Day 1 - Singapore — Wayfaring Abroad

We arrived in Singapore after 17 hours on a plane and ready to get up and walk around. We all needed to stretch our legs and start moving again.

Seventeen hours sounds like a long time and it feels like even longer. During the flight I would occasionally look at the flight status on the chair back monitors and couldn't believe that it had only been 5 hours and that 11 hours remained in the flight.

Luckily for me our flight was not full and the row in front of us had only 2 people instead of three meaning that one seat was not going to recline. After switching seats with a friend, I found myself with 14 hours without a seat jammed back even further than normal into my knees. I'd like to say that it was bliss but there is no such thing when flights don't include any actual leg room.

Once we arrived in Singapore, we were struck by the amount of people on our flight who had connections and were immediately going from the gate to their next flight. I could not imagine a 17 hour flight followed up with a flight of any length.

We made it through immigration and began our wait for our ride from the airport to our Airbnb. Unfortunately, the guy picking us up was late and continued to give us excuses. We were only mildly irritated, probably because we could walk around, so it wasn't too big of a deal. After making it to our Airbnb we proceeded to set our things down and get ready to head out into Singapore.

Our plan was to walk to the water and back but we wound up going to the water and walking in a big loop back to our apartment.

Looking down the Singapore River from Clarke Quay toward the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

We began walking to Clarke Quay and were struck by the variety of lighting on buildings and bridges. Everything was illuminated in a different way and looked unique in the distance. Even though it was Sunday night Clarke Quay was still lively. There were multiple bars with karaoke and in the middle of the scene there was a free concert and DJ. We went around and listened for a bit before heading down the Singapore River past the many bridges and over towards Asian Civilisations Museum and The National Gallery.

It was a spectacular night in Singapore. Before arriving, we had been checking the weather and the forecast had been for rain and thunderstorms during our entire time in Singapore but when we arrived it was a heavy 82 degrees with the humidity. During the walk we kept remarking how hot it was but how nice it is considering what it would feel like the next day when it would be in the high 90's with humidity. The clouds were obscuring the moon and giving a ghastly sight in the distance.

Looking out across the many playing fields a The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Esplanade with the Moon illuminating the sky in between.

Upon returning back to our apartment we all took a bit to wind down from the long walk. We were all exhausted and feeling the weight of being awake for 27 hours but we were wired. Our adventure had begun. Eventually we all calmed down and went to sleep, finding sleep came quick and beginning our adjustment to the time change. Now we would be ready for day 2 and more of what Singapore has to offer.