An Expedia report revealed that Singaporeans feel vacation-deprived – even if we take 14 out of 15 days’ leave. But, why? Travelling is meant to take our minds off work. Yet, very often, we end up “working” more – planning for transportation, hotel accommodation and sightseeing spots. Fortunately, on my recent 40-day trip around Europe, I saved quite a bit of time in my planning, all thanks to Changi Recommends.
You may or may not know of Changi Recommends. And even if you do, you probably think that it only comes into the picture when you need to rent an overseas wifi router. That’s where you’re wrong — Changi Recommends is a one-stop shop for your travel needs.
Flight Watch
Let’s face it — travelling comes with a lot of uncertainties, like flight delays for instance. It’s no fun arriving at the airport check-in, only to be informed that your flight has been delayed for four hours. If you had known earlier, you could have delayed going to the airport and put your spare time to better use.
Enter Changi Recommends’ Flight Watch. All you have to do is visit the Changi Recommends website, key in the flight number and mobile number under Flight Watch to receive real-time flight updates via SMS from your mobile phone. Now, I don’t have to worry about having to “camp” at departure halls in the event of a flight delay.
Overseas Wifi Router Rental
The overseas travel router was a lifesaver for me during my Europe trip. For one, I did not have to scramble and look around for a shop selling local SIM cards at every country I visited. I actually visited 10 different countries during my trip, so you can imagine the amount of hassle I would have to go through if not for the Changi Recommends router.
There were times when we needed to use GoogleMaps for navigation when travelling from one country to another by train. Not all train stations would have a shop selling local SIM cards. We could instantly just use our GoogleMaps to find our destination the moment we got off the train.
The wifi router was an extremely cost-efficient option in comparison to buying SIM cards at each city I visited. For as low as S$5 a day (psst, use the Asia361 promo code), you get to enjoy wifi connection in many cities including Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Europe. All we had to do was to order our wifi router three days in advance online and collect from any of the Changi Recommends booths located at every terminal at Changi Airport.
Airport Transfer
Whenever we travel, we would most likely use public transport (taxis, trains or buses) or arrange for airport transfer to travel between the airport and the hotel. Getting a taxi can be exasperating — long queues and difficulty in communicating with the taxi driver are just some of the common problems encountered. And if you have a huge luggage in tow, trains and buses don’t sound too appealing either.
Airport transfers are a convenient mode of transport. Often, we go online to search for an airport transfer provider but are not sure which one to select. What if the one you selected turns out to be unreliable? For our trip in Madrid, we decided to make use of Changi Recommends’ airport transfer service. Yes, bet you don’t know that you can now book airport transfers through the trusty Changi Recommends.
I had a good experience with the airport transfer in Madrid. The driver was punctual and the car was spacious for me, my travel companions and all our luggage, of course.
As a one-stop shop for your travel needs, Changi Recommends provides other services, including overseas tours, booking of train tickets (for instance, in Japan) and local wifi router rental services. It has pretty much become a regular travel buddy of mine these days.
