Greetings from SINGAPORE!!!!  We made it & let me tell you that was a rough 32 hours of traveling from door to door. I don’t think either of us have ever been that happy to see a twin sized bed 6 inches off floor (more to come on our hostel later).

The flights weren’t terrible.  We opted to spend a little extra & flew Emirates.  It was DEFINITELY  worth it (especially for our 13 hour flight).  We had 2,500 entertainment channels to choose from and were fed every 4 hours…it was actually kind of nice to have no other option but to veg out & eat! The food was surprisingly tasty & they gave you so much!  Austin’s gluten free meals were just as big & delicious as mine (I was actually jealous of his breakfast).

Once we landed in Singapore, we took an hour train ride to our hostel which is located in the heart of Chinatown.  You can imagine our reactions when we reached the top of the escalator from the underground transit (just like the NYC subway) and were immediately thrown right into the middle of this…

After taking a minute to absorb the sights (and smells) of Chinatown, we walked about 5 mins to our hostel. Once we arrived and I was able to sit down it happened…the dreaded jet lag hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Other physical effects” this is the part that no one really went into great detail to explain to me.  Everyone kept warning me that jet lag was terrible but having never flown across the country before, I assumed that I would just feel extremely exhausted.  Like the type of exhausted where you can’t keep you eyes open & must sleep in order to survive.  Neither of us had any idea that jet lag consisted of a laundry list of OTHER symptoms…

“A jet lag sufferer may experience a number of physical and emotional symptoms, including anxiety, constipation, diarrhea, confusion, dehydration, headache, irritability, nausea, indigestion, difficulty concentrating, sweating, coordination problems, dizziness…..”

Austin describes it as “being really drunk but not having any fun” and/or “I might be dying.”  I do have to agree with the drunk part.  You know that feeling after too many drinks and you turn your head to look right and it takes about 3 seconds for your brain to catch up? Yeah, that’s how I felt.  We arrived at our hostel at 11AM & were told that we couldn’t check in until 3PM.  The staff quickly noticed that I was clearly a rookie traveler suffering from the above symptoms and kindly checked us in right away so I could lay down.

After a good 3 hour nap we finally ventured out to find some dinner. We were told to visit the La Pa Sat Festival Market to find some cheap grub! Austin chose chicken rice & I had basil chicken with steamed rice. Each of our meals were about $4USD, not bad for a big plate of food! So far Singapore reminds us of a very clean Chicago/Manhattan.  The city is a mixture of beautiful skyscrapers & Hindu temples (there are actually 35 of them here)

This morning we are headed to the Maxwell Food Centre to figure out what is available for breakfast & then to the island of Sentosa.  We both feel MUCH better after getting roughly 7 hours of sleep (off and on) and can’t wait to explore more of Singapore!

More Later! – xo Brittany (and a little Austin)