My stay in Singapore was short yet sweet and without a doubt, I enjoyed my time. When it was my time to go, there was an inner urge for me to stay longer. But of course, I couldn’t. I’ve already booked my ticket to Kuala Lumpur beforehand. And besides, I was so excited to be reunited with my high school best friends, Hannah & Sanrio.
Singapore wasn’t really part of my original travel plan. Hannah had to attend a conference in Kuala Lumpur and she invited me to tag along. I agreed because she would take care of my accommodation so that meant one less thing to consider from my budget. Lol. Another more important thing is that we were going to meet up with Sanrio who now works in Kuala Lumpur, and I haven’t seen her in I think two years.
Since I haven’t been to Singapore before and it’s just an hour away from Kuala Lumpur or five hours away via bus, I decided to include it in my itinerary even though I knew I’d be alone. I headed to Singapore first and left for Kuala Lumpur when Hannah would have more time to spend after the conference and just in time for Sanrio’s rest day.
As usual, I was early for my 1:30 PM flight via AirAsia, I had my lunch at Changi airport while I waited for my flight. It was about 30 minutes delayed though. By that time, I’d already experienced how to enter Changi airport, but it was my first time to experience departing from it. Leaving was smooth and I didn’t encounter any issues.
When I was planning my trip, I was actually thinking of taking the bus since it would just be around 5 hours. I read some blogs online but it took me so much time to research them. I wasn’t sure what bus to take and what the experience would be like because there seemed to be no updated articles.
I realized that I wanted to keep things simple and just make the most out of my short time, so I decided to book a flight instead. It was a little more pricey than the bus for sure but I believe it’s more convenient for me in that case. Maybe next time I’ll try the bus and check out what to do in Johor Bahru. It’s the city nearest to the border which is just across the causeway bridge that connects it to Singapore.
I didn’t have a seatmate on the airplane so I took the chance to sleep (tried) like a log. LOL. In fact, in all my plane rides during my entire travel duration, I didn’t have a seatmate. It was such a very convenient situation because I had all the space to myself. Win!
Anyway, I tried to sleep during my flight but just as I closed my eyes and began to doze off, the pilot already announced that we were near and about to land. Singapore and Malaysia are real neighbors.
I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and lined up at the immigration which didn’t require an entry slip by the way. You just need to line up and proceed. My friend Sanrio is working at the airport so it’s a very convenient way to meet her there.
When we finally saw each other, I already felt at peace because I knew I was in good hands. I mean, it’s fun to travel alone but it can also be exhausting trying to figure out directions, so having someone with you who knows the common places definitely helps.
We headed to the Mitsui outlet via a free bus because Sanrio needed to buy something. It’s this big outlet mall just within the airport vicinity (about 15-20 minutes away). Then we had to go back to the airport (KLIA2) to take the bus to KL Sentral (the bus and train station).
KL Sentral is one hour away from KLIA2. We arrived rather late in the evening and were due to meet Hannah at Jalan Alor for dinner but we went to the wrong Signature Hotel branch and had to transfer to the right branch.
We were already very hungry and it was already almost 10 PM so we decided not to go to Jalan Alor anymore, and just eat at the nearest eatery. After eating, all three of us were reunited once again!
At that point, I already felt so accomplished. I was nearing the end of my semi-solo travel and it was a great starting point to plan future solo travels again.
Sooo happy to travel with my high school best buds!
