Japan to Singapore travel help?

December 21, 2011 1:38 AM

Traveling from Japan to Singapore via Taiwan. WRINKLES: 12:30a landing in Singapore and leaving from a predominantly-domestic airport in Japan. Question 1: Can I do yen directly to Singapore dollars in Taiwan? Question 2: How best to kill time in Chengi airport until the buses and MRT start running again in the morning?
posted by DoctorFedora to Travel & Transportation around Singapore (10 answers total)

Best answer: re Changi... there is no end of entertainment. If you don't want to pop for a transit hotel, there are lounge chairs in quiet areas, free leg massage machines, the butterfly garden, free internet, free movies, left luggage, the usual televisions preset to CNN or sports, make your own photo e-postcards, live music (once with a couple traveling musicians jamming with the band), and lots of food options including a grocery store. You can stay in the transit area until morning and your checked luggage will be set aside and held. You've got three terminals to choose from and that's all I can remember off-hand. The airport staff can fill you in on the rest. It's no hardship.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:29 AM on December 21, 2011

Response by poster: How much of that is available between midnight and morning, though? Because that sounds bitchin'.
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:45 AM on December 21, 2011

Taxis in Singapore are reasonably cheap, so depending on where you're going to after the airport it might not be too much of an issue, from memory it cost me ~S$30-35 to get to my hotel near Newton Circus earlier this year. I can report back with an exact figure in a few weeks if that's any help.

But otherwise, yeah if you're going to be stuck in an airport for a while Changi is hard to beat.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 2:56 AM on December 21, 2011

oh, all of it is available after midnight. I've spent plenty of pre- and post-flight nights at Changi. It is indeed a bitchin' airport.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:04 AM on December 21, 2011

Confirm. Changi Airport strikes me as the most family-friendly airport I have ever been to. When I was last there a few years ago, I remember a toy store and all sorts of places to eat, including an Indian restaurant (something I can't get enough of where I live). The "grocery store" was a mini-supermarket with all sorts of common items (drinks, chocolate etc.) to stave off hunger pangs, none of which were sold at outrageous I'm-feeling-guilty-because-I-didn't-get-my-wife/GF-anything-so-I'll-get-the-most-expensive-stuff-they-have-to-prove-my-love prices.
posted by juifenasie at 5:20 AM on December 21, 2011

Response by poster: oh my god yes
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:32 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Unless you have nothing but huge bundles of cash yen, why not take out the Singapore dollars from an ATM in Singapore? I would assume currency changers tend to do to-local then from-local, regardless of what they tell you.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 2:22 PM on December 21, 2011

Response by poster: Well, Japanese ATM cards don't work abroad, oddly. None of them carry Plus or Cirrus certifications. I have sent a good deal of money to an American checking account for which I carry the card, but that's as a backup.
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:18 PM on December 21, 2011

In addition to all the awesomeness TWinbrook8 notes, you can get a shower (with towels, toiletries and a non-alcoholic drink) for something like $8 to $10 in any of the terminals.

Changi is a fantastic airport.
posted by gingerest at 3:35 PM on December 21, 2011

People say that, but both times I've been it hasn't been much fun for me. I think it's because they relegate United to a backwater terminal, where none of that good stuff is available.
posted by Rash at 9:07 AM on December 22, 2011