March 1, 2022

It was love at first flight with Changi Airport. I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I didn’t know an airport could be so clean and efficient that it would make visiting most other airports feel offensive. Changi Airport was delightful and it planted a seed in my mind during a family holiday in 2005. “If an airport can be this good, it must mean something great is happening here. I want to live and work in this city one day.”

I started that journey on March 1, 2012 when I deplaned from a Cebu Pacifc A320 and entered Singapore’s budget terminal. For some reason I remember the music that accompanied this triumphant moment. It was Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die. 😛

Stamp! 90 days social visit pass. 90 days to find a job. 90 days on a tight budget. All I had was a large red luggage and a backpack as I made my way to a hostel in Joo Chiat.

The city felt massive back then. And my heart would race at the thought of exploring every corner — from hawker stalls to the gardens, from the five-foot ways to pontoons and park connectors — the idea of meeting new people with diverse backgrounds and cultures. Excuse the romance of it, if it hasn’t been obvious in the thousands of stories and imagery I’ve shared with you these years. I’ve enjoyed every single bit.

Thank you for being my love and my home. What started as a seed has grown beyond anything I’d have ever imagined.

❤