Eurotrip
I am finally going on my first trip to Europe at the end of this month. It is a part business part leisure trip, so the costs will be very much reduced than if I were to go there on my own. This trip also marks many other firsts for me
1) First time I will be taking a plane alone
2) First time I will be travelling alone (for the leisure part)
3) First time I will be meeting up with friends overseas (Oli in Paris, Elaine in London and Seek in Barcelona)
4) First time I will be celebrating my birthday overseas (in Madrid)
5) First time I will be away from home for a comparatively long period of time. The last time was just 9 days when I was in Vietnam for the Asean Uni Games, and I was already homesick by the 3rd day.
While planning my itinerary, I was thinking back on the last time I really wanted to head to Europe. I was fresh out of Uni in 2007, and I wanted to do what every other fresh grad wanted - to backpack around Europe. It was an exciting idea just to explore the different cities with a group of close friends and my boyfriend then. Alas, the idea did not culminate into reality as I was cash strapped, and I didn’t really want to ask my parents for money who were facing some financial woes then. I think I still did asked to borrow 3k from my dad and got flatly rejected. I cried for one whole day over this, lamenting about how my life sucked, and how other kids were ‘just so fortunate’. Seriously, it was like the end of the world for me then. In the end, I went on a budget trip to Taiwan with my ex, and it was somewhat of a very unique experience. A typhoon broke out on the last two days of our trip, and not wanting to ‘waste’ our trip, we actually braved the menacing weather just to shop in Xi Men Ding. It was not charming walking into the stores with our entire lower bodies totally drenched (the puny brolly we were sharing was not useful at all). The flight back to Singapore was atrocious. The plane swayed from left to right during take off, and continued to rock in a relatively unstable state due to the typhoon. The seatbelt indicator did not go off till 30mins after take off. I held on to his hands tightly, and I believed he felt my uneasiness. He said, “if all else fails, just know that I will be here with you”. - A line that froze that moment.
Two years down, I have obviously matured, and looking back, it was just kinda silly to cry over such a minor issue. I think I cry over the slightest things then, over school results, volleyball, floorball, family, etc. I have toughened a lot since. I still get very emotional during movies and at my friends’ weddings, but little things like the above don’t upset me that much anymore, life’s too short. Heh.
I look forward to having a blast on my quarter-of-a-century-old birthday in Spain. Wish me luck! Weeeee…
1) First time I will be taking a plane alone
2) First time I will be travelling alone (for the leisure part)
3) First time I will be meeting up with friends overseas (Oli in Paris, Elaine in London and Seek in Barcelona)
4) First time I will be celebrating my birthday overseas (in Madrid)
5) First time I will be away from home for a comparatively long period of time. The last time was just 9 days when I was in Vietnam for the Asean Uni Games, and I was already homesick by the 3rd day.
While planning my itinerary, I was thinking back on the last time I really wanted to head to Europe. I was fresh out of Uni in 2007, and I wanted to do what every other fresh grad wanted - to backpack around Europe. It was an exciting idea just to explore the different cities with a group of close friends and my boyfriend then. Alas, the idea did not culminate into reality as I was cash strapped, and I didn’t really want to ask my parents for money who were facing some financial woes then. I think I still did asked to borrow 3k from my dad and got flatly rejected. I cried for one whole day over this, lamenting about how my life sucked, and how other kids were ‘just so fortunate’. Seriously, it was like the end of the world for me then. In the end, I went on a budget trip to Taiwan with my ex, and it was somewhat of a very unique experience. A typhoon broke out on the last two days of our trip, and not wanting to ‘waste’ our trip, we actually braved the menacing weather just to shop in Xi Men Ding. It was not charming walking into the stores with our entire lower bodies totally drenched (the puny brolly we were sharing was not useful at all). The flight back to Singapore was atrocious. The plane swayed from left to right during take off, and continued to rock in a relatively unstable state due to the typhoon. The seatbelt indicator did not go off till 30mins after take off. I held on to his hands tightly, and I believed he felt my uneasiness. He said, “if all else fails, just know that I will be here with you”. - A line that froze that moment.
Two years down, I have obviously matured, and looking back, it was just kinda silly to cry over such a minor issue. I think I cry over the slightest things then, over school results, volleyball, floorball, family, etc. I have toughened a lot since. I still get very emotional during movies and at my friends’ weddings, but little things like the above don’t upset me that much anymore, life’s too short. Heh.
I look forward to having a blast on my quarter-of-a-century-old birthday in Spain. Wish me luck! Weeeee…