Indian Backpacker

For frequent travelers, earning Frequent Flyer Miles is a good way to save money on flight tickets. Every flight has few seats that can be booked using these air miles. These are particularly useful, if the date of travel isn’t far as the seat prices are fixed (if available). In India, Jet airways has the largest frequent flyer program - JPMiles.

The following cards were considered for the comparison:

American Express Jet Airways Credit Card
Jet Airways ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card
JetPrivilege HDFC Bank World Credit Card

Other cards were not considered for either of the following reasons:

Low JPMiles accumulation rate
Acceptability issues (with Diners Club)
High annual fees

Comparison of Cards:

	American Express Jet Airways Credit Card	Jet Airways ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card	JetPrivilege HDFC Bank World Credit Card
Annual Fees	First year – Rs. 5,000 Later – Rs 10,000	First year – Rs. 5,000 Later – Rs 5,000	First year – Rs. 2,500 Later – Rs 2,500
Enrolment Benefits	10,000 JPMiles	10,000 JPMiles	10,000 JPMiles
Renewal Benefits	5,000 JPMiles	5,000 JPMiles	4,000 JPMiles
Spends Benefit	8 JPMiles for every INR 150/- spent 16 JPMiles for every INR 150/- spent on jetairways.com	6 or 7 JPMiles for every INR 150/- spent 12 or 15 JPMiles for every INR 150/- spent on jetairways.com	6 JPMiles for every INR 150/- spent 18 JPMiles for every INR 150/- spent on jetairways.com
Domestic Lounge Access	Complimentary - Unlimited	8 complimentary visits per year	Complimentary – Unlimited
International Lounge Access	Priority Pass with the US $99 annual fee waived off + US $27 for every visit	NA	Priority Pass with the US $99 annual fee waived off + 5 complimentary visits per year
Renewal Fee Waiver	Only for JetPrivilege Platinum Tier members	Only for JetPrivilege Platinum Tier members	Spend Rs. 3 lac in 12 months

Summary:

American Express Jet Airways Credit Card

Highest JPMiles accumulation rate on normal spends (+)
Offers exclusive benefits in some high end hotels & resorts (+)
Low acceptability rate of AMEX cards (-)
High annual fee from second year onwards (-)
Best travel card if you are already JetPrivilege Platinum Tier member (+)

Jet Airways ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card

Limited domestic lounge access (-)
No Priority Pass membership (-)
Provides two separate physical cards for AMEX & Visa, so cumbersome to carry (-)
Wide acceptability with Visa Card (+)

JetPrivilege HDFC Bank World Credit Card

Lowest annual fee with fee waiver option (+)
Highest JPMiles accumulation rate on jetairways.com (+)
5 complimentary International Lounge visits per year (+)
Wide acceptability with Master Card (+)

Conclusion:

For a budget traveler, looking for basic travel related features (Frequent Flyer miles and Lounge access) at low annual fee, JetPrivilege HDFC Bank World Credit Card is the best travel card right now in India.

Disclaimer: The above article is based on extensive research and data available over the internet. Please carry out an independent study before accepting any credit card offers.

We went to Singapore in May 2017.
Plan to stay in Sentosa Island for 3.5 to 4 days. City side can be covered in 2 days. Sentosa has more fun activities.

Possible Itinerary for Singapore:

Day 1	Reach 8:50 Morning; Take Metro to Harbor Front; Vivocity to Costa sands Sentosa; Roam in Island
Day 2	Universal Studio
Day 3	Madam Tussads, Skuline Luge, Cable car, Wings of time, 4D Adventure rides, butterfly garden, SEA Acquarium
Day 4	Sentosa / Cove water park, Dolphin Island, Crane Dance (8PM). Leave for Dhoby Ghaut; Check in YMCA
Day 5	gardens by the bay / marina / River Tour / Botanical gardens
Day 6	China town / Night Safari
Day 7	Shopping / Open / Singapore Flyer / Merlion / Clark Quay , Boat Quay
Day 8	Leave for airport around 2 PM - Singapore airport is awesome and huge; http://www.layoverguide.com/2014/01/singapore-layover.html

Singapore Airport to Sentosa Island

If you are taking Tiger airways you will land around 8:30 AM. Take Green metro from Changi Airport to Outram to Harbour Front.

Many resorts have a pickup facility from Vivo city (Harbour Front) to Sentosa. If not, then there are few options to reach Sentosa Island:

Boardwalk – Roughly 15 minutes walk. Free.
Sentosa Express Monorail - $4 SGD – Note that coming back from Sentosa island (i.e. Sentosa to Vivocity) is free.
Hotel pick up
Taxi
Cable Car – Expensive ($33 I guess). But may opt for this for the beautiful view of the whole island from top.

Stay at Sentosa Island

We stayed at following hotel. Is has two options – one proper hotel rooms, other is Kampong huts – we took hut – it was damn cheap at Rs 3000 per night. But it has no attached bathroom and is very small. It has 4 bunk beds and has AC. It was kind of fun there. You can opt for one room one hut (for fun). No mosquito issues at all. Swimming pool was nice. Best part was that hotel is very close to Siloso beach. That way one can go into water anytime. It’s safe all night.

https://www.dresort.com.sg/costa-sands-sentosa

There are plenty of other hotel options too in Sentosa, but most of them are very costly.

Buy 2 day pass for Sentosa. Can get more info about 2 day pass here - https://store.sentosa.com.sg/main/packages/2day-fun-pass/84#!/

I did a lot of math to see whether it is worth to go individually or 2 day pass. 2 day pass is worth !

Some more info here - 2 Day Pass Review - https://coveringmiles.com/sentosa-fun-pass-review/

Day 1 - If you are taking tiger airways you will reach around 8:30 AM. Note that in tiger you have to buy check in luggage space before you do a webcheck. If you go and buy in counter it is expensive.

Head to Sentosa Island. Take Green metro from Changi Airport to Outram to Harbour Front. Check in time is usually 2:30 PM

Day 2 - Universal studios' map is attached. It opens at 10 AM usually has very long queues. There are few key attractions such as Transformers ride, mummy ride, water world. Water world has two shows only one at 1:30 and another at 4:30 PM. It was a good one. Then there are two rollercoasters cyclone and human. Cyclone was very dangerous. There are characters parade sometime during the day. Long queues are a problem. We noticed that the queues in these attractions gets smaller afternoon. We were able to do transformers and mummy right 3 to 4 times. There are lockers as well. Free for 45 minutes. Take your own empty water bottle. There are water dispensers inside. Lights-Camera-Action is an attraction which was also good. Plenty of other small stuff. Check the height requirements for attractions for kids.

Day 3 - To make the best use of second day in 2-Day pass, you should know how to navigate.

We started with SEA aquarium. It takes a good 2 to 3 hours it's a good place. Then we went to Madame Tussaud's. Then we went to 40 adventure ride was okay. Then we went to skyline Luge and cable car and segway. Then we went to wings of time show. Wings of time again has only two shows one at 7:40 another at 8:40 PM. Go a little ahead of time to get a good seat.

Day 4 - Relax a little bit enjoyed the rain in the beach and came back and checked in into YMCA hotel in Dhoby Ghaut.

Some attractions in city on following:

Little India – it was okay you can skip this even though it will appear like one of the places to go in Singapore
Chinatown – it is again up to 2 to 3 hours thing. There are some souvenir shops and you can get some cheap stuff there. There is a famous Indian temple ; we didn't go there. There is a famous Budhha Temple there we went. This was okay.
Night Safari (a bit expensive $40 SGD per head) – this is a bit on the other end of the city. Takes almost 1 1/2 hours to reach from central area. It also has multiple entry slots 7:15 PM 8:15 PM 9:15 PM. This was a good one and kids would love this. You should definitely get down the tram and do a Trail. It's kind of fun to see the animals in the dark. It is perfectly safe. So it was a good experience. There is a fire show that happens at 7 PM 8 PM 9 PM. Right in the entry of the night Safari make sure that you reach around that time it's a good one.
Jurong Bird Park – It has good review but we did not go.
Singapore Flyer – a large ferris wheel. again we did not go I think it is $24.
Clark Quay – Nice and happening place to hang out in evening specially Friday and Saturday. A lot of restaurants many Indian restaurants. There is a river cruise that takes you around $24 SGD.
Merlion you can check the very famous model lion statue near the Singapore flyer
Gardens by the Bay – this is an open garden. Nice to walk around. There is a flower Dome and a rainforest dome in Gardens by the Bay. We only went to flower Dome. It was for $16 Singapore. It is also good. The famous Marina Beach stands hotel is also near the Gardens by the Bay.

In one of the days we went back to Sentosa island. We went to cove adventure water Park. This is not included in the two day pass. It is a small water Park but it was fun. You can buy a small locker at $10 for whole day keep your stuff. Some good slides , snorkelling was awesome. There is something called dolphin Island inside the water park. We went there because one of my cousins it was crazy about dolphins. It turned out to be the most expensive affair for us. Almost like Rs.8k – 9K per head ($38 water park entry + $98 Dolphin entry + $50 photos). We were there for 1 1/2 hours. To give some briefing and then make you touch dolphin and the Dolphin dances with you. But it was definitely a very different experience.

After the water park which closes at 6 PM we went to see the crane dance at 8 PM.

We played our portable music player everywhere. It was fun.

One thing about Sentosa is that you should know how to go around. There are free buses that goes around the island. Attached are the bus routes. But it may still get very confusing. And you may end up losing some precious time in your two day pass. But have to walk a lot in general.

We bought a 3 days metro/bus pass $30. Lets you travel in bus metro etc. as many times. It is good if you are spending 3 days in city side.

Eating in Singapore is not cheap. We mostly survived on Subway and McDonald's. We took some Khakhra, pickle, chocolates, mixture with us.

Singapore Changi airport also has some cool stuff. There are free foot massagers everywhere. It has an entertainment deck that has free video games area. The screen some movies that you can watch. Right when you check-in there is a staff canteen that was very cheap. Following link and give you more information about the airport itself. 16 Secret Things To Do At Changi Airport That Will Make You Want To Visit Early - http://thesmartlocal.com/read/airport-things-to-do .

Take some nice short videos. Makes for a good post travel memories.