Day 6 & 7 - Paris Countryside, Paris city and Amsterdam

Day 6

Dog got into a fight with another larger dog, and had to go for surgery, so we just went around my uncle's house to walk the quiet French village countryside. Later, we went kiwi picking at ny uncle's backyard, and it was fun, maybe not as much as the apple picking (because of all the branches and vines), but its still awesome picoimg fresh fruit. Saw my uncle receiving fire wood dor the fireplace,and felt amazed that people still use wood to heat theor houses that lol.

Went back to city centre to finish our short tour of Paris by visiting the Eiffel Tower and then taking the overnight bus to Amsterdam.

Day 7

Reached my other uncle's place and had a few hours sleep before going to The Hague to look around. Turns out there's nothing much there in autumn and the international court of justice is still a distance away, so we went to have dinner at a chinese restaurant. Tbh I didn't think I'll be havin such delicious meals while travelling, so yeah (nor did i think that my uncles have comfy and cozy houses). Tomorrow we're going Amsterdam city centre to check it out, hope it doesnt rain as it did today (which sort of ruined our day at the Hague). So far, the weather is getting progressively worse. Berlin was windy and we're juat starting to adapt. Paris was again windy. Amsterdam so far is windy AND raining. I can't imagine what Norwegian weather will be like.

Ciao

Day #5 - Paris Countryside

As much as I think the city of Paris is inefficient as compared to Berlin (confusing train stations, bad signages), but the countryside where I'm staying with my relatives is amazing. Ok, the wind is making things chilly a bit, but for the most part, its the most relaxing place I've been to and no rushing to get to places or to squeeze with crowds. My aunt drove us around, went to the local supermarkets and we even went apple picking (holy shit the apples are the best I've ever eaten) and had local pizza before calling it a day. Oh yeah, their dog accompanied us all the way today lol.

Days 3 & 4 - Berlin and Paris

Day #3

We bought another 20 euro bus pass to travel around the city (includes the s and u bahn), ended up spending some time finding lockers to store our baggages before touring the city on tram and more walking. Also, the budget airline terminal for berlin tegel airport looks more like a bus interchange than an airport lol. First time I've ever taken the last row seats right at the back of the plane. Got to Paris, waited quite a while for shuttle bus to ferry to our airport hotel. Such a small room though, but as the vending machines was faulty, it gave us change even though i havent even put coins in yet. Only paid for one sandwich, while the bottle of water from the other machine is literally free. Anyway, we reached the hotel late, so i was too tired to make a post so this will have to do.

Day #4

The all you can eat breakfast for 6 euros was really great, ate a lot of croissants and hot chocolate,then checked out and left to take shuttle to airport to take train to city. Spent a few tickets going to another station just to lock up our luggages. Visited the arc of triumph first, then had Macdonalds for a lateeeeee lunch, then walked down the street to louvre museum and then notre dame. Dead tired, returned to Gaur de Nord just to find ourselves incredibly confused on how to get to the luggage storage area. IMO the Paris stations are far more confusing and run down than the Berlin ones. Plus its the weekend, every train we took was crazy crowded, and so are the landmarks we visited. Still, got to my uncle's house fairly quickly and now I can finally start my ideal holiday, one where i dont have to wake up early to rush to places and walk the whole day. My parents are just that nut, and I guess I should have told them that my needs are different from theirs. 

P. S.  I'll probably update my vacation blog posts more when i get back home. 

Day #2 - Berlin

Ah finally managed to get an ok night's sleep, just to realise in the afternoon that I've forgotten to take my meds again for the 2nd day. I have to remember to take it tomorrrow before we check out or it'll affect my mood. Today's little feedback to my parents when we were resting was probably just because i was still recovering from jet lag, irregular eating hours (not at usual eating time i. e. 12 noon), walked too much without restng. Also, got scammed 10 euros by someone asking for my pariculars and claim that my donation helps the blind and deaf. That's fucked up of me, but i didnt know even though my dad warned me. Another scam again, this time with my name and singapore postal code. Why am i so stupid, ugh. Bad news aside, i did visit a number of places and had local cuisine for quite cheap price too, and the transport is also really cheap for a day ticket. Also worn my Thicke jacket with hoodie and it kept me warm the whole day, but lets hope it can last in Norway too,and that i dont need to buy a really good jacket there because what i brought wasnt enough. Alright, really tired today, and its already half hour before 12am, so better get resting.

Day #1 - Berlin

So, I didn't bring my journal along so i thought i might as well utilise the free wifi in the accomodation to keep notes on how each day has been. Flight to Berlin was good, with the first flight to Helsinki using the A350 plane, which is really a lot better than any other plane model I've taken. The troubles started just before we took off from Helsinki to Berlin. Our berlin hostel told us pipe exploded and re accomodate us to a new place much further from city centre. We spent like an hour at the airport trying to find a place to stay, and ended up in a 4 bed tiny dorm that has a wobbly as fuck table that made me spill hot chocolate on the table, wall and the mirror. On top of that, hot water has to be collected at ground floor. Plus we literally spent the early afternoon walking around dragging our luggages along as we're way too early to check in. Oh yeah, the wind made the temperatures so much colder than i expected. On the positives though, we manage to still check in half hour earlier and got the room to ourselves. That actually mattered so much to me that other stuff seems trival in comparison. I really appreciate the privacy even if its a small room. Also we manage to visit the east side gallery which we realised was part of the original berlin wall. As i type this out on my phone, im already dead tired from the sleeplessness on the flights over to berlin, and from all the walking,so i am gonna stop here and sleep even if its only like 9:40pm now.

#40

Here we go, leaving for the airport soon, and my hoodie is just going to arrive in the next 2 days, so I'll have to bring my non-hoodie jacket and hope it doesn't rain -_- And also, no one's gonna open the door so the package will be lying there until we get back ~_~

Got to keep being optimistic, asking myself what's the worst that could happen during my trip and apply everything i've learnt from therapy during the holidays. I'm guessing I will be more mindful of things, but still struggle with others. Oh well, still the first real opportunity to go travelling again so I'll take it no matter how it turns out.

A very embarrassing post to make

Copied this from my facebook post. Read it if you dare.

So just wanna share this hilariously embarrassing stupid choice that I made that happened earlier today. So, I added this 'girl' from OkCupid onto Google hangout, and then agreed to go naked on a video call with 'her' after much suspicion and hesitation. Turns out it's a blackmail scam, and the person told me they have my facebook (with link and photo), and will threaten to share my naked video on all my social media accounts unless I pay up. For my safety,i adjusted my privacy settings but other than that, how the hell are they going to share to others on facebook? They don't know my other social media accounts, and it's insignificant only because I actually don't really care that much, as opposed to having my NRIC stolen by hackers, or having lost my IC &11b (which I still haven't replaced lol) back in the UK.

Honestly, it was probably lust that drove me to go against my reasoning and thus this happened. It's good that it happened though, because we all make the simplest mistakes when we get complacent, and this helps remind me that I should continue to question the person's intent more thoroughly. Funny enough, it's also an exercise to apply what I've read in the book 'Mastermind', and it's about sharpening our thinking ability. "The hunter must err before he realises where his weakness may lie. It is the recognition of error, and the ability to learn from it and to prevent it's occurrence in the future"

Also, what I've shared above may seem like a more than what i wanna know kind of thing, but then if I don't share it (or any other taboo topics for that matter), it'll always remain taboo and shameful to speak of.

Anyway, going on vacation next week and ezbuy only informed me that my hoodie is out of stock almost a week after ordering. Well anyway, I was informed that the colour was out of stock, and now my delivery date is until the day i depart singapore, so I don't know if I should cancel of wait it out zzz.-_-



Whatever, can't wait to get enjoy the autumn air again and get away from getting bitten by mosquitoes, then return home again just to have mob manning a week later.

#39

So today my parents,my sister and I went to a hotel for a buffet lunch. Ate so much I'm almost at the point of vomiting that I couldn't even start on dessert and had to skip it. Then waited at the bus stop home after parting with my parents as they wanted to walk around more, and saw a caucasian man left his kids' backpack behind on the bus stop seat. Awkward as I already am, I got on the bus, tapped my ez link, and gave the backpack to him. Then, I looked to see what bus stops is this bus service heading to and can I still catch my intended bus, and good thing I still could. In hindsight,  Also, I was mainly playing my mobile game while seated on the bus stop, so it's a good thing I still manage to notice that the caucasian man and his kids were seated in front of me,and so happens the bus just came when I looked up. Of course, I could have told the driver I just needed to pass a belonging to the man, but I did what I could and I shouldn't have to doubt myself, after all, I might be able to do better the next time. It's not something I come across at all in my life, I didn't think I would do something like that. I thought I might ignore it,pretending to look elsewhere, or walk away or something lame. Good thing I didn't though.


Took my bus, saw this old guy trying to tap out too early, so I thought he forgot he can only tap our when nearing the bus stop,so he tried again. I've really no idea what he's trying to do, but I do know sometimes, old people do make a fuss if you ask them if they needed help. Anyway, i got down,and the bus left, and I saw the old guy walk off, so I assume it's nothing serious. Overall, I guess this is a day of ups and downs. Ups being buffet and returning someone's belongings, and downs being bloated from overeating and utterly confused by the old man's actions.

Also, winter clothing in singapore is expensive...ugh, I guess I'll have to buy my hoodie online, since it's so much cheaper and I won't be using much until I secured a job overseas anyway.

Ear appointment in 2 days...sigh, that shitty uncomfortable sensation again, but I tried to give my left ear eardrops every night before i sleep in hope that the suction won't induce so much dizziness when the appointment day comes. I only started doing that like 2 days ago, so I don't know how much it'll help,or if it helps at all.