Heading to Cebu (or maybe not), 4 August

Months back, when the husband and I started planning for this trip, we discussed it thoroughly and made the final decision (it was tough!) to bring one child along only, primarily (pun intended) because the girl has school. She is past the stage where we can simply take her out of school just because; and so the deed was done. It's becoming a familiar pattern as the husband and I are both extremely busy pre-holiday and end up frantically packing the night before/day of travel.


After a harried night before, our morning on this Thursday started very early. We made the most of our final moments with our big-little girl and sent her to school. We made it to school and back in time for the taxi that we had pre-booked. As we left the house and lugged our 3 big luggages (2 big luggages and a bicycle bag - I have never travelled with a bicycle bag before, it's pretty cool!), we made it into the chartered van. Having this much luggage for 3 people is quite amazing!


Usually, the mood of the holiday starts at this point... but on this particular morning, the mood was due to go south pretty quickly. What typically takes about 40 minutes (travel from home to the airport) dragged... and dragged.


By the time we were at the 40th minute mark, our vehicle had sadly only made it to the start of the 2nd expressway. We were seriously lagging. The ride soon became tense and stressful as we had to cajole the driver to try alternative routes that got us moving (barely)...

Distracting ourselves on the ride

Unfortunately, on this morning, I experienced my first-time of missing my flight. We had arrived at the airport right on the 40 minutes prior mark and the check-in counters had closed by then. Despite our best efforts in pleading, they did not allow us to board and take the flight. There was a moment of extreme panic as thoughts of what we had to forfeit flashed through my mind - will the husband make the race? It must be crazy fully-booked due to this event, what will we do?! *insert scream

The counters, while holding their fort (literally), declined to allow 3 of us to board, but they did say that the best they can do is to allow one to board, without any check-in luggage. The husband attempted to bring his giant luggage as hand-carry and was rejected (nice try). The next 10 minutes happened quickly. We both stooped over and opened up our luggage. I poured all contents of my hand-carry bag into the luggage and handed it to the husband. He scanned through his bag and picked out random pieces of (hopefully) useful items. We did a quick exchange (mostly to reiterate to the counter staff that they surely must help J and I get on-board the next available flight) and off he went.

It was dead quiet after he left (one nagging manager and one harried man); leaving one counter staff clicking away furiously on the keyboard (assuming in search of a suitable flight for J and I), one stressed Mom (me) and one crying boy (J). I think he must have felt some tension (much!) and probably shocked to see that his father had left without him.

I quickly assured him that it was ok (though I did tear too, feeling torn and broken from the stress) and told him that we had to stay behind to help look after the luggage (yes, all 3 giant pieces were still beside us). After several more moments of stress (waiting is stressful), cajoling (trying to calm the boy down) and relief (yay we got seats on the next flight!), the boy and I were in a good state. The staff had done an instant check-in for us, so our giant luggage would be held by them (I was already wondering how on earth I'd make the return trip airport-home-airport again with a boy and 3 luggage) and I held in my hands our passports with boarding passes. This meant that we were definitely on the next flight.

The husband rang me and he was on his way to Cebu, while I assured him that J and I got our tickets, and were on our way for coffee/milk.

A much-needed break

Once the boy had his milk, he was much calmer. So was I, honestly, after inhaling some coffee.

Happy with his baby-cino

I made a decision then to spend some time at the airport (since we made it ALL the way there!) and just will our time away.

Happy 51st birthday, Singapore!

We ventured about the terminals, and I discovered that there was this convenient tunnel that linked us from T2 to T3. Amazing!

Our day could only get better

The little man got to pick lunch and he made his choice swiftly and assertively with xiao long bao.

Appeased, and happy

After lunch, we explored the airport and decided to try out the slides that I had heard of before. So how it works, is that you get to redeem a ticket to use the slide. Every $10 spent allows you a free ride. Our lunch cost $23+, so we redeemed 2 passes (from the info counter at T3 on L1).

Through the gates

Excited to wheeeeee down

We spent time figuring out the slides, playing at the playground. And since we had all the time in the world, we finally made our way home leisurely via MRT. News of us missing our flight was pretty well-received by the family. I guess as long as everyone was safe, it didn't truly matter.


We made it back home in time to receive the girl from her school bus. She looked at us incredulously and exclaimed, 'Where's Papa?' We had to explain ourselves and since it seemed like any other afternoon, everyone went about their business as usual.


Our evening ended with dinner, putting the kids to sleep and at some point, the husband alerted us of his safe arrival in Cebu. And so, we were ready to (re)start our holiday again the next day.

A surprise dinner with the girl