Now, I've flown all over the globe and I usually want to get out of the airport as quickly as possible.

So to test the title, I spent a day at Singapore's Changi airport which was just crowned the world's best for the 12th time.

And we do not even have a flight.

You want to land on me?

I toured the gardens, the $1.3 billion dollar lifestyle hub and the rooftop pool.

If airports are filled with people trying to go somewhere else, why did this tiny island nation spend so much money to build this place?

And what's it really like to spend a layover here?

A lot of the good stuff at Changi is airside, meaning you need to book a flight to see it.

But the Jewel is landside.

So you can visit the giant doughnut-shaped shopping mall without having a plane ticket and there are no gates here.

It sits between the control tower and Terminal 1.

It took four years to build and was funded with private investments.

If you're airside, the train between Terminal 2 and 3 cuts right through the dome.

After three reports on this, this one terminal in my lifetime as a reporter, finally get to see it.

Here it goes. It's like the best roller coaster I've ever been on.

That doesn't even look real.

It looks like all the pictures.

But if you're a landside and you don't have a plane ticket, you can still visit the Jewel.

You can enter through a footbridge from Terminal 3 ticketing.

There are ten floors to Jewel, five below ground and five above. In the middle sits the rain vortex at 130 ft tall.

It's the tallest indoor waterfall in the world.

It runs 24/7, using mostly recycled rainwater.

At night, the waterfall is a canvas for a 360° light show.

The city of Singapore is known for its gardens.

So the airport captured that theme inside Jewel with this tiered vegetation and 99% of these plants are real.

You would never believe that planes are taking off on the other side of this.

Canopy Park sits at the top of the dome and costs about $6.

The mirror and hedge mazes cost a bit extra.

You can change the gate to block off other people when they come around next time.

I feel like I'm in Harry Potter right now.

Oh my God. I made it. I got so lost

These sky nets tower overhead and you can pay an extra $13 to bounce on them.

Oh my God. The elephant is my favorite. He's so cute.

I'm not on fire.

These are the Foggy Bowls, and apparently, they're a hit among the little kids, which I am one of those. A hit among me as well.

But my favorite part, this glass bottom bridge that hangs 75 ft above the ground.

We got media passes for the day to tour everything airside, starting with the hotel right by the gates.

A third of passengers transit through Changi.

So they don't leave the airport, which means that amenities here, airside and hotels like the transit hotel are really important to keep people here.

So this room is right on the transit side.

So your view means overlooking the tarmac. Flights taking off.

Rooms this size cost about $330 a night.

But even if you're not staying in the hotel, the 24 hour gym and the pool are open to the public.

We're just going to wait for the Skytrain.

If you want to plug your phone in here, you got to do some cycling.

I don't know how much more charge I want, actually.

Nice little workout before your plane.

Also airside, a free butterfly garden.

Oh my God. It's so toasty.

There's about 1000 butterflies in here ranging 40 different species and we're at an airport.

They're teasing me. I just want a pet one.

And I loved this coy pond.

Are you camera shy?

You're coming in hot, man.

I don't know what I did.

And if you've got a longer layover, you can catch a flick.

There's even a movie theater and it's free.

It runs 24/7, and I think right now the second Venom film is playing.

There's of course, tons of high-end shops from Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Fendi.

I think I've seen like four Guccis so far today.

In 2022, the airport made about $120 million dollars from shopping alone.

I feel like it's just as much as an airport as it is a giant really fancy mall.

And to continue the luxury vibes, private lounges for business and first class travelers dot the airport.

But since I wasn't flying today, I went straight for the food.

This is Singapore Food Street in Terminal 3.

And there's a Subway at the entrance. Oh my God, that cracks me up.

There was also a Burger King on the other end.

This food street is supposed to emulate a traditional 1960s hawker market with all the classic Singaporean dishes to match.

Three minutes? Ok, perfect. Yeah.

And with plates under $10 it's a more affordable food option than other restaurants in the airport.

Thank you so much.

The biggest bowl of soup I've ever seen.

So we've got some soup dumplings.

We've got Laksa, some minced pork soup, chicken and rice and chicken satay.

Can I double-dip? We're just gonna do it.

This is one of Changi's newer terminals but the rest of the airport isn't that old.

Construction started in 1981. At first, it had just one terminal and one runway.

Singapore sits at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, making it a gateway connecting the west to the rest of Asia.

Over the following decades, traffic increased. By 2007, the airport had over a 400% jump in passengers, and Changi launched Terminal 3.

The fourth terminal came in 2017, and then two years later, the airport opened the $1.3 billion dollars Jewel.

By that time, the airport had already snagged the title of best in the world ten times.

But when COVID-19 cases surged, Changi shut down and the airport had to halt construction on the new Terminal 5.

For the next two years, it lost out to Hamad International Airport in the Skytrax award because Qatar had looser COVID travel restrictions.

But in 2020, Changi came roaring back with four times the passengers as 2021, and 35% increase in revenue.

In 2023, it reclaimed the Skytrax title and Changi hopes to stay on top by beating out Seoul Tokyo and Hong Kong in international flight traffic,

starting with the resumed construction on the $10 billion Terminal 5.

But why has this tiny country of Singapore invested so much into an airport?

Well, there are three reasons.

First, the airport is a big money maker.

Just about six million people live in Singapore.

But the airport hosts between 30 and 70 million travelers in a typical year. That brings in a lot of money.

Over 1/10 of the country's GDP comes from air transport.

The industry also supports 375,000 jobs on the island.

Number two, all the new infrastructure in soon-to-be Terminal 5 will add 50 million passengers onto Changi's capacity, bringing in more flights and revenue.

And three, the airport has to reflect the promise of luxury set by its city and its main airline, Singapore Airlines.

And that luxury has started a trend in Asia for the biggest fanciest airports in the world.

Qatar, South Korea and Japan have all invested billions in their airports to create luxury travel escapes, effectively locking more utilitarian North American airports out of the top rankings.

So after ten hours in Changi without a flight to catch, my final thought at this airport: Yes, airport to your bucket list.