Sentosa Boardwalk, Sentosa Visitor Center, and USS Globe, Singapore

It was the very first time I brought my sister and her family to other country. This was due to their profession, and commitment in both, the parents and the kids. Since they have never been to any other foreign countries, I lured them with the nearest country first, Singapore. I actually promised them that it will be cheap but fun, like what we normally did.

So I told her to prepare RM1000 for a complete package of 5 (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 infant), from fuel, toll, bus, train, food, accommodation, entrance fee, up to shopping, from KL to Johor to Singapore, and back to Johor and KL. Ha dah macam travel agent tak pekena kakak sendiri. Hahaha! Then I asked them to do a group passport, which was way cheaper, valid for a single entry (RM200 for a group of 5 to 20 pax). For those kids below 12, please bring birth cert as well ya. Click here for more info on group passport.

Similar to what I’ve planned and recommended for my sister, I tabled out the same budget to my two stepsisters, who live in Seremban and Johor. Initially, they had no issue, obliging to MY plan. When I said MY plan, they must follow MY way. I had a big doubt at first, since they haven’t been to any foreign country before, but looking at my stepmom, I thought it would be fun if she can have fun with her biological daughters, sons in law, and grandchild. So, why not. The more, the merrier.

But out of nowhere, a week before the trip, I received a big spank on my face, when one of the son in law, started to play “he-knows-all” game. Ouch, big mistake, bro! He kept on asking why we should get in by bus, how do they carry the baby, this and that. Even worst, he told me that they will only do one-entry-Malaysian-Passport, right at the Singapore Immigration. What the hell was that? Halo, what year are you living now, bro? How can you enter Singapore, when you can’t even go through Malaysian Immigration? *Slap forehead*

And so I told them, not to proceed. If they insist, please go on their own. I don’t roaming, so try your luck to find where we are. Period. (My sister actually wanted them to go on their own, to see whether they can get through or not, coz she has done it (group passport) a week before. Hahaha!)

They finally decided not to go, at all.

Pak Ein and his wife? They still actively travel. Almost becoming a yearly traveler (wahhhh!). As usual, there was no objection from both of them on the budget and itinerary, as long as there is one slot for shopping time. Hahaha!

Both families, overnight at my Palmiera Cacatoos for few nights, before we drove to Johor on Thursday night. It was a smooth drive, before we finally reached Johor and traced the Homestay Larkin, with the help of GPS. Read here for Homestay Larkin experience.

After a huge frustration on Malaysian Team in AFF Suzuki Cup, we went out for dinner at mamak restaurant, somewhere around the area.

The day after, I opened the window and sighed. It was heavily raining! I believed Singapore was raining too. Pasrah dan redho. We checked-out and handed in the house key to the owner, who happened to live opposite the homestay. With the help of GPS, we drove to the Larkin Terminal, parked next to the market building (RM5 per day), crossed over and walked towards SKS bus.

We paid RM2.70 each and hopped on the bus. I saw smiling faces of my sister and her family, but my stepmom had the widest. Well, this plan initially popped-out because of her. She kept on telling me that Pak Ein didn’t want to bring her to Singapore, coz he said “nothing there”. Knowing my dad’s history, we know that he used to live in Singapore when he was playing drum with Tentera Darat for quite sometime. He infact, had a Singaporean girlfriend and my stepmom was continuously teased him during the whole trip. Hahaha! So when I told her that I was going to bring her to Singapore, she jumped happily and hugged me. Aww…

The traffic was quite ok coz we chose not to join the morning crowd. We took our own sweet time (my sis brought stroller) and went into the immigration process, successfully. We then hopped on the same bus and headed to Woodlands, where we had to queue for almost half an hour! Before us, there was a group of 30 Malaysians, who were going for a short trip around Singapore with Muslim tour agency. Haih…

After gone through all the process, we hopped back into the bus and headed to Kranji Station, where we hiked on MRT, straight to Vivo City. Beforehand, we purchased two EZLink Card (SGD15 each, with SGD5 as non-refundable deposit) for my niece and nephew, to top other 6 cards that I borrowed from #TravelholicAwesome. Wasn’t that great? J

At Vivo City, we had lunch at the food court, where we opted for Japanese Bento, while Pak Ein and his wife chose Chicken Rice. Pak Ein, biasa la, nak nasikkkk. An hour later, we took a train to Harbour Front, and stopped right before the Sentosa Island.

Instead of getting to Sentosa Island via cable car and express train, Hubby decided to use the Boardwalk, to experience the scenic walkway with garden-themed under the canopy. And the most amazing thing is, they have travellators almost 70% of the passageway! It seems so perfect, especially for stroller, and elder people. (Anyhow, pets are not allowed here.)

From afar, we can actually see the Sentosa Island signage, buildings, and roller coaster tracks. On our right, there were two huge cruise ships and few water taxis, looking stunning over the sea. Though each of us carried a bag pack, we still enjoy the panoramic view via this passage. We occasionally stopped to take pictures and videos, ignoring the heat of the sun.

Once we reached the Sentosa Island entrance, we had to pay SGD1 for the boardwalk ticket. Since we had EZLink cards, it was a smooth entrance for the whole family. We stopped at the Sentosa Visitor Center and took the map pamphlet. We took 10 minutes to refresh ourselves in this air-conditioned building before we started the exploration of Sentosa Island.

Since all of us came with bag pack, we need to find big huge locker to keep it. At first, no sign of lockers outside the USS. But thank God, we finally found one, just next to the outer gate of USS entrance. We took the biggest locker and paid roughly SGD10 for a day. Actually, my niece really wanted to enter the USS, but we had no extra time to do so. Maybe next time, with her other cousins. So they just had a memorable photos in front of the big blue famous globe. Jadilah...