Three days certainly wasn’t enough to fully appreciate the ecological metropolis that is Singapore. But the choice was not mine to make and on the morning of our third day, we reluctantly boarded our tour bus for the last time and headed to Changi International Airport for our flight back to Clark.

Singapore’s Changi Airport is certainly one of the prettier air hubs I’ve seen. Considered as the main entry point of the country, it is massive compared to any of our airports in the Philippines. The facilities are very modern; well I guess it wouldn’t have won almost four hundred awards since it opened in 1981 if it were not.

While waiting for our boarding passes, I can’t help but notice the moving teardrop display in the departure lobby. The multitudes of golden metals hanging from the ceiling moves and dance in sync with the airport music. I was so mesmerized by the display they had to pry me off since it was my turn to check in my luggage.

One of my pet peeves in our local airports are the non-working walkalators. At Changi Airport, all the walkalators I encountered were working perfectly. Which really should be the case at any airport with such infrastructure, right? That’s what our terminal fees are for.

We passed through the immigration officers with no problem and was soon boarding AirAsia’s plane back to the Philippines. Unfortunately, I again got an aisle seat. I was dying to get a window seat to check out the landscapes below since I knew the flight path might cross the Palawan area. No such luck, might as well sleep through flight.

Three and a half hours later and we’re back at Clark International Airport in Pampanga. We haven’t had lunch yet and our stomachs were already protesting out of our shirts . It was so nice of AirAsia to anticipate that and we were soon heading to the AirAsia Café near the airport’s entrance.

The airline’s café has only recently opened and serves stuffed sweet buns, pie turnovers, Danish pastries, cookies, cakes, shakes, coffees and teas. There are a few bar seats for dining but their servings are mostly made for passengers on the go. From the selections I sampled, I love their cookies the most. They’re so good I’ll pick them over any brand of cookies anytime. I’m so glad they let me bring home a box as pasalubong.

I was also able to sample their shakes as well and I have to say that I dig every single one of them. But if I really have to choose, I guess it has to be their lychee shake.

Might be expensive you might say. Not at all, their prices range from Php30.00 to Php60.00 for the snacks, Php65.00 to Php80.00 for the sweets and Php65.00 to Php85.00 for the drinks. Not bad, right?

Our three-day jam-packed Singapore odyssey certainly is one of the highlights of my 2012 travels. I totally didn’t expect to get off the Philippines but thanks to AirAsia Philippines’ maiden flight to Singapore, I was able to do so. It ended my travel year with a huge bang. It was a short, but a certainly very sweet trip.

THIS SINGAPORE TRIP IS MADE POSSIBLE BY:
AIRASIA PHILIPPINES – NOW FLYING DIRECTLY TO SINGAPORE
HOTEL AND TRAVEL PACKAGE BY AIRASIAGO
SINGAPORE TOURISM BOARD

       THREE DAYS IN SINGAPORE TRIP ITINERARY & SUMMARY
       MANILA – CLARK – SINGAPORE | PERANAKAN LUNCH AT BLUE GINGER RESTAURANT | THE FLOWER DOME AT GARDENS BY THE BAY
       ABOVE AND BELOW GARDENS BY THE BAY’S CLOUD FOREST | FLYING HIGH AT THE SINGAPORE FLYER
       A NOCTURNAL RIDE AT THE NIGHT SAFARI | NIGHTS AT THE ROYAL PLAZA ON SCOTTS HOTEL
       AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE RIVER SAFARI’S GIANT PANDAS | LUNCH AT SENTOSA’S TASTES OF ASIA
       AN EVENING WALK AT THE ORCHARD ROAD | ELECTRIC NIGHTS AT THE MARINA BAY | HAWKERS HUNT FOR A FREEZING BOWL OF CHENDOL
       STARBUCKS GLOBAL ICON CITY MUG PLUS A FEW MORE | SINGAPORE – CLARK