This post was supposed to be published before the start of Year 2022 but since the prospect of leisure travel was still shrouded by the COVID-19 situation then, it was shelved.
With the re-opening of vaccinated travel between Singapore and Malaysia on 1st April 2022, I decided to share this post since it will serve as a reference for me to plan my trips to Malaysia this year.
Public holidays in Singapore are great times to travel overseas if the target destinations do not have holidays during the same travel period. The main considerations are congestions and high prices, especially air tickets and accommodations. For travelling in Malaysia, we have to be mindful that Singapore's public holidays are also national holidays in Malaysia, all except National Day (Malaysia's National Day falls on 31st August 2022).
Reference: Ministry of Manpower (Singapore)
There are 11 gazetted public holidays in Singapore for 2022 and 2 holidays (New Year's Day and Chinese New Year) had already passed at this point of writing — I am writing this post on Good Friday, the first long weekend of the year.
Along with Good Friday (which fell on a Friday, of course), the public holiday of Deepavali (on a Monday) contributes to 2 long weekends directly.
Four other holidays that fall on Sundays (Labour Day, Vesak Day, Hari Raya Haji and Christmas Day) will be compensated with holidays on the following Mondays, and will contribute to another 4 long weekends.
The holiday of Hari Raya Puasa falls on 3rd May 2022, the Tuesday immediately after the Labour Day long weekend. As such, the two holidays extends the May Day weekend to 4 days. Many people have already made plans for this super-long weekend.
In addition, since Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, the following Sunday will be New Year's Day for 2023, another holiday with following Monday as off-day — yes, another long weekend. It is counted as 2022's long weekend since it starts on 31st December 2022 but ends on 2 January 2023.
That makes a total of 7 long weekends going forward. But, that is not all.
The one remaining holiday that does not contribute to a long weekend is National Day on a Tuesday, 9 August 2022. If desired, take a one-day leave on Monday (8 Aug 2022) and it can become another 4-day long weekend. This may be a great time for making short trips to nearby destinations — if the COVID-19 situation turns better.
In summary, you can have as many as 7 or 8 long weekends going forward depending on how you want it.
For me, I will use the long weekends to make day-trips to Johor Bahru, Muar or Pontian for local food, shopping and/or groceries. For longer holiday trips further north in Malaysia, I will use annual leaves instead to avoid long-weekend congestions and peak-period prices. Not to mention that some places, especially shops, may close on public holidays.
Lastly, why am I writing this post on a Good Friday long weekend? Because I am going to do my first grocery run in Johor Bahru tomorrow (a Saturday) after two long years.