Traveling Around The World: Singapore's International Airport, Changi Airport

Changi Airport is a truly unique airport. This is probably one of the only airports in the world where non-travellers head to for the weekend. Many locals who live nearby the airport enjoy hanging out at the airport with family and friends. This is because of the amazing facilities here, such as the kid's playground, the variety of food outlets and for some, even the shopping.

For travellers to Singapore, if you did not have the time to shop (!!), you can do so at the airport itself. There is a pretty good variety of brands here. If you would like to purchase souvenirs for family and friends back home, you can consider buying local delicacies from the Bengawan Solo outlet here.

Passengers who are in transit can enjoy the various facilities including massage chairs, free Internet access and much more within the airport. If your transit time is about 5 hours or more, consider taking the free tour. You can find out more from the customer service officers at the transit desks. However, for those who are staying on for a tour of Singapore, you can easily reach your hotel in the city centre via taxi. Do note that there is a extra flat fee for pickup from the airport. For those who would prefer to go budget and save some money, you can reach the city centre via the MRT. If you are on a tight schedule, you can stay in hotels near Changi airport itself.

Follow the clear signages towards the MRT station and change trains at the Tanah Merah Station towards Joo Koon. This will bring you to the city centre and you can stop at the various stations such as Orchard, City Hall, Bugis or Somerset, depending on which hotel you are staying at.

Throughout the years, Changi Airport has constantly been ranked highly in global surveys as one of the world's best airports. However, despite this, the airport management has constantly seeked to make improvements to the various airport facilities. Just recently, the renovation at Terminal 1 has been completed. You can now admire a man-made attraction, the kinetic rain, as shown in my picture on the right. Stay for a while, and you can see it move like actual raindrops! Update: Since end September 2012, the Budget Terminal is closed. All the budget airlines flying from the Budget Terminal previously, will now take off from Terminal 2 instead. I will update this post accordingly once there are further changes.