Festivities season has arrived! I landed back in Singapore late on Christmas Eve, which worked out perfectly as I’d planned to go to Universal Studios on Christmas Day which I was sooo excited about! It felt like mission impossible trying to get out of the airport and to my hostel as quickly as possible on Christmas Eve, after realising there is no public transport after midnight, I jumped in a grab, arrived and checked in to my accommodation and bedded down as quickly as possible to try and get some serious shuteye before an early start for my fun day ahead!

Merry Christmas and I have no words. Imagine spending your Christmas on rollercoasters in a themepark having the best time exploring and just feeling like a kid. I know that’s like my idea of heaven! I’m not really a fan of Christmas, so knew I wanted to do something that was really fun, and not really ‘christmassy’ but still had a festive feel to it. I booked the ‘Universal Christmas’ package which included admission to the park, as well as lunch, which was also super handy. I genuinely had one of the best days, and I think it could probably gain top spot for the coolest Christmas I’ve had.

I managed to get on all the rollercasters I wanted with minimal queues. as well as catching a few of the other attractions like shows and more. It really did feel like a magical way to spend Christmas, just in a different way. After a very fun day, including getting to visit Far, Far Away Kingdom from Shrek, and the Emerald City from Wicked (incredible), as well as meeting Alex and King Julian from Madagascar, I headed to grab some dinner at a nice Turkish restaurant down the road from my hostel, and bumped into some people I met in Kuala Lumpur a few weeks back!

We had some drinks together, as well as some shots, more than I can imagine. We did have the best time celebrating Christmas together as a collective and laughed and chatted for the whole night which was super fun. After feeling suitable merry, I headed back to my hostel for some shuteye as I was super tired and definitely still on Australia time, ready for my final day in Singapore tomorrow. I also did not appreciate the hangover the next morning!

Last day in Singapore was Boxing Day and I checked out of my hostel and headed out to do some final exploring before my flight later today. I really didn’t want to leave here as I had genuinely fallen in love with this country! I decided to have a wander around the bay from my accommodation for some final sightseeing before heading to Marina Bay Sands rooftop and it was lots of fun. I managed to get some scenic views of the bay as well as some up closes of the huge skyscrapers here, and finished off walking down by the river towards the main bay.

I’m so glad I held off doing this during my first time here as it made for a bit of a boujee boxing day which was really nice. I decided to book to go to Spago Bar, instead of just buying the ticket to the rooftop. It was a minimum spend of S$30 but the ticket on it’s own to the roof was S$28, so actually I didn’t really pay anything to go up, just for drinks and food at the top. I got the falafel burger, which was honestly the best I’d ever had, and a really refreshing mocktail, no alcohol today after how last night went down, and given that I’m flying later today!

From here I headed back to the mall and found the famous Sampan Rides through the shopping centre (wild) so decided, of course, to have a go on one. It was alright, maybe not worth the S$15 but an experience I won’t do again. There’s a manmade waterfall inside the mall which you ride around and all in all you spend about 20minutes going through this little river, and it was nice, also an opportunity to cool down. I wandered through the mall for a little while, admiring the high class shops that surrounded me, and definitely felt a little out of place I’m not gonna lie, but it was nice nonetheless to see all their incredible Christmas displays.

After some last minute exploring for the best part of the day, and after grabbing my last lunch in Singapore, I went back and picked up my bags and headed to the airport, although, there was still some last minute exploring to do at the airport because have you seen it?! It’s insane! It is 100% one of the best airports in the world, so I definitely planned to arrive earlier than needed just to spend time looking around. I checked out The Jewel, which was as cool as I could ever imagine. Imagine a whole indoor waterfall in an airport, unreal right. I saw it when I was leaving Singapore to go to Sydney a few weeks ago but didn’t have much time to explore, so I was glad to have a little more time this time round!

I had a wander to the different levels to see it in all its glory and it really is spectacular, there are so many different parts of the airport including outdoor cactus gardens and waterlily ponds, slides, even a swimming pool! I understand why people who have a layover in Singapore would never need to leave the airport. There’s so much to do just there.

Anyway, I would love to tell you how many flights I’ve done in the last few weeks because it feels like a lot! However, my time in Singapore is up for the second time, and this now is definitely my last flight of 2024 and my next country is *super* exciting and I cannot wait to arrive! See you there for a big surprise, Mads x