PARIS

PARIS

16TH - 17TH SEPT

Linda's, Bora's & Annie's itinery

SATURDAY:

-Breaksfast @ 8am

-The Louvre (we stayed a good 3 hours in and around this amazing place)

-Hotel check-in + quick rest

-Shopping

-Dinner @ 7pm (approx)

-Back to hotel to rest

-Caught the tube to the Red Light District and walked up to Sacre Ceour Cathedral... back on the tube to The Louvre to check out its night view... then caught the tube again to the Eiffel Tower before making our way to Arc De Tiumphe... then strolled (more like struggled to walk) through the famous strip Champs Elysees before making it back to the Hotel for a well deserved good-night's rest!

We all couldn't get enough of the Louvre!

Sacre Ceour- who could miss this one??? ... the Eiffel tower at its glittering moment

us again at The Louvre!

SUNDAY:
Woke up at 9:30am and had gourmet breakfast in the Hotel ... got back upstairs and got changed to check out the boat cruise through the many touristy attractions... had pancakes with their favourite topping Nutella! ... went up the Eiffel Tower to the very top level for 11.00pounds... had a cheap lunch... went to check out the Notre Dame Cathedral... went back to the Hotel to check out.. then we were off to fly back to London (with a 45mins delay at the airport!)!

Eiffel Tower moments..

Bora & I posing in front of The Notre Dame Cathedral.. me being silly pretending to be someone's top half

AMSTERDAM

AMSTERDAM

9TH - 10TH SEPT

Houseboat Cecilia

Yen's, Beriah's, Linda's, Bora's, Suzy's & Annie's itinery

SATURDAY:

The girls stayed over at our place the night before so we can all conveniently get up at 3am (yes, 3am!!) to catch a cab-ride to Gatwick airport and fly to Amsterdam altogether. We got into Amsterdam at around 8am and already had no intentions of finding accommodation for that first night to come as we planned to live it up rough on the streets of Amsterdam on a Saturday night! With the exception of Yen and Beriah though- they were determined to have a proper bed to sleep on and found accommodation 40mins train ride away in Rotterdam.

Firstly we checked out the Van Gogh Musuem. Afterwards we decided to take a nap in the beautiful park nearby since we were still lacking several hours of sleep the night before and only to be woken up by the cold breeze blowing onto us.

We later had dinner and afterwards made our way to The Bulldog, one of the well-known “coffee shops” in Amsterdam. Beriah and Yen soon left to head to their hotel whilst us 4 girls continued with the attempt of smoking 4 “joints” between the 4 of us for the first time in our entire life! It was hard work I tell ya! When the thing came into effect, it hit me real hard. Let’s just say I’ve never felt so lost and out of control ever! When I was“tripping" my brain was actually doing all the talking and I had to try really hard to refrain myself from talking because I had absolutely no idea what was coming out of my mouth! And to make it worse, I practically forgot every word that had slipped out! My friends had a good laugh at me after that night but at the time…my gosh, were we all packing it?! It was awful I tell ya, just awful! I was so paranoid I was scaring them and myself! At one point I was so certain I needed to go to the hospital and demanded the girls to take me and apparently they were worried about me but realized that how I was feeling was normal and tried to calm me down. It took a lot of convincing from them and I managed to sit there for some time with my eyes shut trying to take in deep breaths whilst my leg was bopping uncontrollably to the fast beat of the music that was playing in the background. Ahhhhhh it was soooo horrible!! I was even afraid to go to the toilet because I was so certain I would forget where to walk and would collapse, or that someone would try to grab me and I wouldn’t be able to run-away and the worst of worst things that I had thought of was... that I wouldnt remember how to use the toilet! Ahhhhh the things I think of! I was so busting to go at the time but I just couldn’t . I waited and waited and waited until I can picture the whole scene in my head as to how to get to the toilet, use the toilet and where to come back to. Oh it was just awful, awful awful awful! Well, just like I had mentioned about La Tomatina Day in Spain, this goes for smoking also- Ive been there, done that (with no regrets!) and I dont need to do it again! Yay!

Dinner before Disaster... eeek!

hehe.. but look how I hold the thing.. don't I just look graceful? ;) Don't worry mummy, it was my first and definitely my last time trying the god damn disgusting thing. It was Amsterdam- I just HAD to try it!

After I had managed to slightly calm down from the effect we made our way through the Red Light District and everything was a haze for me. By 2am we were all extremely tired and had wished we had accommodation to crash back at. We went to any hotels that we happened to see along our walk and everything was unfortunately full! We came the wrong weekend I tell ya! There happened to be an International Business Conference (IBC) held that weekend in Amsterdam where 40000ppl had flown in from around the world to attend the damn thing which left us with no last minute accommodation. This reception desk guy felt quite sorry for us and had allowed us 4 girls to crash in the hallway on one of the top floors. We were so grateful to him!! We got up at 6:30am though to avoid any guests coming out of their room at anytime whilst we were still sleeping and find 4 snoring girls at their doorsteps hehe. Whatta crazy night!!!! Everything surprisingly worked out for us though. It wasn't the best but we all managed- and all stuck together. Wow! I was so proud of us all! BUT... never again I tell ya, never ever again!

We can't be anymore thankful to the hotel reception guy Lekdar. This is us getting out even before the sun's up and us with our backpacks ready for another day of mission!

SUNDAY:

I still wasn't feeling 100% but had enough energy and enthusiasm to go visit my relos for YumCha the following morning! The girls on the other hand made their way to the boathouse that I had booked for us (it surely made up for the lack of accom. we had the night before) after we checked out The Anne Frank Museum. My relos and I later took a stroll back to the BoatHouse before they left me to snooze with the other girls. Lunch soon came around, same goes to shopping, then dinner, then a good night's rest before catching a cab at 3am once again to head to Schipol Airport to fly back to London.

http://www.vrbo.com/66984

-Oh what a weekend!

SPAIN

SPAIN

29th AUG - 3rd SEPT

Annie's, Linda's & Bora's itinery

Days 1-3: VALENCIA

Arrived in Valencia airport on a late Tuesday night with no confirmed accomodation booking! We were fortunate enough to have met these 3 fellow Japanese guys who were also there for the Tomato Festival and they offered us 1 out of the 2 hotel rooms they had booked since one of their friends had pulled out at the last minute. Yay for us I'd say!

The following morning was La Tomatina Day and we got up bright and early at 6am, met up with the Jap guys in the lobby and off we went to Bunol, 45mins drive away where the event is held, on a yearly basis. We were there quite early and got to see the whole preparation of the festival from putting up scaffolds over the residential flats, putting disgusting fatty white grease onto the famous pole before attaching a bag of ham on the tip of it which would in fact initiate the whole festival tradition of people trying to climb up the pole with the aim of getting the ham down so we can start the tomato fight! The climb took a good two hours from 9am- 11am before someone actually got the ham down and seriously, towards the end of it all I had lost all hope in thinking the damn ham would ever come down!! People tried to climb up in groups and they tried to build a pyramid structure so one could be on the very top to reach the ham but they didn't get it right and hilariously they would always collapse and tumble down on one another hehe. In the end they all resorted to trying to climb up by themselves and one guy eventually got it- right on time at 11am!

The tomato fight then began by the sound of a loud horn and several trucks slowly drove by with people in it throwing tomatoes down at you. It was awesome!! We stayed in the main square where it all happens and it was unbelievably crowded. On one side of the square you had people on a stage holding massive and powerful hoses and constantly pouring it over the crowd (possibly a way of cleaning off the tomatoes on us) whilst we all were picking up the tomatoes and chucking it at eachother! It was sooooooo fun!! The ground soon became flooded with the water, tomatoes, ripped shirts and the dirt that's usually on the road- eeew that was disgusting! The only downside to it all was that the Spainsh local guys would try to rip off girl's shirts. Yes, they don't have any respect for us girls- especially those that aen't local! They would pick a girl, circle her and try to rip her shirt off. It is awful as it sounds but apparently it's some sort of tradition. They go abit too far though (possibly because they're drunk) and they'd even try to rip off whatever's under the shirt! I got surrounded by them several times but I managed to escape from them but my friend was unlucky and got her shirt ripped off from the front and one of her cossie straps got pulled off too! She ended up wearing her shirt back to front to cover more of herself. Towards the end I got pretty paranoid and couldn't wait for the whole festival to end. The throwing of tomatoes had gone on for a good two hours!!

The event was definitely a crazy experience for us girls and we have no regrets being there (even with the ripped shirt and paranoia)- I'm happy to say that I've been here, done that and I don't need to do it again! =)

Us girls with the Japanese guys during the traditonal climb... right before the party began

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Days 3-5: BARCELONA

I simply love this city and would love to come back! It's an amazing city with so much to do from checking out the Gothic buildings with all thanks to the Architect Antonio Gaudi with his famous Sagrada Familiar and Parc Quell... the shopping which has endless numbers of stores to check out and they all don't close til 9pm every day-ahh! ... the many different tours to go on.. the food.. the strolls esp. down the famous strip The Rambla... the museums and exhibitions.. ahh! The list goes on! We all loved it here and wished we could've stayed here longer because we couldn't do as much as we had planned. Though, with all our mighty energy and endurance we surely did make the most of the 3 days we were here!

What a walk it was up to Parc Quell!

Breakfast in Barcelona.. ooh la la!

me at Spain's Arc De Triumphe.. me at Gaudi's Sagrada Familiar

Day 6: MADRID

Well, we knew there wasn't much to check out in Madrid but since our flight back to London departs at Madrid Airport on the Sunday, we gave Madrid that one day to check out. The Picasso Museum located in this city is opened free for the public on the first Sunday of every month and what do you know.. we were right on time! It was a long queue but it was all worth it. This is my favourite painting..

Update?

Yes.. I will update this page soon!

So much has been happening lately I haven't really found the time to just sit in front of the computer and type away. Travelling on one weekend with a jam packed itinery then returning to London to work on the weekdays before travelling again and again the next few weekends with other jam packed itineries is absolutely tiring- but it's all worth it, I'd say! I had a blast! Pictures of my trip to Spain, Amsterdam and Paris will be uploaded soon. Perhaps no typing will be necessary since a picture tells a thousand words? ;)