I’m live-blogging my SAS EuroBonus SkyTeam Million Mile challenge this week. Click here for background and route information.
I figured as long as I wrote about our airport LEGO hunt in New York and Copenhagen, I might as well write about our visits to LEGO stores in Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Singapore Changi International Airports as well…it has become another theme of this trip.
LEGO Hunting In TPE + SIN
8-year-old Augustine is far more interested in LEGO stores than airport lounges. At every airport on this trip, his first question is, “Does this airport have a LEGO store?”
While Tunis, Jeddah, Jakarta, and Ho Chi Minh City did not have LEGO shops, Taipei and Singapore did…and we made it a point to stop at both of them.
The Taipei LEGO store was on the small side and we did not spend very long there…
But Singapore was a different story…
The SIN LEGO shop was very well-stocked and actually handed me a difficult dilemma.
The #1 LEGO set on Augustine’s wishlist is the Eldorado Fortress. It costs 214 USD in the USA and I told Augustine to hold off for a Black Friday sale (which never materialized). However, this store had it…
And it was on sale for 220SGD with no additional tax…that’s only 164USD…a tremendous price.
Honestly, I would have bought it right there if we were flying home nonstop. But we were flying via Jakarta, Shanghai, and Seoul…it was a huge box and just too much to lug around for the last day of our trip.
I told Augustine we could get it later if it went on sale in the USA, but sadly it appears sold out on Amazon and directly with LEGO…and also not discounted.
The LEGO shops had assemble-your-own “mini-figs” (like in Copenhagen) and also a very cool LEGO Concorde model.
Augustine did not get his Eldorado Fort, but did get a new blue baseboard he had been looking for…he left a happy camper.
This has been a fun part of our trip.
DCA just opened a small lego shop in the National Hall!
Awe come on. You dragged the little twerp all over the world and blew $7k for your dumb mileage challenge but won’t spend $164 on a toy? Yeah its a huge ripoff (Even at the sale price) but I’m sure you’ve pissed off money on less.
Had nothing to do with the cost…I said it was a very good price. It had to do with lugging that big box around. We had a tight connection with separate tickets in Shanghai. No time to deal with checked items.
Too bad you lack contacts. Someone in Singapore could have kept it for you.
I have contacts! But I just thought it wasn’t worth the hassle to save $60-70.
Matthew is the current 008 with a license to kill. Hope I survive the morning since I revealed it.
Love seeing his smile.Way to go! You are raising a fantastic kid.
It seems he has so quickly grown up!
It looks like it’s back in stock on Amazon and Walmart online.
One thing I’ve done in this exact situation is take the bags out of the box and distribute them throughout luggage, throwing the box away.
Luckily its not sold out everywhere, Walmart have it, so the least you can do after dragging the kid around the world is make sure this appears under his Christmas tree. Sure its $100 bucks more expensive than at SIN, but you cannot make him wait for a sale.
Agreed.
The Eldorado Fortress reminded me of one of my childhood sets, so I could not resist and ended up buying it last year.
I believe it is a remake of a childhood set from the late 80s or early 90s.
Ti: Next time ask if you can mail it home rather than have it as luggage
Confused…you’re ‘live’ blogging? I thought you were to be home for Thanksgiving.
Let’s just say it is about as close to live blogging as possible…
Not sure but asking for a drop ship might have worked. You buy a the local price, get a receipt that can be claimed against the declaration? I believe I have done this before.
Should’ve bought it. It’ll always be the one that got away.