My Singapore trip last August was unplanned on my part. So that meant booking in a rush since I went with my friend who already had her ticket booked a few weeks earlier. But her flight’s arrival time was past twelve midnight. I had no qualms in booking the same time since we wanted to be together. But my immediate concern was how we were going to our accommodation from Singapore Changi Airport past midnight since the MRT is closed at these hours.
I read somewhere that taxis can be an option but of course for us it wasn’t since a Singaporean Dollar equals to a whopping 38 pesos each! With that in mind, I did a little research and found a safe and convenient way to travel from the airport to our hostel at 2 AM in the morning.
After arrival and getting past the immigration, we quickly looked for the City Shuttle sign. We saw it near the arrival gates.
We approached the lone attendant and inquired how we can book for two seats to take us to Box Capsule Hostel in Chinatown. My friend purchased two tickets at 9 SGD each (about Php 338). While standing beside her, I heard the guy offered her to pay for our tickets using a credit card. I saw the machines at one side but we paid cash that time.
While waiting for our pick-up time, I checked out the machine. Curious how it would’ve work if we chose to purchase our tickets this way.
Even before arriving in Singapore, I already know that our hostel is included in the list. It didn’t hurt to check beforehand since I actually planned to pre-book but my friend decided against it as she thought our flight might get delayed.
Search for your hotel in the accommodation list. Make sure to double check your hotel details. Then enter the number of tickets you wish to purchase. The next screen will ask how you wish to pay (credit card, debit card etc.)
Print out your vouchers and keep it. Since we bought ours over the counter, we were given passenger stickers aside from our vouchers which looked like the ones below.
Our driver came on time and he ushered us to a mini-bus. Even though there were only three passengers including us, we departed as scheduled. Since it was two in the morning, there were almost no traffic in the streets and we arrived at our lodging about twenty minutes later. We arrived safe and sound plus this option didn’t burn a hole in our pockets either. Of course 338 pesos is still expensive in our country. But hey, this is Singapore. And it’s not the MRT either.
Traveling to such a fine city like Singapore is truly a delight for someone who comes from an underdeveloped one. I couldn’t help but to wish wistfully every time we saw all the conveniences Singaporeans have like their very efficient public transportation. Traveling at any time was made very convenient. Urban planning at its finest. Well, I can only nod my head when I arrived back in the Philippines a few days later. I guess I won’t be seeing these kind of developments in my lifetime. But I am still hopeful it will happen. 🙂
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WTS Travel
https://www.wtstravel.com.sg
