SEA 2023 (16/17) – Singapore: Changi Airport & Flight Home

The last day of a good trip is usually depressing. Not only because it’s sad for a fun vacation to end, but also because airport logistics and a long return flight tend to be dreadful. Well, not today. While none of us was ready to go home yet, we had planned to end this trip with a bang. There were several epic details of our exit, in fact, that we had been looking forward to this day the entire trip.

Because this was Singapore, we had planned to spend nearly the whole day at the airport. We checked into our flight and dropped the luggage off 8 hours prior to departure. I was so happy when the return flight got postponed by an hour, so we could spend even more time here.

Jewel

The first stop was Jewel, the over-the-top part of Singapore Changi Airport that only came into existence a few years ago. It took us five minutes to get there from T3 via the glass bridge.

At its core, Jewel was a shopping mall which happened to be co-located with the airport. It had all sorts of crazy name brands and fancy restaurants, not unlike other malls we visited recently, and was intended for local people as much as for travelers. We met up with Jennifer, Hong’s childhood friend from New Jersey, and had lunch with her family.

What made Jewel spectacular was HSBC Rain Vortex, a 7-story waterfall in the middle of this circular structure. Surrounding it was Shiseido Forest Valley, a huge rain forest in this air-conditioned indoor space. The photos looked awesome, but actually being there was endlessly breathtaking.

Taking a drink!

At the top level of Jewel was Canopy Park, an amusement park with a la carte attraction pricing. It was fairly pricey, but also a great experience. We killed a few hours here doing many but not all of the activities.

Topiary Walk:

Foggy Bowls & Discovery Slides:

Hedge Maze:

Mirror Maze, where everyone was everywhere all at once:

My favorite (tied with Mirror Maze) was Walking Net, a net hung floors above parts of the mall that we could walk on. The grids were a bit large for the kids so they had to be on all fours, but for me they made the most comfortable slopes to walk on. Although it felt totally secure (with a softer and finer secondary net underneath to catch fallen objects), I must admit it was scary to look down when standing multiple floors above some escalators.

Lastly there was Canopy Bridge, a cool viewing platform blowing artificial fog when we entered.

Airport Terminal

Well okay, departing Singapore still made me a little sad

While far inferior to Jewel, the terminals of Singapore’s Changi Airport had always been a wonderful attraction in their own right. Fancy stores, exquisite decorations, and various gardens filled the space. If Xuan wasn’t rushing us to the next stop, I would’ve taken the time to explore them more.

Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge (T3)

The final anchor to our trip was a 15.5-hour flight in Singapore Airlines’ business class. I don’t know how this luck came about, but I was able to secure 4 award seats for 400,000 Alaska Airlines miles and a small copay.

With this trip came access to Singapore Airlines’ own lounge on its home turf, something I had aspired to since learning about premium travel.

The lounge was awesome and we enjoyed our stay. Too bad energy was running low at the end of the trip, and I didn’t have enough appetite to munch through the buffet.

I did ask the bartender for a Singapore Sling, though… and it was better than the one I had at Long Bar.

Flight home: Singapore Airlines Business Class in an A350

If we had to be super picky, the service here was not as attentive as my China Airlines or Hong’s Cathay Pacific experience, and it was a bummer that most choices on the menu ran out by the time food service reached us. But let’s be real here… this was a 15.5-hour flight in a lie-flat business seat, aboard the world’s best airline, for our entire family. It was awesome.

Also… while Hong and I only received “average” service, the flight attendants were so great to our kids. I really loved it.