Singaporeans Love Traveling
18th September 2007, Tuesday
The Goods & Service Tax may have risen to 7% and there had been rumors about restructuring the CPF system, but somehow behind the moaning and whining about how the government has compounded misery to the average Joes in Singapore, there was yet another record-breaking turnout in the NATAS Holidays Travel Fair at the past weekend...
You might say there was a strong inclination among our local people to cluster where the general crowd are (totally void of claustrophobia unlike myself); however if you have to pay a $3 entrance fee, I think you might as well get a good traveling package in the fair...unless you are there for the free bottles of Coca Cola Light...SUCKERS!
After sending off Nao & Tamotsu at Changi Airport, it took me a good 15 minutes to take the skytrain to Terminal 2, then wait forever for the MRT to move off from the Airport Terminal station and then snaking painfully along the badly congested walkway of the Expo exhibition halls which I always felt is poorly designed to rendezvous with my missus who was buried in doing up her task or something at the Coffee Bean cafe...
By then around 2pm, there was a prominent beeline outside Hall 4B where anxious travel-planners were purchasing the entrance ticket before their onslaught within the hall...
Fortunately my missus was smart enough to get the tickets just when she arrived at 11plus...
The travel fair surely had upscaled since we last visited back in 2005 when it was biannually held at Suntec City Convention Center.. Perhaps the dire need to expand the exhibition was the main push for a change of venue.. Despite the secluded location, the travel-hungry crowd wasn't deterred and made their presence felt...
I have to share sentiments with my fellow countrymen who flood the Expo for good touring deals, for the best way to reward yourself after a year of toiling monotonously at work is to get out of our measly nation to see the world, recharge, destress and generally let your hair down and have a great time...
However to do so, one has to endure the madness swamping the exhibition hall as you wouldn't imagine the great number of tour agencies there are in our small nation...
My missus had did her research on which agencies had the free & easy deals on the wager...
One of them was this Asiaplus booth or something which was link to Chan Brothers, on the the most well-known agency in Singapore...
We knew that package tour is more of their specialty but since they had printed in black and white in the exhibition catalog, we thought of giving it a try...
The middle-aged uncle who served us had a hard time squinting his eyes behind that spectacles to rectify his presbyopia to search for that package on offer in his folder but to no avail...
It didn't took us long to vamoose off the booth to pop up at the Japan Tourism Official booth...
It was where we last acquire our tickets the last time round and being well-served by Jeanette from Farmosa Holidays (last heard she has left the company)...
The pavilion served more to showcase various parts of the attractive Japan which i presumed is a hotspot for Singaporeans to visit the pass couple of years due to the dropping yen rate (though it is on the rise, especially when PM Shinzo Abe has stepped down recently after a torrid time in office)...
There was one for Osaka which mainly pushing the concept of "center of great food" in Japan, one for Hokkaido which should benefit with winter beckoning as well as one for the Tohaku regions of Honshu, including our beloved Iwate...
We came upon this booth with staff dressed up in traditional Japanese wears and I supposed it would be the reincarnation of the one with Farmosa Holidays...
The attendants were all busy serving prospective clients and we finally got hold of a rather lost bespectacled guy who was indifferent towards soliciting for business...
Upon looking through the list of hotels tied in with the JAL package, we failed to spot our number 1 choice for lodging in Osaka, Riva Nakai Osaka or the revamped one under the name Cross Hotel at the heart of Namba, beside the famous Dotonbori River...
I was a little disheartened and to add salt to the open fresh wound, our preferred departure date of 2nd November, Friday was not available...
It seems to get our desired requests across that numbskull, so we soon left for better option elsewhere...
Fortunately on show was Farmosa Holidays with their own booth (and a pretty established one)...
I was always more eager to talk to lady attendants, especially the glib-tongue ones as they usually managed to accommodate to our needs, and Farmosa doesn't seem to have shortage of those...
We were soon acquainted with this lady by the name of Xuelinig who served on the platter th same offer seen at the former booth...
From their system it seems like true indeed the flight on 2nd November is fully book and immediately she offered us a flight on the 1st which Mr Clueless didn't bother to...
Without better option, we decided to tweak our traveling itinerary to depart on the 2nd and return on the 10th.
Not to jeopardizes our Kyoto Ryokan stay which we had already made reservation with JTB, it seems wise to stay an additional day at Osaka City and we chose a mid-range hotel, Granvia despite not knowing the precise location of the hotel which is utmost important...
She reassured us that if we chose to pick somewhere cheaper, it is fully refundable...
We also got the room at Washington Akihabara hotel for our lodging in Tokyo..so basically almost everything is settled less the JR pass and the Mt Fuji 1-day tour
We chose to split the hefty bill (unlike the last time when we only placed deposit but later on when we went to collect the tickets, the requirement to pay cash was a chore...nevertheless it is risky to settle the bill now) on 3 credit cards, so to enjoy the freebies included as well as jackpot which brought me more useless novelty items (like a USB extender cum clock)
Meanwhile my missus went to look at the offer from AIG with regards to travel insurance which generated a buzz at the prominent red booth...
Apparently with 40% discount, it was a great opportunity to get the travel insurance which is always crucial for traveling overseas in such time of uncertainties...
We had intended to leave at 4 but it got delayed by a good half an hour with settling the bill and this and that...but at least it was mission accomplished...
By mere coincidence, Selina and her hubby, Kevin are hoping for a short escapade to Osaka and neighboring Kinki regions like Nara and Kyoto ob Oct 31st... so we could arrange to meet for dinner when we are there...
She seems to have some connection with the crew of JTB Saloon at Takashimaya and received a 5% discount voucher which she said perhaps I could use...some savings is better off than no savings...
Now just wait patiently for the 1st of November and back into the embrace of my 2nd homeland...幸せ!!
The Goods & Service Tax may have risen to 7% and there had been rumors about restructuring the CPF system, but somehow behind the moaning and whining about how the government has compounded misery to the average Joes in Singapore, there was yet another record-breaking turnout in the NATAS Holidays Travel Fair at the past weekend...
You might say there was a strong inclination among our local people to cluster where the general crowd are (totally void of claustrophobia unlike myself); however if you have to pay a $3 entrance fee, I think you might as well get a good traveling package in the fair...unless you are there for the free bottles of Coca Cola Light...SUCKERS!
After sending off Nao & Tamotsu at Changi Airport, it took me a good 15 minutes to take the skytrain to Terminal 2, then wait forever for the MRT to move off from the Airport Terminal station and then snaking painfully along the badly congested walkway of the Expo exhibition halls which I always felt is poorly designed to rendezvous with my missus who was buried in doing up her task or something at the Coffee Bean cafe...
By then around 2pm, there was a prominent beeline outside Hall 4B where anxious travel-planners were purchasing the entrance ticket before their onslaught within the hall...
Fortunately my missus was smart enough to get the tickets just when she arrived at 11plus...
The travel fair surely had upscaled since we last visited back in 2005 when it was biannually held at Suntec City Convention Center.. Perhaps the dire need to expand the exhibition was the main push for a change of venue.. Despite the secluded location, the travel-hungry crowd wasn't deterred and made their presence felt...
I have to share sentiments with my fellow countrymen who flood the Expo for good touring deals, for the best way to reward yourself after a year of toiling monotonously at work is to get out of our measly nation to see the world, recharge, destress and generally let your hair down and have a great time...
However to do so, one has to endure the madness swamping the exhibition hall as you wouldn't imagine the great number of tour agencies there are in our small nation...
My missus had did her research on which agencies had the free & easy deals on the wager...
One of them was this Asiaplus booth or something which was link to Chan Brothers, on the the most well-known agency in Singapore...
We knew that package tour is more of their specialty but since they had printed in black and white in the exhibition catalog, we thought of giving it a try...
The middle-aged uncle who served us had a hard time squinting his eyes behind that spectacles to rectify his presbyopia to search for that package on offer in his folder but to no avail...
It didn't took us long to vamoose off the booth to pop up at the Japan Tourism Official booth...
It was where we last acquire our tickets the last time round and being well-served by Jeanette from Farmosa Holidays (last heard she has left the company)...
The pavilion served more to showcase various parts of the attractive Japan which i presumed is a hotspot for Singaporeans to visit the pass couple of years due to the dropping yen rate (though it is on the rise, especially when PM Shinzo Abe has stepped down recently after a torrid time in office)...
There was one for Osaka which mainly pushing the concept of "center of great food" in Japan, one for Hokkaido which should benefit with winter beckoning as well as one for the Tohaku regions of Honshu, including our beloved Iwate...
We came upon this booth with staff dressed up in traditional Japanese wears and I supposed it would be the reincarnation of the one with Farmosa Holidays...
The attendants were all busy serving prospective clients and we finally got hold of a rather lost bespectacled guy who was indifferent towards soliciting for business...
Upon looking through the list of hotels tied in with the JAL package, we failed to spot our number 1 choice for lodging in Osaka, Riva Nakai Osaka or the revamped one under the name Cross Hotel at the heart of Namba, beside the famous Dotonbori River...
I was a little disheartened and to add salt to the open fresh wound, our preferred departure date of 2nd November, Friday was not available...
It seems to get our desired requests across that numbskull, so we soon left for better option elsewhere...
Fortunately on show was Farmosa Holidays with their own booth (and a pretty established one)...
I was always more eager to talk to lady attendants, especially the glib-tongue ones as they usually managed to accommodate to our needs, and Farmosa doesn't seem to have shortage of those...
We were soon acquainted with this lady by the name of Xuelinig who served on the platter th same offer seen at the former booth...
From their system it seems like true indeed the flight on 2nd November is fully book and immediately she offered us a flight on the 1st which Mr Clueless didn't bother to...
Without better option, we decided to tweak our traveling itinerary to depart on the 2nd and return on the 10th.
Not to jeopardizes our Kyoto Ryokan stay which we had already made reservation with JTB, it seems wise to stay an additional day at Osaka City and we chose a mid-range hotel, Granvia despite not knowing the precise location of the hotel which is utmost important...
She reassured us that if we chose to pick somewhere cheaper, it is fully refundable...
We also got the room at Washington Akihabara hotel for our lodging in Tokyo..so basically almost everything is settled less the JR pass and the Mt Fuji 1-day tour
We chose to split the hefty bill (unlike the last time when we only placed deposit but later on when we went to collect the tickets, the requirement to pay cash was a chore...nevertheless it is risky to settle the bill now) on 3 credit cards, so to enjoy the freebies included as well as jackpot which brought me more useless novelty items (like a USB extender cum clock)
Meanwhile my missus went to look at the offer from AIG with regards to travel insurance which generated a buzz at the prominent red booth...
Apparently with 40% discount, it was a great opportunity to get the travel insurance which is always crucial for traveling overseas in such time of uncertainties...
We had intended to leave at 4 but it got delayed by a good half an hour with settling the bill and this and that...but at least it was mission accomplished...
By mere coincidence, Selina and her hubby, Kevin are hoping for a short escapade to Osaka and neighboring Kinki regions like Nara and Kyoto ob Oct 31st... so we could arrange to meet for dinner when we are there...
She seems to have some connection with the crew of JTB Saloon at Takashimaya and received a 5% discount voucher which she said perhaps I could use...some savings is better off than no savings...
Now just wait patiently for the 1st of November and back into the embrace of my 2nd homeland...幸せ!!
Japanese word of the day: 走行(Traveling) Best enjoyed with the Utada Hikaru song of the same name....
posted by Kei at
2:48 PM
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