CH233: Amalgamate

Going on a sabbatical and travelling around Europe has always just been a secondary consideration in terms of my plans to leave Singapore. The so-called plan was to be December - Europe, December-January - USA then February - Australia. In terms of monetary situation, it does seem the least bit feasible of all possibilities to pull off considering that I will be needing my savings to survive in Australia.

But, last week, out of impulse, I used my KrisFlyer miles for a ticket going to Amsterdam. It was confirmed almost immediately after paying for the taxes only (which was about a PAL flight to Manila). My impulse to purchase the ticket was partly in consideration that 1. SQ flights to Paris were all wait listed for the day I wanted to go and 2. I only had Amsterdam in my mind for this Europe trip. (I had no intention yet to go to Frankfurt).

Come last Monday, while trying to distract myself from the realities of life and trying to inject some excitement into my otherwise boring corporate life, I booked a flight from Brussels to Milan. I have in part initially only considered the below itinerary:

Netherlands - Dec 5-11
Belgium - Dec 12-16
Luxembourg - Dec 17-20
France (only Paris) - Dec 21-27
New York - Dec 28-Jan 1
Los Angeles - Jan 2-10
San Francisco - Jan 11-14
Manila - Jan 15-31
Australia (For Good) - Feb 1 - Indefinite

After speaking to some friends and mulling on it (again, distracting myself), I realized if this was meant to be travelling to see much more of Europe, then it does not follow that I restrict myself to how much of Europe I'll be seeing. Well, to be honest, I allotted more days than usual in the cities mostly because I know it will be winter and walking around seeing the sites may not really be that ... hmm warm. So, yeah, I decided to fly from Brussels to Milan after browsing for flights and saw that it was one of the cheapest cities you can fly to from Brussels - also in part because the direct flights to Nice, France were very expensive. (I've recently discovered http://flights.google.com to assist in this endeavor of flight scouring.). So, the tentative itinerary now looks like:

Netherlands (Dec 5-9)
----Amsterdam, Dec 5, 6, 7, 8
----Amsterdam, Dec 9 - bus to Bruges
Belgium (Dec 9-13)
----Brussels, Dec 9, 10,
----Bruges, Dec 11
----Ghent, Dec 12
----Brussels, Dec 13 - fly to Milan
Italy (Dec 13-16)
----Milan, Dec 13, 14, 15
----Milan, Dec 16 (train/bus to Nice)
France (Dec 16-28)
----Nice, Dec 16, 17, 18, 19
----Lyon, Dec 20, 21, 22, 23
----Paris, Dec 24, 25, 26, 27
----Paris, Dec 28 - Fly to New York
USA (Dec 28-Jan 14)
----New York, Dec 28, 29, 30, Jan 1
----New York, Jan 2 - fly to Los Angeles
----Los Angeles, Jan 2-10 (visit family and niece's Christening)
----San Francisco - Jan 10-14

I could have stayed in San Francisco a bit longer but my mom said she needed me to be in Manila on the 17th of January for my cousin's wedding. Since it's my cousin from my favorite uncle, I said yes. It was funny how my mom's concern when I told her my plans was when I will be arriving back in Manila to attend the wedding which coincidentally is when the Pope visits the Philippines.

The itinerary is not final yet but it should be as my thoughts and planning on the matter amalgamate. Like for instance, I am considering shortening the days in Nice, Lyon and Milan to include a trip to Rome. But then again, I'm considering travel burn out and the uncertainties of travelling in Winter (this will be my first Winter experience). Well, I've experienced cold weather but never nearing levels of negative.

In other news, I only have 10 episodes left from finishing the 5 seasons of Breaking Bad. If you do the math, if each episode averages 47 minutes, having watched 49 episodes then I've lost 2303 minutes of my life. All in all, that translates to 38.38 hours I've spent watching it since Saturday. I've never seen anything so addictive to just binge watch. I very much like and enjoy seeing how they portray humanity and the consequences of actions. Anyway, that's for a different entry all together if I get around to it.

CH212: Long Distances and Celebrations

Last Friday, I received a mail in the office telling me that a package was attempted to be delivered but unfortunately, our reception was not allowed to sign for the package so I had to get it from the post office. I had made arrangements with my friend Ange to attend body combat class and also made arrangement with my friend visiting from Sydney to meet in the gym. So, because of this unexpected delivery, I had to drop by the post office before going to the gym. It's a bit far off from where I'm currently staying in the city and I didn't want to waste time from my weekend just to go on a side trip.

To my shock, the package that was apparently delivered was 13.31 lbs. That's a 6.04 kg big box without a bag and nowhere close for me to buy a bag to be able to carry it properly. It was drizzling that Friday, and I only had a long umbrella (not the short ones we usually see in PH people use for commutes). So, I had to carry it with two hands, and then eventually decided to throw away the long umbrella I had for the comfort and ease of carrying the package.

I think I walked almost 1km to get to Ang Mo Kio Hub where I figured I could buy an eco-friendly tote bag from Fair Price to put the big package in. I was practically sweating even while it was drizzling and cold because of the effort it took to lug it around. Considering it was a Friday, there were a lot of people walking about as well so it was a bit hard evading people and avoiding bumping into them.

The effort it took to get the package was well worth it though. My sister sent me (what I think is) my birthday presents for April. Now I don't need to look around for thicker t-shirts to bring to Portugal and Spain.

She also got me my request for the cookie dough oreo! I read about it I think on BuzzFeed and immediately contacted my sister to get me some as they're only going to produce a limited bunch - maybe to test how the people respond to the product? She also sent me several spreads which I assume are sort of house warming presents for me. She sent some packs of chocolate (which I don't plan on eating by myself) which I might share with friends. The only one I'm keeping for myself is the tub of almond chocolates! Haha, I could finish the whole tub by myself.

I also requested my sister to send me Aveeno in small packs so I can bring it to Europe in my travel toiletry kit. I'm not sure of the humidity in Portugal and Spain so I can't be all dry and itchy. (I have sensitive skin :))

As a side update, the card holder (pseudo-wallet) I most often used has been fixed by Mont Blanc. Thankfully, i found the warranty card in time. I saved myself 75 sgd for the cost of repairs. The damage wasnt that big, but the adhesive binding they had at the bottom was peeling and I didn't want to go to Europe without this.

Lastly, RkGreg had a belated birthday celebration for his friends here in Singapore. It happened last Saturday hosted in Mksurf8's flat. Super fun gathering of friends with fun and games. Unfortunately, there were some casualties: an empty bottle of Absolut Vodka was shattered, a couch was dirtied and DiwangBughaw got really drunk and later on passed out. He couldn't remember anything (selective amnesia?) the next day.

For discretion, this is the only picture I could share. With Ange and Chris R. Belated happy birthday RKGreg! 

CH134: US Vacay Update