Singapore Expats

Hi,

My wife got a job offer to work in India (Chennai and Hosur). The company offered her to live in Singapore as it is nicer to live over there than in India. Also I would be joining her and probably will not be able to work the first couple of months. I guess that I will be far better of finding things of interest to me in Singapore than in India.
However, the first couple of months, my wife would be obliged to leave for India on sunday evening and return to Singapore for the weekend. And then do this all over again the next week and this for a few months. After this period, we are trying to negociate with the company to go every other week or perhaps every other 2 weeks and work the other time from home in Singapore.
Is anybody of you in the same situation? Do you guys think this is workable? How long would my wife be on her way to India?

Thanks for your advice.

Nobody has any experience with this? We saw that the flight from Singapore to Chennai is about 4 hours, which isn't so bad. Ofcourse you will be spending also some time on both airports.
My wife has a conf. call tomorrow on this subject, so any input that could help us is greatly appreciated. We really don't know what to do.

What's your point? I know a guy that lives in Singapore and works in India... flies back and forth every week.

And, I know people who travel all week, sometimes hitting two or three cities in a week. Sales guys. They leave Monday morning and return Friday night. Same difference.

And, I know people where one spouse works long term in another country... and they meet periodically... in one case, monthly.

So, what's the question? You decide if you want that kind of relationship... and your wife has to decide the same. It aint got nothing to do with the rest of us. Many have done it, myself included... long term separation from spouse for two years... it aint easy to get together when the plane ride is 22 hours.

Strong Eagle wrote:What's your point?

The point really is if it is doable from Singapore? Ofcourse I know that everybody is different. My wife has no problem traveling, but it's a different story if you're gone from home (Singapore) all week and return just for the weekend (even if you know it's just for a limited period of time, f.e. 2 years). We already discussed the impact on our relation, so don't loose your sleep over that. We were just wondering if there are people on this forum that are in a similar situation and who want to share their experiences.

I know a couple where the husband works in India 3-4 days every week but is home on weekends and they have 2 kids. They seem fine and happy.

kojtl1000 wrote:

Strong Eagle wrote:What's your point?

The point really is if it is doable from Singapore? Ofcourse I know that everybody is different. My wife has no problem traveling, but it's a different story if you're gone from home (Singapore) all week and return just for the weekend (even if you know it's just for a limited period of time, f.e. 2 years). We already discussed the impact on our relation, so don't loose your sleep over that. We were just wondering if there are people on this forum that are in a similar situation and who want to share their experiences.

Anything is "doable". Just consider: Besides flight time, there is taxi time, airport security, immigration control. Add 1.5 to 2 hours on each end of your flight. It gets to be a real drag.

Do you only want to see your spouse weekends? Go for it.

i've done it years ago but not singapore/india. yes, it is "doable" but i didnt have a family then. anything is "doable" as long as you and your family can cope with it. all i can say is, it is not easy.

respect to the people working on ISS.

kojtl1000 wrote:The point really is if it is doable from Singapore?

It's doable from Singapore, it's the Indian airports that will kill you...

More seriously, doing that for a long period can be pretty stressful, and commuting from Singapore to India is an order of magnitude harder than commuting to (say) KL or Bangkok. Some people adapt, some don't, few if any find it fun after a year or so. And get the company's promises to "try" to do something about it in half a year in writing.

My husband works mostly in India and we live here in Singapore with three kids. The big difference is that he doesn't have to go every week, and he has a lot of control over the timing and duration of his trips. He is almost always home for the weekends, and works from home when he's not there, and can plan his trips around Singapore-based plans. It's mostly fine, but probably not for the long term, and having children makes it hard for him being away from them so much--he misses them.

The Indian airports are a big issue--Bangalore and Hyderabad not so much since they just opened nice new modern ones, but the Chennai airport is not new. They can be very time-consuming and unpleasant to navigate. He usually flies out in the evening, getting to his hotel in India right before midnight, and flies back overnight, getting almost no sleep and needing to sleep part of the next day. If he had to do it every week, we would probably move to India, but every other week it's tolerable. He says he won't want to do this for more than a year or two, though.

We lived in Bangalore before this, and you might want to visit Chennai before you rule out living there. It's very very different from Singapore, but if you don't have little kids (and it sounds like you don't) then the adventure of life there can really outweigh the inconveniences. We knew expats in Bangalore whose spouses found lots of interesting work, volunteer and social opportunities.

We have done this also.

Indian airports - in our case Mumbai- are very stressful both going in and going out.

India is a far more challenging place to live. The International Hotels are wonderful and run efficiently but living an apartment there can be difficult, even with a maid.

Roads are crowded and scary.

You may find being in Singapore rather boring by yourself.
But being in Asia is a great experience.