USA Day 12-14: Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets & Back 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! ☺️

<< Back to USA Day 10-11: Hard Rock Cafe & More Rides at Universal Orlando

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Fun Playland at Great World City

At a time when playgrounds in many shopping malls continued to remain closed, Great World City was one of the few malls that did not close theirs! 

I'm super grateful for this relatively small but fun playground located on the 2nd floor of the mall, next to Kith and Tokyu Hands. The kids have been very deprived and this playground is a very welcomed change in pace! 

The highlight of the playground is of course the large hot-air balloon structure right in the middle of the outdoor playground. 

There were also smaller play structures nearby for younger kids who might be too scared to climb the hot air balloon structure on their own.

Despite this being a relatively small playground, my kids enjoyed themselves tremendously! The Littlest, who's a super confident climber, could climb independently with little help from me or her siblings. I was mostly just supervising her to make sure she push other children who were slower than her! 😅

So glad that more playgrounds are opening as we move to living with COVID-19! Hope to see more playgrounds in malls!

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This post is part of my MadPsychMum Fun in Singapore Guide to all things exciting for kids! 

Check out other fun playgrounds and attractions in Singapore! =)

You can also keep up to date with our fun adventures on Instagram via our hashtag #mpmfuninsg!

Melbourne Day 2: Prahran Market & Outlet Shopping at DFO

We almost couldn't wake up this morning as we were all so tired. Added to the fact that Melbourne is 2 hours behind Singapore, we were actually waking up at 7am Singapore time even though it was already 9am in Melbourne.

We had a quick homecooked breakfast before setting out for Prahran Market, which is just 15 minutes from our apartment. Prahran Market is a good place to buy fresh vegetables, meat and most importantly, seafood.

Driving on the road where the drivers are friendlier than Sydney but it's definitely not Brisbane

Prahran Market
(Address: 163 Commercial Road, South Yarra VIC 3141, Australia;
Opening hours: 7am - 5pm)

In a really good mood to explore Melbourne

Lovely spread of fresh fruits and vegetables!

Cheong fruits and vegetables

We found vegetables that we're used to here, so happy to find familiar food

This mushroom store has won many awards! 

Wide variety of mushrooms that was quite value for money. Being mushroom lovers, obviously we bought some and they were very fresh and crunchy! :)

The hubby's favourite had to be the seafood section (what's new?). There were a few stores but we ended up choosing Prahran Seafoods because the service was good and the food looked pretty awesome.

Prahran Seafoods

Good variety of seafood including fresh sea urchins!

Kids entertaining themselves while waiting

We bought enough to feed a family of 10 methinks! *laughs*

The best part is the parking, which cost us only AUD 2.50 for approximately 1-2 hours! Quite reasonable if you consider the prices of some of the other carparks in Melbourne.

We made a quick stop at our apartment to drop off all the produce in the fridge before heading to our first DFO of our trip, DFO South Wharf. (address: 20 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf, Melbourne VIC 3006). It's also just 15 minutes away from our apartment.

It was quite enjoyable shopping at DFO especially since the exchange rate between AUD and SGD was almost 1:1! We bought quite a number of clothes and shoes for the kids. My girl got yet another pair of Sketchers (she already got a pair from Sydney) for just AUD39! =)

She's so thrilled with her new pair of Sketchers with blinking lights

We also stumbled onto a nice playground at Level 2. My girl was so excited that she removed her shoes even before we reached the entrance!

Pirate ship mini playground

Baby Boy was very apprehensive at first but he soon warmed up. Girl on the other hand, was more than happy to explore the structure on her own!

When we finally done with our shopping, we decided to head back to our apartment so that mum-in-law will have time to cook dinner.

Carpark at DFO

Parking was a whopping $40! Lucky for us some of the stores offered half price parking with every purchase so we only had to pay $20 =S

On hindsight, we should have gone to a DFO with free parking (which incidentally we did a few days later).

There's a swimming pool and sauna in our building so we decided to go check it out while the mum-in-law cooked (she prefers to have peace while she cooked).

Sauna, which wasn't hot enough according to the hubby and bro-in-law

Water was super duper cold in the pool!

So we ended up spending most of our time in the hot tub / jaccuzi, which was invitingly hot and bubbly
(Don't know why hubby looked so happy haha)

Love our family photo =)

We returned to our apartment to help mum-in-law with dinner.

Baking the scallops that we bought from Prahran Market in the oven

Look at the spread! *yum*
(Now I know why I got fat!)

Super fresh and cheap oysters

Fresh and chewy prawns from Prahran Seafoods, the best dish of the night (and the whole trip for that matter)

 Clockwise from top left: Sea urchin from Claringbolds, which was terrible!;
Rice with asparagus;
Oven-baked scallops with cheese;
Carrot, potato and chicken soup.

Dinner was sooooo good that I think I overate! *sigh*

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the lovely view from the balcony while freezing slightly because the temperature dipped to 10 degree Celsius.

Night view from our apartment was just as breathtaking!

Had to cover Baby Boy with a hat and gloves

We were having such a great time we forgot that it was the wedding anniversary of the hubby and I! (This trip was meant to celebrate in the first place).

Oh well...

 Happy 6th Anniversary to Us! 

Continue to >> Melbourne Day 3: Philip Island
<< Back to Melbourne Day 1: Arrival at South Yarra

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as well as other travel itineraries!

You can also follow my travel adventures on Instagram via the hashtag #madpsychmumtravels! =)