Singapore has a special place in my heart. It was the first city outside of the Philippines that I set foot on. My first time was almost two years ago and it was on that trip that I met some of friends. That’s why when I was thinking of a trip for me and my mom, it was easy for me to decide to head back to Singapore and share with my mother what it has to offer.

Note that we didn’t hire a travel agency for any of our activities on this trip. Everything was done Do-It-Yourself-style.

Preparing for a Singapore Trip (Flights and Accommodations)

The first thing I did was wait for a Seat Sale for flights to Singapore. Soon enough, Cebu Pacific slashed 50% from their regular fares and I grabbed the chance. The cost of the roundtrip tickets, inclusive of the surcharges and applicable fees, was only P4763. That was already for both of us, making it P2,381.5 per person. After booking, I told my mom I’d take her to Singapore and she was very excited.

The next step I did was look for an affordable hotel, which was extremely difficult. Accommodations are really expensive in Singapore so we were forced to settle for a hostel. We ended up choosing G4 Station Backpackers’ Hostel. The rooms are small but it was good enough given the price. It was very, very clean though and the staff were really friendly and helpful.

Creating a 4D/3N Singapore Itinerary

Because it was my second time in Singapore, it was relatively easy to create the itinerary. Had it been alone on this trip or with friends, I would have injected more exciting items to our itinerary but my mom, given her age, would not enjoy thrilling rides and long walks. With that taken into consideration, I made an initial itinerary, which looked like this:

Day 1: ARRIVAL IN SINGAPORE, RIVER WALK TOUR, MARINA BAY SANDS
07:00 am – Rendezvous at NAIA Terminal 3
10:10 am – ETD NAIA Terminal 3 (Manila)
01:50 pm – ETA Singapore Budget Terminal
03:00 pm – Check in: G4 Station Backpackers’ Hostel
04:30 pm – Singapore River Walking Tour
(Sightseeing: Fullerton Hotel, Merlion Park, Esplanade, Makansutra, Boat Quay, Clark Quay, etc)
08:00 pm – Marina Bay Sands

Day 2: KAMPONG GLAM, SENTOSA ISLAND
07:00 am – Kampong Glam Walk
10:00 am – Universal Studios
05:00 pm – Explore rest of  Sentosa

Day 3: CHINATOWN WALK, ORCHARD ROAD, SINGAPORE FLYER
07:00 am – Chinatown Heritage Walk
10:00 am – Orchard Road (Shopping)
03:00 pm – Mint Museum of Toys
05:00 pm – St. Andrews Cathedral and Singapore Flyer

Day 4: LITTLE INDIA, RETURN TO MANILA
06:00 am – Little India Walking Tour
08:00 am – Mustafa Mall and Sim Lim Square
10:00 am – Check out: G4 Station, Proceed to Airport
02:20 pm – ETD: Changi Budget Terminal
06:15 pm – ETA: NAIA Terminal 3

But, as always, we were not able to follow our itinerary faithfully as my mom got exhausted easily from all the walking tours we had. We had to drop some of the plans.

Day 1 – Airport, Singapore River Walking Tour

Our flight was scheduled at 10:10am but we were already at the airport as early as 7am. After going through the usual processes — checking in, paying travel taxes, passing through Immigration, final security check — we grabbed a quick breakfast, stayed at the pre-departure area and waited for our boarding time. Read more here: What to Do Before Flight at NAIA Terminal 3

We landed at Changi Airport Budget Terminal at around 2pm. Everything went smoothly. Since we wanted to take the MRT to our hostel, we had to take the free Shuttle service to Terminal 2, where the MRT station is. We bought EZ Link Cards at the station because we somehow expected we would be taking the train most of the time on this trip.

After checking in at G4 Station Backpackers’ Hostel, we got moving and headed straight to Raffles Place to start our River Walking Tour. Walking around the Singapore River area was joyful and rewarding as the place offers spectacular view of the city. With only a map, we navigated around the area and got to see SG’s many iconic landmarks including: the Merlion, the Esplanade, the Fullerton Hotel, One Fullerton, and Marina Bay Sands. Read more about our Singapore River Walking Tour here.

Day 2 – Universal Studios Singapore

Our Day 2 was supposed to start with a visit to the Kampong Glam district to immerse ourselves with the Arab culture in Singapore but my mom said she did not like walking so we headed straight to Universal Studios in Resorts World Sentosa. I particularly liked my Battlestar Galactica experience coz I am a big fan of the series.

But it was disappointing because it was a Saturday and the queues were really long. We should’ve availed of the Express Pass. Read more about our experience at the Universal Studios here.

Day 3 – Chinatown, Orchard Road, MINT Museum of Toys, Singapore Flyer

Our third day in SG was packed! We only had a bit over a day more but we still had so much to see so we tried to follow our itinerary religiously this time. Here are the places we visited:

• Chinatown Heritage Walk
• Orchard Road
• MINT Museum of Toys
• Singapore Flyer

Day 4 – GST Refund, Departure

Nothing much happened on our last day. Our flight was scheduled at around 2:40pm but we chose to check out early and go to the airport. The day before, a Filipina store manager in Orchard Road told us about GST Refund and so we claimed our 7% refund at the airport. Read more about GST Refund here.

We arrived in Manila at around 6:30pm.

Expenses

So now we have come to the list of my expenses as part of this Singapore trip. Below are two lists of breakdown of expenses. One is a list of everything my mom and I spent together — the total cost of this trip. The other is just for one person. Note that figures below are in Philippine Pesos (SG$ 1= PhP35.24, USD1 = PhP42.53):

TOTAL GROUP COST (2 people, excluding pasalubong)
P4,763 – Cebu Pacific Air tickets (50% off promo)
P8,458 – G4 Station Backpackers’ Hostel (4 days, 3 nights)
P3,300 – Travel tax
P1,500 – Departure fee
P1,410 – EZ Link cards (for 2, reloaded once, inclusive of almost SGD8 unused)
P1,762 – Total food expenses
P211 – Sentosa Monorail Train tickets
P5,074 – Universal Studios tickets
P1,057 – MINT Museum of Toys tickets
P2,080 – Singapore Flyer tickets
P704 – Taxi from Hostel to Airport
P529 – Check-in baggage fee (Cebu Pacific)
PhP 30,848 – TOTAL GROUP COST

Note that the above cost is for 2 people. Here’s how much person:

TOTAL INDIVIDUAL COST (excluding pasalubong)
P2,381.5 – Cebu Pacific Air tickets (50% off promo)
P4,229 – G4 Station Backpackers’ Hostel (4 days, 3 nights)
P1,650 – Travel tax
P750 – Departure fee
P705 – EZ Link cards (for 2, reloaded once, inclusive of almost SGD8 unused)
P881 – Total food expenses
P105.5 – Sentosa Monorail Train tickets
P2,537 – Universal Studios tickets
P528.5 – MINT Museum of Toys tickets
P1,040 – Singapore Flyer tickets
P352 – Taxi from Hostel to Airport
P264.5 – Check-in baggage fee (Cebu Pacific)
PhP 15,424 – TOTAL INDIVIDUAL COST

That’s it! Note that my mom and I only had 2 meals a day. Haha. We really skip breakfast even at home and if we do have breakfast, we skip lunch.

Overall, it was an awesome experience. I loved spending so much time with my mom in a foreign country.

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