A Busy Day 1.

Having been up since 4am local time, I can't believe how much we accomplished on day 1.

Day 1 - 11/25/12

After arriving at the hotel from the airport, and much needed quick shower, we (Scott, Kat and Corinne) headed to the new mall, Changi City Point, next door to the hotel to grab some yummy local food in the Singapore version of a food court (very different from an American food court). Then it was off via the train (just like the El) to the Gardens by the Bay for some time with the Super Trees, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, must-see attractions for any visitor. We followed that up with a caffeine break and then a walk to the ArtScience Museum to see the LEGO exhibit "Art of Brick" and the photography exhibit "Outside In". Afterwards hunger had finally hit us so we grabbed dinner in food court at Marina Bay Sands and a laser light/water show on the pier.

Phew, tires me out just rereading what we did.

Here are some photos and more detailed accounts of everything I summarized above. Again, these are just the few I've taken with my phone. I'll do my best to get all of the photos I've taken with my camera,  hopefully before we get back, so you can see everything in more detail.

A view of the Singapore Flyer (the large observation wheel L) and some the Super Trees (R) from the walkway bridge we took over to the Gardens by the Bay. It was cloudy here and rained on and off the whole day. We managed to always be indoors though when was raining. Well timed.

Funny signs along the river.

A panoramic view of the Flower Dome. It was huge and very beautiful. You can see the river and the Flyer on the right side of the image.

Another panoramic view, this time of the Cloud Forest. This dome focus on the rain forest with the mountain in the middle. You ride to the top and then work your way down through all of the different levels. There's a huge 115ft waterfall down the one side of the mountain too.

When we stopped for our caffeine break in the Marina Bay Sands mall we next to this waterfall that would occasionally turn on. And yes, those are gondolas in the mall because who doesn't like to ride down a "river" in the middle of a shopping mall.

This is the ArtScience Museum at night. It's shaped like a lotus flower, it's a creativity museum focusing on what makes creative people tick. It opened in 2011 and has hosted exhibits from photography, to LEGOs (see below), Dali (really sorry I missed that one) and Harry Potter.

These are from the LEGO exhibit called "The Art of the Brick". Everything in here was done by an NY artist, Nathan Sawaya. They ranged from human bodies to objects like the T-Rex, all built with LEGO bricks.

A shot of the laser light and water show at Marina Bay Sands.

Another shot of the laser light and water show at Marina Bay Sands.

Welcome to Singapore!

Well, we've arrived!!! After a near 22 hours of travel time, with most of those being in the air, I am finally in Singapore.

The flights were a lot easier and less stressful than I thought they'd be. Probably because Scott and I were blessed by the travel gods and on both legs of our flight had an empty middle seat. And believe me, that made all the difference. More room to stretch out, more leg room, more storage room, and most importantly no grumpy person stuck in the middle of our conversations. It was awesome. The meals we were served were really good for airplane food, and we never went hungry. I only had to avoid 1 appetizer because it had shrimp in it, so I consider that a win.

Our first leg of the trip took us from NYC to Frankfurt, about 8 hrs. I managed to stay awake thanks to the amazing in-seat entertainment selection (brand new movies, tv, games, music) but did doze off during the last half of Ted before the lights came up and we were fed breakfast. Not sure what that says about that movie considering I had no issues staying awake for Brave or Ice Age: Continental Drift. HA! Once arriving in Frankfurt we deplaned for 2-hrs and I was disappointed that the airport didn't seem more, well, German. From Tiffany's to D&G, Gucci and Burger King it seemed more like O'Hare. It's an airport I guess.

The second leg was from Frankfort to Singapore, about 12 (give or take) hours. At this point I was really starting to get tired, so after we were fed dinner I turned my lights off and cuddled up to sleep. I'm not sure where my ability to sleep any where at any time came from, but on long plane rides I am very thankful for this. I only really woke up twice, once to use the bathroom and another because of thirst. I was out cold for the most part until the lights came up for breakfast for the last 2 remaining hours of the flight.

After landing we flew through customs, grabbed our bags and met up with Kat (Scott's girlfriend who lives here) to make our way to the hotel. The hotel was only a short cab ride away and is within about a 5-10 min walk to the convention center. It's a great location, but I'll know more once we go out and explore. The room is really nice too. Corinne and I each have our own twin bed, a pimped out bathroom, flat screen TV, free WiFi and a mini kitchen w/fridge. Perhaps the best part, the AC. :) It's a very westernized hotel, you can tell because most of the outlets are 120v, what we use in the US.

In about 20 minutes Corinne and I are meeting up with Scott and Kat to go sight seeing, grab some lunch and explore this beautiful (and amazingly clean) city. Here are a few photos in the meantime...

Sunrise from the plane window above Frankfurt.

Our big, double-decker A380 airbus during our layover in Frankfurt.

Almost there, final destination Singapore.

They really aren't joking around on this customs form, are they?

Baggage claim at the Singapore airport. So calm and relaxing, US airports could learn a lot from this.

New York, New York.

I made it to New York safe, sound and even early last night. O'Hare, not surprisingly, was more dead than last Christmas so there was barely a line at security and my flight was empty. Had the whole row to myself.

Scott picked me up, we did a quick run to his school to pick up our remaining equipment (to save us time today) and then headed back to his place to crash. The best part? His family sent a plate of Thanksgiving yumminess for me so I did get to have my Thanksgiving dinner this year. YAY!

Today we're packing up our AV equipment, making a quick run to the drug store for mic batteries (can never have too many), and then headed to JFK to catch our flight tonight. We have about 2 hours before we need to start making our way over there so not much time left.

So with that I must leave you. Not sure if I'll have WiFi on the plane or not, so the next time I post will most likely be in Singapore unless we discover some free access in Frankfurt. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a successful, not too expensive Black Friday.

T-minus 6 hours until departure...

Packing and not sleeping.

My nerves have finally got the best of me. I think it really hit me during my long commute home from work tonight that I'm not headed to Cleveland for the Thanksgiving holiday. Nope, instead I'll have a small celebration with Mr. Boots tomorrow, a FaceTime session with the family back home and then head to the airport. My first stop will be an overnighter in NYC with one of my travel companions, Scott. He and I then leave on Friday for Singapore, with a 2 hour layover in Frankfort. Yes, we're going the long way. 20 hours of flying time.

Until then my mind keeps running, going through my packing list over and over again and because of that I can't sleep. Am I packing the right stuff? Will I be prepared? Do I have everything I need? Is everything charged, backed-up and saved? Is it all going to fit? What am I forgetting? I hope I have it all...

The logical side of me knows everything will be just fine and if it isn't, we'll figure it out. But the illogical, emotional side of me is freaking out. She's all doom and gloom and I don't think she'll settle down until after we're in the air headed for Germany. Oh how I love international travel. At least I'm not traveling alone and will have a little posse (including a local, YAY!) once I get there.

T-minus 16 hrs and then I'm off to NYC...

Prepping for Singapore.

Starting up the old blog again for my next Asian adventure. This time I'm off to Singapore for SIGGRAPH Asia 2012. A week from today I'll be in the air, departing New York for Frankfort and then straight on through to Singapore. It's going to be an exciting 12 days and I hope to post as many of my adventures to this blog as I can. I'll also be traveling with my Lego Mini Fig and will be documenting her (our) adventures as well on their blog, ourlegoadventures.tumblr.com. Since I am technically going over there to work (social media and podcasting for the conference), I hope my posts will still be exciting and not just filled with shots  and updates from inside the Singapore EXPO.

Okay, well that's all I've got for now. There's a weekend of preparing and packing ahead of me. Let the countdown begin.

T-minus 6 days...