A travel vlog by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting a stopover at Singapore Changi Airport to visit the new Jewel complex. They describe logistics (immigration required for the Jewel, suggested minimum visit time), highlight major attractions—most prominently a 40-meter-tall indoor waterfall fed by recycled rainwater—mention amenities (about 280 retail outlets, Yotel hotel, IMAX, Singapore’s first Shake Shack, a Pokémon store), and give practical impressions for travelers (good for long layovers, plentiful dining/shopping; no free food/drink).
Questions this video answers
40 meters
Around 280 retail outlets
Approximately $1.3 billion
Yotel
Shake Shack
Chapters
The largest or the tallest? The tallest indoor waterfall in the whole world.
All right, let's hope this goes better than yesterday. Yeah.
Seatbelt is coming. I was wearing my seatbelt.
Yesterday we flew from New York to Da Nang, Vietnam, and we had one of the best flights of our entire life. We even had a birthday party in first class. You. Happy birthday.
Thank you.
But once we landed in Da Nang, our luck changed and we got in our first car accident abroad.
Thankfully, we are totally fine and it could have been a lot worse. We're just a little bit sore today. And after one short night in Vietnam, we are continuing this crazy travel week and flying to Brisbane, Australia.
Unfortunately, we are moving back to economy class. However, we are still super excited about today's travel day because we have a five hour layover in the Changi airport, which has been voted the best airport in the world four years in a row.
Plus, there is a new $1.3 billion addition called the Jewel that we will be visiting today. And we can't wait. We discovered these massage chairs last time we were at this airport and we seriously left to come to the airport way earlier than we needed to just to sit in this. If I ever needed a massage chair, today was the day. Oh, it's so good. There are some chairs that just kind of.
The whole time, but this one like really gets in there.
So our ticket said the plane boarded an hour before departure, but then it also said that the doors didn't close until 10 minutes before departure. So we thought we'd just take our time. And for the first time ever, we were collected by a Singapore Airline employee from the lounge to go to the.
All right, three hours to see the park. We tried the middle seat trick this time. So so far so good. There are like their empty seats on this flight.
That's for now. Once again, enjoy the flight in the air Flight service. Thank you very much for choosing S today.
It's official.
So far, I am super impressed with Singapore Airlines. In addition to a cold towel we got on the plane, we were also served a first round of snacks and drinks. We just got a full meal. And all of this on a flight that is less than two and a half hours.
Made it to Singapore.
So it turns out that the Jewel is not actually inside of the airport. So we just had to go through immigration and actually enter the country of Singapore, which leaves us not very much time.
There was actually a sign when we got off the airplane that says, if you're going to the Jewel, you need at least five Hours and we only have four and a half.
So we've made it inside of the Jewel and it kind of feels like we're in this giant glass donut. But we've learned that the reason we actually had to enter the country is because they built the jewels so they could be used by residents of Singapore and people who are passing through the airport. So it's just pretty much like this combination between a rainforest and a mall where anybody can just come hang out.
We don't have a ton of time, but we've done a little bit of research. So our plan right now is to see as much of this place as possible and share the highlights with you.
Starting with the tallest indoor waterfall in the whole world. It is 40 meters tall and all of the water comes from recycled rainwater. And then when there's excess rain, they use it to water all the plants.
We are going to be going up and down a lot of escalators today because this entire Place is 10 stories, five stories above ground. The giant glass donut that you see. And then five stories below ground, there.
Are four stories of rainforest with walking trails that can take up to 30 minutes, which we should probably take advantage of since we have either been sitting on a plane in a car or in a hotel for the last five days. This waterfall even continues underground.
There is also a hotel, more specifically the Yotel, which if it's anything like the one in London, kind of feels like you're staying in a futuristic spaceship.
This is cozy.
What?
There is an IMAX movie theater with 11 screens, very short elevator, escalator. That too.
The world's only Pokemon store outside of Japan, which apparently is pretty popular.
Supermarket. Futuristic cycling class that's not quite open yet.
Tons of shopping. According to the Internet, there are actually 280 retail outlets. Good thing we don't have time for that. This is also home to the first shake shack in all of Singapore. And that's what all of these people are waiting in line for. That's crazy. Another cool thing that we've learned about this place is that that train that you see driving back and forth beside the waterfall actually allows you to see the Jewel without leaving the airport. So you can board the train in a secure area in the airport, ride through, see the Jewel, and head straigh to the airport without going through immigration.
Okay, our time is up at the Jewel and it's time for us to sprint back to the airport.
Final thoughts. If you have a really long layover and you don't have lounge access, definitely Worth going to check out if you just need somewhere to go. Walk around. You want to be around a lot of plants. Also a good place if you want to eat at like one of 200 restaurants. Good place to go. I think if you are coming or going, it's definitely worth stopping to on the way in or out. However, there is one thing that the Jewel doesn't have and that's free food and drink. Which is why I've come back here a little bit early and go to the lounge.
Thank you for not falling. Please be recorded.
I totally forgot this lounge has a make your own water station.
How's that water tastes free.
Now we have an eight hour flight to Australia. Might this is the business class cabin.
I think someone's vaping in business class. Oh no. It's the hot towels being handed out. I saw the steam from the hot towels in business class and I was jealous. But we are legitimately getting handed hot towels in economy class. Thank you.
It's happening. I don't think we've ever gotten a dinner menu in economy class, have we? This is scary. My expectations were so low for today's travel day. After being in business class for so long, I'm very happy right now.
Ice cream. Tons of drinks.
Lunch.
Maggie. Beer. Ice cream. Like a weird breakfast dish. Very impressive. I'm looking forward to the next eight hours especially because the seat is ours.
Please give us your attention as we bring you through this important safety briefing and all our journey through Singapore.
Please repeat, seated with your seat belt. Fasten until the seat belt sign is off. Please take care when opening the overhead compartments. You made it. Seven hours later.
All right, we have officially entered Australia and we are going to end today's video here. However, this is not the end of our travels.
The travels continue.
We have one quick night in a hotel and then we'll be back at this airport tomorrow morning. I think this is the longest journey of our entire lives.
That's a lot.
We've had two long ones. It's going to be worth it.
1.4 billion.
3 billion. $1.3 billion edition called the Crystal. You weren't being serious, were you?
Being serious?
The diamond.
The jewel.
The jewel.
Were you being serious?
Continuing this crazy travel day. Ow.
Well, nail it this time.
There's also a hair in my mouth that I was thinking about the whole time.
Yeah.
Oh, sorry. You were doing it really f. Sorry. Hey.
