Urban City

Singapore Travel Guide: 5 Tips, Tricks, and Takeaways

We are SO sad to leave Singapore, which is what inspired me to write this Singapore travel guide. We originally booked a month there, but our first Airbnb was canceled by the host. The place we eventually stayed was in a YMCA facility, and I didn’t ask what accommodation category it fell under. For current planning, URA’s accommodation rules distinguish private residential properties, which require stays of at least three consecutive months, from hotels and approved serviced apartments. Check the accommodation’s approved use before booking a shorter visit.

I know now we easily could have stayed that long :). However, for anyone who isn’t traveling full-time, we did find hotels with 2 or 3 bedrooms about the same price point (which is high).

We legitimately could live in Singapore. And we may! It was so nice. Definitely a must-visit place! While I crave the thought of the beaches and sand and jungle of Kauai, Singapore could easily be our home. And it offers some nice advantages!

Singapore Travel Guide Tip 1. Singapore’s public transit is SUPER awesome and easy to use. Singapore is primarily English, so all signs are in English. Once you walk down and get yourself an MRT card (about $5 Singapore just for the card and it come preloaded with $7 on it) and use the train once, you’ll be a pro. Singapore travel guide for public transportation:

• No eating or drinking on the MRT. Do not assume that water or travelling with children creates an exception: the railway rules cover food and drink. Plan snack and drink breaks before entering the restricted areas, and ask station staff if you need assistance. This was quite an adjustment for me. Singapore’s public bus rules also prohibit consuming food or drink; check with a taxi operator about its own rules.
• Be quiet! This is impossible with our kids, but they do want the ride to be as quiet as possible. Easy to do when you have one one or no kids at all 🙂
• You’ll scan your card when you enter and when you leave, so keep it handy. The price you pay is like $0.80 to $2.00, depending on how far you go or something. I couldn’t quite figure it out, but it just deducts from your card. In two weeks, each of our cards used about $15 or less and we took it every day.
• There are fun double decker buses! We loved riding on the top and they are FAST.
• Everything is on time and we literally never waited more than 3 minutes for anything. Our place was very well positioned next to a big MRT station, so it was wonderful. Just about a 10 min walk to the MRT station or a 2 min walk to the bus stop.
• About every other MRT station connects to a different line when you re in the city core.
• There are NOT any public trash cans- these are actually kind of rare in general. So pack your trash out with you. The city in incredibly clean.

Singapore Travel Guide Tip 2. We loved Singapore enough to imagine living there. During our visit, conversations with locals made the possible residency and tax situation sound very attractive, especially because our business was online. Those conversations did not establish what we would actually qualify for. For anyone considering a move, permanent residence and citizenship have separate eligibility and application rules. Successful Singapore citizenship applicants over 21 must renounce foreign citizenship before registration. Its current top resident personal income-tax rate is 24%, and overseas-income treatment has exceptions. US citizens living abroad are generally taxed on worldwide income; the foreign earned income exclusion has qualifying requirements. Get advice about your actual work and family circumstances before treating a possible move as a tax saving.

Singapore Travel Guide Tip 3. Singapore is a great hub for Asia. It is incredibly first-world, it is an education center of the world. Just look it up on Wikipedia- we were shocked!

Singapore Travel Guide Tip 4. People are incredibly polite. They are soft spoken and kind. I’d see people constantly offering their seat on the trains to someone else. They aren’t pushy. They aren’t contentious. We have loved being outside of the US just for the lack of contention. It’s crazy how contentious the US is.. everyone wants every things to be perfect, from service to school to friends to appearances. People are arguing a lot of fighting over politics. Apparently Singapore is a bit more of a dictatorship, but it works very well.

Singapore Travel Guide Tip 5. I thought we would get a lot of negative comments In Singapore about how many kids we have (kind of like in a big city in the US). However, we didn’t. Many people smile and some just tells how blessed we are. They forgive our social blunders since we are so obviously foreigners and are kind.

Overall, we loved our time in Singapore this January. I know we will be back! What a stark contrast from Bali and a wonderful introduction to the rest of our Asia journey.

If you travel to Singapore tag me @7wayfinders! I’d love to see your travels there, and hear how you liked this Singapore travel guide!

Leslie