April Travel: Work & Family

Monday, April 21-Sunday, April 27: Sac + Austin 

I had an in-person team retreat for work in Sac in late April, so I headed back on Monday to have some extra time to meet up with friends during the week before the work activities began. 

My colleague J and I had a great dinner (Thai Time delivery) and chat chez JEMS on Monday evening. Then I had breakfast with S on Tuesday morning (Fox & Goose) and dinner with L on Thursday evening (Drunken Noodle). I was supposed to get together with B for dinner on Wednesday, but unfortunately he caught something nasty from little R, so we had to cancel. That ended up being for the best because A had a hard day with some medical tests, so I was able to be available for her to talk that evening. And at the last minute, I was able to meet up with E at Cafe Xocotatl for a coffee walk and talk on Friday morning. Yay for catching up with friends!

We had a team dinner on Tuesday at Maydoon and then the group retreat was all day Wednesday into early afternoon Thursday. We wrapped up with our leadership team strategy session on Friday and finished just after lunch (takeout from Jack's Urban Eats). Unfortunately, my mid afternoon flight to Austin was delayed until the early evening. At least it wasn't a full flight, so I had an empty middle seat in my row. And the flight attendant comped my gin & tonic to make up for the 1.5 hour delay. Sweet! 

I took a [somewhat pricey] taxi to J's rental house so that I didn't have to wait for a Lyft, given that it was already after 10pm by the time I arrived. One of the advantages to this temporary location for the family is that it's much closer to the airport. J was still up when I got there, so we could chat a bit and she could show me around so I didn't get lost in the unfamiliar space. 

J went to 8am yoga on Saturday morning while B hung out with the boys and I did some homework. Then J, C, and I headed to his soccer game, and B took M to his swimming lesson before meeting up with us for the end of the second half. J and I got some great sister Starbucks time since we could drop C off for his practice and warm-up before the game, giving us a good half hour or so to chat and enjoy our [second] coffees.

After soccer, J took the boys to a local art fair, but B and I went back to the house so we could each get some work time. I spent about two hours working on part of my transcreation class final project and then joined the family out in the backyard after J and the boys got home for some hanging out and card games with C. He won both Casino and Monopoly Deal!!

Saturday evening we decided to have a family movie night. B picked up food for the group, and then we all snuggled on the couch to watch Clue. C had gotten the game for Xmas last year, which we had played a couple of times during Mr. E's and my holiday visit, and they had gone to see the musical earlier this year, but only B and I had seen the film version. It was a great choice for everyone, and even M seemed to enjoy it and stay engaged.

On Sunday morning, J went to 8am yoga again, and afterwards she and I repeated our sister Starbucks socializing. Once we got back to the house, we had time for 3-way casino with C (I won) and another round of Monopoly Deal (C repeated his win), and then the entire family -- including canines K and P -- loaded into the car to take me to the airport and then head over to their "real" house to do some work in preparation for the upcoming renovations.

A quick trip but really fun, and more sister time than usual, which was truly lovely!

Singapore: Day 8 & 9 (end of trip)

Sunday, March 30-Monday, March 31: Cloud Forest, Flower Dome, SIN > SFO > ORD

I went for a final early morning stroll to the Merlion before my workout. No thunderstorm this morning! A few more interesting architectural and bridge views along the way.

We had our last breakfast in the Club and then took the MRT to Gardens by the Bay to visit the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome, which we hadn't had time to view during our previous visit. One of the special features of the Flower Dome was the cherry blossom exhibition, which of course reminded me of mom, so that's one of the reasons we chose this activity for our final day.

Our return flight wasn't until 8:40pm, and luckily we were able to secure a 5:30pm late checkout, which gave us lots of flexibility with our day and timing. We had a last afternoon tea in the Club and then packed up and relaxed a bit before heading to the airport. One of the other benefits of our room package was that we could get two items of clothing laundered every day, so we were able to minimize the amount of dirty clothes to pack by the end of the trip.

Since our flight back to the US was on United, we were able to access the Business Class Singapore Airlines Lounge and took advantage of some of the buffet items there before boarding. The timing of the flight and meal service was a bit odd, since we departed Singapore at 8:40pm on Sunday, March 30 and arrived in San Francisco at 8:30pm on Sunday, March 30. Huh???!! That international dateline is just such an odd thing!

Thanks to the longer flight to SFO (15+ hours) and odd overnight timing, I watched four movies throughout the trip and still had time to get some sleep. My favorite was definitely The Crescent Moon with Cats ("The right to love cats is given to all human kind equally"). I also really enjoyed Victory, Ghoomer, and We Are Family. The latter took a rather surprising turn about midway through and was more poignant than I had expected. We also did manage to spend a little time in the SFO Polaris Lounge before it closed at 11pm, and we arrived in Chicago a bit early, just before 6:30am on Monday, March 31. So glad I had the day off for the Cesar Chavez holiday!

We opted for a Lyft home to make things a bit easier and reached the apartment and the kitties and caretaker X before 8am, giving us the entire rest of the day to unpack, settle in, go grocery shopping, etc.  A great trip, and I'm so glad we prioritized returning to this unique locale!

Singapore: Day 7

Saturday, March 29: Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore Ballet, Atlas Bar

During my pre-workout morning walk, I chose a different direction and went a bit west along the river towards where we boarded the bumboat tour. I noticed a very interesting sign near a shopping center that definitely gives some insight into the city and country's culture:

After our Lime breakfast and Club coffee routine, we walked across the river to the Asian Civilizations Museum, which is right next to the National Gallery. We had seen banners for the special Pagoda Odyssey exhibition, so we focused our time in that gallery space. The artistry and craftsmanship in these models was stunning!

We could have spent more time in the museum but had an early afternoon reservation for an in-studio performance at the Singapore Ballet. In our quest to use as much of our transit passes as possible, we navigated the MRT and found the studio on the top floor of a commercial center. We've attended these types of informal shows at the Sac Ballet several times and have always enjoyed learning more about what goes on behind the scenes, and we found the same to be true for this dance company as well. So glad I found this opportunity when looking for potential shows to attend during our visit!

Once the show was over, we took the MRT a couple of stops back to the Atlas Bar for a mid-afternoon cocktail. The venue is known for its extensive gin list and tall wall of gin, but we were disappointed to learn that they couldn't access all of the gin options because the ladder was out of service. I had checked the menu online in advance and was hoping to try Dr. J's gin (of course). Oh well. We each just got a house cocktail instead and also bought a poster of the gin wall to add to our collection.

We wrapped up our final evening in Singagore with cocktails, dinner, and reading at the Club, exchanging contact info with R & D and getting organized for the next day.

Singapore: Day 6

Friday, March 28: Chinatown Heritage Center, Massages, Night Boat Tour

I took a walk this morning to check out the Merlion and got caught in an unexpected brief thunderstorm. Oops! I still managed to get some pretty good photos of the river and bridges and Merlion, which apparently doesn't spout water at 6:30am.

The sunrise after the storm was also pretty impressive, and I had some good views from our hotel room during my Zumba and yoga workouts.

We returned to Lime for breakfast followed by coffee in the Club before heading out to the Chinatown Heritage Center. This was a really interesting site to learn more about the history of Chinatown and get a sense of what life was look for the residents of the shophouses. As we returned to the hotel, we did some shopping in search of good Lunar New Year decorations and found a few other items as well, including a beautiful dark blue embroidered pillow cover and a purple Lucky Cat. And Mr. E almost bought some fresh durian...

In the afternoon, we had our massage appointments at the hotel, which were another benefit of our room package. My therapist definitely did some good work on several of my problem areas, and my calves in particular were a bit sore the next day! We had tea in the Club before our 5:30pm pick-up for our night tour.

This started with a boat ride on the Singapore River in one of the traditional bumboats, so I got another view of the Merlion, this time from out in the middle of the Bay.

Then we went to Gardens by the Bay for the evening light and sound show in the Super Tree Grove. I managed to find a perfect spot on part of the artificial lawn area that provided a perfect panorama of the trees and Marina Bay Sands in the background.

Our next and final stop was for the Spectra Sound & Light Show at Marina Bay Sands. We also got to see a K-Pop cover group the T-Dolls recording several dances on the main plaza area outside of the Convention Center!

We were the first of our group dropped off at our hotel, so we were back a bit before 10pm. That's the latest we've been up all week... I read a little before bed while Mr. E went down to Lime for a cocktail and some late-night dinner.

Singapore: Days 4 & 5

Wednesday, March 26: National Gallery + Food Tour 

We decided to go to the hotel restaurant Lime for breakfast this morning to check out the full buffet offerings in comparison to the more limited options in the Club, and we finished up with second coffee in the Club as we confirmed our plans for the day.

Our first destination was the National Gallery, which is just across the river and was an easy walk, especially with my awesome sun-shading parasol. I had found a self-guided tour on the web site, so we used that to navigate through the galleries and see some of the highlights of the collection. We ended up on the rooftop deck, which provided a great view of the city skyline along with a multi-colored sculpture that shimmered in the sunlight.

The rooftop also had some lovely flowers, and one of the galleries featured a painting that's part of the Singapore currency.

 

We were fascinated to learn more about the history of the building, which was originally two separate structures that were united to create the National Gallery. You can still see the dome of one of the buildings coming through the top floor of the new structure.

 

Our next activity was an afternoon food tour with a local guide, booked through Trip Advisor. I had communicated with the company in advance about my food restrictions, and he did a pretty good job of finding suitable alternatives for me to sample. We visited three different neighborhoods of the city to taste different cuisines -- Malay in Kampong Glam, Indian in Little India, and Chinese in Chinatown. Our final stop was very close to our hotel, which was great since we were quite sweaty and warm after the 3-hour tour and definitely in need of a shower and a rest!

 

We returned to the Club for dinner and met a friendly couple from Brisbane, R and D. R saw me reading our Lonely Planet guide and remarked on it, so we struck up a conversation that continued during subsequent evening visits to the Club. I think they particularly appreciated that we knew how to pronounce "Melbourne" correctly!

 

Thursday, March 27: Merlion + Peranakan Museum + Lime Seafood Buffet Dinner

 

Back to the Club for breakfast and then a morning walk to visit the wonderful Merlion. Our cultural destination for the day was the Peranakan Museum (pronounced like "piranha-ken"), which was featuring a couple of special textile exhibitions. It was fascinating to learn about the art of batik and to see the creations of three generations of women from the same family, each of whom put her own twist on this craft. We also enjoyed seeing the other clothes, jewelry, and home furnishings that are part of the museum's permanent collection.

 

 

As a souvenir, we bought the 15cm One Singapore 2024 plate, which came with a display stand and book describing and explaining the meaning of all of the icons on the plate. A great way to learn more about the history and culture of this fascinating country and city!

 

After some down time in our room, we headed to the bar for cocktails and reading time. The ice block in my Negroni was imprinted with a botanical design, which was a nice decorative touch to the beverage. 

 

Dinner this evening was the seafood buffet at Lime, which was included as part of our room package. We definitely took advantage of the lobster claws and crab legs but decided to opt out of the durian custard dessert. 

 

We finished up the evening with additional beverages and dessert in the Club, with some more chatting with R & D as we wrapped up the day.