ThePassportPrincess

Day 82 Singapore – Brisbane

November 1, 2015November 29, 2015Sarah1 Comment

Saturday 31st October

Is this page wet?
Excuse me if it is, those are just my end-of-travel tears.

Yes, today is my last day of being in another country. Well I guess Australia is technically my last country as I am leaving the airport for a few hours there but Singapore is technically my last country I’ll be sleeping in.

I got up earlier than usual this morning so I could check out of my hostel by 10am.
Myself and my 32kgs of baggage. (Yes I’m over my 30kg allowance but airport staff seem to love me at the moment)
I headed to the airport around 11.30am with all my stuff and had a lovely conversation with the taxi driver. He agreed with me about it being too humid to get out and do anything in Singapore. He told me I should have gone to Malaysia because the temperature is much more tolerable there. I’ll remember for next time…

After paying him $15 for the ride (so cheap I know) I headed to my check in desk and I was like half an hour early. *sigh* no one was there so I went to the GST tax-back counter and put a receipt through so I could claim back some money I’d spent last night on skincare.
You would not believe how much I got back!!!
$5 woohoo!! And what’s even more fun is I put it back onto my card so it’ll take 10 days to show up.
I really should have collected more tax refund receipts when I was shopping… oh well.

Eventually it was time to check in so I put my bags through and then headed off to duty free. I basically spent the very last dollars I had on my travel card (in gifts I may add) and then went and got Subway for lunch.
For someone who hates Subway and thinks it’s not that fresh AT ALL I sure seem to be having it alot lately.
The meatball sub is my flavour of the week 😉

My Emirates flight departed about 3.15pm and for the second time on my travels, I really got into an in – flight movie. This is my third time flying a different Emirates plane and I love how the meal has been different every time and they have new movies every time too. They had alot of the latest new releases so I chose Southpaw on to watch for the next hour or two.
It’s not something I’d usually pick but man it was good!
I was actually really surprised with how great it was. I pretty much cried from the first 45 minutes onwards.
Thank god I wasn’t wearing mascara otherwise I’d be looking like a panda.
God, if you haven’t watched it you defintaly need to!

It was annoying though coz the guy sitting next to me was watching the same movie but he started it before me so I kept catching glimpses of what was about to happen.
Speaking of people sitting next to me, I’ve been lucky so far that when it’s a 3 seater row I haven’t had anyone sitting right beside me. (Apart from my very first flight) and can I just say I hate it.
This guy went to sleep like pretty much straight away and I swear he kept farting coz it kept smelling next to me. Not to mention his ‘bigger than mine’ arms keep overflowing onto my side. Grr. I’m now squeezing up against the window and now my underarms don’t have room to breathe so now I feel all clammy and smelly.
Where’s the roll on!?

It’s currently 9pm Singapore time as I write this and I’m listening to Selena Gomez – Good For You on my tablet.
And alllllso busting to pee.
Guess who’s been drinking a few too many vodka and 7ups.
Can’t believe this shit is free.
I have just over an hour to get to my destination and as I’ve already gotten up to use the lavatory I might just try and hold it.

I hope this blog is making sense. I’m not drunk or anything but you can really have a much calmer time in the air when you have a few cheeky spirits.
I just watched a documentary on The All Blacks and I am now so excited to land and support these guys in the final of The Rugby World Cup. I’m meeting up with my mate Ben from Contiki who lives in Australia (but is a New Zealander) and we’re gonna head out somewhere to see our favorite team play. Exciting!!
I feel I’ve gotten way more into rugby since I’ve left for my travels. I think it’s because it’s one of those things that just connect you to home so when you see someone wearing an All Blacks Jersey or something overseas you immediately get excited and think of home.

If I’ve learnt anything from this trip, it’s to buy a bigger bag but to also appreciate New Zealand a lot more. It’s one of the cleanest places in the world (trust me when I say this) we also have it sooo lucky in terms of how our country is run.
People love to complain all the time about how our country doesn’t help them financially when in other countries it’s 100x worse.
Do you know how many homeless people I saw on my travels?
How many people work 2 jobs just to feed their families and how people rely on tips just to get by.
I’ve had talks with people about how we get government funding for stuff and how we have housing available for people who don’t have a roof over their heads and people look at me in shock like ‘wow your country actually does that for you?’
If we only have the flag to complain about than I’m happy.
I understand that some things however could be better in terms of how our government spends their money, I’m just saying to maybe take a step back and see how lucky we do have it.
John key isn’t too bad. Even if he does look a bit like the gimpy kid at school.

Great, we’ve hit quite a bit of turbulence and now I can’t go and pee. 😣 seat belt signs on kids!

Think it’s time for me to finish this blog but I will be writing up more in the next few days. I still have hostels to review! And the ole’ debate of ‘Is Contiki or Top Deck Better’?

GO THE ALL BLACKS

If we don’t win I’ll seriously cry.

Days 78-81 Singapore

November 1, 2015November 29, 2015SarahLeave a comment

I thought I’d write all of my days in Singapore in one big blog post!

I’d already written what I did on my first day but the second day was much more exciting!
Just kidding, it wasn’t at all.
I know alot of people are going to say I didn’t experience Singapore enough (Ecspecially people who read this that live there)
And I’ll give it to you, I really didn’t at all.
I even lied to the lady who did my nails and said that I went to the botanical gardens just so it seemed like I ventured outside a mall and experienced what Singapore had to offer.
I’m sorry nail technician, I lied to you.
My second, third and fourth day was spent all in the confines of an air conditioned mall.
Not the same one however, on my third day I mixed it up a bit and took the MRT to Orchard Road where they have like 4 malls and lots of fancy shops lining the street. Think Gucci, Chanel, Burberry etc… I didn’t tempt myself by going inside though. The security gaurd at the door knows I can’t afford it and so does ANZ.

My second afternoon in Singapore (I say afternoon coz we all know I slept in till like 12pm, I’m just trying not to confuse my body too much with these time zones.) Well that was spent at Bugis Junction again.
I even got pizza for dinner there and went to the grocery store. Did you know they have the same egg brands we have? And also they have watties frozen vegetable ‘fresh from New Zealand’
I could already feel that I was closer to home. 😌

I bought enough stuff to fill my bags right up. So much so that I couldn’t even zip them up anymore.
On my last day, I even went back to Orchard Road and went on the hunt for a bag from Forever 21. They usually always have a lovely selection of bags but when I went I wasn’t fond of anything!
I went to Victoria Secrets and was so close to buying a $140 bag but ended up dragging myself away and got an $80 one from Collette instead. I quite like it and it’s a bit bigger than my other ones so will be perfect for sleepovers! 😄

My last night was spent getting my nails done and getting my henna tattoo redone from these lovely girls on Bali Lane.

My arm looks scary pale in that photo haha. That’s what happens when you don’t fake tan in a week!
I also got pizza hut for dinner and sat by myself in the kitchen and ate it at my hostel.
I guess I wasn’t technically alone as there was others around but I did eat by myself 😐
My days in Singapore were relaxed. I did all the shopping I needed to do, slept in for how long I wanted and just chilled out watching Friends on the hostel TV.
I didn’t go to Universal Studios because I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting in the humidity in line (Ecspecially as I hadn’t met anyone to go with)
I didn’t see any gardens because as pretty as flowers are, I’d rather them be given to me then travel ages to go and look at a bunch of them.
There was lots of fog while I was in singapore so I didn’t really see the point of going on the flier if I couldn’t really see much anyways.

That’s my excuses for being a boring Singapore Tourist.
I think Singapore is a lovely place, I just would have enjoyed it more if I was with someone (as no one at my hostel seemed to speak English it was hard to make friends)
Plus I was at the end of my trip where I think I just stopped caring about doing anything. Is that bad to say?
I was never lonely, I actually quite like my own company and I seem to be very independent. I just couldn’t be bothered making plans with people or to make the effort to go out drinking at night.

This blog isn’t to say Singapore is lame, maybe it just wasn’t for me. But I’ve read online about many people who love it!
I’m just one little blogger in the sea of thousands 😄

Day 76 & 77 – Dubai to Singapore

October 30, 2015June 13, 2016Sarah3 Comments

The night before I left Dubai, the hotel said they’d extend my check out until 2pm so I could have a sleep in.
They probably knew how much I loved to sleep as whenever house keeping would come I’d always ask them to come back later haha 😴

So I took advantage of this and slept until about 11am. Then it was up to have a shower, wash my hair and pack all my crap into my bag. Luckily enough I’d only really bought clothes in Dubai so I just rolled them up really tight and shoved them into my suitcase/backpack thing.

When it came to 1pm I checked out and left all my bags downstairs in the storage area.
My flight wasn’t until that night so I passed time by going to the mall and spending what little money I had left.
It’s annoying having a night flight when you’re staying at a hotel or hostel. They always get you to check out in the morning which is fine, and you can usually leave your bags with them. I just always feel I can’t do much during the day because I have to be somewhere at a certain time and it all becomes too stressful to do anything.

I ended up going to the airport really early. I think I arrived before 6pm for my 9.30pm flight. 😑 keen!

I caught a taxi as I just had too much stuff to carry. The train is much quicker and cheaper though. Even though taxis in Dubai are actually really cheap, think my rode cost me like $25 NZD to the airport from my hotel so it wasn’t bad.

When I got to the airport, I got a trolley and loaded up all my stuff. I’d checked in online already so just had to drop my bags off and grab my boarding pass.

I was hoping there’d be lots of stuff in duty free as it was Dubai airport after all but there wasnt!
This always seems to happen to me, I always try and save my money for duty free and end up getting there and not liking any of the stores.
They had all your usual stuff like the perfume counters, they had a mac counter, all the alcohol and the same chocolates you see everywhere.
I don’t know what I was hoping for really. Maybe another Victoria secrets store or something that sold all the clothes.
I did grab myself a frozen yoghurt to pass the time and sat down to write a blog.

It wasn’t until just before my flight I realised that I hadn’t packed any face moisturiser of a face mask for my flight!
Especially as it was a 7 hour over-night flight I knew my skin was going to be drier than the Dubai desert. The ex-beauty therapist in me freaked out and quickly went in search of a hydrating face mask.
I ended up going to Khiels and getting this baby for $44 USD
I was lucky I had USD dollars in my wallet too!

Quite a bargain considering how big the tub is.

I boarded the flight just after 9pm and was gutted it was an older Emirates airplane. Just because I hadn’t charged my tablet the night before and my phone was running out of battery. Usually the planes have a USB port but this one didn’t 😦 they just had a plug and mine wouldn’t fit! It was like a European point which was weird for a middle eastern airline.
Anyways, the flight attendant got me an adapter to put my chargers in but it kept falling out the whole flight. The guy next to me kept laughing at me when I tried holding it in haha.

For 7 hours the flight went really quick. We had dinner and then I went to wash all my make up off and put my new face mask on.
People think it’s weird to do that on a plane but it’s honestly the best thing for your skin. Think how dry and dehydrated your skin gets at 35,000 feet! I feel like my face turns into a prune.
The mask probably wasn’t the best thing for sleeping (Even though it’s an overnight mask) It’s actually quite sticky.

I semi-snoozed through the flight and before I knew it they were waking us up for breakfast. I just had fallen asleep a bit coz I remember feeling grumpy having to wake up haha.

The breakfast was average. Nothing worse than bread that is cold and butter that is even colder coz it’s been fridge. Very hard to spread solid butter onto a cold croissant 😳
First world problems I know!!

I got to Singapore in the morning and the airport was pretty quiet so customs etc. was quick.
I got an airport shuttle for $9 to my hostel which was like half an hour away.
the NZ Dollar and Singapore Dollar are pretty much the same so it’s much easier figuring out how much money I’m spending over here.

As I arrived at my hostel before 10am, check in wasn’t until 3pm so I dropped my bags off and asked if I could have a shower.
I was feeling all yuck from my flight so it was good to freshen up.

I then went off for a walk.
It was so humid outside I didn’t actually last terribly long.
I tried to find something to eat but nothing interested me too much.
If you know me, you’ll know I don’t like Asian food apart from Thai and Indianfood hahaha! I know, crazy! Why am I in Singapore then you ask? Where there is an abundance of Asian food? I don’t actually know. Because it was a stop off on my way home really 😄

When I got back to my hostel it was about 2pm but my room was ready so they showed me up to it and I settled in.
I was so extremely tired I had a lie down on my bunk and ended up falling asleep like 3 times.
Eventually I dragged myself out of bed as I didn’t want to sleep in case I didn’t sleep that night.
I think I ended up going down to Bugis Junction (the closest mall to where I am) and had a look around there.
I came across this Korean skin Care brand called Innisfree and smelt all their products.
I walked away with some samples to try before I bought anything so I was excited to use them that night.

When i got back to the hostel i used one of the volcanic face masks on my skin to try and clear it up a bit.
My skin has broken out majorly ever since I went to Dubai and come to Singapore. I think it’s from all the flying I’ve been doing and sleeping in all the air conditioned rooms. 😣
I hate it!!! Thank god girls can wear make up.

It was safe to say I had a very good sleep that night after barely sleeping for the past 24 hours!