USA Day 12-14: Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets & Return to Singapore

Day 12: 

I woke up at 5am but managed to go back to sleep until 9am! After waking up before 6am the last couple of days, it was such a luxury to be able to sleep in! 😄

We could have spent the morning at Universal Orlando theme parks (our tickets gave us access for 5 consecutive days) but we decided it would have been an overkill! Instead, we took an Uber at 10am to Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets for a day of shopping! You really can't come all the way to America and not shop!

Our first stop had to be Disney Warehouse, of course! We had to queue for about 30 minutes to get in, which was a waste of time on hindsight. There were no queues at all in the afternoon! 😮‍💨

After buying some discounted Disney stuff, I walked passed yet another Sunglass Hut (there were many in America!), succumbed to the marketing tactics and bought a pair of Tory Burch sunglasses! 😎

We also bought many kids clothes from Carter's as they were so much cheaper than Singapore and Australia! 😄

We were not even halfway done with shopping before getting really hungry so we had lunch at the Food Court!

We chose to eat Mexican food (again because we just love it!) and ordered burritos from Currito.

We really can't go wrong with Mexican food here! Enjoyed our lunch! 😋

We continued shopping at Coach, Kate Spade, Tory Burch and others. When we were finally tired, we had Auntie Anne's and a Popbar.

We took an Uber back to our hotel at around 4pm. There were more people at the pool today but I decided not to swim and pack my shopping instead!

We finished our packing and got ready for our early morning flights the next day. How fast time flies! 😄

Day 13-14: 

We woke up at 2.30am, checked out and waited for our Uber to arrive. A kind Uber driver, who drove us from our Disney hotel to Target, advised us to schedule our Uber to the airport in advance, especially if we needed one in the middle of the night. It was great advice! The Uber arrived as scheduled and cost us US$38.

We arrived at the Orlando International Airport Terminal B at 3.30am. My app showed that my domestic flight was on time (for once)! It was a good omen for my journey home!

My 'twin' aka work BFF was flying to Canada to meet her friend so we bade each other farewell at the airport. 

There was a long queue to clear security checks but I managed to board my American Airlines flight to Dallas on time. My flight took off around 5.20am Orlando time (5.20pm Singapore time).

After flying for about 2.5 hours, I arrived at Dallas Fort Worth Airport at 7am Dallas time (8pm Singapore time). 

After I collected my luggage and deposited it at the ticketing counter, I boarded a shuttle service to Terminal D, the international terminal, to wait for my next flight.

By the time I completed security clearance, it was only 8.15am. I had breakfast at McDonald's, since I had a lot of time before I was due to board the plane.

It was nice to eat something familiar in an unfamiliar place! 😬

I boarded my next American Airlines flight from Dallas to Tokyo at 11am Dallas time.

This AA flight had a much better entertainment system/screen than Japan Airlines! I enjoyed watching many movies including Harry Potter on the flight. However, the food was definitely not as good as JAL.

After flying for 12 hours and 30 minutes, I arrived on time at Tokyo Narita International Airport at 2.30pm Japan time.

I was so happy that my flights were on  time, which meant that I would have ample time to shop during transit!

I bought so many boxes of Japanese goodies that I nearly couldn't fit them all into my extra bag!

I was hungry after my shopping and got myself a piece of bread from the vending machine. I don't need yen at all as I paid for it with my credit card! Love the convenience!

It was cheap and good too! Wish I bought more to bring home for my kids 😄

I boarded my final Japan Airlines flight at 6pm Japan time, bound for Singapore. I'll be home in 7 hours!

I finally arrived at Changi Airport at 12.30am, after travelling for 30 hours (including transit)! It was weird not hearing Singapore Airline's announcement of welcome home (it's my first non-SQ flight post-COVID)! I was so happy to greet the hubby at the gate! There's no place like home! 😄

My Reflections

America was really far away and the domestic flights were just as painful as I've heard people say they were! It was really frustrating for me! Other than the long flights and waiting seemingly forever in the airport waiting areas, USA was great! People were friendly and helpful in general, other than the few rude folks who couldn't understand my Singaporean accent... 😮‍💨

The US theme parks were also next level! I don't think I can enjoy other theme parks the same way anymore after experiencing the amazing rides in Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort! The rides in Orlando were my best experiences so far and this is coming from someone who has been to more than 20 theme parks all over the world! It is definitely worth the long flights for a memorable experience of a lifetime! ☺️

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