Never knew coz so many websites offer such a service, and our usual drivers always showed a document to ICA officers on our way back.
I was very sad when I saw the news in July, and was only somewhat comforted that this happened only after our June trip.
What other options do we have now?
1) Pure public transport
- Take train to Jurong East
- Ride a CW bus to Tuas link
- After JB immigrations, change to CW7L for Legoland
- Walk to AirBnB
- Repeat coming back
Total cost ~ $5 + $20 + $20 + $5 = $50 two-way
Duration ~ 30min + 1.5h = 2h one way
Way cheaper but troublesome. This had always been an option but we had not considered this in our past trips coz it's just too much work to lug a suitcase, two backpacks and three kids. Just put here for comparison.
2) Cross-border taxis - the legal type
- Book local cross-border taxis to pick us up from home, drop off at Larkin in JB. I found very little info online - Strides has only four-seaters which can take five of us but not enough seatbelts! It would also be a squeeze to put Yu on my lap now... But main thing is the seatbelts... Having experienced scary taxi drivers, I prefer seatbelts for everyone. So need two taxis.
- Get Grab six-seater to Legoland.
Total cost ~ $80x2x2 + $30x2 = $380 two-way
Duration ~ 1h + 30min = 1h 30min one way
I explored taking a Malaysian taxi at Ban Ban St to drop us off at the AirBnB directly but (a) that would require us to lug a suitcase to town, and (b) I don't know if I can just pick a Malaysian taxi if the first taxi in line is a local one; some more, probably need two taxis...
Actually, I don't get the cross-border taxis. They are not door-to-door so need to make a local transfer for every ride. Besides the restricted pick-up/drop-off points, the key issue is the size. Four-seaters don't fully serve the needs of larger families, families with young children (I used to bring portable car seats and stroller along on top of suitcase), families with mobility challenges.
And local transfers. I had thought Grab in Malaysia would be cheaper but ytd, it cost S$30 for us to Grab from CIQ to Legoland and similarly back due to surge pricing! In that case, it doesn't matter where we do the local transfer.
If we take this route, would need to check the taxis at Larkin - easy to get Singapore taxis? If not, for the return trip, I'd call for Malaysian taxi to pick us up at the AirBnB, drop off at Ban Ban and cab home.
Troublesome too.
3) Partially illegal...!
I checked in with my usual driver contact. Suffice to say they're very gung-ho... He suggested that if we're concerned, we could find our way to JB ourselves and take their door-to-door home. Hmmm... Now with the news all over the place, I cannot claim ignorance hoho!
Driving is not an option for us so it looks like we can do only day trips for now.. Just that the kids prefer an extended stay, and we can't go to the water park on a day trip coz too many things to bring and lug around.
But day trips are better than no trips, my boys!
And so that was what we did ytd - left home at 8 am, reached CIQ before 10 am, but had to get to a Grab pickup point, and the ride cost S$30 thanks to surge pricing! These cars were just nearby - our ride arrived within a minute...
Kai brought his phone to play along the way
At the playground with memories of potty accidents...
All my loved ones here :)
Made Kai sit up straight and Yu had to strain laugh 😂
On 1 September, my boys measured as follows:
- Kai: 171cm / 54.5kg
- Yang: 153cm / 44.9kg
- Yu: 135cm / 33.7kg
Yu finally rode the VR roller coaster!
Not a good shot as I screenshot it from a video. Yu said he pretended to be dead coz it was so scary haha!
There's a new Singapore miniland. Thought we could refresh our family shot on Sito's phone lock screen but I didn't bring my tripod stand.
Just the boys then :)
Yang took this photo - well taken, my boy!
It started drizzling during our lunch at Jubilee Nanyang Coffee. But we still managed to take a few rides. Then it suddenly started pouring while the kids were in a sheltered playground. That was our cue to go. But of course must go via Sea Life as they needed to "paint it black" - they filled the colouring room with black fish ðŸ˜
It continued to pour so the Grab ride back to the CIQ area remained high. Another S$30. We had wanted to wait it out since it was still early but when the younger boys learnt the cost and were willing to wait despite being bored, Sito decided that the lesson had been learnt and paid the school fees :p Btw, car also arrived within a minute. So many cars, still so ex.
Kai not bored coz phone
Boys were hungry enough so we went for dinner first. Yang has often been hungry these days. At lunch, he had pasta, two half boiled eggs and half portion of kaya butter toast. At dinner, he had two tamago sushi, two unagi sushi (achievement unlocked!) and six tamago maki on top of beef udon. Think he also had some karaage. Kai can always eat. So can Yu though he overdid it again and was still feeling full at lunch today!
Boy with ebi tempura ate too much - again
Did some shopping too, starting with the supermarket at Medini Mall - must always get them candy. So Sito and I got ourselves some chocolate :) Got some buns for breakfast today, and Ming Ang confectionery for our supper after the kids had their dessert at Macs.
The journey home was smooth. The kids got through the auto gates at CIQ easily. The bus to Woodlands checkpoint was surprisingly fast despite the queue extending all the way to the bottom of the escalator coming down from immigrations. This time, Sito and I didn't use QR code at Woodlands as the kids don't have individual ones.
And unlike last time, we went for the 160/170 queues instead of the 950 queue at Woodlands - so much faster! We reached Kranji MRT in no time and took the train home. They reached home by 9 pm and I followed shortly as I did a quick grocery run - I need eggs at home to feel secure haha!
So tired. Our legs were aching after clocking 17k steps. But it was a nice trip with theme park, shopping and dining all checked. If we couldn't get door-to-door rides to Legoland, we could at least make day trips.
But I really wish we could have the door-to-door rides again!