How a Singapore stopover saved our holiday

Until our family experienced our first stopover in Singapore, I didn’t realise I’d been doing long-haul flights all wrong – it certainly felt like we weren’t doing anything right: after a gruelling 14-hour flight from Amsterdam to Singapore, we left our iPad on the plane. Despite some outbreaks of family bickering, a stopover in Singapore saved our family holiday, because there is simply no better place to break up a long-haul flight when you have kids in tow.

Disembarking at Changi, there are no queues at customs, security, baggage, the taxi rank or the lost property desk. Prams, suitcases, carry on and baby bags are loaded into a minivan and we are whisked in the morning light to our hotel, the brand-new Pullman Singapore Hill Street, where our room (and its blackout curtains) are waiting.

After a gruelling flight, The Pullman Singapore Hill Street hotel is a welcome resting place.

Come 10pm, our entire family is wide awake and wired. But being sleepless in Singapore has its upside: we take the kids out for a walk to see Singapore’s iconic Merlion water statue, just a short stroll away.

It’s much cooler, and less crowded, at midnight, and Singapore’s high level of safety means we have no concerns about straying into the wrong neighbourhood. We even experience a little subculture when using one of the city’s underground walkways to cross the road: groups of skateboarders do flips and ollies alongside a batch of breakdancers practising moves.

Of course, my eldest is delighted to find a McDonald’s still open, and clocks a culinary food experience by declaring that the Spicy McChicken in Singapore is spicier than the one back home. Feeling guilty that we hit up Maccas in one of the world’s most spectacular culinary destinations, we go in search of Michelin-starred hawker food the next day.

The Merilon statue at Marina Bay provides after-dark kids’ entertainment.Credit: iStock

It’s a 20-minute stroll to Chinatown, where the kids are instantly drawn to the work of local artist Yip Yew Chong, who has seven street murals depicting traditional life in Chinatown as well as dozens more across Singapore. We talk through his mural My Chinatown Home, pointing out the references to Lunar New Year, and then walk over to the Letter Writer. Located on the side of the Chinatown Complex, it depicts a man composing letters to relatives in China for illiterate workers.

I expect the concept to go over my seven-year-old’s head, but he lights up instead.

“Just like Daddy writes to Oma and Opa for me?” It’s a gentle reminder that missing your family crosses both cultures and ages, and coming off a trip visiting relatives, it feels especially poignant.

Hawker Chan restaurant in Singapore is famous for being awarded one Michelin star.Credit: iStock

Then of course, the eternal cry rings out: “Mum, I’m hungry.” We snack on street food at Hawker Chan, the world’s first Michelin-starred hawker stall, watch old men play checkers in the covered square outside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, and drink fresh sugar cane juice.

After a day in the city, we head to Singapore’s resort island, Sentosa, a leisurely 20-minute drive across the bridge. The island juxtaposes natural beauty and manufactured amusement, wrapped in convenience and dominated by luxury hotels, each more extravagant than the next.

In Sentosa we stay at the Sofitel Sentosa, a sprawling 10-hectare property located in tropical woodland on a cliff overlooking Singapore Strait. The view is dotted with cargo ships and fascinates the kids. Our prestige family suite includes a separate living room area, and it’s the first time we’ve slept in a room apart from our kids in a month, which of course means they’re snuggled up in our king-size bed with us by morning. The living room becomes an oversized luggage locker and play area.

The 33-metre lap pool at Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa.

I’m puzzled as to why there are two stuffed peacock toys for the kids on the bed, until I come face to face with one as I swim in the pool. While my kids would nominate the hotel’s fish spa as the greatest thing since the invention of the hotel buffet, the pool at the Sofitel is my highlight, filling with blush-pink frangipani after each tropical downpour. As my husband hangs out at the shallow end with the kids, I sneak in a few laps, emerging at the other end to find a juvenile peacock drinking at the edge.

While the 33-metre hotel pool is a clear winner, the trouble with Sentosa is that there’s so much to do – from aquariums to aquatic parks, kid’s museums to go-karting – it’s hard to decide actually what to do. In the end, we tackle one activity a day and pad out our stay with naps and swims.

The author’s two children during the Singapore stopover.Credit: Shaney Hudson

On the first day, we take the advice of the concierge and opt for the Skyline Luge: my husband and kid grab helmets and go-karts, while I hide in an air-conditioned cafe with a sleeping baby. It feels like a perfect plan, until the next day, disaster strikes. A massive thunderstorm means the promised play session at floating aqua park HydroDash is cancelled. Even the hotel pool is off-limits as the sky flashes and rain thunders down.

However, all is not lost. The combined power of the breakfast buffet, a shuttle ride, a free monorail trip and visit to the Lego store near the gates of Universal Studios save the day. The pool reopens that afternoon for one last swim, and then we head to the airport for our final flight leg to Australia.

Changi Airport is possibly the only airport in the world to which you want to arrive extra early. Our flight isn’t until 8pm, so with a few hours to kill, we all try out the amusements: my husband is happy to retrieve the iPad from the lost and found; the baby is besotted with the airport’s butterfly garden; I dig into a plate of mango and sticky rice in the food court, and our grumpy eldest is placated by the last-minute discovery of a giant slippery dip.

The kids love Slide @t3 in Singapore’s Changi Airport.Credit: iStock

Twelve metres tall, Slide @t3 is Singapore’s tallest and runs from level one to basement level three. There’s much logistical to-and-fro to procure a ticket. I have to sign up to the Changi Airport online rewards system on my phone, then find the service desk for free slide tokens, then successfully manoeuvre the family so that one parent (and pram, baby bag and carry-on luggage) is waiting at the bottom and the other supervises from the top.

The kid loves it, I get friction burns and unfortunately, there’s also a rock climbing wall at the bottom the eldest wants to do “next”. Promising we’ll do it next time, we go through security and board our flight.

The end result of our stopover is that we arrive home feeling like we had a holiday from our holiday (an added bonus after a trip staying with family for more than a month). The convenience of Changi Airport, the ease of Singapore, the high-quality hotels, pleasant staff and chance to rest and recover means when we arrive home, our children aren’t crying, my husband and I aren’t fighting, and amazingly, there’s no jet lag. Our family has a little culture, a little indulgence and much needed chill-out time. From now on, if I’m travelling with family, we’ll be stopping in Singapore.

The writer stayed as a guest of the Pullman Singapore Hill Street and The Sofitel Sentosa.

THE DETAILS

VISIT
Sentosa is an easy drive from Changi Airport and has a free shuttle and monorail service around the island. See sentosa.com.sg

Artist Yip Yew Chong’s work can be found all over Singapore. See yipyc.com.

FLY
Singapore Airlines offers daily flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns and Brisbane to Singapore, with connections to popular European destinations. See singaporeair.com

STAY
Rooms at the Pullman Singapore Hill Street cost from $S420 ($476), a luxury room at the Sofitel Sentosa starts from $S348. See pullmansingaporehillstreet.com; sofitel-singapore-sentosa.com

MORE
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