I slept through most of the night. I woke up when they came round with drinks. Apparently, I had missed the snacks. I had some mango juice. We had about 90 minutes left until we were due to land in Singapore. I decided to play Trivial Pursuit. They had a watered-down version compared to what I had played on other flights in that it was not a board game but just asked questions for each of the categories. It was still fun.
Soon it was time to land. Deplaning was a smooth process. We had quite a long walk to immigration. We stopped for a quick bathroom break on the way. Just as we could see the escalators down to immigration, I spotted something interesting. They had an indoor orchid garden. I quickly stopped for a couple of photos. Then we headed downstairs for immigration.
I had done our digital landing cards on their app as soon as I could. When we got to the e-gates, they were not particularly busy. Graham had made a tactical error. He headed to the accessible e-gates as they were very quiet. They worked just fine for me as I am not particularly tall. However, Graham, who is much taller, struggled to line up properly with the camera. Eventually he did make it through. As soon as we got to the baggage hall, I saw my suitcase on the carousel. Graham’s suitcase was not far behind. We went through customs and then we were land side.
They do not have Uber in Singapore or Malaysia, but they have their own right share service called Grab. I had downloaded the app before we left the UK. This seemed straightforward enough. There were even detailed instructions with photos on how to find the pick-up point on the app. There was just one issue with this. The photos did not correspond to what I was seeing. I had left Graham with the luggage while I went to locate the pick-up point. On my travels, I went past a tourist information counter and asked where the Grab pick up point is. The person there guided me to the next door.
I went back to Graham, and we headed for the door in question. Then I ordered our car. I could see that the driver was getting close to where we were waiting and then he moved away again. He called me shortly afterwards. I explained where we were. He called again as he still could not see us. It turned out that initially the app had directed him to the Jewel and when I told him that I was at arrivals, he had gone to terminal one arrivals. However, we were at terminal 2. After a couple of calls, the driver did find us, and we were on our way. He asked us if we used an international SIM. This was the case as my phone contract allows me to roam in Singapore. Apparently, this often scrambles the GPS details that are transmitted. This really was the weirdest thing as everywhere else in Singapore; it seemed to work just fine. It did the same thing again when we came back to Singapore after our quick trip to Penang. However, this time I was prepared and just amended the pick-up point manually.
We had a clear run into the city. I was reminded straightaway what an amazing place Singapore is. They have colourful tropical flowers all along the motorways. When we arrived in 2019, we had taken a shared transfer, and we got our first look at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Gardens by the Bay on our way to the hotel. This time round we went through a tunnel as soon as we got closer to the city centre. Once we left the tunnel again, we were quite close to the hotel. This was a bit of a shame.
When we got to the hotel, it was surprisingly quiet considering that it was prime check out time. I was able to go straight up to a front desk agent. Because we got to the hotel really early, they did not have a room ready for us. I sorted out all the registration formalities and was told to come back for the key after 14:00. I went back to Graham and told him the not to welcome news. He suggested that we should go to get something eat. I was wearing a long-sleeved Spirit Jersey, and it was very hot in Singapore. I quickly got a t-shirt out of suitcase and went to the bathroom to get changed. Then we dropped off our luggage with the bell desk.
As much as I love the Holiday Inn Atrium, there is not too much in the immediate vicinity. Things are definitely better now that there is an MRT station right across from the hotel. Indeed, two major hawker centres are just a short hop on the MRT away. If we knew then what we know now, we probably would have headed to Lau Pa Sat, which is my favourite hawker centre. Still, you are always wiser after the event. I would say that we know for the next trip, but we are hoping to have a couple of days in Sentosa first to decompress, then head to Penang and then do the main sightseeing in Singapore last. We did have a look at the MRT station, but as we had no idea where we should be going, this was not helpful. We also managed to find the only entrance that did not have an escalator or lift. I never did work out where this entrance led to as all he exits that we saw at this station had at least an escalator and usually a lift, too. The stairs at this entrance seemed to be never-ending as well. In the end, we just headed back to the hotel, which was probably a very wise decision.
We went to find a seat. Thankfully, they have some rather comfortably seats in the lobby. I was not really hungry, but I was thirsty. I was trying to convince Graham to come to the bar to have a mocktail. He was not biting. I sat down to read for a bit. In the end, I decided to just have a drink by myself. I had a mocktail called Rose Lips, which consisted of lychee, rose syrup, lemon juice and club soda. This was refreshing and delicious. I had every intention to go back at some stage with Graham to have another one, but this never happened. I suppose there is always next trip.
Graham was fast asleep when I came back. I continued reading. At 14:00, I headed back to the front desk to collect our key. Then I went to the bell desk to ask for our luggage. The luggage was right opposite where we had been sitting, but they had chained multiple pieces of luggage together. Somebody came with me to release our luggage and hand it over to me. Then I woke up my sleeping beauty so that we could head up to the room.
I had just booked the cheapest room type, which was supposed to be on a low floor. However, we ended up on the 18th floor, which I suppose was a bit of an upgrade. We were on the opposite side of the hotel from where we had been in 2019, but the views were still stunning. We could even see a ship peek out from where it was docked. I took some quick photos of our room while Graham used the bathroom. I then unpacked the overnight wash kit and got freshened up. Then I headed for bed. Graham did the same. We just had both settled down when our doorbell was rung. Graham got up. It was maintenance who wanted to look at our toilet. Apparently, there was a bit of water coming out of the panel with flushing mechanism whenever the toilet was flushed. The maintenance guy could not fix it and asked when we were checking out. Graham told him that we had just checked in and would be there for a week. It was decided that it really was not a big enough issue to worry about and that we should let them know if things got worse. Graham came back to bed, and we both went back to sleep. I had set an alarm for taking my medication. I got up briefly to do this and then I went back to sleep.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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