Danae’s Singapore Birthday

One of the things that Ardy Abello reminded us about during his session in the Couples’ Getaway was that NO ONE DELIBERATELY PLANS TO FAIL…THEY SIMPLY FAIL TO PLAN.

I was again reminded of this as we tackled our second day in Singapore. I thought I had a plan, but it wasn’t well thought out at all. I just planned for us to go to Singapore Zoo at a certain time to follow the suggested morning itinerary. I did not bother finding out how to get there or how much time we needed to get there from our hotel. I did not study the maps beforehand. I really don’t know what I was thinking. I thought it would be fairly simple. Was I wrong.

It turned out that the zoo was an hour and a half away from Sentosa! We were already late for the morning itinerary, so we decided to see what we could do IN Sentosa Island itself, before we proceeded to the zoo. We decided to check out the Underwater World Singapore. Due to lack of planning again, we found out as we got there that we had already missed the morning show. Tickets are 1 entry only, meaning you can’t decide to come back later once you’ve already gone in & gone out. We decided to head to the zoo then. At least we got to see peacocks and huge turtles outside. At least we got their schedule. And at least we got to see what else was there and what we were interested in as we rode the tram going back to the Sentosa Express station.

When we left Sentosa, it was sunny. I thought it would not rain and I left the girls’ rain coats in the hotel. Well, it did rain haha. We had to buy rain coats in the zoo. Thank God it didn’t cost much. We got to see nearly all the shows. We loved the elephant & the sea lion shows. We missed a few animals, but it was okay. The kids’ water park was closed! The very thing that I planned and prepared for, with the kids’ gears & all, was a bust haha.

We ate dinner at Soup Spoon in Vivo City. It was an interesting resto, and my mushroom stroganoff soup was both filling and delicious! We got back to the hotel past 9 that night, and just stayed in our room to get ready for Universal Studios the next day. We made sure that we studied the map/guide. The day wasn’t a complete failure, but we wanted to do much better with our time.

Because there was a plan, our Universal Studios day was spent well. We got in as it opened — of course it helped that it was walking distance from our Festive Hotel. We hit most of the shows and rides that we planned on hitting. The Shrek 4D show was cool, so were the stunts on WaterWorld. We enjoyed the dance performances we caught on the street, most especially the B-boyin of The Rockafellas! Steven Spielberg’s Lights, Camera, Action was awesome — movie magic! There was the rain factor again, which made us miss the Treasure Hunters ride, wherein the kids could have driven their own jeeps, but it was okay. The girls had a lot of fun getting wet at the fountain in Lost World. Too bad Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure was closed!!! We skipped the roller coaster rides and left Universal fairly early. The kids were able to swim at the hotel for an hour or so, which they were dying to do. We then decided to have dinner late, so we could still catch the Luge in Sentosa Island. Oh The Luge. It deserves a separate blog haha. We had dinner at Ruyi in Resorts World, then headed back to our hotel for another restful night.

We planned to go to Palawan Beach on the last day, Danae’s actual birthday, but we felt that the tram was taking too long and we’ve never been to that side of the island, so we didn’t know how far it really was. We decided to walk to Siloso Beach, the side we knew. It took us a while, but at least the kids were able to play in the sand, before we proceeded to Underwater World. We saw all sorts of sea creatures and watched the pink dolphin show. We were planning for King, my mom & Danae to try the Gogreen Segway after, but we ran out of time. To make up for it, King took the girls to Candylicious, this amazing candy store in Resorts World! Took a lot of photos already by the time I found out it wasn’t allowed. Oops!

We hurried to check out by 1pm. Thank God for our very nice cab & cab driver, who made our lives easier going to and coming back from the zoo, and going to the airport. It took us forever to get to our hotel when we arrived Singapore, riding the bus & the trains. Changi airport was nice. We had our late lunch at McDonald’s right by the check-in area, plus there was a playground for the kids. Inside the departure area, there was another playground, a coloring area, more restos and shops. The girls even made a cute new friend named Amethyst.

We really love traveling! If money were not an issue, we’d be doing it so much more. We love building memories with our kids. This is one birthday that Danae will never forget!

Two things I am grateful for relearning…

…..It’s hard to be the one planning, but planning can really make life easier and less stressful. It doesn’t guarantee perfection, but it definitely helps.

…..Nothing is impossible with God — you wouldn’t know that King had a slipped disc with how fast he walked and moved during our trip!