I am offering actual travel experiences from me, and other travelers that have had similar encounters. I will also offer reviews, tips, and travel advises on more than fifty countries in the world. This is just getting started, so expect to learn more as I cover more countries. I want to travel to more countries because I am not ready to quit yet. I will tell you the good and bad about each country, so you can be sure of getting honest reviews from me.
With less than four months to go, I wanted to give you another update on our upcoming travel industry conference, TravelCon.
With that in mind, let me tell you about some recent updates:
First, we finalized our speaker list (I mean I may add a few more in but this is as the final big announcement). With over 60 speakers, this event is going to be amazing and we’re going to cover a lot of incredible topics: SEO, monetization, video production, webinars, Instagram, photo editing, writing, livestreaming, FB ads, photography, marketing, self-publishing, time management, and so much more! I mean we have three FULL days of events, talks, panels, and networking!
Since we last spoke, we added the following speakers:
Bani Amor
Decolonizing Travel Culture
Brian Baldrati
Is This Real
Kash Bhattacharya
Budget Traveller
Travis Burke
Travis Burke Photography
Brian Clark
Copyblogger
Joey Coleman
Author, Never Lose a
Customer Again
Tiffany Funk
One Mile at a Time
Pete & Dalene Heck
Hecktic Travels
Dani Heinrich
Globetrotter Girls
Joseph Hernandez
Thrillist
Raimee Iacofano
Nomadic Matt
Benny Lewis
Fluent in 3 Months
Michael Lisovetsky
JUICE
Kaitlin McMichael
Getty Images
Dan & Audrey
Uncornered Market
Kamila Napora
Kami and the Rest
of the World
Troy Osinoff
JUICE
Sherry Ott
Ottsworld
Jadah Sellner
JadahSellner.com
Sher
Sher She Goes
Mary Ann Thomas
Travel Writer
Erica Virvo
Nomadic Matt
Nicole Wears
Traveling Canucks
We only have 200 tickets left! We’re going to sell out this year so be sure to get your ticket soon. (Once we hit our cap, we do not go over it. I like to keep the experience small and intimate. I’m not ready to turn this event in a multi-thousand person expo.)
Additionally, I want to announce our first round of sponsors! While we have a lot more in the works, here are the first batch of brands you’re going to see at the event. They are going to be doing a lot of great things:
Aweber
AWeber is an easy-to-use email marketing and automation software used by some of the best writers, photographers and content creators around the world, including Ann Handley, Stephen Kamb, and more.
Bluehost
Bluehost is a leading web solutions services provider. They power millions of websites, making them one of the largest and most trusted web hosting services. They are also one of our recommended hosting providers for our course. One of the best value companies out there!
Constant Contact
Constant Contact’s leading email and social media marketing tools personal coaching-help all types of small businesses and organizations create professional-looking email newsletters and social campaigns.
Intrepid Travel is the world’s largest adventure travel company, operating amazing small group experiences in over 120 countries. They specialize in environmental and sustainable tours and are the perferred tour parter of this website!
Mediavine
Mediavine offers full service ad management including display ad optimization, video monetization and sponsored influencer marketing. They’re here to help content creators like yourself build sustainable businesses.
Québec
From lakes to forests and the majestic St. Lawrence River, Québec is a series of jaw-dropping scenery. With breathtaking land and cityscapes, it’s the genuine people and historic culture that really bring Québec to life: year-round festivals, scenic road trips and local flavors are just a few of Québec’s charms.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines is the flag carrier airline of Singapore. It is ranked as the world’s best airline, since 2018 and is one of my personal favorite carriers. They offer world class service, comfort, food, amazing entertainment, and state of the art seats.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel site — helping travelers unleash the full potential of every trip with the latest reviews and the lowest hotel prices.
Unbound Merino
Unbound Merino offers the highest quality merino wool clothing. These clothes are light, tough, and long lasting. Pack light, save money & enjoy the comfort of our merino wool t-shirts, socks & underwear.
Visit Savannah
Savannah, Georgia is a charming Southern escape where art, period architecture, trendy boutiques and ghost stories are all set under a veil of Spanish moss. Savannah is a place where cuisine comes straight from the coast and cocktails are served at every meal.
Walks
Walks offers small group tours in cities around the world. Tours are offered throughout Italy, Paris, New York, and Turkey, where you’ll get exclusive access to behind the scenes areas that no one else gets to see. They are also offering a $200 voucher to all attendees! Take Walks….for free!
***
Tickets are just $399 until the end of March. With this ticket, you’ll have access to all keynotes, sessions, evening parties, networking events, recordings of all the sessions (so don’t worry if you miss anything), any included meals, and the most fun you’ll ever have at an event!
We only have 200 tickets left! We’re going to sell out this year so be sure to get your ticket today. You can get a refund up to 60 days before the event so don’t worry if you aren’t 100% sure of your plans. You can secure your spot without worry today!
This event is going to teach you the practical skills you need to grow your audience and make a career in travel.
So come and attend TravelCon, learn from the best in the industry, and meet other wonderful travel professionals.
If you are a Mac user, you might be wondering which file sharing protocol gives the best performance when using a network-attached storage device (NAS) such as Synology, or a NAS / Thunderbolt over Ethernet device such as QNAP. With macOS allowing one to choose between AFP, NFS, SMB and CIFS protocols, it is sometimes tough to make the proper choice, especially considering that some of these protocols have different versions that might perform differently. Add to this the fact that macOS itself might behave differently depending on which version of it you are running, and it can get quickly aggravating for many photographers out there who are simply trying to get the best out of their equipment.
from Photography Life https://photographylife.com/afp-vs-nfs-vs-smb-performance
The natural world can be a chaotic place. If you’re a landscape photographer, you’ve probably found yourself taking pictures of scenes that seem too disorganized and overwhelming to work right no matter what you do: forests, canyons, coastlines, and so on. You’re chasing the elusive gem of simplicity within a landscape that is anything but simple. How do you make sense of things and capture good photos anyway?
from Photography Life https://photographylife.com/landscapes/making-sense-out-of-chaos
What’s the best thing that could have happened this month? I became an auntie again! My beautiful friend welcomed an adorable baby boy to the world and that, more than anything, made this month special.
I’ve been an auntie for ten months now and it is one of my favorite roles I’ve ever had. I love having a few special kids in my life, watching them grow, and knowing that I’ll be a loving, supportive adult in their lives.
Beyond that, this was a month of being a workhorse and not being super social. The expression may be “make hay while the sun shines,” but if you work online, it should be “type away while the weather’s gross.” I probably drank hundreds of cups of herbal tea this month while working behind my laptop.
And for that reason, I have almost no photos to share this month — the vast majority of them were of my two little baby friends, and I don’t share kids’ photos here anymore.
Destinations Visited
New York, NY
Washington, DC
National Harbor, MD
Lynn, Reading, Wakefield, and Boston, Massachusetts
Highlights
Far and away the arrival of my friend’s new baby. And taking a quick 24-hour trip to Massachusetts just to meet him and hold him while he’s nice and squishy. I love so many of the baby stages, but the squishy stage is something special! And my friend is such a natural mom, like she’s been doing it for years.
A wonderful panel and conference experience in Maryland. A few months ago I was invited to be on a panel about influencer marketing at CCRA PowerSolutions in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside DC. I do a lot of panels and they vary enormously — some are great, some are terrible. This panel was excellent — tight, informative, and moderated extremely well. I’m really glad I took part in this conference. I met some interesting people and potentially fruitful business contacts!
Seeing Be More Chill on Broadway. I was offered two comped tickets to this show, which brands itself as Dear Evan Hansen meets Little Shop of Horrors. I hadn’t heard of it, but it actually became successful because of going viral with teens and young adults! It’s about a teen outsider who feels awkward, but decides to take a mysterious pill called a “squip” and instantly becomes the most confident guy alive.
If you have a teenager in your life, especially one who feels like a bit of an outsider or geek, take him or her to this show and you will be THE COOLEST PERSON ON EARTH. It’s sweet and funny and the costumes are amazing. The cast are SO talented and the choreography is fabulous too. It reminded me of Mean Girls as well. I cracked up at the song “When You Love Somebody, You Put Your Pants On For Them.” HA! As far as the plot, though, my friend Beth and I felt like we weren’t quite the right audience for this show. But then again, we were obsessed with RENT when we were teens, and if we had first seen the show at age 34, we would have sided with Benny, and where’s the fun in that?
But if you like your musicals lighthearted and fun, and especially if you have a teen or young adult in your life, go to this show and bring them!
My new favorite place in New York is Caveat! I’m so glad I finally went this month. It’s a venue on the Lower East Side that does intellectual comedy shows. I went for the Encyclopedia Commedia show, where they do 5-minute bits on encyclopedia entries within a small part of the encyclopedia (I was there for HA-IB and some of the topics were halcyon, heaven, hell, and iambic pentameter). Totally up my alley, plus they cost around $10 per show. Highly recommended!
Enjoying a low-key month at home. Some of the highlights: trying lots of recipes in my Instant Pot (especially risottos) and hitting a new deadlifting best with 5 sets of 5 reps (usually when I hit a new best I can lift it 3 times max, but I was on fire that day!).
Lots of good times with friends in New York. This city is endlessly interesting.
Challenges
Some guy spat in my face. I was walking down Broadway, just a few blocks from my apartment, and a teenage boy walking past me turned to me and spat in my face.
He then ran away as I yelled after him, “What the fuck is your problem, motherfucker?!”
I was hesitant to share this — to my city-fearing friends, it casts a bad light on New York living, and to my friends in other neighborhoods, it casts a bad light on Harlem. But the truth is that New York is an extremely safe city and horrible moments like these are highly unusual. I would still rather live here than anywhere else.
And honestly, it was much better than it could have been. It was a spray, not a loogie.
I took the bus again…and it sucked. About a year and a half ago, I vowed only to take trains between New York and Boston from now on, but for my latest trip, the bus was so much cheaper that I decided to just roll with it. Big mistake. Both of those bus rides were miserable: the first because it was fully booked and I had to sit with my bags on my lap the whole way, and the second because I shelled out for a seat with a table — only to learn that the table was too small for my laptop and there was no space for both my legs and the legs of the woman facing me.
Back to trains. They are SO much better. I love trains so much I’d ride them to nowhere and back again.
124 Things to Do in Harlem, New York City — I am so very proud of this post. It took me three years of living in Harlem before I wrote it — the most comprehensive guide I could find on the web.
My bud Jiyang took this photo of me in Paris a few years ago and I never shared it. A lot of my friends liked it but I wasn’t sure about posting it publicly — then I did and it exploded. Wow. I like that it combines a street I discovered on my most recent trip (Rue Montorgueil) and the store I loved the most on my first trip (NAF NAF, basically the French version of Express).
I really loved this red Diane Von Furstenberg top. It was perfect for being on stage. I got it, as always, from Rent the Runway. I’ve been renting a lot more tops as opposed to dresses lately — partly because of the chilly weather — and I’m wearing my rentals a lot more often as a result!
What I Listened To This Month
I’ve been listening to a few podcasts, including “The Drop Out” (based on Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos — see my book review for Bad Blood further down in this post), but my favorite was a single episode.
I encourage you to listen to “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” — the episode with Stephen Colbert. It is magnificent.
I love Conan. I love Colbert. And I love listening to comedians talk about comedy. But this podcast goes beyond. Conan and Colbert are obviously two very intelligent people, and the way they go from talking about comedy to opining on sorrow and spirituality and art is surprisingly moving.
What I Watched This Month
Abducted in Plain Sight was definitely my WTF watch of the month. It’s on Netflix. It’s a documentary about a girl who was abducted by a close family friend in the 1970s.
And I think that’s all I should say. Go in knowing as little as possible. And be ready to throw things at the TV.
What I Read This Month
This month I read 14 new books. 24 for the year so far!! At this rate it looks like I’ll read 100 books within a year for the first time ever (my standing record is 72). I’m still cracking away at the Book Riot #ReadHarder Challenge and reading a lot of books I wouldn’t touch ordinarily. The categories fulfilled by the challenge are listed after their descriptions.
Here they are, in the order of what I enjoyed the most to what I enjoyed the least:
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (2018) — Elizabeth Holmes was hailed as the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. She dropped out of Stanford at 19 to found Theranos — a company pushing a portable medical device that could run hundreds of tests with just a drop of blood. It would have been a game-changer. Soon, the company grew and grew and became valued at 10 billion dollars, making Holmes the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. But behind the scenes the company was in chaos, desperately trying to cover up the fact that their device didn’t work. EVERYONE fell for it.
I could not put this book down! What an amazing story! I can’t believe they got away with as much as they did. (And I have to admit, it’s kind of a new measure of equality that a woman can get away with what men have gotten away with for centuries.) It’s also the subject of a podcast (“The Drop Out”), an upcoming HBO documentary, and a feature film starring Jennifer Lawrence. In short, this is THE story of the moment. I’m recommending it to everyone I know. Category: a book of nonviolent true crime.
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (2018) — It’s Barbados in 1830 and George Washington Black is a young slave on a plantation, under control by a sadistic master. When the master’s abolitionist brother arrives, he takes Washington with him — fleeing the island and setting off on a journey to America and beyond. Through it all, Washington develops his talents as an artist and scientist and learns what kind of life he can build for himself as a newly free black man.
Easily the best novel I read this month. Immensely readable, endlessly interesting, and thoughtful about what a good life looks like — I couldn’t put it down. And what was special about this book is that while it was billed as a warped Huckleberry Finn, a black man and a white man fleeing slavery on a journey together, it’s centered on the black character, written by a black author, and points out the problematic nature of the “kind abolitionist” or “nice slave owner.” That’s too rare — and I appreciated the nuance of this book. Category: a book by a woman and/or author or color that won a literary award in 2018.
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (2018) — While a lot of salacious books have been written about the Trump Administration, this one is far more sedate — but serious. It focuses on a scandal that didn’t get much attention — the fact that Trump completely bungled the transition and didn’t adequately prepare for people to take over hundreds of government roles. The transition usually includes weeks of the old and new employees working together so that it’s as seamless as possible; instead, only one person was sent to each department for only a few hours. The book then details goings-on at the Department of Energy and other critical departments.
I loved this book — especially the fascinating section on data. It makes me want to pick up a book on data next — maybe Freakanomics? But overall this is an extremely important book — less salacious than Fire and Fury, not as esteemed as Fear, not as junky as Omarosa’s book, but extremely important, and one that I recommend everyone to read. Category: a book by a journalist or about journalism.
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (2019) — Bri is a teenage girl with one dream: to become a famous rapper. And she inherited the talent of her father, an underground hip-hop legend who was murdered just before he hit it big. But when Bri suddenly goes viral in this internet age, she becomes famous for all the wrong reasons. While balancing her newfound infamy and her family’s financial troubles, she tries to survive and fight for her integrity as an artist.
Just like The Hate U Give, written by the same author, I finished this book in a (very long) day. I love that it takes place in the same neighborhood and literary universe of Thomas’s previous book, referencing the events that took place. This is a book that will make you feel so hard for Bri, her family, and the other characters, and it’s nice to have a book centered on a character dealing with food insecurity with a parent in recovery from addiction.
An added bonus — Thomas herself was a teen rapper and all the raps she wrote were excellent.
Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom (2019) — Tressie McMillan Cottom is a leading voice on identity and ideas and the intersectionality of black feminism. This collection of essays covers several different ideas — from BBQ Becky and infant mortality to Trump rallies and Saturday Night Live.
I love Cottom’s voice and point of view, and I read this entire essay collection in one sitting. Like most collections, there were some that I liked more than others, but this is overall such a valuable book. Every piece is filled with striking observations about race, class, economics, feminism, and how they intersect with each other. Well worth a read if you’re interested in social topics like these.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo(2014) — Everyone knows about Marie Kondo, thanks to her hit Netflix show, and this is the book that started all. Kondo is a famous organizer from Japan, and she claims that once people tidy with her methods, they’re able to keep it up for the rest of their lives. An audacious claim. Kondo’s main method is that you should keep what “sparks joy” rather than getting rid of what is negative.
Do I need this book? Yes. I think we all do. I think it makes so much sense to pare your life down to what makes you happy, rather than discarding the things you actively dislike. It’s like American Idol‘s method of voting for the people you love rather than Survivor‘s method of voting out the people you hate. I plan to do a major purge this month or next, and I already feel better about turning down items that people offer to me. I don’t need more stuff in my life! Category: a translated book written or translated by a woman.
Love Anthony by Lisa Genova (2013) — This novel tells the story of two women living on Nantucket — Beth, who is trying to deal with her husband’s infidelity while raising her daughters, and Olivia, who is grieving the loss of her son Anthony, who had autism and died after a seizure. Beth begins writing a book told from the point of view of a nonverbal child with autism, and shockingly, she begins to write the true story of Anthony, without even knowing Olivia, as if Anthony were channeling his story through her.
I read this book because I had technically borrowed a three-book collection of Lisa Genova’s from the library when I read Still Alice, and it fulfilled the neurodiverse book for the challenge. I did like this book in a lot of ways, but it’s nowhere near as good as Still Alice. You’re definitely sucked into the story, but it was a bit cheesy for my taste, especially with the cutesy voice Beth used to write Anthony’s story. A much better book by and about a neurodiverse character is The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. Category: a book by or about someone who identifies as neurodiverse.
Inside This Place, Not Of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons, edited by Robin Levi and Ayelet Waldman (2017) — While quite a lot is written about male prisoners in America today, almost nothing was written about women until Orange is the New Black came along. Women face a lot of challenges that men don’t — their crimes are far more likely to be the result of poverty and they’re far more likely to be victims of sexual abuse. In other words, with a stronger social net, far fewer of these women would have committed these crimes in the first place. This book is told in first-person essays by current and former prisoners.
This book was a heartbreaking and important social justice read for America. What stunned me the most was how similar so many of the women’s stories were — how they were sexually abused by a stepfather or close relative from an early age, and coupled with poverty, that led to sex work (often underage) and petty crimes escalating into felonies. But the most shocking parts were about their treatment in prison and especially how widespread sexual abuse is within the prison walls. Criminal justice needs to be a major issue in the next few years, and that includes prison reform. Closing private prisons permanently would be a good first step. Category: a book written in prison.
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit (2015) — Mansplaining had been a word for a few years before Rebecca Solnit wrote this collection of essays, but she has perhaps the best story about it yet — how a man persistently mansplained the book that she herself had written and repeatedly ignoring her as she said, “Yes, I know, I wrote that book.” This book is a collection of essays — as always, some better than others — about the journey toward gender equality while wrestling with rape culture, the erasure of women’s accomplishments, and mass killings influenced by toxic masculinity.
I wanted to add more feminist reads to my shelf in 2019, and this slim collection was a quick and easy way to do it. I did like Solnit’s writing a lot, but I found it a bit echo chamber-esque — perhaps it’s because this book came out a few years ago and so many writers have based their writings on hers in the years since. I do love how it ended on a positive note: Pandora’s Box has been opened, and there’s no going back now.
Emma by Kaoru Mori (2015) — I had to read a manga for this challenge, which I’ve never done before, and one of the few non-sci-fi non-war mangas that came recommended was this book, about a maid in 19th century London. It’s a pretty basic story — a wealthy man falls in love with the maid! — but entertaining. Emma was kind of a manic pixie dream girl with the twist that the guy was in love with her for no reason, not the other way around. You read manga from right to left, even in English, and though that took some time to get used to, I’m glad I’ve had a positive introduction to the genre. Category: a book of manga.
A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole (2017) — Marlie is a free black woman living in Carolina during the Civil War, the daughter of a formerly enslaved mother and unknown white father. She lives in a community of people opposed to the Civil War, giving her little protection. When an escaped white prisoner from the Union Army named Ewan takes refuge in her house, a friendship between them turns into love, and soon they must escape together. While this is book two in a three-book series, it stands alone well enough to read it without reading the first book.
I’m not into trade romance novels, and this one was fairly formulaic — especially when the female protagonist kept manufacturing imaginary conflicts to see whether her love interest was still into her. But I did appreciate that this book was about a person of color in the past, written by an author of color — something that is all too rare in the trade romance novel world. Cole has written several historical romances, and while they’re not really my cup of tea, I’m happy she’s been so successful at expanding what people believe the genre is. Category: a historical romance written by an author of color.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (2015) — In this novella, the first of a trilogy, Binti is the first-ever Himba woman chosen to attend Oomza University. Dealing with her family’s disapproval is hard enough, but it gets worse when her spaceship is attacked by the alien beings known as the Meduse, and every human but her is killed. Binti finds a way to communicate with the Meduse and bargains with them to keep her alive until they get to Oomza.
What I love about this book challenge is that it stretches you to pick up books you’d never touch, even if you try to read diversely like I do. The most amazing thing about this book is that it’s totally Africa-centric — among the humans, it’s all about the Himba tribe (who come from Namibia) versus different tribes from Nigeria. A book entirely about Africans in space, grounded in their tribal traditions, is so rare and unusual. (Okorafor herself is Nigerian-American.) I don’t think I’ll read more in this series, but my Reddit Secret Santa gave me a book of short stories by Okorafor, mostly set in Nigeria, which I plan on reading soon. Category: a book by an author of color set in or about space.
Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Roxane Gay with Ta-Nehisi Coates (2017) — When I heard I had to read a comic by an LGBTQIA creator, I instantly knew it would be this: I love Roxane Gay’s writing and enjoyed Black Panther, so this was an easy pick. This book is about the Dora Milaje, the elite female guards that protect the Black Panther and Wakanda — and a rivalry between two of them that turns into a romance. It was nice, but I don’t think I’ll be reading more superhero comics anytime soon. Even so, I hope future Black Panther movies focus more on the Dora Milaje! I found them to be some of the most interesting characters of all. Category: a comic by an LGBTQIA creator.
A Deadly Eclair by Daryl Wood Gerber (2017) — Mimi Rousseau has put her life together after the death of her husband and paying off his hidden debts. Today she runs a successful French bistro in Napa Valley. But when her business partner is found dead with an eclair shoved into his mouth, Mimi decides to track down the murderer herself.
I had never heard of a “cozy mystery” before — apparently it’s its own genre. A “soft” mystery, without too much gore or violence, usually solved by an amateur sleuth. And after this book, I’m pretty sure that I’m done with cozy mysteries for life. If you’ve been here for any amount of time, you know that my reading taste trends toward the intellectual, and this book was the complete opposite. And I think I’m going to stop myself before I say anything worse. Category: a cozy mystery.
I’m going to Guyana! I’ve got a weeklong trip here in the middle of the month. Guyana is one of the least visited countries in South America but the Guyanese don’t consider themselves Latin American — instead, there’s a Caribbean culture on the coast and an Amerindian culture more inland.
One of the things that frustrates me about the travel blogging industry is the emphasis of the same destinations over and over. For that reason, I’ve been looking to cover more unusual destinations in 2019. Guyana feels like an antidote to the same-old — a country that gets very little press and is at the beginning of developing its tourism industry. It should be an interesting journey.
Singapore is an expensive place to visit. There’s no way around it. The small city state is priced relative to the United States, which is a lot more expensive than its neighbors!
On a small stop-over trip, this isn’t a problem.
But on a big trip through the region, a trip into Singapore can elicit sticker shock, and it can turn people away if they’re trying to do the area on the cheap. If you still want to visit this country, though, there are still many ways to travel around Singapore on a budget.
Singapore has many free and cheap things to do when you vsiit that that will allow you to make the most of this big city!
Here’s a list of my favorite cheap and free things to do in Singapore!
1. Cool Off in the Underground Malls
The best places to cool off in this very hot city are the underground malls where the A/C’s cranking. You’ll be able to move around most of the city and never expose yourself to the heat and humidity. Since it gets cool at night, it can save you from having to pay extra for A/C at your hotel or hostel. Plus, you can spend your afternoon wandering underground Singapore without spending any money.
2. Eat Cheap Food in Little India
Singapore has some great food, but many of the restaurants are expensive. However, one of the best places to eat is the area of Little India, where great Indian meals cost as little as 5 SGD. Make sure you find the places where you can eat with your hands! They’re the most authentic and local places. You’ll probably be the only Westerner in there, though, so be prepared for people to stare. Eating at these places was still the most fun I had in Singapore.
Make sure you stop off at the Tekka Center, a hawker center with Indian clothing, groceries, and food. The food here is cheap and delcious and makes for an authentic Little India experience.
For a sit-down restaurant experience, head to Ananda Bhavan. It’s the country’s oldest vegetarian restaurant and is definitely worth a visit for some delicious Southern Indian cuisine. Even if you’re not a vegetarian you’ll still love it!
3. Eat Cheap Food in Chinatown
Another great place to eat cheap food is Chinatown. The dim sum here is great, most everything is in Chinese, the hawker food is also good, and there are a few cool temples here too. This is a wonderful place to not only eat but to also wander around. You’ll be able to cut down a lot of your food budget by sticking to the hawker stalls here and in Little India.
One of those food stalls is Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle (aka Hawker Chan), the world’s most affordable Michelin-starred restaurant. You can order a world-class dish here for under $2 USD. Be sure to eat here! Get here early as the line gets extremely long!
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice is another Michelin-starred hawker stall worth a visit if Hawker Chan’s is too busy. Like Hawker Chan’s, it’s located in the Maxwell Hawker Center.
In addition to exploring the Maxwell Hawker Center, you’ll want to also check out the Chinatown Complex Food Center and Chinatown Food Street. Those are the best places to find some of the cheapest and most delicious food in the city!
4. Eat Out for Lunch
If you’re looking for a nice place to sit down and eat, then the best time to eat at Singapore’s famed restaurants is during lunch when restaurants offer 20% off, making them a great deal. The set lunches will give you dinner food at a discount and allow you a bit more variety in what you’re eating. Make sure to check out the restaurants in the underground mall, where you’ll find even more lunch specials.
5. Walk Around the Gardens
The Botanic Gardens are free and are a nice place to walk around—especially in the mornings and evenings when Singapore’s tropical weather cools down a little. Early in the morning, locals practice t’ai chi on the lawn, and there are often free concerts on weekends.
6. Combine the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari
The Singapore Zoo is a must-see. It’s an open-air zoo, which is great because animals aren’t locked up in tiny cages. It’s actually one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to. They also offer a night tour in a different section of the park where you get to see the nocturnal animals. These activities aren’t very cheap, but if you combine them together, you’ll save a lot of money. It’s worth the price.
80 Mandai Lake Rd, +65 6269 3411, wrs.com.sg/en/singapore-zoo. Open daily from 8:30am-6pm. Admission to the zoo is 35 SGD for adults and 23 SGD for kids while the night safari is 47 SGD for adults and 31 SGD for kids. A combination ticket for the zoo and night safari is 68 SGD for adults and 48 SGD for kids.
7. Hit the Beach
If you need an escape from the busy metropolis, head to Sentosa Island. There, you can kick back and relax on the beach. There are actually 3 beaches to choose from here, depending on what you’re looking for. Siloso beach is where you’ll want to go for activities, Tanjong beach is a great spot to chill and enjoy a drink, and Palawan beach is where you’ll go if you’re traveling with kids. While you won’t be getting the beach experience you’d find in Thailand (there are tons of cargo ships in the water here!) it’s still a great place to escape for a day and soak up some rays.
8. See the Supertrees
Gardens by the Bay is a 250-acre nature park build on reclaimed land. It’s famous for its massive supertrees, 25-50m-tall vertical gardens that look like massive trees. The supertrees are home to all sorts of exotic plants and ferns and make for a stunning sight. While you have to pay to explore the conservatories, admission to the supertree garden is free.
9. Visit the National Museum of Singapore
While admission to the museum isn’t free, they do offer daily free tours which really makes a visit here worthwhile. This is the oldest museum in the country, having opened in 1849. The museum covers the history of the country, making it a great place to learn more about the country and how it came to be.
93 Stamford Road, +65 6332-3659, nationalmuseum.sg. Open daily from 10am-5pm. Admission is 15 SGD for adults and 10 SGD for students and seniors. Free tours are available at 11am and 2pm on weekdays and 11am, 1pm, 2pm, and 4pm on weekends.
10. Hike the MacRitchie Treetop Walk
The MacRitchie Trails cover over 11km of pathways around the largest reservoir in the country. It’s a place where the locals head for a run or a hike, and it’s a great place to get out and stretch your legs if you need to escape the city. Part of the trail includes a 250m aerial suspension bridge, which offers some nice views of the surrounding area. You can rent kayaks and canoes there, as well, and if you’re lucky you might spot one of the rare flying lemurs that call the park home!
MacRitchie Reservoir, +65 1800 471 7300, nparks.gov.sg. Open Tuesday-Friday from 9am-5pm and 8:30am-5pm on weekends. Admission is free.
11. See St Andrew’s Cathedral
This is the largest cathedral in the country, dating back to the 1850s. The cathedral was built in the Neo-Gothic style, and it was the first Anglican evangelical outreach in the country. The cathedral’s choir is actually the oldest musical institution in the country too. During WWII, it was used as a makeshift hospital until the Japanese invaded.
11 St Andrew’s Road, +65 6337-6104, cathedral.org.sg. Open from Monday-Saturday from 9am-5pm. Tours are free though they must be booked in advance.
12. Snap a Photo with a Merlion
The merlion is a mythical creature that has the head of a lion and the body of a fish. It’s the mascot of the country and often considered the personification of Singapore itself. There’s a statue of a merlion in Merlion Park (near the Central Business District) that you can check out and snap a photo with. (There are actually 5 official merlion statues around the city, though the 2 in Merlion Park are the most famous).
13. Go Stargazing
Science Centre Singapore offers free stargazing every Friday (weather permitting) between January and November. This is a really cool activity and makes for a great educational experience for adults and children alike. Just keep in mind that there is limited space, so be sure to arrive by 7:30pm to claim a spot.
15 Science Centre Road, +65 6425-2500, science.edu.sg. Stargazing is every Friday from 7:45pm-10pm. Check their website for the most up-to-date details.
14. Take a day trip to Chek Jawa
This wetland nature reserve is located on an island a short ferry ride away from the city. There’s a winding boardwalk you can explore as well as a large viewing tower you can climb to take in the panorama. Bicycles are available for rent outside the park as well, in case you don’t want to hike. The area was originally slated for redevelopment but the locals protested the decision and now it’s one of the last bastions of natural habitat in the area.
Pulau Ubin, +65 6542-4108, nparks.gov.sg. Open daily from 8:30am-6pm. Admission is free.
15. Explore the Singapore Art Museum
The museum is home to the world’s largest collection of modern Southeast Asian art. Modern art isn’t my favorite style, but there were plenty of insightful and imaginative pieces here to keep you entertained. They also have regular guided tours in English, which definitely makes a visit worthwhile. If you want to save money, be sure to visit on Friday evening when admission is free!
8 Queen St, +65 6589-9580, singaporeartmuseum.sg. Open Saturday-Thursday from 10am-7pm and Fridays from 10am-9pm. Admission is 10 SGD per person, though there is free entry on Fridays from 6pm-9pm.
16. Visit Haw Par Villa
Also known as Tiger Balm Gardens, this theme park contains over 1,000 statues from Chinese folklore and mythology. The most popular section of the park is a depiction of the Ten Courts of Hell, an exhibit that shows what hell is like in Chinese mythology. The park was recently updated and renovated and is worth taking a stroll through.
262 Pasir Panjang Rd, +65 6773 0103, hawparvilla.sg. Open daily from 9am-7pm. Admission is free.
17.Buddha Tooth Temple
Located in Chinatown, this Buddhist temple is also a museum that is home to a tooth of the original Buddha. The four-story building was built in the early 2000s though it imitates architecture from the Tang Dynasty of China. The museum is home to one of almost a dozen “tooth relics” in the world, and while its legitimacy can be debated it’s still a cool temple to visit and explore.
288 South Bridge Rd, +65 6220-0220, btrts.org.sg. Open daily from 9am-6:30pm. Admission is free.
18. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
This wetland is an ASEAN Heritage Park and another great place to escape the urban sprawl of Singapore. It was the first wetlands in Singapore to be made into a reserve due to its importance for migratory birds in Asia. There are dozens of bird species that call the park home, and there is also a family of otters you can spot playing in the water if you’re lucky!
301 Neo Tiew Cres, +65 6794-1401, nparks.gov.sg/sbwr. Open daily from 7am-7pm. Admission is free.
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Singapore may not be the cheapest city in the world, but there are still some ways to make it less of a burden on your wallet. By eating cheap, walking, and taking advantage of discounts, you can easily do Singapore without busting your wallet!
Do you have any tips on how to visit Singapore on a budget? Leave them in the comments!
Book Your Trip to Singapore: Logistical Tips and Tricks
Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.
Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time. My favorite places to stay are:
Coral Hostel – This is a quiet hostel with fast WiFi and free coffee/tea as well as a free all day breakfast!
Dream Lodge – This is a cool hostel with comfy beds that offer lots of privacy. There are lockers and plenty of outlets, and each bed has a curtain, which I really appreciate as a light sleeper!
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:
Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!
The Singapore Zoo is a must-see. It’s an open-air zoo, which is great because animals aren’t locked up in tiny cages. It’s actually one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to. They also offer a night tour in a different section of the park where you get to see the nocturnal animals. These activities aren’t very cheap, but if you combine them together, you’ll save a lot of money. It’s worth the price.
