May I see your boarding pass?

"I'm sorry, sir, you can't board with out a pass." The airline employee didn't look very sorry as he delivered the bad news.

"But we weren't given one. All we've got is this," I said hopefully holding out the crumpled stub from my previous boarding pass. The man looked at it with the sort of disdain reserved for real stupidity and calmly told us that we should've got one ourselves.

"Where?!" Steve and I said in unison, trying to show that we had looked properly and not just spent two hours eating fast food and playing on computers.

"There."

The man pointed in the direction of a fairly huge desk that had the word 'tranfers' written in big capital letters above it.

"Oh. There."

***

Singapore was my favourite airport. I'd only been there for five minutes, but I'd already decided that this small island nation's transport hub was better than the dozen or so I had visited in the previous month. Signs led to relaxation zones and free entertainment, there were soft reclining chairs instead of the hearing aid beige plastic seats that we had found in other places and, above all, the transfer process had not been painful and drawn out. Usually we had to endure at least two baggage checks and acquire a boarding pass from a stern faced security guard. This time, however, we just strolled through and found our gate with two hours to spare! It all seemed too easy. It was.

We were catching a connection to Indonesia and the tropical island of Bali. So, pleased to have some time to relax between long flights, we went off to explore the delights of the departure lounge. We had some food, sent an electronic postcard and played on the free games consoles. In fact, we were so engrossed playing on the new Xbox One, that we nearly missed the final boarding call for our flight! Running through the airport we were relieved to make it in time - only to have the aforementioned conversation.

In actual fact, I think we had the same conversation with a few more bemused people as we tried to explain to the TigerAir staff that no one in Vietnam or on the plane had instructed us to find the transfers desk before boarding. All of those conversations were to no avail though, as we were informed our luggage had already been taken off the plane. It would be transferred automatically, but we would have to pay for another flight and that plane wouldn't leave for another twenty-four hours. 

And so there we were, for want of a better word, stranded.

Suddenly the glittering airport didn't seem quite as inviting as it had done previously and so we decided to make our way into town and find some cheap lodgings. Except Singapore doesn't do cheap lodgings - it doesn't do cheap anything! Feeling slightly sorry for ourselves we traipsed through China town and paid a small fortune for some food and drink before returning to the sauna that our hotel had marketed as a bedroom and tried to get some sleep.

As a new day dawned, it brought with it a renewed sense of optimism and we realised that we had a few hours to explore the city - an added bonus to our trip's itinerary. Country number seven.

Despite the heat, the walk into central Singapore was really enjoyable. For the first time in two months cars actually stopped at zebra crossings and you didn't have to cover your mouth and nose in order to filter out some of the exhaust fumes! The most impressive thing about the place was the exciting architecture that gave the city its incredible skyline. Initially we walked through the imposing colonial style buildings that made up the city hall, courts and civic centres. They were in stark contrast to the gleaming glass giants that loomed above them, simultaneously reflecting the bright sun and the country's booming economic power.

In the center of these grand buildings stood two slightly smaller structures: the city's famous cricket club and its cathedral. The latter of the two proved to be our surprising venue for lunch - relieved that we didn't have to take out a mortgage to eat we gratefully paid a few dollars for a sandwich and a few crisps from two little old ladies who seemed to be running a booming business from the church's kitchen.

The afternoon took us in search of the city's F1 track so that I, being the geek that I am, could get a photo on the street circuit. We found a stretch of hallowed Tarmac on the harbourside but almost forgot to take a photo of the track as we were so mesmerized by the buildings that hugged the waterside. Most impressive of all of these was the Marina Bay Hotel - it dwarfed everything around it - it's three ginormous A-frames supporting a huge park and swimming pool like cards on top of their fifty plus storeys.

However, the more jaw dropping feats of architecture were only revealed once we'd walked through the Hotel. Protruding out into the sea lay the city's stunning Bay Gardens - a huge collection of exotic plants built around what can only be described as a man made forest. Giant metal trees covered in flora and fauna gave the place a very surreal, Alice in wonderland type feel.

We could've spent hours there, watching the world go by from the tree top walkway, but we had a flight to get and we didn't miss it. Again.

Half-an-hour later we found ourselves back in Terminal 2, this time we had our boarding cards and although we'd actually enjoyed our twenty four hours in Singapore, we were ready to start the next part of our adventure.

"Should I check they've got our luggage on board?" Steve asked as we walked toward the boarding gate.

"No," I chuckled, "They promised that they would transfer it yesterday. Surely nothing else could go wrong with this transfer."

Famous last words and all that...