Staybridge Suites, 8751 Suiteside drive

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So I find myself back in Orlando, staying at another extended stay type of place. I have to admit I have spent a lot of time in Orlando, stayed at numerous hotels, eaten at various restaurants and drunk in numerous bars. I could have written 10s of posts by now over the course of the last 12 months on places in Orlando alone but I have been lazy, unmotivated and uninspired. Time to change that.

I was pleasantly surprised when I checked into my accommodation. The varying quality of places that I have stayed in previously left me feeling a certain lack of optimism about what might be waiting me when I got here.

Sweet suite

The word suite can be used a bit loosely to describe accommodation and I have in the past ended up staying in rooms described as suites that turned out to be little more than glorified bedrooms with a kitchenette attached. Small ones at that. However, that was not the case at the Staybridge Suites Hotel. My suite consisted of a sizeable living room that had a two seater sofa, an arm chair and a table in the corner with a couple of dining chairs.

Kitchen

Off to one side of the living room was a kitchen area, with a breakfast bar, dishwasher, fridge freezer, electric cooker (not just a hob but a full cooker), a microwave (it took me a while to spot this), a toaster hidden in a cupboard the I managed to find before the microwave, coffee making facilities and a decent set of crockery, cutlery, glassware and pots & pans  – maybe not enough for me to hold a dinner party but certainly enough to get by.

Bedroom & bathroom

The bedroom had a big double bed (I’m not up on the sizing but I would say it was at least a queen size) with a dressing area off to the side that consisted of a wash basin with a walk in closet to one side and the bathroom off to the other side.

If I had to gripe about anything to do with the bedroom it was the slightly strange skylight immediately above the bed that whilst it had been reasonably well obscured still allowed some light through during daylight hours. Having said that, I have dealt with worse from curtains before now.

The bathroom light switch also powered an extremely noisy extractor fan that helped to encourage me to spend the minimum amount of time in the shower. The bathroom itself was quite small with a bath/shower and a toilet.

Fitness centre

The fitness centre was a bit of a disappointment. As is so often the case in these establishments, it was clearly a token gesture, consisting of a very small room with a few cardio machines crammed into it – a treadmill, a couple of bikes and an elliptical machine. At the time of writing I haven’t tried it out yet. Unfortunately my fitness regime has taken a severe hit of late thanks to the amount of travelling I have been doing. I was hoping to be inspired back into doing something by the facilities here but sadly that has not been the case so far. Having said that, the living room in my sweet is large enough for me to use my skipping rope without risk of damaging anything, so that’s a bonus.

Apparently there is also a swimming pool somewhere but I have yet to locate it.

TV

There were 2 TVs in the suite, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Both were CRT and the selection of channels on offer was mediocre at best. I guess that people on holiday don’t spend a lot of time in their rooms watching TV and from my point of view it helped to encourage me not to lounge in front of the TV but to focus on doing more constructive things instead. However, there were a couple of occasions when it would have been nice to be able to relax and watch something reasonable.

There was also a combined DVD/VHS player in the living room (yes VHS! old school or what!?), although at the time of writing I haven’t figured out where to get DVDs from and truth be told I probably won’t.

Internet

The internet access was free (or at least included in the rate) and both wired and wifi were available. When I first arrived there was no ethernet cable in my room and I hadn’t brought one with me so I used the wifi. I had a lot of problems with the signal dropping out and having to continually reconnect which was extremely annoying. The next day I spoke to one of the staff on reception and they provided me with a cable. After that things were much improved. A quick test on http://speedtest.net/ revealed the download speed to be 1.4Mbps with an upload of 0.36Mbps – hardly lightning fast but good enough to web browse, stream music and even watch videos on youtube (allowing them to buffer first).

Breakfast

Breakfast was also included and if it hadn’t been then I think I would have given it a miss. A fairly bland and mediocre offering consisting of a selection of cereals (mostly sugary nastiness aimed at kids I guess), rubber scrambled eggs almost certainly made from powdered eggs, ‘sausages’ – both the eggs and sausages were very greasy, a bit of fruit, some doughnuts, waffles and bagels & bread for toasting. Hardly inspiring or healthy for the most part but I have found that American hotel breakfasts usually leave a lot to be desired unless you are staying in a fairly upscale establishment. The coffee was ok. I am a big coffee drinker and frequently disappointed by weak, stale coffee so to be offered something that was drinkable was a bonus.

Local amenities

The hotel is conveniently located to an abundance of restaurants and the occasional bar too. There is plenty of choice within walking distance (I know walking is not really the done thing in this part of the world) and the I4 is easily accessible as well for those wanting to venture further afield.

It’s also within a couple of miles of down town Disney – you could walk it if you felt so inclined but in 30C heat you might need a lie down when you get there!

Priority club

The staff encouraged me to join the priority club when I checked in. Although this is a sure fire way to get sent more marketing emails than I already get, I always join up for these wherever possible. If you stay at hotels regularly, especially ones that belong to the same hotel group then the points you can earn stack up pretty quickly and can get you discounts, free nights, upgrades, etc so it’s worth the odd annoying email. I also won a $1 voucher (that’s right, count it, one whole dollar) to use in the hotel shop that promptly got spent on painkillers to get rid of my headache.

Singapore MRT (SMRT)

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I have had the (mis)fortune to use the public transportation systems in a number of cities and countries all over the world, including but not limited to the Tube in London, the Metro in Paris, the Subway in New York and the Prague Metro.

Each of them has their idiosyncrasies and individual charm (if you count a woman squatting and urinating on the platform of the Paris Metro, for example, as charming…) but none is as clean, shiny, polite or terrifyingly efficient as the MRT in Singapore.

Cheap and efficient

Whilst the stations don’t have the quirkiness of some of the Prague Metro’s (with different style/coloured bricks), it’s a fantastic way of getting around Singapore. There are regular services to just about anywhere, it’s significantly cheaper than getting a cab and often quicker too.
Of course, if you are travelling at rush hour on busy routes then expected to be crammed in like a sardine, along with everyone else but without the sweaty, grimy crush of the Tube under the same circumstances.

Finding your way around

The maps and signage are clear and easy to understand, the trains have indications to tell you what the next station you are going to arrive at is, so if you should somehow end up on the wrong one, you’ll know straight away. The newer trains also have an indication to tell you which side the doors are opening on at the next station, so you can either make sure you get out of the way if you need to, or squeeze your way towards the correct side if you need to get off.

Cell phone coverage

As if those benefits weren’t enough, you never need to worry about being out of cellphone/mobile coverage whilst on the SMRT – even when underground you can get full signal and make and receive calls, browse the internet, send emails, etc.

Apparently the Hong Kong is on a par with the SMRT but as I haven’t ever travelled on it, or been to Hong Kong then I can’t comment on that.

Beware though, eating or drinking on the MRT carry heavy fines (500 SGD from memory), smoking is 1000 SGD and Durians are frowned upon too.
You can get more info, include routes, times etc from their website: SMRT
The tag line: ‘Moving People, Enhancing Lives’ is a bit cheesy but I won’t hold that against them.

Asian food mall, Lucky Plaza, Orchard Rd, Singapore

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The other end of the spectrum to the brunch at the Fullerton Bay Hotel, most of the shopping malls or plazas in Singapore have food malls, generally in the basement level.

Consisting of a number of what could be described as fast food outlets, the Asian food mall offered a great selection of different types of cuisine. There was Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Chinese to name but a few.

It was 7pm on a Tuesday night when I went there and the place was packed. Don’t expect fine dining, this is good, low budget, fast food, cooked fresh to order. It took about 5 minutes from ordering it to being presented with my food and it was served in an individual size wok (whether it was cooked in that or not, I can’t say).

According to my receipt I had beef strips with pasta but I’m pretty sure I had some kind of szechuan chicken with rice, with a poached egg on top. I think it was described as Thai style but I never ate or saw anything similar to it when I was in Thailand! I love spicy food and the addition (by myself) of a lot of red chillies to it turned out to be a bit over zealous when I discovered that it already contained a fair helping of dried red chillies. This is one of the rare occasions when I have almost been defeated by spicy food but I triumphed nonetheless. If you’re not a fan of food on the hot side of spicy, be wary when you order things in Singapore. All this for a grand total of 5SGD. Anyone who has been to Singapore will know, this is a pretty damn good price for a meal.

Drinks were available from a separate counter but I wasn’t thirsty (and drinking can be a dangerous game to play when you are eating super spicy food) so I can’t vouch for what was on offer.

The seating was communal in the central area of the mall, with the various outlets arranged around the edge. It was simply a case of grabbing a free chair once I had my food and I could get stuck in.

So if you are in a hurry, or on a budget and looking for a great selection of fast, affordable food, check out the Asian food mall in the Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road.

Sunday Brunch at the Fullerton Bay Hotel, Singapore

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A little bit more upmarket than most of my usual haunts, at 88SGD for brunch, or 128SGD (plus tax and service) with ‘free flowing champagne’ this is not for the down at heal. (At the time of writing the GBP – SGD exchange rate was about 1:1.93)..

However, you can certainly get your money’s worth. The brunch consists of a buffet style offering, as well as main courses that could be ordered freshly cooked. This was no ordinary all you can eat buffet though, with a seafood section that included lobster, fresh oysters, tiger prawns; sirloin steak, foie gras terrines, smoked salmon, an array of salads, a fantastic selection of cheeses and a dessert table that would make a diabetic cry.

As well as the buffet, as I mentioned there was a selection of main courses available including (but by no means limited to) duck confit, lamb shank and eggs benedict.

We arrived around 12:30pm and the buffet was available until 3pm. I believe the brunch normally starts at 12pm. The service was excellent as you would expect at such an establishment in Singapore and our champagne glasses were kept topped up throughout the meal with Moet & Chandon.

Although I don’t believe they had a strict dress code (we certainly weren’t dressed particularly smartly – I was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, although I had put on shoes in place of my normal trainers) we did get some disapproving looks and tuts from some of the stuffier members of the establishment in attendance.

The setting itself was fantastic, in a long, window lined dining hall with views out onto part of Marina Bay. We had booked in advance, however the place was by no means full so it did appear that we could have turned up unannounced.

My only disappointment was that I had consumed a rather large breakfast a few hours before hand and so didn’t quite have the appetite that such a feast truly merited.

I highly recommend this for the experience as much as anything else, even if it does mean stretching your budget a little (a lot?), unless you are landed gentry or one of the nouveaux riche in which case, chances are you already know about this and come here on a regular basis.