Chasing After Rainbows

For these two days, I visited two different museums: the Lourve (glass pyramid) and the Pompidou (building with pipes on the outside). Day 5 was the first Sunday of the month, so admission was free that day. However, that also meant that there are large crowds there. So, I took a look at the area of the Lourve 2 days earlier where the queue was long. What caught me off guard? The queue that Sunday was 4-5 times longer!  It took about 2 hours to clear it. So what was inside there? A lot of ancient paintings and sculptures on display. It takes a whole day just covering one wing. You wouldn't believe how many people crowded around a particular painting armed with cameras. What is this painting in question? Mona Lisa. Yes, it's the real deal, though you would be disappointed about its small size. Actually, I visited to most of the other exhibits of that wing before heading there. I then got hungry. However, the prices at the cafes are crazy high. It was a tough

Still recovering from the jet lag, I woke up early (5am) to explore the area and buy some toiletries that couldn't be brought though airport security. There was no 7-11 in sight, and stores did not open until 8am. A lot of walking was involved: more than 12 hours of walking though the streets, and ignoring most of the red pedestrian lights. (They appear annoyingly frequent, and there was no warning before the green man turned into red.) I went to the Louve to check out the place and did not go in (until day 5). I took pictures of the area and realized that there was a long queue (3 times longer in day 5) because of security checks and such. Following the wide open area from there seems to be a large park with many people, fountains,  and ducks. Following even further, we ended up at Chaps Elésee, and the triumph arch. Really. That was all not planned or expected. The Eiffel tower could be seen from the arch. So, what about food? Well, there was no convince store.

So the day has finally arrived! The plane departed the airport at the night of the 29th. To cut down the cost of the ticket, the flight had a stopover at Doha, Qatar. Quite a number of people don't seem to know where this is: it's in the Middle East. Surrounding countries include Saudi Arabia and Dubai (part of UAE). About 7 hours later, we arrived in Doha. What I was not expecting was that there were shuttle buses to the terminal instead of walking to it or having a bridge. The colour of the ticket holder and luggage tag I was given determines if I were to head to the arrival hall, transfer hall, the premium terminal, or the satellite wing. It took a while to step out of the plane as the shuttle bus could not accommodate every one. Really, why this, and why are they all at different areas? The terminal was crowded, and I could only find one toilet there that itself was full. When waiting, every seat was occupied. The sitting area after the collection of tickets to wai

As Nanami travelled along her way home, she was still mystified on how she found herself in the white void that also stopped  her time while she was there. It seemed like a long time while she was there, but only a second outside of it. Even more puzzling was how did she end up at Saeko Hisakawa's house, which was at a completely different prefecture and certainly never been to before, when Nanami was at her own home just before she was at the world of white void. A big mystery. The train she is in are mostly people older than her heading home. Despite the time and how close the last train would be, the train is not empty either. Her trip involved transfering to different lines. Nanami is greatful for the money that Saeko gave her as she would have otherwise been stuck as she does not have money on her. She uses coins as much as possible so that the coins don't weigh her down much. As she was traveling on the train that passes through crowded stretches, she noticed a ma

With experience from my previous travels, I have learnt on what to pack, and what not to pack. What complicates this is what could (or rather not) be brought through the airport and customs. Another thing to consider is the type of bag to bring along, and, if it has wheels, the "retain" it would be brought through outside the airport . You know those big fat bags with built in wheels and a handle that many people passing through the airport seem to be bringing along? You don't need to have/buy those bags. If it weren't for the handle, it would be difficult to carry, but what makes it difficult to carry in the first place? The shape of the bag, and, because of the bag's capacity, you tend to fill it up and even exceed the allowed weight of check-in and have to pay more (not cheap) if you still insist on not lightening the load to drop to the limit. Don't forget that the weight of the bag itself, including its handle and wheels, has its own weight. Also, thos

One of the most important aspect of traveling far away from home is finding a place to stay, especially if there isn't anyone in that area to stay with that I know of. Not including my online friends that I have never met in real life, not many people I know of lived abroad. Heck, most of the people I know of hasn't even been abroad. Basically, I have no one. Due to the flight being booked less than a month prior to the departure day, that also naturally meant that hotels aren't booked earlier since the exact dates aren't known before booking the flight. As Paris was the first destination in Europe, that naturally means that the accommodation dates are closer, which also translates to lesser odds of finding a room at a good hotel as other people had booked it, way earlier . Sure there may be vacancies, but of non-consecutive dates, or of an undesirable price. I ended up booking an apartment, which works out to be cheaper than the available hotels I came across by as muc

As part of planning, how do I get around plays a large part of how much things cost, where and how to get to and from accommodation, along with related activity relating to getting to and from there. Taxis in London are obviously out for me. Before I talk about intercity travel, I did take a look at getting to Paris from London via Train + ferry + Train combo as opposed to taking another plane or taking the more famous Eurostar. The cost seemed only marginally cheaper, though Eurostar might be cheaper if booked months in advance, but hey, we didn't even book the plane to Europe until less than a month to departure, and obviously I can't book a train with dates unknown. The big turndown was that, this route, meant that I could have possibly missed the last train into Paris after alighting the ferry at the France side of the English Channel. The town we would be stuck at seems like a small town with only a few hotels. We decided to take the Eurostar in the end. Either way, how do