
That said, revenue ticket prices are insane at the moment. Flying SQ MEL-SIN-JNB at ~$3.5k for Y (the other option was a slightly shorter QF itinerary via SYD, at well over $4k, although tbh if I have to go Y, prefer SQ over QF, plus have lounge access via VA status during the 1.5 hour stopovers in SIN). J would have been ~$11k. For context the last time I did this trip (in 2018) the flights (also in Y) were $1.3k. I don’t think there will be enough to justify a TR but I may post some updates from the KF Gold lounge in SIN. Be interesting to compare to our recent visit to the SK (J) lounge.
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