The plane arrived 20 mins late and the bags came out really really slow. But I'm still thankful that I didn't encounter any issue at the immigration borders (some people did get into red line and were grilled with many questions). I actually have Easybus ticket to city (2 GBP promo price) but after terrible reviews in tripadvisor and the fact that the green district line tube is under maintenance, I decided to ditch my ticket and bought First Capital Connect train ticket (9.9 GBP). I also bought 18 GBP Oyster Visitor card. Its new regulation effective Dec 2012 that they separate between the Oyster Card for residence and visitor. The difference? The visitor version is not refundable so your 3 GBP is stuck with them. Residence need bring their utility bill as proof when asking ... read more

Wow, last day in Europe. At least for this trip. As pretty as Vienna is, I’m not in the mood for an early start. Besides, tonight I have to take long haul flight back home. I ended up spending my morning sitting at the lobby and having skype call with my mum and hubby. My to do list in Vienna is still long but I still feel sour after what happened the last several days. I’m finally able to push myself out of bed and walked out the door. It’s 10 am and I’m late. On the way to Rathaus, we got lost and ended up in front of the Parliament building instead. It’s gorgeous though. Pretty Greek style statues with contrast gold embellishment. The sky was blue as well and make such a nice backdrop. ... read more

Originally, Hungary was not part of the plan. We’re suppose to just go straight from Prague to Vienna. But then my hubby “challenged” me to realize my wish list of writing my own travel book. Well, in order to do that, I need another Eastern Europe countries on my repertoire. So, challenge accepted! It was exactly 10 days before we left for Europe, and I thought I’m going mad. I’m not really someone who likes changing plans especially last minute. I threw the idea to M just to see how he feels about it. Especially because we already bought our discounted bus ticket to Vienna . I was ready to hear him saying I’m out of my mind. But surprisingly he was very supportive about it . Yayyy! And that last minute addition apparently works well, ... read more

(Dec 2011) I was sitting in a bus from Rotorua to Auckland, New Zealand. It’s going to be somewhat 5 hours journey. To kill time, I opened my e-book and started to flicker my travel books collection. I stumble upon Prague and started to read. Me: (talking to myself) I wish I could go there one day…. M: (looking over my shoulder) “Yeah, my professor also said that Prague is very beautiful. He said I should visit it someday.” Me: Yeah, well easy for you – you’ll have your Australian passport soon. Me on the other hand, my Schengen visa got rejected before. I dunno when I can go to Europe. M: Well, you’ll never know e? I said nothing and just shrug my shoulder. I just don’t see how I could possibly go to Prague. ... read more

I didn’t get a good night sleep last night. The fire alarms rang twice in the middle of the night. Each time in rang, it lasted for around 30-40 mins each. This “interesting” no-man Omena hotel relies on their automated fire alarm to call the fire brigade if there’s any trouble. So every time some guests in other room smartly smokes inside the room, it will trigger the fire alarm which rang INSIDE every room. Gah. Read my full review url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189852-d2453039-r141513616-Omena_Hotel_Stockholm-Stockholm.htmlHERE. But nevertheless, it doesn’t damper my spirit to explore Stockholm. So Stockholm day 2, here we go! Today I have a full schedule. And I’m trying to pack as much as possible before the rain falls mid day (as per the weather forecast). I walked to Stadthuset building, it’s some sort of their city hall. ... read more