Layovers. Arguably the most stressful and exhausting part of any airplane travel. Either you have so little time that you’re sprinting through the airport with the kids complaining about being simultaneously thirsty and having to use the bathroom (pee your pants, we are making that flight!) or you have so long that you visit the same book/souvenir/snack shop 6 times to see if they’ve refreshed the inventory yet. I inevitably always buy one of those way-too-old sandwiches wrapped in plastic where the condiments have fused with the bread for the low, low price of $14.99 and regret it.
Before kids, Madeline and I would fly out at 6am, with a double layover to save $20. Now with 2 other lifeforms in the mix, the primary requirement is “fastest possible”, followed by, “will they be sleeping for part of it?”. That’s not to say money is no factor, our threshold for inconvenience is set at about ~$100/ticket (sliding scale based on if its an overnight flight), which of course is 4x now traveling as a family. Yay!
Where Are We?
For the next transient leg of our journey, we are breaking up long flights to Malaysia by stopping in a couple layover hubs between Europe and Asia. One of the unexpected benefits of taking this year off is the ability to travel slowly to a destination. Previously, with limited time off, we did our best to maximize time-at-destination and any delay was seen as a cataclysmic loss of rare vacation hours. For now we are enjoying a slower pace, and chose 2 nights in Abu Dhabi and 1 week in Singapore to arrive at our final destination.
This realization all started when we found cheap flights on Etihad Airways that offered not only the free stop over, but also provide a hotel for 1-3 nights and an E-sim free of charge! We had never been to the Middle East, and while we weren’t planning to highlight this area on our year abroad, this opportunity seemed like a chance to dip our toes in. It was a whirlwind of a 48 hours, mostly filled with scorching walks in 105 °F desert heat between ostentatious, air conditioned malls, stunning mosques and air conditioned malls underneath stunning mosques.
For Singapore we elected to stay at the first true resort of our year abroad. Madeline read that the Shangri-La Singapore was kid friendly (thanks Reddit!), and that turned out to be an understatement in the best way possible. For starters, we stayed in the “Family Tower” of the resort which had included access to laundry facilities, rental kid gear and extra large fridges. The kids slept in a tent bed by the window that I was super jealous of and the entire resort was geared not just towards kids but specifically accommodating of toddlers. The hardest decision we had each day was whether to do the splash park or the massive indoor play area complete with art area and karaoke stage.
48 Hours in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is small country on the Arabian Peninsula formed by seven emirate, also known as a territory ruled by an emir (monarch in the Muslim world). The wealth in the country was originally due to its vast oil reserves and exports to the West but has started to shift more to tourism and international business. We’d seen plenty of Instagram reels and Modern Marvels episodes about the opulence and engineering wonders built here and were excited to see what it was all about.
When looking at flights, I was surprised by the number of airlines that have similar “stop over” packages in the area: Emirates – Dubai, Etihad – Abu Dhabi, Qatar – Doha and Oman-Muscat . I’d heard of all these cities/countries before, but couldn’t put them specifically on a map before this flight search. Ultimately the free hotel option and cheapest flight won us over and we flew Munich to Abu Dhabi arriving at 7pm. What we underestimated was just how long it would take to get through customs, grab our bag and drive the almost hour from the airport to our accommodations in the city. So at 10 pm, in a brand new area of the world, I was frantically walking around a metropolis trying to find a restaurant open with a “to go” option to get the kids some dinner before going to bed close to 11pm.
The next morning, we woke up (late) and went outside to start walking to a fancy brunch buffet for Mae’s actual birthday. We were hit by a wall of heat, made worse by the contrast to the sub-polar climate of the A/C in every building. We moved from shadow to shadow (or rather, covered playground to covered playground) and mercifully made it to our destination 15 minutes later with emptied water bottles. We now understood why there were so few people outside along the way and everyone takes Ubers around. This was a hard pill for me to swallow as a firm believer in “why pay for a taxi when you can walk?”.
After learning that lesson, we stuck into buildings with A/C and found all the people! Abu Dhabi has plenty to entertain indoors. Huge malls were a staple on almost every block. These cities-within-cities had shopping, uncharacteristically good food courts and indoor activities ranging from escape rooms to kid play areas. I was particularly smitten with a chain of them called Pop in and Play that specialized in Lego building zones. The employee’s actual job was of course to play with kids, but if none were present they just built their own awesome Lego creations to display. I now plan to open one of these in Seattle when we get back and run it purely as a business venture…
Our second day was comprised of more malls (the massive Yas Mall) and a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It’s worth a trip to Abu Dhabi alone to see this place in person. The intricate tile details in contrast with the scope of this place doesn’t translate to photos. We went right at sunset, which was the perfect time to both see it in natural light and then transform with the night time lighting. Mae loved the chandeliers in the prayer halls, thinking they looked like something Elsa from Frozen had made with her ice magic. The most surprising thing about the experience is that to get in, you go through a mall that is literally underneath the mosque to get there. So if you wanted to carbo-load some McDonalds French fries before the long walk, you had that option. Adults also have to be fully covered in the mosque (with head coverings for women) but luckily, the mall has all you need if you forgot! We prepared ahead to save a few $$ but could tell shopping before going to the mosque was a whole experience in itself (#insta).
Overall it was an impressive sight to see what money can build in the middle of a desert with no zoning laws. Malls were surprisingly awesome and abundant. Visiting with toddlers was okay, but the majority of activities (Ferrari World, Universal Studios, Desert Safaris, etc.) were geared more towards older children. Also, after two very busy days, we felt three would have been the sweet spot for a full stopover.
Singapore for a Week
I’m not sure if I can technically call staying in Singapore for a week a stopover but hey our trip, our rules. We knew we wanted to see the city/country briefly, but when we found super kid friendly resort, the Shangri-La, we elected to give ourselves all a treat and extend our stay. Like any resort, we quickly found that the food was overpriced (fantastic, but spendy) so we ventured into the city to find the famous street food and see the sights. We enjoyed our rhythm of going out for a half day, then coming back for a relaxing afternoon, or visa-versa. Madeline and I would alternate watching the kids, allowing the other to have some much needed solo time for reading, exercise or just lying in the sun.
Singapore is a clean and efficient city and it’s not surprising people love it, despite being the most expensive in SE Asia. Getting around Singapore was a breeze, with an excellent metro system where you scanned your credit card or phone for entry/exit. Being 5, Mae got a special kid card to go through the gates and loved the responsibility of doing it by herself. The city was a tapestry of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures and has worked hard to integrate all cultures. We got to be there during Deepavali/Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, so Little India was filled with colorful decorations and people. The real highlight was the food, and we ate our way around the town. Mae and Emmett are probably 90% noodle at this point.
Here were some of our favorite sites and food places we went:
- VegThisCity Food Tour – I was surprised and excited to find an all vegetarian food tour but this one was so much more. Our guide, Erika, took us all around the various food areas of Singapore, traveling from grabbing breakfast at the hawker centers (think indoor street food) in Chinatown to the dedicated vegetarian restaurants of Little India. She taught us not only about the food we were eating but the history of the city and why those foods became common in those areas. Mae and Erika were fast friends, and she held her hand as they walked around the crowded streets.
- Gardens by the Bay – Gardens by the Bay is a large urban park with many different attractions within it. There are the Cloud Dome, Flower Dome and Floral Fantasy greenhouses with flora from around the world. The center piece of the park are the massive Supertrees that not only look cool but functionally provide power (solar), collect rainwater and perform temperature regulation for the greenhouses. At night, they have embedded lights that put on a show with music that is spectacular. Our favorite was the Cloud Dome, despite there being a very special Jurassic Park exhibit there for a limited time. Mae and Emmett now share my very rational fear of velociraptors.
- Haji Lane – This walking street near Little India was one of favorites. They had cute boutique shops, sweet treats and our favorite, selfie photobooth stores. These were places that made it look like you were on an airplane, in an elevator or, for the one we did, inside a washing machine.
- Hawker Centers – These multi-storied food centers were devised as a way to take all the deliciousness of street food, co-locate it in one area and add some semblance of sanitation to it. We went to several during our stay (Maxwell was our favorite) and gorged ourselves. This is my favorite way to eat: tons of options where I can sample small bites. Also really cool, all vendors are required by law to have an option under $3 on their menu to allow all economic levels to eat. So even the lobster stand had a cheap seafood noodle dish.
Singapore was amazing with toddlers and we definitely want to come back (there’s a direct from Seattle that’s Only 17 hrs!). You could see most of the highlights in 2-3 days, but we never tired of the city during our longer stay. The heat and humidity was something else, so be prepared for a tropical climate!
Tips & Lessons Learned
This is where we put all of the things we learned along the way about traveling in the region as well as traveling with toddlers.
UAE & Singapore:
- Stop Over Timing – Lots of places offer the 24 hour layover. The truth with kids is ~10 of those are sleeping (you hope), 3 are getting there from your flight and 3 are getting back to your net flight.. For anything less than three nights (with toddlers, to be clear), it doesn’t seem worth it. It also did not give us enough time to adjust jet lag at all – just tired kids for 2 extra days!
- Food Tours – Food and cooking tours are our bread and butter (pun intended) when traveling. We think they are the best way to get your bearings in a city and understand, one of our favorite parts of travel, the local cuisine. Kids are also generally welcome and happy on tours since they get fed along the way.
- UAE Tips
- Use Uber to get around (don’t go outside, you will melt). 99% of the time you’ll get a white or black Mitsubishi Outlander, regardless of Uber type selection in the app..
- Staying closer to the airport vs downtown is recommended for shorter layovers and will give you shorter drives to the Grand Mosque and the Yas Mall. Speaking of the Yas Mall, definitely worth a visit and has a super convenient luggage drop off, so you can check out of your hotel, drop off bags in the mall and head to the airport that night with your bags already checked.
- The Grand Mosque has options to purchase more conservative clothing if you forgot it. They also have a luggage check for bags but it was quite expensive for even our carry on bags we had before heading to the airport.
- The supermarkets have beautiful produce and great deli food. Works well when you want food quickly.
- Singapore Tips
- Singapore has a great metro system and for getting to the few places it doesn’t reach we used Grab (Singapore Uber). Grab also does food delivery, which we used to create our own cheaper room services at the hotel.
- Everyone spoke English and was super welcoming and helpful with the kids.
- Multiple days at the Gardens by the Bay are needed with toddlers at the slower pace and to take advantage of the bonus playgrounds and splash park there. Double check opening times!
About Traveling with Toddlers:
- Travel Carseats – We continue to lug around our cheap and dependable Cosco carseats but we realized a need for something we could use in taxis when were on the go. Mae is old enough/big enough that we felt comfortable using a booster seat and found the Hiccapop Inflatable Booster to work really well. Compact and easy to install quickly. Finding something portable for Emmett was a little bit harder, but we ended up going with the RideSafer Vest. Also compact and quick to get in, he has a love-hate relationship with it, either excitedly wearing it to ride in a taxi or screeching about it being “too tight” even when its still loose.
- Having a Kids Meal Ready for Late Flights – Multiple times we’ve been in a scenario where our flight lands around 6 or 7pm but it takes us hours to get out of the airport. We are then left with the paradox of our children simultaneously needing sleep and food in an unfamiliar place. Food usually wins out but then further prolongs the bedtime. We plan to start traveling with enough snacks or at least a plan to scrounge together an emergency meal for future, similar situations. Same goes for breakfast the next day.
Closing
Thanks for joining us on our layover! Our next blog and actual destination will be Malaysia!
Great post! I enjoyed your comments about traveling with kids and about enjoying SLOW travel–when you are not pressured to make the most of every minute.
I am a neighbor of your aunt Pat in LA, and she shared your blog with me. I too love to travel. I too spent one day in Dubai (on our way to Abu Dhabi) and had similar impressions–lots of shopping, impressive architecture, and beautiful mosques. I’ve never been to Singapore.
Enjoy your year abroad!
Hi Caroline! Thanks for reading, I’m glad my aunt shared it with you! I saw you also have a travel blog so can’t wait to read your perspective on the places too.