Back track Italy Roma Firenze Pisa Siena Lucca

Our first stop of Italy was Rome.

Wasnt very pleased with the neighbourhood or the hostel when we arrived. But it turned out quite alright.

We booked a place right next to the Termini for convenience sake. The area was flooded with africans and banglas selling things or just lurking.

I was scared outta my wits.

But all the shops were PRC owned. So that was the factor that kept me from running away.

We realised that this was "chinatown" somehow. And we were kinda safe as we were chinese.

Our first 2/3 nights were shared w 2 guys who were very kind and friendly.

We are still constantly in contact on fb!

The hostel owned by a very sweet china woman and her italian partner.

We walked almost everywhere!

This is my fav gelato in the world.

ciampini of rome. Raspberry&nutella flavour!

Vatcan city was crazily crowded but everything was worth it.

Roommates

The must go of rome.

We also visited the catacombs. This was quite far from e city but the tour was good!

Trevi fountain was soo not fun.

Vatican w Youngran whom we met in Greece

Next up,we made it to florence 

The first day we arrived,the bus was filled w football fans. They sang and jumped and shouted the whole 20mins of the ride.

Too fun but super tiring.

Our hostel e first night was shared w a mexican girl,Helena who has been traveling for 4months alone!

We made fast friends and visited pisa tgt. 

A pic with the very sweet Ana from a charity shop in Firenze.

I think we spent close to an hour here. She used to teach English in a school and now is retired and volunteering at this charity shop.

A MUST go in italy

Pisa was a day trip from Florence.

It was just joy to sit/lie/roll on the clean green grass and watch people try and get a perfect shot of the leaning tower.

Would have loved to spend the whole day on the grass just to people watch with a blue sky and cooling weather.

If only.

The Florence bridge.

Cant rmb e name to save me but it may not look much in real life,slightly on e dirty side but the reflection is a bonus.

Our 2nd day trip was to Siena,would say the city wasnt much. Wasnt too fond of it. it may have been the mood and fatigue from all the traveling but..

They had the best Shakerato in there!

Savini came recommended by a friend and this was just heavenly. Attempted to visit the one in Florence just to have a last taste of heaven but we missed it due to a bus.

The 3rd day trip to Lucca where a tower was famous for having trees at e top of it was a lil better.

We took in the beautiful blue skies wih a great backdrop of medieval city walls dating 100 years back. Or more? Whi can remember..

That night we met our prof Lomanto and his family for an awesome homecooked dinner.

It was delish and i was dozing off in his couch before e night ended.

That was it. Next La Spezia for the beautiful Cinque Terre.

Goodbye to florencee where yakult costs 7sgd.

A lil inspiration

Met a 29yr old from aussie. This dude has been on e go for a year! 

The way he talks, his experiences, his body language.. Is just different.

Easy going,laid back it feels.

But he has much opinions. Strong ones at that. 

I admire it. Truly. A traveller. He doesnt have a route,didnt pay for a hostel for e last month.

Taking things easy. Seen much done much yet he still has a positive aura.

I havent seen much. Havent done much. And am still sulking.

Is this time wasted? 

Human nature

Funny thing greed is.

One can never be satisfied.

Embarking on this trip, traveling without a care without a time restraint.. I thought this was what i wanted most out of life.

That this was a dream come true and nothing else would come close.

But this cannot be further from the truth.

Not only am i not partially satisfied, im no where near any permanent joy. 

Sure,one feels like the experiences has changed the inner being a little, but maybe i expected much more.

There were jaw dropping,tear jerking instances where the world was so beautiful. But these moments only stayed awhile.

Could it be my own fault that im not facing these little moments with an open mind and a happy heart?

What am i to do? Or is it normal that one is never happy? That the grass will always always be greener on the other side?

Sigh

Austria NOT Australia

Stayed in Innsbruck for 3nights then to Vienna for another 3nights.

Reaching the golden roof at Innsbruck suddenly brought memories that i was ACTUALLY THERE with Gladys before. ^^

The town was.. Simple put,DEAD.

We took a bus from Bern,Switzerland that changed from 6 hrs to 8.5hrs as the swiss customs took two men off e bus for questioning.

We reached Innsbruck at about 10pm at an ulu busstop. Met a security to ask for directions and he called a cab for us!

How sweet?

The following two days,were sunday and monday therefore,everything was closed cept e major tourist attractions.

One really wonders where all the locals go? There is NO ONE in sight at all.

We were at a busstop once,a beggar approached L who refused her. The beggar actually hit L with her walking stick! WTF. Lol

Anyways, We did the highest Zoo in europe on e third day which was NOT as good as the temperature was about 34 degrees celcius,we were roasting while the animals were hiding from having a similar fate.

Saw one of the larges bulls EVER.sadly everything was in german,so not too sure what that animal really is. The alpine zoo can be reached by the tram W.

At the innsbruck train station,they have a supermart w awesomee meat loaf. Ive never tried meat look in my life and never luked the sound of it. But i decided to try as ppl were Qing for it!

There,i was hooked. For e next 3days,THAT was breakfast.

Lol

Headed to Vienna via train. Pleasant ride,pleasant walk w backpacks to e hotel and TADAH

WE fell in love.

It was an actual hotel with nice fluffy pillows and a couch,fridge,safe and an awesome toilet. Too bad it was only for 3nights. 

We've been in dorms too long. Hahah

Went shopping and had really bad KFC.

Tried on their traditional dresses

Their big on gay pride. All their trams and buses had the rainbow flags in support!

<3

Royal grounds.

The Schonbrunn Palace tour was really good! Had quite a few good hours in the palace and around it.

Headed on in search of the famous wiener in wien. And its called Bitzinger.

The currywurst was REALLYY YUMS. 

The cheese,not so. But it could be that i was beyond full after w curry one.

Its really near the metro stop U4 karlsplatz line. Worth e journey! 

Back track Greece II Meteora & Thessaloniki

We reached meteora and with only directions from a passing taxi driver,we walked to hotel King.

The hotel was wayy beyond expectations.

We got a double bed in a room without wifi but the kind man at e reception told us he would look into changing it for us if possible.

We met a new friend here,YoungRan! From korea,with my minimal korean she was sooo overjoyed that she could blabber some to me! She was 28!

We did an old church on the first day and then the legendary monasteries the next.

It was a 6hr climb up and down.

But it was entirely worth it.

 

That was all there was to it and off we went to Thessaloniki!

We saw the white tower (nothing much) and a thousand more churches.

This place.. Was another 'Dubai',didnt enjoy it cept tt i bout a pair of cheap trousers here.

It was mostly closed and we had 4full days there!

But the breakfast at e hotel was delish!

Boiled eggs,ham,loads of bread and cake!

The only fun thing was on the last day where we ran outta things to do,i went to Insectopia!

I dunno where the guts to hold such things came from but i loved every moment!

And then.. I shaved my hair.

Lol.. Spur of e moment decision but it was very.. Invigorating! 

And then we finally got outta thessaloniki and headed to Rome! 

Back track Greece Athens,Ios,Santorini

We started out in Athens. Sad to say,i had expected much more from this "magical greek goddess" place.

But it seems slightly on the dirty side.

No doubt,the acropolis is beautiful but not as breathtaking as i had thought.

My fault with the high expectations i guess.

We paid 12€ for this ticket,it entitled us to visit 6 sites,that is if you an find them all.

We did 4 and that was all we could find. You have 2days to make full use of the tkts :)

This was our Hotel's lift. Our FIRST european lift where we had to open the door only when it reached and there was another door inside.

I have been to europe before but nvr used these old school lifts before! We had a tough time figuring them out.

I also met a grp of PRC girls who got pickpocketed on e train. Said they didnt know anything,only when they got off,she realised her bag was open and her wallet was missing!

Our guards have been up since then. Just thankful we didnt have a first hand experience.

From Athens,we left our hugeass backpacks in e hotel for 6days and headed to Ios Island. 

It was a 5 hr cruise ride.

The cruise had 2 restaurants,an Archade and more but it was THE WORST cryise ive been due to my motion sickness.

Funny how all my year in star cruise never caused a problem but thisss was madness.

I never felt so sick in my life. 

Finally we reached Ios and there to welcome us was the host of Galini Pensions and his adorable son at the port.

 The port at Ios.

ios is known for being a party island but then we were there off peak therefore not much parties,at least none that we heard of!

We stayed near e port and away from e village where the parties START at 3am!

Lol.. 

The 800steps from e port to the village was a killer.

I had nvr been so exhausted in my life!

But at e village there was a church panaroma.

Omgosh. It was so beautiful.

We also climbed up the opposite mountain to catch the sunset. <3

Next up we made our way to Santorini.

Santorini is not all whitewashed houses on cliffs but much more.

We stayed at e bottom,Kamari beach where its famous black sand was.

Our hotel was a crazy track uphill but had amazing views!

Sadly the 3nights we were there,the sunrise couldnt be seen.

We took a tour which brought us to a volcano and a area for springs n swimming.

We then hiked up to Oia,i chose to take a donkey.

That bloody donkey almost killed me!

Lol

It insisted to take over e lead donkey who tried to kick it once the first time and bite it e second time. -.-

And then it slipped.

Stupid donkey.

Nvr in my life again.

After that we climbed the ancient Thira which was... Another mad climb but e view was soo awesome as well!

I found my Atlanis bookstore!

The sunset from e hotel..

This was also my first meeting with my beloved, Mojito icecream!

A tired selfie w the rainbow just before it got dark. Weird no?

So moving back to Athens,i took more motion sickness meds and stayed at the back of the cruise.

It was a much more tolerable rude back!

Slept for one night and off we went,trained to Meteora.

^^

Backtrack Dubai

After Pakistan,we flew straight to Dubai.

This country,i did not enjoy. But maybe it was because it was similar to SG and we had JUST left home?

Only diff was the scorching heat!

We stayed at a friend's place and met her african "mama" who was so adorable.

Had an awesome steamboat there which was delish no matter how i hate lamb,it was GOOOOD!

We also had dinner at hardrock which was..wasnt good but still.

jac,an singaporean emirates stewardess,drove us up to Javer Hafeet (not sure of e spelling,but its a hill) where it was even hotter but views were good.

We did e desert safari which was my fav!

Rode a camel,saw the sun set,the prettiest so far and watched stars at night. 

Saying goodbye to Dubai wasnt sad at all,in fact i couldnt wait!

But at e DXB airport,the checkin lady INISISTED we have an exit tkt outta greece which we didnt have! 

So we had to rush for internet and to book a flight outta greece within an hour!

But we did it~