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Singapore

Backpacker to Business Class Part 2: The Staying

by Keith on June 22, 2011 · 4 comments

This is the second post in a series documenting the differences between traveling as a backpacker and as a business traveler.  To see the first post in the series about the differences in air travel, please click here.  Next, I want to cover the differences in accommodations.

One of the biggest questions people asked about our backpacking trip was, “What was it like to stay in hostels?” often asked with an intonation that implies that hostels must be dirty and terrible places to “have” to stay when traveling on a budget.  So I thought I would compare my Singapore accommodations on both trips.  While backpacking, Amy and I stayed at the lovely Sleepy Sam’s in the Arab section of Singapore, just down from the Masjid Sultan mosque.

We sprung for a private room ($62/night), but shared the bath, toilet and kitchen facilities with everyone.  Included in that nightly fee was a simple breakfast of toast, jam and coffee, so we never really had to use the very nice kitchen.

Compare that to the luxurious Fairmont Hotel, which is located across the street from the famous Raffles Hotel, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling.

My room at the Fairmont ran $265/night, but did include a magnificent buffet breakfast every morning (which was most likely a huge contributor to the approximately 5lbs I gained on this trip despite working out 4 days in the Fairmount’s huge gym).  The biggest difference probably has to be the beds.  At the Fairmont there was a very comfortable king size bed with fresh sheets every 3 days. At Sleepy Sams the bed was a pretty thin mattress on a small platform.  However, I will note that the free lobby wifi was MUCH slower than the wifi at Sleepy Sam’s.

All in all I am not sure that the Fairmont is worth the entire $1,100 premium that they charge over a place like Sleepy Sam’s for 6 nights in Singapore.  In fact, at the Sustainable Brands 2011 Conference in Monterey, the second stop on my business trip,  I learned about Google’s travel and expense system, Trips, that employs gamification principals to save the company money.  As it was explained, the system works by allotting employees a set amount of funding for a trip to a city or region.  If the employee is able to book and travel for less than the set amount, my understanding is that the employee has two options on what to do with the savings:

  1. Bank the savings to use on a future trip – allowing you to stay at a luxury hotel; or
  2. Donate the difference to charity.

If we had that system at Johnson & Johnson, I think that I may have honestly considered the option of staying at Sleepy Sam’s if I knew that I could bank the savings or donate it to charity.   The potential $1,100 savings would have been a bit of an inconvenience and a little less comfortable, but if I am willing to take it on, I should share in the savings, right?  What would you do?  Let me know in the comments below.  And if you work for Google (Kristin, I am talking to you) and I have this wrong please correct me.

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Backpacker to Business Class Part 1: The Flying

by Keith on June 13, 2011 · 3 comments

I have just returned from my second RTW (round-the-world) trip in as many years.   The first took me to 18 countries on 5 continents, took over 9 months to complete, cost me $31,124 (my half of the total) and was done as a self-funded backpacker.  I just completed the second RTW trip as a business traveler.  This time, the route took me east, over Northern Europe to Singapore, on to San Francisco, before the final eastern leg back to Philadelphia on June 12th.  The trip took just over 2 weeks and will cost Johnson & Johnson a shade over $10,000 for me to attend a key regional meeting and an industry conference.  To compare and contrast the two experiences, I will publish a series of upcoming posts about what was better, worse and just different between traveling as a backpacker and as a business traveler.  Let’s get things kicked off with one of the biggest differences, flying business class.

While we did get a couple of nice upgrades on our backpacking trip, including an upgrade to economy-plus on the United flight from Chicago to Munich and the very clutch business class upgrade on Korea Air from Sydney to Seoul,

we were mostly back in economy.   This was not too bad as most of the flights we took on the backpacking trip were less than 5 hours.   Just enough time to read a magazine, write a blog post and maybe have a meal, as most international airlines, even the budget ones, still serve meals on flights of only an hour or two.

That is a huge contrast with my recent 18.5 hour flight on Singapore Airlines direct from Newark, NJ to Singapore, the longest direct flight in the world.

The entire plane is business class, with lay flat beds, personal entertainment systems and meals of seared tuna and fresh bread served on real china.

And while the amenities and services on the plane were a huge benefit, and made being in the air for that long not only tolerable, but downright enjoyable, it was the benefits in the airport that made the most difference in my flying experience.  It all starts with the check-in.  As I was traveling for business, I had a suitcase for luggage rather than my Osprey backpack, and there was no additional charge for checked bags (I am sure it is covered in the $6,500 ticket cost). I was then directed to the business class lounge which had complementary wifi, beer, wine, and small bites before boarding.

The flight was long, but covered the nearly 10,000 miles in astonishing comfort and speed.  One of the key benefits of this long flight is that Singapore Air is a Star Alliance member, resulting in me achieving Silver status on US Air from this one flight.  With Silver status I was able to get a free upgrade to domestic first class for the final flight back to Philadelphia, which allowed me to complete the entire trip in business/first class.   And as Amy remarked when we quickly checked our luggage ahead of a very, very, long, bleary-eyed and irritated looking economy class check-in line at 5:15am in the San Francisco airport, “Money can’t buy you happiness, but it sure does get you a whole lot of convenience.”  Not to mention a free bloody mary or two on the flight home.    What do you think, is business class worth the dedication to slavishly flying one airline?

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Food and Friends in Singapore

by Amy on January 30, 2010 · 0 comments

Like the eye of a storm, Singapore is a center of calm, cleanliness and order in the chaos that is Southeast Asia.  Upon crossing the border from Malaysia, I was immediately struck by the beautiful, lush landscaping, the trash-free curbs and the pedestrians waiting patiently at crosswalks.  But what truly made our five days in this modern and efficient city-state fantastic was the incredible hospitality of Anand Samuel, a good friend of mine from law school.

Amy and AnandAnand, who grew up in Singapore and now lives in New York, just happened to be back home visiting when we arrived in Singapore, and was more than generous in showing us around his hometown and introducing us to his wonderful friends and family.  We celebrated our arrival with Singapore Slings at the ultra-touristy but must see Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel, the bar that originated the drink.  The rest of our time in Singapore was a whirlwind of delicious meals at hawker stands and food courts, parties with Anand’s local friends, and a fabulously informative private tour of the National Museum of Singapore led by Anand’s mom, a docent at the museum.

A highlight of the National Museum was the Living Gallery – Food, a fantastic display of food-related artifacts and sound installations from the 1950s to the 1970s.  The exhibition is designed to demonstrate how street food reflects the ethnic diversity and cross-cultural exchanges of Singapore.  Best of all was the context the exhibition provided for our delicious culinary adventures at the Newton Hawker Center – chili crab, bak kut teh (pork rib soup), oyster omelet and Hainanese chicken rice, just to name a few of the many dishes we sampled.Food Poster

After stuffing ourselves with Singapore’s gastronomic delights, it was great to get off the tourist trail and meet locals, getting some perspective on what life is like for young professionals in Singapore.  Not only did we get to meet friendly and interesting people, we were also able to get a unique insight into what our lives could be like if we lived and worked in Singapore.  Unlike anywhere else we’ve traveled to, in Singapore we were able to see the city through the eyes of our local peers and really picture ourselves living there. The city is melting pot of different cultures with English as the official language, it’s clean, green and easy to navigate, and, of course, there’s the amazing food.  If it weren’t for the endless heat and humidity (profusely sweating immediately upon exiting anywhere with air conditioning was a common phenomenon), Singapore could give Philly a run for its money as our adopted hometown.

It was also eye opening when we realized how many of Anand’s friends have lived, worked, studied or extensively travelled abroad. These Singaporeans are truly global citizens. It seemed like everyone we met had tales to tell from adventures in other parts of the world, and their enthusiasm for travel and experiencing other cultures was energizing after three months on the road.

***

The Singapore Sling was created at the Raffles Hotel at the turn of the 20th century by Hainanese-Chinese bartender Ngiam Tong Boon.

Recipe

  • 30ml Gin
  • 15ml Heering Cherry Liqueur
  • 120ml Pineapple Juice
  • 15ml Lime Juice
  • 7.5ml Cointreau
  • 7.5ml Dom Benedictine
  • 10ml Grenadine
  • A Dash of Angostura Bitters
  • Garnish with a slice of Pineapple and Cherry

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