Our great North European odessey started with, predictably, a flight out of Adelaide. There are limited international flights out of Adelaide, in fact there is no International Terminal, it is just a small section closed off from the main terminal, three gates for the time that there are flights. Serviced by Singapore, Malaysian and now Qatar Airlines. For this trip, we flew Singapore Airlines

Leaving Adelaide

With Christian’s experience of International flights, we arrived three hours early so that we could get into the lounge. However, we were ready far earlier than that – Christian was packed a week early, bags by the front door! Bianca was also ready a full day before, giving us time to prepare and clean the house for our children to house-sit.

Our Uber was booked at 6:30am, and we had the marvellous luck of the car being a limousine with a suited driver. Pure luck, but we rode in style!

Mackenzie came to the airport to say goodbye, giving us a great little send-off. Once we got through passport control and a second security check, we headed straight for the lounge. We grabbed a bit to eat, a couple of well deserved glasses of sparkling, and rested a little before boarding.

On the flight

Bianca has not been on long distance International travel for a long time, and was unfamiliar with the seats being piled up with a pillow, blanket and headphones. We had to stash the bulky items, and also arrange ourselves in a very short time. It is funny how you feel pressured to settle when you board a plane, but there are many others who simply don’t rush at all!

We were fed well, more than we were expecting! A three course lunch of chicken noodles and then a few hours later, mini pies or ciabatta. We even asked for a cocktail, and had two Singapore Slings!

They turned down the lights, strangely at 1pm Adelaide time (10am Singapore time), which was weird, but both of us fell asleep!

Singapore Changi airport

This place is HUGE!, four large terminals that are filled with shops, food options, and beautiful gardens or displays. When we arrived, we walked for around 2 hours, just exploring the three main terminals.

Each terminal is expansive and beautiful, nothing dirty or broken, but we could tell that Terminal 2 was much older than the rest. It just had slightly lower ceilings, and less expansive areas for exploring.

Butterfly garden

One beautiful little area to spend some time is in Terminal 3, where there is an indoor waterfall and lush garden, filled with butterflies! It was strange to walk out of the area with shops directly to the outside, where we could feel the 30⁰ and 85% humidity outside weather.

We were surrounded by butterflies, and the tropical feeling made us both sweat almost immediately.

The Jewel

Changi is famous for having a large garden “in the middle of the airport”. Whilst it is technically between three of the terminals, and surrounded by the airport, The Jewel and its signature internal waterfall are actually not inside the cleared and secured part of the airport. If you are transferring in the airport, you need to exit through immigration and customs, then you can visit The Jewel and its extensive shopping areas.

For passengers, the train that runs between Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, and it passes through the Jewel, giving you a quick free view of the gardens and waterfall – thought it is only for 30 seconds!

Other attractions in Singapore airport

We never found the indoor slide that takes passengers down to departure gates, but we had a little look at the free cinema and looked at the hotel and a few of the food halls. We had 8 hours to kill, and there was plenty to see and do. We spent most of our time in lounges, but also enjoyed the other features of the airport.

Next stop … London!