Singapore & Indonesia for 2-3 weeks

[folivier]

We're planning on joining another couple for 2-3 weeks in Indonesia. Their daughter lives in Singapore. Plans are to spend a few days in Singapore then 2-3 weeks in Bali and possibly Thailand. We'll probably rent a villa on the beach, and another in the jungle somewhere.
We'll fly out of New Orleans to either LAX or SFO then on to Singapore. My DW has enough miles to fly United Business roundtrip but I only have enough for 1 way. We'd like to do the Singapore flight business but the NO leg is fine for economy. Trying to figure out the best way to do the Singapore flight as business class. Any suggestions? Or other foreign airlines you've flown business on? Looks like many of the flights available are foreign airlines.
Also any suggestions of favorite places in this part of the world? I'd like to do some photography but we don't plan to spend time in cities. We'd all rather see the smaller villages. Plus some snorkeling, possibly a few dives.
Thanks.

[Red Badger]

JAL and KAL are worth looking at. Like Singapore air, solid biz class. Also, don't rule out multi-carrier options. I'm not a fan, but sometimes the best options are a US flagged carrier as far as Narita/Seoul, and an Asian carrier from there to south Asia.

Make sure you hit a few food hawker stalls in Singapore. Mediocre food on the quay? $30-50 PP. Awesome food in a hawker stall 2 minutes from the quay? ~$5.

Have a great trip!

[HadEnuff]

My DS and DIL are far more adventuresome than I, and don't mind long trips in planes. They just got back from a trip from Colorado to some small island in Indonesia. An 18 hour flight from LA to Singapore with a 4 year old and an 18 month old....
They loved Singapore. They loved the whole trip, but they really loved Singapore. They said the locals were wonderfully friendly.
Enjoy!

[Koogie]

We really liked the Night Safari at Singapore zoo. We stayed in Chinatown. It and Little India are worth a walk around just to see the architecture (and the food in Little India).

Second the hawker stalls. Especially the one on Maxwell Rd.

[nwsteve]

Can't go wrong with Singapore Air. Suggest you get on their mailing list at their website. They just had a decent promo.
I also like Cathay Pacific (CX) which also has flights out of SFO & LAX and tends to be a bit less pricey. CX hubs into their extensive Asian network at HK so you could that city to your trip. IMHO, Singapore desires much more time on your trip but I am not a big fan of Indonesia--way too corrupt for me.

[Car-Guy]

It's been a few years, but I've flown United and Continental (same thing now) and Singapore air to Singapore and return. All business class flights and all were great. I don't recall any directs from SFO to Singapore. All made stops in either Narita (Tokyo) or Hong Kong. You might take a day or so stop over in Japan and/or Hong Kong for side trips. Both are worth the stops, IMO. Singapore is fantastic. The people, food and city are all great. Been there several times... One thing is the temperature is about the same all year around (Hot and humid)

[97guns]

Do they speak English in Singapore?

[Freedom56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by folivier We're planning on joining another couple for 2-3 weeks in Indonesia. Their daughter lives in Singapore. Plans are to spend a few days in Singapore then 2-3 weeks in Bali and possibly Thailand. We'll probably rent a villa on the beach, and another in the jungle somewhere. We'll fly out of New Orleans to either LAX or SFO then on to Singapore. My DW has enough miles to fly United Business roundtrip but I only have enough for 1 way. We'd like to do the Singapore flight business but the NO leg is fine for economy. Trying to figure out the best way to do the Singapore flight as business class. Any suggestions? Or other foreign airlines you've flown business on? Looks like many of the flights available are foreign airlines. Also any suggestions of favorite places in this part of the world? I'd like to do some photography but we don't plan to spend time in cities. We'd all rather see the smaller villages. Plus some snorkeling, possibly a few dives. Thanks.

Singapore airline has direct flights from LAX. I flew on the All Business Class flight a few times to and from LAX. The seats are huge. I mean really huge. You could fit a Sumo wrestler in the seat with room to spare or two people my width. The plane was mostly empty when I flew that flight, so you might be able to get a deal. When I took my wife once, we flew EVA Air Business Class and the price was much lower ($3100 return non-refundable) than Singapore Airlines ($5900 return non-refundable). But there was a layover in Tai Pei. The flight and service were great on both airlines. I found the food a bit better on Eva Air.

Have a nice time there. Singapore is pretty amazing and very clean.

[Scuba]

DH & I flew LAX to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. Very nice flight, and once there, we really enjoyed it. I second the food hawker stall recommendations. We only stayed in Singapore one night as we were en route to Indonesia for a diving trip. Stayed on a remote island in Indonesia which was nice but very difficult to get to.

[Peter]

United now flies non-stop SFO-SIN. B787.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97guns Do they speak English in Singapore?

Yes, it's one of the 4 "official" languages of the country and is use by government and most businesses. Never had a problem communicating in Singapore, even with my native Texan dialect. Come to think of it, I never ran into anyone there that couldn't speak English. Wish I could say that about Texas!

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We recently did a trip to Singapore this past May on ANA in economy YVR to HND to SIN. But I did a follow up work trip to India in June on ANA in business class YVR (on AC) to SJC to NRT to DEL. All flights were on the modern B787 dreamliners.

I enjoyed flying ANA in both economy and business class. Lounges had comfortable seating but I found that they can get fairly full. The lounges in Japan had a buffet selection and made to order ramen and udon (which were ok but I wouldn't compare to resto quality).
Seating in biz class was staggered and allowed for full lie flat for sleep. They offer a Japanese meal and an "international" meal. I tried both and they're good but in the end it's just airplane food. Good selection of English (and Japanese) movies / shows. USB and three prong power at the seats. Service was great IMO.

We stayed in Chinatown too. Felt that was a fairly central and convenient location. Our best food experiences were at the hawker locations. I'd also recommend Maxwell Food Centre. The Chinatown Complex Food Centre had A LOT of options.
The food street on Smith St in Chinatown at night is fun but is a bit overpriced.
We also like Tekka Centre in Little India. Obviously more Indian options there.
One disappointment was Geylang area. There's the seedy side of it but apparently it's a food destination. The couple of places we tried that were on multiple best of lists were disappointing for us.

For photography options:
Gardens by the Bay. Must see. Go for the twice nightly light shows. Recommend a week night if possible for lighter crowds (which is still heavy).
Waterfront walk. We walked from the Clarke Quay along the north side, west to Anderson Bridge, to the Merlion, back east along the south side, passing by the restaurants along Boat Quay. Lots of interesting sights along the way at night.
Sentosa Island. There are various ways to get there with various price points. We took the monorail. There are free trams on south side of the island taking you to the various beaches. Lots of different sites to see.
Marina Bay Sands. We didn't go to the top but checked out the lobby and the surrounding area including the waterfront and mall. A lot of bling and wow factor.