Day 4: 27 May 2022, Friday It was a joy to wake up at 7am this morning and be greeted by a beautiful ocean view. I spent a few minutes standing at the balcony just to take in the view and sounds of the waves before the usual din of traffic began. It was really […]
Day 3: 26 May 2022, Thursday After spending two nights in Bangkok, it was time to move on to Pattaya. As we would be returning to the same hotel in Bangkok two days later, we had packed what we needed for Pattaya into one suitcase and a backpack, and deposited our two large suitcases with […]
Day 2: 25 May 2022, Wednesday Rise and shine! After a good night’s sleep in our Grand Suite, we went for an early breakfast at 7:15am. The dining area of the restaurant at Grande Centre Point Ratchadamri hotel had two seating areas – one for Asian food and one for Western food. Naturally, we went […]
How It All Began After almost three years of flight restrictions due to COVID-19, the world finally regained some semblance of normalcy in the first quarter of 2022 as more countries reopened their borders to international visitors. With pre-departure/on-arrival testing and quarantine requirements being dropped, and vaccination and booster shots being administered to majority of […]
England | Europe | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – Day 14 & 15 (London / Singapore)
Day 14: 23 October 2009, Friday This morning, we went to King’s Cross Station with one mission in mind…to look for Platform 9¾ and board the Hogwarts Express to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Of course, the Hogwarts Express exists only in the books and movies created by JK Rowling, but as a […]
Day 12: 21 October 2009, Wednesday Day 12, and it’s back to just the two of us, KP and I, as our travelling companion for the past week, TH, had returned to Coventry to work. At 9am, KP and I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral and bought our tickets (£1/S$25.85) to visit the cathedral and […]
Day 11: 20 October 2009, Tuesday Our first agenda for today was to pay a visit to Abbey Road Studios, one of the most famous recording studios in the world. Abbey Road is most closely associated with The Beatles, who recorded 190 of their 210 songs at the studio. To get there, we took the […]
Day 10: 19 October 2009, Monday We were in London again, having spent less than 24 hours here on Day 1 before leaving for Paris, Coventry, Manchester, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon before circling back. We had the next five full days here so there was plenty of time to explore all of London’s sights. For today, […]
England | Europe | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – Day 9 (Stratford-upon-Avon / Oxford)
Day 9: 18 October 2009, Sunday After the high of yesterday’s visit to Manchester, we had a much more relaxed day today. At about 9:20am, we set off from TH’s place in Coventry and made the short drive southwest to Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town famous for being the birthplace and final resting place of English […]
Day 8: 17 October 2009, Saturday We set off bright and early today because we had a very exciting day ahead of us. At about 8:20am, we hopped in to TH’s Ford car and set off from Coventry, journeying northwards towards Manchester. The drive was very scenic and enjoyable, especially for me since I was […]
England | Europe | France | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – Day 7 (Paris / London / Coventry)
Day 7: 16 October 2009, Friday For our final day in Paris, we had the morning and afternoon free to explore what’s left of the French capital, before catching our evening train ride back to London. At about 10:30am, KP, TH and I headed over to Musée d’Orsay, located along the left bank of the […]
Day 6: 15 October 2009, Thursday It was Day 6, our last full day in Paris. Over the past few days, we had pretty much covered everything that we wanted to see, so our main objective for today was straightforward – a visit to Musée du Louvre. The Louvre is the world’s largest art museum, […]
Day 5: 14 October 2009, Wednesday Today would be an exciting day as another member would soon be joining us in Paris. Our mutual friend TH was working at Coventry in England at the time and he managed to take a few days’ leave to travel with us. He would be coming to Paris by […]
Day 4: 13 October 2009, Tuesday For our third day in Paris, we made a trip to Château de Versailles, or the Palace of Versailles. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most-visited monuments in Paris, coming only behind the Louvre, according to 2017 visitorship numbers. The Palace is located about 20 kilometres […]
Day 3: 12 October 2009, Monday Today, it was just KP and I exploring Paris on our own as QM had to work. For our first stop, we paid a visit to Notre-Dame de Paris, or Notre-Dame Cathedral. This grand, old cathedral is certainly one of the must-visit sites in Paris. The first stone was […]
England | Europe | France | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – Day 2 (London / Paris)
Day 2: 11 October 2009, Sunday After a good night’s sleep, I adjusted well to the seven hours’ time difference and woke up full of energy and anticipation. It was an exciting day ahead because KP and I were making the trip across the English Channel to Paris! I deposited my big suitcase with the […]
England | Europe | France | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – How It All Began / Day 1 (Singapore / London)
How It All Began It’s time to turn back the clocks again and revisit my maiden trip to Europe from 10 to 24 October 2009. This trip was very special for a number of reasons: it was my first time visiting Europe, it was the furthest I had travelled away from home, and it was […]
Day 3: 10 March 2021, Wednesday Woke up today a year older, but I didn’t feel any wiser for that matter. I tell you, birthdays are overrated. Nevertheless, it was still nice to be able to celebrate it while on vacation with my loved ones. In fact, I had some of my most memorable birthdays […]
Day 2: 9 March 2021, Tuesday After a restful night’s sleep, we woke up at around 8am on the second day. The feeling of drawing the curtains and being greeted by the wide, open sea was just wonderful. It was a beautiful day, with wispy clouds in the sky and the endless ocean stretching as […]
Day 1: 8 March 2021, Monday After three weeks of anticipation, the day had finally arrived. We booked a Grab car and reached Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS) at 2:20pm. The ship would only sail at 8:00pm but we wanted to maximise our time onboard, so we selected a 3:00pm check-in timeslot. I think […]