To celebrate my birthday, I decided to go for a staycation. I usually try to take a trup during my birthday but given that things with the pandemic are still a bit iffy, I opted for a staycation instead.

As a treat, I am staying 5 days and 4 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel Sentosa. I opted to check in on a Sunday (my birthday to be precise) and check out on a Thursday, which helps me to avoid the crowds and also means I’m getting slightly cheaper rates.

A long time ago in the days of my youth, I used to work at the Hard Rock Cafe here in Singapore. I worked there for about 7 years and since then, whenever I travel, I try to make a visit to the local HRC, if there is one available. I also try to collect the city pin from each outlet. A city pin is basically a pin that is desiged with the location in mind and is totally unique to that location. One of my good friends also tries to help me out to get pins for places she happens to visit. Thanks to her, I’ve gotten for HRCs in London and Piccadilly and HRH in Desaru.

This is my first time staying at a Hard Rock Hotel and I’m going to take my time checking out all lthe music memoribilia in the lobby and on my floor.

I’m loving the artwork on the wall above the bed, it’s got the Singapore skyline and the trees of Sentosa combined into the shape of a guitar.

The view from my window is not bad either.

Lots of green and the iconic cable cars. The cable car used to one of only two ways to get to Sentosa when I was growing up. The other option was a ferry. The ferry is no more as there is now a bridge from the “mainland” to Sentosa which allows you to drive over.

After I had checked in and gotten all settled, I headed out to explore Resorts World. I went to check out some of the stores that I had initially thought would be closed during the week (as per the Resort World website), but I happily discovered that some of them will actually be opened during the week so I decided to go back to them during my stay when it’s less crowded.

I grabbed an early take away dinner from Din Tai Fung to enjoy in my room while I’ll chill the rest of the night away.

And that’s it for day 1 of my little home town adventure.