Stress in Singapore

Since RBA have flights to Singapore both in the morning and evening daily, Anna and I have several times now gone over to Singapore just for the day, to do some shopping. We plan in detail where to go in advance and have the itinerary set way in advance, well, to be honest we nearly always follow the same route - certain stops along Orchard Road (luckily we like the same shops!), lunch with wine (because we can!) and then a taxi out to the east to do IKEA before going to the airport!
We bring empty suitcases that we leave at Changi to be filled with all the shopping when we return in the evening!

It's always nice coming over to Singapore, and especially in Christmas time. It's a lot more decorated and festive over there!



This year their theme was "Christmas in Bloom" and the whole of the City Center was covered in these blue flowers:





Lately though, they've re-timed the morning flight so it doesn't get in until just after 11.00, which means that by the time we arrive in City it's already nearly lunch time.
I must admit yesterday turned into a pretty stressful day that went past in a whoosch! We had so many things on our lists there was NO time to deviate from the plan, no time to browse or improvise or actually enjoy lunch or coffee. It all just happened in a bit of a blur in between shop visits. And unfortunately, we couldn't find many of the things we were looking for. :(

One good thing was that I finally got to see the new H&M store, which I had looked forward to. H&M was sort of the only shop missing to make Singapore the perfect shopping paradise. But, it was actually a disappointment. Not very big, not a lot of stock, I only bought a few hair things, that was all. Boo.
Finally, another shop I always go to was closed for a special event only for their card members..! Aaarrrghh!

And, the biggest let-down of them all - IKEA! The main reason for our trip this time, getting supplies for Christmas. But, they were all sold out!
No Christmas porcelain or glass, no Christmas wrapping paper or Christmas tree decorations and most importantly - NO Christmas food!! No ham, no ginger bread, no ginger bread houses, no lussebullar in the cafeteria!

The only thing they had was this very odd (and not very Swedish at ALL!) 'Christmas Plate', with chicken cheese sausage, broccoli turkey breast, turkey ham - and french fries! Que?



No, IKEA - you can do better!

And even though we both came back with pretty much full suitcases, we have decided that next time we are doing a Singapore shopping trip, it'll be a two-day event for sure! :)