Layover Nation: I'll Stay in Singapore's Changi International Airport
Just looking at this board makes you feel cosmopolitan. Siem Reap, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Dubai . . . Hey, wait! I'm really going to Dubai!
Michael Kinsley continues on his quest to test the six winning entries in our Airport Layover Contest. His itinerary: Seattle-Los Angeles-Auckland-Singapore-Dubai-Zurich-Amsterdam-London-Reykjavik-Copenhagen-Seattle.
I've always wanted to see Singapore, and maybe someday I will. But on this occasion I've opted to stay entirely in the airport. Supposedly, it is the best in the world, with elaborate facilities for virtually anything you might like to do to pass the time (presumably as long as it fits with Lee Kwan Yew's general philosophy of cleanliness and propriety). Anyway, they have free Internet terminals in the corridors connecting the gates--I'm using one now, having stepped off the plane five minutes ago--and that is dream enough for the moment.
Further reading:
* Layover Nation: New Zealand by Segway
* Layover Nation: LAX and One Deserted Beach
* Let's Go (Slightly) Crazy in Singapore
* Entries from the Airport Layover Contest
* The winning layover ideas
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Changi advertises throughout the airport, as well as throughout the city of Singapore, that the airport offers free Internet--which is misleading because most people interpret that as free WiFi. As this writer indicates, "they have free Internet terminals in the corridors connecting the gates"--but that is ALL they have, no more. You're still tethered to a public portal, and not free to surf on your own computer.
Posted by: Manoozle | March 25, 2009 at 09:46 AM
apologies for the above post, which i've just discovered is INCORRECT. flew through Changi yesterday, and discovered that, since the last time I was in Changi (2 months ago), there *IS* free wireless service available! Hurray for Singapore! please amend my mistake above.
Posted by: Manoozle | March 27, 2009 at 03:58 AM