November 22, 2025

I had a few solo days between Hannah’s departure and Jeremy’s arrival, so I decided to go to Singapore. Singapore was the perfect break between Vietnam and India. I wanted a relaxing solo portion of the trip where I felt safe and could simply chill, take long walks, and follow my own personal random agenda.

I landed around 2 pm and got to the hotel around 3 pm. The airport is an easy 20-minute drive to the main hotels and tourist attractions, such as Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay. My room wasn’t ready until 4 pm, so I hung out at the gorgeous hotel pool and ordered a delicious club sandwich. 

Later that evening, I signed up for a Pilates class because I was craving a good strength workout and had already been away from my usual Pilates schedule for a while. Plus, it’s kind of fun to do your normal routine in a different atmosphere to see what it might be like to live in that city.

I went on a lovely 20-minute walk from my hotel to the pilates studio, brought a change of clothes, and walked straight to a solo sushi dinner at Koma. Sushi counters are the perfect solo spot, plus Koma was playing loud music, and it was dark, so I didn’t feel too isolated.

After that, I wandered around the Marina Bay Sands mall, then stayed up way too late in my hotel room for no reason.

November 23

On this trip, I basically just set my alarm 30 mins before the free breakfast ends, unless an early-morning adventure is on the books. (Weird, I randomly have no early morning adventures scheduled.) So, I woke up at 10 am, had a lovely hotel breakfast, then wandered out into the city.

I walked from the Mandarin Oriental into the Maxwell neighborhood, taking my time to take in the area, and stopped at Kada, a multi-story building with coffee shops and a cute restaurant at the top, famous for its sourdough items. I got a delicious sourdough pizza thing of sorts, can’t quite describe it, but it was glorious.

Then I continued my aimless journey. I popped into a used bookstore, walked through Chinatown, where I bought some cute items from a local man’s stall. After that, I wanted to stop by this place called New Bahru, another multi-storied shopping center that sounded similar to the local artisan shops we found in Hong Kong. 

It was a long walk to New Bahru, and it was very humid, so I was sweating buckets, but I had wanted to get a long walk in. TBH, I did kind of regret this walk in the humidity. But the shops were adorable and fun to gaze through. I felt so physically drained by the end that I Ubered back; I couldn’t even attempt public transit at that point, even though I’m sure Singapore has great public transit options.

I hung out by the pool for a while at the hotel, enjoyed an Aperol Spritz that I 1000% deserved from my treacherous hike, and watched the sunset from there.

Much later in the evening, I walked to the Gardens by the Bay. I was so impressed by this, which I honestly didn’t expect. Singapore is one of the only places I’ve been where you’ve seen all the famous sights on social media and in photos, but seeing them in person is truly something else; everything is so grand and really worth seeing. The Gardens by the Bay were so cool. And seeing the view of the Marina Bay Sands from there is truly indescribable, just gotta see it for yourself!

Then, of course, I found myself back at Marina Bay Sands mall, got some Shanghai-style dumplings from the food court, and made my way back to the hotel.

November 24

On my last day in Singapore, I wanted to check out a neighborhood about a 10-minute drive from where I was staying. I wanted to see what a neighborhood outside the main tourist area was like. I journeyed to Joo Chiat, a colorful, quiet neighborhood known for cute shops and cafes. Thanks to TikTok, I popped into Big Short Coffee, which was, in fact, delicious but a bit Instagram-y for me. Everyone in there had their phones out, filming content; it honestly felt a bit dystopic. And, there were many other cute coffee shop options. Either way, my orange cold brew thing was fantastic.

Then I wandered through two amazing antique shops. I intentionally sought out the first shop, A Vintage Tale, based on its reviews. They had amazing clothing items, but the employees were so pushy that I was overwhelmed and turned off by it all. So I stumbled into another vintage shop right next door called Joo Chiat Atelier, where I ended up getting a Dior watch from the 80’s/90’s, and I love her so much. And yeah, I wrote a Google review for 5% off.

I called it a day, headed back to the hotel to check out, then chilled at the hotel pool until I needed to leave. I enjoyed a lychee martini...two lychee martinis...and took a double lychee dip in the pool. Wow, that was an amazing day. The only friend I made on this solo trip was the hotel pool bartender. Whatever. 

Still feeling two lychees deep, I was off to the airport! I checked out the famous Jewel Changi terminal and enjoyed a solo KBBQ moment (I’m so masculine it’s ridiculous) with a view of the waterfall. Then, I was off to India!

Singapore was all about relaxing, self-care, and celebrating a hard-working year, and it was truly all of those things. I loved it so much.