Transit in Singapore Airport
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Singapore Changi Airport - PHOTO from Flickr: Hey Tiffany!
Singapore is only small but it is a fascinating destination and you don’t even need to leave the airport to get a feeling of the place. Singapore Changi airport is a major transit hub in the Far East for Singapore Airlines. With flight connections all over the planet, a significant number of passengers are in transit. Being a transit passenger can sometimes be a pain. If you are lucky, the time between your flights allows you enough time to get between the aircraft without hanging around for ages.
Depending on the passport you hold, it is possible to leave your transit airport and visit the city if time allows but Changi is one of those rare airports where the transit passenger could happily spend hours. One of the first things I noticed was the terminals were all fully carpeted. The carpets absorb a lot of the noise you find in most terminals which gives the place a much more relaxed feel.
On my last transit visit to Changi, I had around 6 hours between flights (18:00 – Midnight). I had booked myself into the transit lounge but first I wanted to grab something to eat. There is no shortage or variety of places to eat but I wanted cheap and quick before heading to the transit lounge. I was pleasantly surprised that the prices were very reasonable. A problem I’ve found in many airports is that transit passengers are a captive audience and prices usually reflect that. However, in Changi, I didn’t find this to be an issue. Another plus for transit passengers !!
During the day, a 6 hour transit time would allow enough time to head into the city with a free 2 hour city tour (first come, first served). The first tour departs at 9am and the last at 4pm with a choice of either the Cultural Tour or Colonial Tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to take either this time so instead it was off to the Ambassador Transit lounge. For longer transit stays, there is a hotel next to the lounge.
As airport lounges go, the Ambassador Transit lounge is superb with free wifi, a good selection of hotel and cold snacks and drinks and comfy seats. There is also a gym, showers and business facilities including a meeting room. Alternatively, if you are there during the day and the weather is nice, you could take advantage of the rooftop swimming pool.
Rooftop swimming pool at Singapore Airport - PHOTO from Flickr: Iain Croll (8lettersuk)
A few hours in the lounge was ideal to spend a bit of time catching up on emails and relaxing but before I headed to catch my flight back to London, I had to buy a couple of presents. As you would expect, there is no shortage of places to shop. I was after a bit of jewellery so a quick visit to the Pandora shop and I was set to fly home and I didn’t even get the chance to go to the free cinema or visit the buttterfly garden.
Using Photos Under Creative Commons Licensing
By · CommentsWhenever I’m lucky enough to be heading off on a new trip, I make sure I have at least one camera (sometimes I have 3…or 4 if you include the one on my phone). I take plenty of photos and I upload the better ones to my Flickr account – http://www.flickr.com/bbmexplorer
Over the years I’ve uploaded well over 1,000 images and I spend time labelling, tagging and adding them to the map so people get the most from them.
Need a photo of St Basils Cathedral in Moscow? I've got just what you need.
After a trip, it takes time to sort out pictures, edit and upload them and once I’ve done that, I make all my images on Flickr available for use under a Creative Commons license. This means they can be used free of charge with the single condition that a link to my website is included.
All sorts of people look for images on the internet. Some people want them for blog posts and companies often use them for their websites. The majority of users respect the Creative Commons license and add a credit link but I’m amazed how many companies think it is perfectly acceptable to use the image without any acknowledgement to the photographer (ie – ME).
Flickr stats allow me to see where my photos are being used and from time to time, I have a look at see where they turn up. Quite a few are on Wikipedia which surprised me.
I love people to use my images PROVIDED THEY ARE PROPERLY ATTRIBUTED. Thats why I set them up with a Creative Commons licence. Although I like to think my photos are reasonably good, they don’t have too much of a commercial value. If I thought they did, they wouldn’t be on Flickr.
So please feel free to use my images and credit them properly but remember…..
...I'm watching you !!!
