Singapore questions;

I’m going to Singapore for the first time this fall. I was wondering two things,
First what is the USD worth as opposed to the Singapore D? And what is the cheapest/
most convent way to get into town form the airport?

Of course exchange rates vary daily. Right now 1USD=1.80SGD (http://finance.yahoo.com/m3?a=1&s=USD&t=SGD).

What time will you be arriving into SIN? This limits your choices in getting downtown.

11:55pm will I have to take a cab??

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by thommsf:
11:55pm will I have to take a cab??</font>

If you had arrived earlier you could take the new public transportation line that hooked up w/SIN, but it will be too late when you arrive.

Cabs are cheap and plentiful.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Sweet Willie:
If you had arrived earlier you could take the new public transportation line that hooked up w/SIN, but it will be too late when you arrive.

Cabs are cheap and plentiful.</font>

I LIKE THAT!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Sweet Willie:
Cabs are cheap and plentiful.</font>Just try and get in a cab before 12midnight!
http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/Forum11/HTML/007116.html

There's a bare possibility that you can get the last S$7 shuttle into town. This service ends at midnight or sometimes before, depending on driver availability.

Go to the far left as you exit Customs and look for the Airport Shuttle service desk. Ignore any taxi touts.
Rich

Different question on Singapore: what is the cheapest way to call back to the U.S.?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by 767-322ETOPS:
Different question on Singapore: what is the cheapest way to call back to the U.S.? </font>
I called the US several times while in Singapore from my hotel (Conrad) room. Somebody told me that it is not permitted for hotels to artificially inflate long distance charges in Singapore. Don't know if that's true or not, but I got direct-dial rates on my hotel folio.

I also have purchased and used prepaid SingTel cards which work with payphones. I'm trying to remember; I think it cost around 20 cents per minute or so to call the USA.

Long distance calling cards (AT&T, Sprint, etc.) work but you'll need to know the local access number for your carrier. However this option can be pricy---check the rates first.

How about the SingTel WorldCard? Get it for S$10 at 7/11 and be sure to use the economy option when prompted by the robot voice.
Rich

Thanks for the info - I'm going to try the Singtel card. Last time I was there I used my MCI card which was quite expensive.

El Cochinito,

You are correct about calling from hotels - they are allowed only to add a small (S$1.50?) per call handling fee. However, I think they will charge standard SingTel international rates, and you may be able to do a bit better with a prepaid calling card from a local reseller. However, the difference is probably not going to be very great if you are only going to make minutes rather than hours of calls.

The nice thing about the SingTel WorldCard is that you don't have to worry whether the hotel is going to gouge you or not and you can use it at just about any S'pore phone. It provides a S'pore local as well as toll free access numbers.

The main reason for this post, however, is to clarify my earlier post that 7/11 and other outlets sell several SingTel phone cards. The SingTel WorldCard is what you want.

That said, if others are aware of better values, I'm interested.
Rich

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rjh:
The nice thing about the SingTel WorldCard is that you don't have to worry whether the hotel is going to gouge you or not </font>

The nice thing about the law in Singapore is that you don't have to worry whether the hotel will gouge you - they won't.

One other good thing is the food quality - there is a government hotline you can call if you ever get food poisoning from even the smallest street vendor (all of whom are licensed) and they will immediately come and shut it down until it has repassed all the tests. This tends to focus minds.