There are place in Ireland which is easily accessible via roads and if you are in need of wheels, i would suggest you to take a car from Budget. They have many outlets all over Ireland and even have an online car booking system through their website.

We manage to get a 4 door VW Polo for about 160 EUR, inclusive of GPS, insurance and 80++ EUR deposit which will be returned upon successfully returning the car in the condition it was lent out and with a full tank of petrol. We did not have any problems with the cars so far, both the times we rented it to drive up to Wicklow.

All you need is a valid drivers license from your country and a credit card. I heard its much cheaper to order the car online, maybe you can try doing so. The downside is that they do not accept cash, could be for security reasons should anything happen to the car that was lent out to you.

You can work your way around the cashless system if you have a friend in Ireland. Deposit the money into their bank account and they will be able to use their ATM card or Laser service to pay for the car.

The staff are a little stuffy and arrogant and sometimes you have to wait a while for your car, but i don't think its that bad considering the price you are renting the car for. And oh! btw, the amount mentioned above is for a 24hour time period.

They usually give you about 1 to 2 hours if you are late in returning your car. Just make sure you call and inform them on your situation, chances are you get a good person, they will still refund your full deposit, like what happened to me when the car got clamped because of insufficient parking fee :P

For more information, visit: http://www.budget.ie/

It is sometimes a hassle to travel in a group because of accommodation. If you are a family with 2 young kids, a family room will do just fine but if you are a group of friends or family with young teenage children, staying in one big room can be somewhat uncomfortable especially if its a long trip.

I recently took a group trip to Malacca and when i browse through the internet there were so many apartments made out to be, not what they actually look it.. Some are outdated and are not in operation anymore.

Garden City Hotel was my second choice after my first choice just left be baffled. Luckily i had back up and the back up turned out to be something worth blogging about. For a fee of RM300/night and RM50 deposit, i booked a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in the heart of Malacca town, just behind the Bandar Hilir Police Sation, good location if you have a car.

The apartment itself looked a little run down from outside, but it had good security, ample parking, the reception staff were friendly and it came with a HUGE pool. When i say huge, i mean HUGE.

All your basic amenities are provided in the apartment - vanity set, clean sheets, tea cups, cutlery, kettle, fridge, stove, TV and so forth. The was no internet/WiFi though.. But clean and well maintained, i can say..

Most of the units here belong to private owners who rent out their units to vacationers so do not expect a fancy furnishing, however i would say for the price we paid, the apartment was more than perfect. Definitely recommended for a huge group or family vacation.

For more information, visit: http://www.gardencity.com.my/

Don't be fooled by its name, as simple as it may sound, or shall i say, as holy as it may sound.. haha.. this hotel is the best hotel I've stayed at ever.. Not because of the superior service or the amazing food at the cafe below, which are both not too bad in their own respect, but because of the decor.

This is a Georgian boutique hotel. Extremely gorgeous.

The room booked was the Mini Suite, which was Oval. Yes, the room was oval-shaped. With a king size bed, vanity kit and huge bathroom. And mind you, only the Mini Suite comes with a power jacuzzi.

It was set to a very romantic lighting with dark and sexy colors that fill the space. Colors like red, dark purple with a simple Thai-ish satin touch to it.

The service was good, the staff were really friendly. The booking, checking in and checking out were all done fast and with ease. The room was very clean and it came with all the basic necessities, except.

There was no proper accessories in the room. Things like, bedroom slippers, snacks and drinks in the fridge (which was totally empty), some lights were not functioning as well as the water pressure from the shower - not good.

But other than these petty things, it was an overall 10/10 stay. I love it and would go back to spend the night at the Mini Suite again, anytime ;)

And oh, don't get me started on their beautiful lobby..

Trinity Capital Hotel Website

A friend of mine treated me to nice evening out to Swiss Hotel The Stamford a few months ago. It was truly an unforgettable experience as i am a sucker for scenery and all things beautiful.. who doesn't like to look at beautiful things right? Ya well, im a bigger sucker for it than most people :)

So it was really a good choice for her to bring me here. We met there at about 5.30pm, went to the top floor and found ourselves a spot by the best sceneries of Singapore. The drinks are a bit pricey and not too much for what you get to see, what seems like the whole of Singapore.

I truly formed a fascination for Singapore when i saw how well planned and nice it looked from the top. for all the things we hate Singapore about, this is something i think all Singaporeans can be proud of, its government's thorough city planning. I know i was impressed.

Let me show you what i'm going on and on about :P enjoy the pics..

 

 

 

Recommended to take your girlfriends out on a date.. Its a very romantic spot and i think its well worth the drinks.. but like we did, have dinner else where.. make this your first stop.. just like my friend planned..

Tiger Airways Flight Delay due to shortage of staff cost me time and money!

Please take this letter seriously as i will circulate it without any remorse. It is bad enough that Tiger Airways does not have an email address on their website. Reason being, too many duplicate emails from customers, easy isn’t it to avoid complaint letters? Best part is, when i called the call center for complaints and feedback, they can only provide me with a fax number. They have no email address to write into. How convenient?

I am Evelyn Kurup, i had booked a flight on Tiger Airways on the 18th of August 2010 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The delay in Tiger Airways flight TR 2455 had caused me to miss my connecting flight to Dublin.

Booking reference number M2U9DI, flight number TR 2455 departing from Kuala Lumpur (according to itinerary) 16:40 on the 23rd of September 2010 and arriving in Singapore (according to itinerary) at 17:30. I had arrived at LCCT at 3.30pm to check-in, only to discover that the flight had been delayed to 5.35pm. I made a little noise at the counter because this was unacceptable. The flight was delayed for an hour. I had already planned for such delays, should they happen, which is why i had booked the flight to arrive 2 hours before my next connecting flight to Dublin, via Etihad.

I continued to check-in as i calculated arrival in Singapore would be around 6.20pm, i could still catch my flight with Etihad. Boarding time was at 5pm at LCCT, and ETA was 5.35pm. I waited and waited at gate T3 until 5.45pm. The staff did not announce any further delay, we customers had to inquire and only then they let us know that the aircraft had just left Singapore. Many customers made complained at the counter, but the response that we go from them was that they were not employees of Tiger Airways.

There was no representative of Tiger Airways present for us to make a complaint. Even the guy i spoke to at the call center named Arvin said he is not an employee of Tiger Airways.The aircraft finally arrived at 6.10pm. By the time we left it was 6.35pm and the pilot announced that the flight was delayed DUE TO SHORTAGE OF STAFF, AND THEY WERE WAITING FOR REPLACEMENT STAFF TO ARRIVE.

This is a huge management problem but for Tiger Airways and has nothing to do with me and it caused customers of flight TR2455 to miss other connecting flights, meetings and so forth. I cannot imagine, that such a well known budget airline, have problem in staffing. This is a huge inconvenience that innocent, paying customers have to bare. Like myself, i missed my connecting flight to Dublin as i reached Singapore at 7.35pm as appose to the rightful 5.30pm.

In total, the flight was delayed from 5.30pm, then 6.10pm and finally we left at 6.35pm which was MORE THAN 2 HOURS DELAY. I had paid SGD 1,300 for my flight to Dublin. Travelling alone, i am now staying at a hotel in Singapore during the F1 weekend, having to bare total hotel costs of SGD 270, which was the cheapest available rate for a decent and simple hotel in a red district area. To rebook another flight, i have to pay SGD 530! Total of SGD 800 because Tiger Airways had Staffing Problems!!

Tiger Airways not only caused me a total of SGD 2,100 but also time. I have to stay in Singapore for 2 days as the next flight to Dublin is on Saturday. The unnecessary time lost cannot be brought back. I am even unsure if there are available seats for the flight to Dublin on Saturday, when missing the flight was not my fault in the first place!

I had purchased this flight ticket to Dublin 40 days in advance to avoid high traveling cost. Thanks to the "tremendously efficient" service of Tiger Airways, i am not forced to bare most cost for something that was not my fault and for something that was out of my control. All i could do was wait and hope and pray, that the people at the counter we're giving us the right time. Even that was not true as they promised we would leave at 6.10pm after the 5.35pm timing didn't work out. If they would have told us earlier, that we would leave at 6.35pm, i could have looked for a different flight. It would be cheaper than paying for hotel in Singapore!!

I am now alone in a hotel room in Singapore, and i have to spend tomorrow night here as well.

I am extremely furious with Tiger Airways for the delay!! And for what reason? Shortage of staff?? Its amazing how they can even admit to such reasons for delay.

I demand that Tiger Airways compensate me for this extra cost that i have to incur due to their mismanagement. There was no faulty on my part whatsoever. I made sure i arrived at LCCT early to catch my flight.

I will never recommend Tiger Airways to anyone after today. The airlines might as well not exist, if it cannot be on time. A 30 minutes delay, is fine, a one hour delay is also still fine. But more than 2 hours delay due to shortage of staff is plain stupid and irresponsible!!

I am forced to bare the extra cost just because Tiger Airways had shortage of staff!! How is that my problem?? They seriously have no respect for people’s time and schedule!! Something needs to be done!! Tiger Airways needs to be closed down if this is the way they are going to operate!! Cheating people of their money!! 

Tiger Airways is just the same as the robbers on the streets! But the robbers are better because you expect that from them! Tiger Airways takes your money, promises you one thing and cheats you out of it! 

Cheaters!!!

Let me just say first, that the building on which the sky park is situated on is a huge architectural monument. I love that building so much. Its so beautiful and definitely a place to be pictures at if you come to Singapore.

 

So i headed to the sky park a few months back, about a month after the opening. I paid SGD 20 per pax and 4 of us - my mom, 2 cousins and me made our way up to the park. We were given this recording device which had numbers on it. It synchronizes with the number points on the park. Each number represent a spot on Singapore, and when the number is selected, the history of that spot will be told to you like a story.

Unfortunately, this was the only interesting thing, i thought, was available at the sky park. but when i was there, many restaurants and stuff was not opened yet. Maybe its better now, i dont know. Also i would recommend to go at night than to go during the day. I think Singapore will light up and look better at night.

Ofcourse, another attraction is the long border-less swimming pool which is only available for hotel guests.

Overall i think, i went to early as the attractions were limited as well as i think i should have went at night. Other than that, it might be a good experience to stay at the hotel itself and enjoy the pool with a special loved one. I bet it would be amazing. I heard the higher the floor, the higher the price, as always, but not sure if this is true.

If anyone has some experience at the hotel or sky park much later, after it was opened, or if you went at night, comment! Let me know if it would be worth going again at night.

Personally, i preferred the view from the top floor of Swiss Hotel, but that's another story :P

Fragrance Hotel Middle Road, is the hotel for me right now..

As i'm Malaysian and work in Singapore, i constantly get visitors, family and friends from KL.. I used to book Bencoolen Hotel on Bencoolen Street for them, which is in its own right a good hotel, convenient location and what not.. I feel tha Fragrance is my pick right now, simply because its 3 minutes away from Bugis, and I love Bugis!


My mom recently visited me, along with my cousins just a month ago and it was my first stay at Fragrance. Here are some pictures of the room. Sorry about the lighting, the room is naturally dark, as it has an earthy theme to it, which i love (btw)..

The room price range from SGD 130 - SGD 150, for a normal standard room for 2 persons.. Its clean, and relatively new.. The toilets are clean as well.. the room is actually a little small.. you may get a bigger room else where for this price.. but i think its well worth it considering the location.. :)

Recommended. Definitely. :)