This is home.
Truly.
Where everyone’s too busy sprinting.
Now, read the first three lines again, except sing it to Home this time.
There are three facts of living in Singapore Singaporeans can agree to:
The average pace of life in Singapore is at 80kmph.
We love travelling but…
And everyone here loves a good shortcut. Work smart and hard.
But what if I was to tell you that the second fact isn’t exactly true?
That despite the hectic pace of life here in Singapore, there are not one, not thirteen, but eight shortcuts you can take to planning your trips out of Singapore as easy as taking candy from a kid.
Mordor?
With these hacks, you might just be able to visit every country in the world like Nas Daily, except you won’t need to edit videos daily (unless you want to).
Here are 8 simple but super-effective travel hacks every Singaporean should know.
1. Sell Your Travel Idea
If you’ve always wanted to travel with your friends, you’ll come to realise one thing pretty quickly: 90% of your travel plans always fail.
Either because you have a guy like this in your group
Or the enthusiasm just tapers off. Trust me, been there, done that.
Now, how do you stop this from happening ever again? The simple answer? Sell your idea.
Imagine this: you probably won’t go to your boss and say, “I want a raise.” Then, expect him or her to work together with you for this.
You’ll go to your boss and say, “Can we discuss pay raises in the near future? I believe that *blahblahblahconvincingwords*…”
That’s right, you get him or her excited, and you can only do that if you know what you want, you know what they want and the right words to get them excited.
So next time, do a bit of planning and research before you even talk to your friends about it:
I want to go on an adrenaline trip. I want bungee jumps. Or maybe, sky-diving. The 360-degree pirate ship on top of a mountain sounds super exciting.
And as a bonus, with the excitement comes determination. You can be sure everyone’s eager to split the workload and make it a reality.
2. Research The Right Way
Do a quick search on the internet and you’ll be bombarded with tons of articles, Pinterest images and the best places to visit in the place.
Which is great.
But then, you’ll realise, “Oh, that was written in 2012. Oh, this top 10 places, 3 are already closed down.”
Filtering takes time and we’re too busy to go through the pile. It’s like searching for a needle in a pile of needles, yeah?
So research the right way, by looking for the right sources and from the experts themselves.
People who live, breathe and make travel dreams come true for people every single day.
Here’s a great place to get you started.
3. Your Essential Information All in One Place
Getting inspiration for where to go, what to do is one thing.
But there is the essential information you have to know as well:
- The current climate (be it political, natural or otherwise)
- The currency exchange
- Visa status
Now, you can choose to go to different sites to check out the various information:
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for overseas information
- Google Search for currency exchange
- The country’s customs website for Visa information (MFA should also have it)
And waste precious time.
Or you can choose to have it all in one place.
This app, Ready To Travel by SATS, helps to consolidate all the essential information about a country any visitor needs to know into one pleasing, comprehensive page.
For example, if you are travelling to Japan, the app will give you this information.
The weather, the currency exchange, the culture, and so much more.
As a plus point, the app also sees fit to send out alerts for anything out of the ordinary within any overseas attraction.
You can download the RTT App by SATS here.
4. Everything Can Be A Deal
When I say deals, I don’t mean just air ticket deals. I meant the whole deal.
Need a wifi egg because you don’t plan to go anywhere without the group? There are places which give you discounts on top of already cheap rates for cheap overseas data.
Looking to get travel insurance?
You bet there are promo codes available for even cheaper travel insurance.
The point is, with the internet, everything can also become a deal. So don’t just look at airline ticket deals.
Here’s a pretty good place to start.
After all, the more money you have to spend, the more fun you’ll have.
5. Book Your Adventures in Advance
Last time, before websites like these started popping up, travel is pretty rigid.
You get air tickets, you prepare a sum of money and hope that it’s enough. And when you’re there, you constantly look at the amount left in your wallet and deciding if you have enough to last you through your day.
But now, with sites that let you book your overseas activities in advanced, the way you travel has changed.
Instead of praying that your money will last in a foreign country, you can now book overseas attractions, hotels and airport transfers in advance while you’re still here in Singapore.
So when you go overseas, you can rest easy, knowing the rest of your money is just for eating and shopping.
As a bonus?
If you’re someone who’s unable to save money, you can purchase your tickets in July for your October trip and pay for it with your July salary.
So that when October comes, you’ll have more money to enjoy your trip thoroughly.
6. Get A Collaborative App
Remember #1? It’ll get your friends to come together and help plan the trip. And what that means is you must be able to come up with a way to collaborate together. Effectively.
After all, getting excited is all good and all but if you’re unable to collaborate properly, you’re better off planning alone.
WhatsApp is a great platform for communicating but if you want to collaborate, that’s a different story.
You’ll need to search the chat for something that was discussed a week ago, maybe scroll up or look in media for the screenshot that your friend sent about the attraction booking.
Or you have to go to your email and search out the email for the right booking to double-check the dates.
Something such as…
If you’re wondering what app this is, it’s Ready To Travel by SATS.
The app allows you to create an itinerary for your upcoming trip and, get this, everyone can edit and contribute to it.
Your friend booked the theme park tickets for everyone? Save it in the itinerary.
Wondering if there’s enough time for bungee-jumping on the second day? Check the timing and ask in the chat.
In short, the most troublesome thing about collaborating on a trip is keeping track of the craziness, and this app aims to resolve that.
You can download the RTT App by SATS here.
7. Go Digital, The Smart Way
Let’s say you’re still in the paper era. You print out your air tickets, your overseas attraction bookings, your hotel stay booking, etc.
You’re going to be walking around with a pile of paper, looking dumb when you hold up the line of other busy Singaporeans who just wants to get out of Singapore because you can’t find the right paper.
Or maybe, you’re better. You keep everything in email. You walk confidently to the counter, then apologise profusely as you search your inbox for the right email.
Imagine Gordon Ramsay going, are you a retard sandwich.
Let me give you a better solution.
Go digital and put all your bookings, air tickets and any other documents all in one place.
No more holding up the queue, no more fretting if you’ve forgotten anything.
With that said, your passport cannot be digitalised (yet) so if you forgot to bring that, well, I can’t help you.
8. Go For All-In-One Solutions
There are many ways to achieve the seven hacks listed above.
Google hangouts or Notes for planning an itinerary. Google searches for information. Gmail & favourites for bookmarking.
And most times, they’re free.
But here’s the thing: when you’re busy, what do you value most? Convenience.
So the best way is to look for something that can do all of the above (and more) all in one application.
Usually, you’ll be asking, how much does it cost?
But I’ve got great news for you: for the first time in history, you can get convenience at zero extra cost.
That’s right.
The Ready To Travel app helps you plan itineraries with your friends easily, keep track of all the important information, store your documents, discounts for travel services, inform you of deals and more…
At the grand price of zero dollars.
And remember, this is an app created for busy Singaporeans by busy Singaporeans.
Chances are, whatever you need, you can find it all in the app.
But don’t take our word for it; you can download the app yourself and decide.
P/S: Don’t say bojio: new users get $5 voucher.
This article was first published on Goody Feed and written in collaboration with Ready To Travel by SATS.