My Changi Airport Checklist

Arriving in Singapore’s Changi Airport, I was armed with my Changi Airport Virgin checklist ready to tackle some of the tasks that had been set for me by Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa and the team at Via Changi.

Would I be racing down the world’s longest airport slide? Shopping til I dropped? perhaps I would be mesmerised by the ‘Kinetic Rain’ sculpture in Terminal 1!

Dip your toes in the rooftop pool

I can’t think of any other airport I’ve flown through that has a rooftop pool, let alone an airport with a rooftop pool AND a view across the runaway!
After being cooped up in an airplane, no matter what class you fly, taking a swim helps you stretch out your tired muscles and just relax. Plus some workout. I found it a great way to head off jet lag (thankfully not too bad after travelling from Melbourne) and with a fruity cocktail in hand from the bar, only a few steps from the pool, it helped ease myself into holiday mode. Plus thanks to a couple of private swimming lessons in Toronto I managed get most of it.

Access to the pool is free for transit passengers staying at the Ambassador Transit Hotel, but day passes can be purchases to access the pool; so there’s no excuse not to remember to pack your bathers in your carry-on!

Order chilli crab from Seafood Paradise

Let me be honest – I don’t eat seafood – so coming face-to-face with a huge place full of crab made me exceedingly nervous.
Thankfully, some local friends were on hand to help me out eating the massive plate and to make life easier the restaurant attendants even cracked the crab claws for me!

Inside I discovered tender, white and perfectly cooked (supposedly!) crab meat that with the rich tomato sauce the crab was sitting in, was delicious! My friends were worried that the chilli would be too overpowering but there was just a touch of chilli – enough to have that lingering flavour but nothing that will make you cry – so I went back for seconds, soaking my steamed buns into the remaining broth.

Test your ticklishness at the Fish Spa

Putting my feet into the water the fish immediately rushed over and began sucking at my pink painted toes. I couldn’t help but giggle – it’s such a strange sensations – but after about five-minutes the ticklish sensation stopped and I relaxed into the spa and began chatting with a travelling couple also indulging in the foot spa.
After 30-minutes in the water I was surprised at the results – my feet were surprisingly smooth, even my heels which often are cracked, felt smooth.

Don’t be put off by the name, it’s not all fish spas. There’s also a range of massages and other treatments available. As part of my package I chose to have a 15-minute massage to loosen up before a 30-minute fish spa session.

Try your hand at a game of Kinect Sports at the Entertainment Deck

Free WiFi, free Internet access, free gaming stations, free movies and free Kinect Sports Gaming – I could have spent hours at the Entertainment Deck but by the time I’d gotten through check-in I only had 20-minutes.

The Entertainment Deck offers a good range of options to keep kids of any age entertained and best of all, being off the main concourse means that it’s peaceful and often there’s no wait to get your hands on a controller. A game of virtual tennis anyone?!

Unwind at the Snooze Zone

If you don’t want to explore the airport or take part in a free city tour of Singapore then perhaps a nap at the Snooze Zone might tickle your fancy.
While there were none of the ergonomically designed deck chairs available, I did get to have a brief nap at the free massage chairs adjacent to the snooze zone. The chairs massage you back, legs and arms increasing circulation and decreasing chances of DVT’s building up when flying. Well, if there’s a health benefit I guess I should have another!

Make sure you leave the airport with at least one duty-free purchase

I love to shop in Duty-Free stores so I may have gone a little overboard here as I came home with seven boxes of things (including a few requests for my Mum!)
L’Oreal has a great range of lipsticks, stains and glosses available in travel sizes and being a frequent traveller I thought it good to pick up a few packs to trial over on my sister site, Stylish Travels.

While I only picked up make-up in Changi Airport there’s a great range of food, alcohol (which seems comparable to Australian prices), and even luxury clothing and accessory stores. It’s also home to The Planet Traveller in Terminal 1 – the worlds largest travel and lifestyle store stocking maps, books, suitcases, travel accessories, and plenty of travel related home items!

For those looking to cut down on Duty-Free shopping times, or perhaps you don’t have much time in Changi Airport, the iShop Changi service lets you shop the airport online before collecting your items at a iShop Changi service desk. Saves time, money and hassle!

Are you a Changi Airport Virgin? Let’s Change that!!!

So here’s just five things that Fitzy & Wippa thought I’d enjoy on a stopover to Changi Airport, and I haven’t even began talking about the great food options, two cinemas, butterfly gardens or the huge arrange of beautiful art!

For more ideas, and a bit of a laugh, check out the videos made by Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa to see what they did on their Changi Airport stopover!
Don’t forget to enter the competition and you could win one of 25 pairs of free tickets to Singapore flying Scoot, including SGP$500 worth of Changi Dollar vouchers. Five people will also get 4-nights hotel accommodation.

Which airport is your favourite place for a stopover?

What service would you like an airport to provide
that would make your stopover more comfortable?

Many thanks to Changi Airport for supporting my trip to Singapore.
All opinions, as always, are my own.