TRIP REPORT: Into Singapore and the Ibis Budget Crystal, Geylang - Taking the long way to Singapore

Into Singapore and the Ibis Budget Crystal, Geylang
Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore

Ooh. A new-to-me terminal at Singapore Changi. How does the passenger experience work out here? Plus, the first hotel stay of this trip as I go budget for various reasons at an Ibis Budget near Geylang.

In this adventure

After exiting the aircraft, we were docked at the far end of the terminal, and separated from the terminal traffic. This is a little different to terminals, where you mix into departing traffic.

No matter. It would be a short hike from Gate G18 to the Arrivals Area – or one end of the terminal to the other.

We are the robots…

Now, before going any further and attempting to clear Singaporean Immigration, you need to have completed an arrivals card. This is all done electronically now – and can be done via an App, or through an online form.

Paperwork time

Arrivals hall

I had completed my form via the app – but had done it the day before – and arrived in Singapore a day later than originally submitted. Thankfully, you can clone the arrival card with the correct arrival date.

Once that was done, I was able to proceed to the Immigration eGates. After a couple of attempts, the optical reader picked up my passport, and I was let into the country. It was amazing – I didn’t see one person referred to a manual inspection, with the staff bent on making everyone go through the automated process.

With that, it was time to head past Duty-Free and luggage claim – the joy of travelling light on the outbound segments.

I continued my way past customs, where I was not pulled over and out of the public area.

Terminal 4 looks reasonably appointed – and there was plenty of signage. However, I arrived long after the last MRT train had finished for the evening. It was therefore time to work out which method I was to use to get towards the hotel.

Thankfully, Singapore has various ride-hailing services – I just tend to use Grab when in the country. After resetting a bunch of the features on Grab, I was able to hail a rideshare to the city.

Like Uber, Grab has tracking features, so I was able to stay in the air conditioning until the last minute. But soon enough, it was time to step out into the heat of a Singaporean night.

I’ve forgotten how hot this can be. It took a few minutes to adjust as the Grab made its way to me.

Thankfully, the Grab was air-conditioned for the ride down the ECP towards Geylang. The driver made good use of it – with the Grab taking 20 minutes from the airport, dropping me off outside the Ibis Budget Crystal.

Ibis Budget Crystal
Price paid: £63 (Advance booking rate)

Now, it’s important to check which Ibis Budget you’re heading to – as this part of Geylang has a lot of them. I had chosen this one as it would be near to Old Airport Road Food Centre – somewhere to explore in the morning.

It’s more yellow than crystal… (and shot when I was leaving the property).

Heading indoors, someone else was attempting to check in – and it looked like they booked the wrong days. Thankfully, when I checked in, I had booked the right dates, and for the night – this would do nicely.

Reception

Yep, Singapore.

Water notice

Free Wi-Fi was provided through the property, with the SSID and key in the reception area.

A singular keycard was issued – with the room number printed on it – clearly, keycards are a controlled cost at this hotel.

With all the paperwork done, I headed to the room.

This was on the 3rd floor – so not much to worry about in terms of lifts and such. It was also near the lift – which would be good for the morning.

Going into the room itself, power is keycard controlled – as is the air conditioning unit.

That has implications, as when I got in the room, it was rather warm. So the first thing to do is to fiddle with the air conditioning, getting down to as cold as possible.

Whilst the room might be ideal at 23-24c… 18c was needed.

Aiiiiirrrrr.

Given it was my first night in Singapore, I certainly wasn’t acclimatised. It took me a good few hours to cool to the point where I felt the need to turn up the aircon.

Going around the room, it’s reasonably spaced enough – with a big bed dominating the room. It was firm enough to provide support – with enough cotton sheeting that you stood a chance of being cool when asleep.

There’s a World-style mains outlet to the right of the bed (good if you’ve got European, UK and US Power adaptors) and a USB-A outlet. The rest of the outlets are the more classical BS 1363 style socket (or the British-style one).

There’s also a plastic “seat” for want of a better term. This was relocated under the aircon outlet to help me cool.

At least for most of this trip, I wouldn’t need to worry about converters.

There’s a tea and coffee station, with the cutest kettle in the world. Whilst it was basic Nescafe coffee, at least you could dose the amount of water you want in it (from a fakepresso to a watered-down substance that could resemble coffee).

No water bottles were placed in the room – instead, the water filters were on display, and you’d be using purified water taps. I’ve got no problem with this, although the Asian in me would want to boil everything first.

As I didn’t have any stomach problems this trip (unlike my last adventure), the purified water did its thing.

There’s also a hairdryer, which was wired directly into the wall.

There’s also a shower with bulk amenities, as well as toothbrushes. I’ve long accepted that hotels are going for cheap with bulk amenities – and to be honest, at an Ibis Budget, if there’s aircon that works, it’s normally a miracle enough.

One thing on the Ibis Budget I normally stay at – branded towels.

As for the wifi, it worked enough – enough so I could make a few calls, write a few things and watch videos to attempt to fall asleep to, as well as a TV on the wall.

When I woke up after a short doze (because I was still pretty awake, to be honest after the transatlantic flight), I pondered a walk to Old Airport Road Food Centre… to find it was shut for refurbishment.

My planning strikes again.

Instead, I decided to spend the time on a virtual chat back to Finland and try and fix my ticket that Finnair magically managed to screw up beyond all recognition, with all the seat assignments deleted.

It was a good way to spend an hour, as I had to explain to the agents the differences between oneworld programmes and that BA Silver confers Oneworld Sapphire (As well as going through the chatbot hoops that get in the way). It took the best part of an hour on and off to get the ticket and seating assignments fixed (as Finnair loves to charge for advance seat assignments otherwise).

Eventually, the Bangkok to Helsinki and Helsinki to Stockholm seats were all secured – and a receipt was emailed to me.

Phew. It’s a battle, especially when you put in all BA codes, and then Finnair goes and marries your ticket to a Finnair Number you also have. Hopefully, all the points will finally arrive back.

I managed to doze off again for a little while before my alarm went off – indicating it was time to get out of the hotel and face the Singaporean heat head-on.

As for the view – well, someone’s home seemed to be the view.

I gathered all my trash together and bagged it up. I suspected that I would be dropping one of the bags quickly on this trip as it went on.

Heading down to reception, I handed my keyboard and was checked out.

Overall

If you’re on a budget, it’s certainly worth a consideration. If you’re using it as a base, it’ll work – but if you need to spend time working or doing other things, you might be served better by a property with a larger working area, or nearer to other amenities – as well as the cost of commuting in and out of the Central districts.

It’s basic, but as we’ve long said about the Ibis Budget brand – you know exactly what you’re going to get – nothing more, nothing less.

For £63 for a night (and it’s possible to get it a lot lower), it’s a bargain. Just know what you’re giving up for that bargain.

The Mercure Bugis

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TRIP REPORT: Into Singapore and the Ibis Budget Crystal, Geylang – Taking the long way to Singapore

Into Singapore and the Ibis Budget Crystal, Geylang
Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore

Ibis Budget Crystal
Price paid: £63 (Advance booking rate)

Overall

Next:

Related

Into Singapore and the Ibis Budget Crystal, Geylang Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore

Ibis Budget Crystal Price paid: £63 (Advance booking rate)

Overall

Next:

Related

Into Singapore and the Ibis Budget Crystal, Geylang
Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore

Ibis Budget Crystal
Price paid: £63 (Advance booking rate)