Changi Airport x Shentonista: Changinista — Close To Heart

Raymond, Restaurant Consultant from Singapore, in the T3 Departure Hall.
Hat from Borsalino, jacket from Tommy Hilfiger, brooch from Isetan Japan.

Next place on your bucket list?
Africa. I’m a nature-lover, so I really want to go on safari.

How could we miss this dapper man, checking into his trip to Myanmar? As curious monks from the same flight, dressed in their saffron robes, gathered around while we photographed him, Raymond seemed bemused but very much at ease in front of the camera. “It’s not my first time doing something like this,” he confides. Looking good is important to Raymond, and he lists his hats and Globe-Trotter bags as some of his favourite pieces to travel with. It all depends on the length of the flight, though; if it was long-haul, he says, he’d go for sneakers and sweatpants instead.

In transit, Raymond spends his time people-watching, looking at the way people dress, but the one thing he always does before flying is to visit the whisky section in the alcohol store to pick up a bottle for himself. The drink-lover that he is, Raymond equates Changi Airport to a Singapore Sling: “It’s cosmopolitan and has a good mixture of tropical flavours.”

As a restaurant consultant, he travels around the region for his job quite a lot, even though it means being away from home. “I really look forward to meeting new people when I travel for work, and I try to bring my family along with me whenever I can,” he says. “It’s all about balance and priority—at work, your position is replaceable, but not in your family.” That must also be the reason why he likens Changi Airport to something else close to his heart: home.

This is a Shentonista project for Changi Airport.