Making the most of layovers in Australia & Singapore

When we first decided to travel around the world, we thought a round the world (RTW) ticket would be the way to go.  The more we researched RTWs, the more we realized it wasn't for us.  We'd have to plan everything up front, we'd be limited to 16 flights, and while we could change the date of a flight we couldn't change any of our destinations.  So, we started researching search engines for international flights and discovered skyscanner.net.  Skyscanner has some fantastic features.  For example, you can enter your starting location and for your destination you can select "Anywhere."  It scours smaller airlines to find really good deals and it also points out when it is cheaper to buy two separate tickets (for instance, you fly from from Auckland, NZ to Adelaide, Australia, you get off the plane and "exit" the airport and then you turn right around to check in for the second flight from Adelaide, Australia to Bali, Indonesia ).  Although this last feature highlights flights on the same day, we've adapted the idea and now make adventures out of these "layovers." 

To date, we've had layovers in Sydney, Australia; Adelaide, Australia; and Singapore, Singapore.  Had we just stayed in the airports, we would have missed things like catching up with a friend from Virginia, learning about merlions, meeting Georgia O'Keefe's great niece, and beautiful scenery.

I don't know why we never traveled this way in the States -- I guess we're always in a rush to get from Point A to Point D -- but I have a feeling that we're going to have more layovers in the future.

At Bronte Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Thank you , Sydney, for the reminder to look right, not left, when crossing the street!

Oh look! There's a place in Sydney named after Brian!

With our awesome hosts in Sydney, Alex (from King George!) and Peter :-)

Our first dinner in Adelaide, Australia was a kangaroo steak.

Brian hanging out with fishermen on Adelaide's beach.

A PUPPY!!!!

A beautiful day at the beach in Adelaide.

One of Singapore's many colorful streets.

Look what we found in Singapore!!!

Watching the light show at Singapore's Marina Bay.

The merlion, Singapore's mascot.  It's a cross between a mermaid and a lion.  I like it.