After 50 days of traveling, through 9 countries and countless cities, I'm now back in my homeland - Singapore. It has been a tough 50 days, really really tough. But we had our fun, I would not be fake here to say everything about the trip was all rosy and nice, and that everyone will probably stay the best of friends forever and ever, there were some hiccups and unhappiness inside, there were things we could not see eye to eye, and there were things that people did that just irritates us. But thats all over, whats most important is that we had great fun traveling around Europe and also met a lot of other people, it was a really enriching experience. BUT, I will still take this opportunity to bitch about all my grievances of the trip here (because none of them have my blog address, wahahaha).
To talk about my entire trip will take a few entries, so I decided that I will start with the bitching of the things I didn't like then go on to talk about the countries that we're been to, and what we did in each country. I will try to post them chronologically.
Okie, lets start with the bitching. (Before I begin let me just put this disclaimer first, all that is posted here is entirely what I felt about the trip, if you find this offending please cool off, its just a personal opinion). Lets just say I went with the wrong group of travelers, or maybe I should call them tourist instead. When I start on this trip, I wanted to be a traveler not a tourist. I want to walk around and see as much as I can. There are so many things to see and experience when in a foreign country, especially when everything is so new to you. So ideally I had thought that we will be going there to chiong out early in the morning, walk fast, try to rush to see as many things as possible, take tons and tons of photos, then return to the hostel only late at night after everything has closed. But noooooo, this group is not up to it yet, in fact they are pretty far from it. We can wake up like 10am, then slowly stroll to take breakfast, then wash up before going out. When we're outside, we cannot walk too fast because some of us will get tired easily (and also because they walk pretty slowly). From the start I knew that I could walk a little more than others, and I knew that my objectives were for the trip. I have also told them about this before the start of the trip, and I got assurance that we will all chiong together, but that wasn't the case. After day 1, most of them were super tired already... and subsequently they started to move slower and slower. Of course it was encouraging to see some of them still trying to keep up as much as possible, and of course going on a trip together is about accommodating each other. So subsequently I tried to cut down on the sites that we see, try to give more rest time in between, and try to bring them back to hostel early to sleep and rest. I know that I'm not the best person to be leading the way and deciding where to visit, come on its also my first time in Europe, can I only decide where to go based on a city map that I have, so its not easy for me. But I think I've tried. After some time, I decided that I will only try to bring them to see the main attractions of each city, then at night I will walk on my own to see the other smaller attractions. So through out the trip I keep telling them that its ok that if they are tired and want to go back to hostel to tell me, cause after you go back, I will continue to walk on my own.
I mean you have to understand that its very demoralizing to have people who keeps giving you the black face when ya walking together. To me, if you want to travel together, you have to try to keep up the pace, and if you can't keep it up its only courteous to give a fake smile and tell the people around you that you are tired. Giving a black face and hoping that someone will get the hint that you are tired will not work, at least not for me. And coming to this black face topic, in a trip together, one of the most irritating thing is to see people having black faces every now and then. Especially for a trip this long. I mean whatever that you are not happy about, just voice out nicely, I'm sure we can work something out. I really don't like to see black faces and try to guess whats wrong. Tantrums are another thing. When we know that we have to be together for at least 50 days, it is not the best times to throw tantrums. Tantrums are such mood spoilers, and that really kills everyone off. Just 1 idiot throwing tantrum can spoil the group's entire day.
Also when I feel that I am trying my best to accommodate everybody's wants, and trying to read the map to find the fastest way to get them to the locations, and then have someone just blurts out that I have no sense of direction is really a big disappointment. Even though I get 'it' the benefit of doubt that 'it' does not mean it that way, but 'it' should realize how hurting that can be.
Then, to the minor aspect of the trip. Who actually goes on a backpacking trip and shops all the time. Its like 'Huh!?!?!' Going to outlet malls and major brand shops like LV, Burberries, Gucci, Prada, Bally, Longchamp etc. are an attraction in Europe? Okie going to 1 or maybe 2 is alright, but really we don't have to go to some many right. I know I'm a shopperholic too, when I'm down to shopping I sometimes can lose myself. In fact I admit that I was really attracted to the shopping in Spain. Zara was really quite cheap, plus the Spanish sale means that everything else was having a 50-70% sale. So I was also shopping like crazy there. Thats why I didn't say that its anything wrong, the sale really makes shopping very attractive there. But I made it a point to at least see some of the attractions of the city and not forgo everything for shopping. When in Florence and given a choice of Michaelangelo's David or factory outlet, I don't understand how can they choose the outlet instead of David. But its their choice, it made my own choice. In Spain, I wanted to see more attractions after shopping, but they were just too tired to walk already. I still remember that I had to wake up early in the morning to walk on my own around town to see the attractions before meeting them at the hostel to go to the train station. I really think I missed a lot in Spain, I'm sure that there are so many other things to see there. Having said that, I really enjoyed the shopping, wahahaha. I kept curbing myself from starting till Spain. When I went to Europe, my bag was like 13kg. When I left Europe my bag was like 25kg, and thats excluding a hand carry bag I had bought to put my stuff and I think that itself weigh about 12-13kg. So you can imagine how much I had bought, hahaha.
Erm I think that about all the bitching I have (okie actually I do have more to bitch about for the trip, but they are pretty minor stuff), the major issues are here. Okie look out for the next posting!
To talk about my entire trip will take a few entries, so I decided that I will start with the bitching of the things I didn't like then go on to talk about the countries that we're been to, and what we did in each country. I will try to post them chronologically.
Okie, lets start with the bitching. (Before I begin let me just put this disclaimer first, all that is posted here is entirely what I felt about the trip, if you find this offending please cool off, its just a personal opinion). Lets just say I went with the wrong group of travelers, or maybe I should call them tourist instead. When I start on this trip, I wanted to be a traveler not a tourist. I want to walk around and see as much as I can. There are so many things to see and experience when in a foreign country, especially when everything is so new to you. So ideally I had thought that we will be going there to chiong out early in the morning, walk fast, try to rush to see as many things as possible, take tons and tons of photos, then return to the hostel only late at night after everything has closed. But noooooo, this group is not up to it yet, in fact they are pretty far from it. We can wake up like 10am, then slowly stroll to take breakfast, then wash up before going out. When we're outside, we cannot walk too fast because some of us will get tired easily (and also because they walk pretty slowly). From the start I knew that I could walk a little more than others, and I knew that my objectives were for the trip. I have also told them about this before the start of the trip, and I got assurance that we will all chiong together, but that wasn't the case. After day 1, most of them were super tired already... and subsequently they started to move slower and slower. Of course it was encouraging to see some of them still trying to keep up as much as possible, and of course going on a trip together is about accommodating each other. So subsequently I tried to cut down on the sites that we see, try to give more rest time in between, and try to bring them back to hostel early to sleep and rest. I know that I'm not the best person to be leading the way and deciding where to visit, come on its also my first time in Europe, can I only decide where to go based on a city map that I have, so its not easy for me. But I think I've tried. After some time, I decided that I will only try to bring them to see the main attractions of each city, then at night I will walk on my own to see the other smaller attractions. So through out the trip I keep telling them that its ok that if they are tired and want to go back to hostel to tell me, cause after you go back, I will continue to walk on my own.
I mean you have to understand that its very demoralizing to have people who keeps giving you the black face when ya walking together. To me, if you want to travel together, you have to try to keep up the pace, and if you can't keep it up its only courteous to give a fake smile and tell the people around you that you are tired. Giving a black face and hoping that someone will get the hint that you are tired will not work, at least not for me. And coming to this black face topic, in a trip together, one of the most irritating thing is to see people having black faces every now and then. Especially for a trip this long. I mean whatever that you are not happy about, just voice out nicely, I'm sure we can work something out. I really don't like to see black faces and try to guess whats wrong. Tantrums are another thing. When we know that we have to be together for at least 50 days, it is not the best times to throw tantrums. Tantrums are such mood spoilers, and that really kills everyone off. Just 1 idiot throwing tantrum can spoil the group's entire day.
Also when I feel that I am trying my best to accommodate everybody's wants, and trying to read the map to find the fastest way to get them to the locations, and then have someone just blurts out that I have no sense of direction is really a big disappointment. Even though I get 'it' the benefit of doubt that 'it' does not mean it that way, but 'it' should realize how hurting that can be.
Then, to the minor aspect of the trip. Who actually goes on a backpacking trip and shops all the time. Its like 'Huh!?!?!' Going to outlet malls and major brand shops like LV, Burberries, Gucci, Prada, Bally, Longchamp etc. are an attraction in Europe? Okie going to 1 or maybe 2 is alright, but really we don't have to go to some many right. I know I'm a shopperholic too, when I'm down to shopping I sometimes can lose myself. In fact I admit that I was really attracted to the shopping in Spain. Zara was really quite cheap, plus the Spanish sale means that everything else was having a 50-70% sale. So I was also shopping like crazy there. Thats why I didn't say that its anything wrong, the sale really makes shopping very attractive there. But I made it a point to at least see some of the attractions of the city and not forgo everything for shopping. When in Florence and given a choice of Michaelangelo's David or factory outlet, I don't understand how can they choose the outlet instead of David. But its their choice, it made my own choice. In Spain, I wanted to see more attractions after shopping, but they were just too tired to walk already. I still remember that I had to wake up early in the morning to walk on my own around town to see the attractions before meeting them at the hostel to go to the train station. I really think I missed a lot in Spain, I'm sure that there are so many other things to see there. Having said that, I really enjoyed the shopping, wahahaha. I kept curbing myself from starting till Spain. When I went to Europe, my bag was like 13kg. When I left Europe my bag was like 25kg, and thats excluding a hand carry bag I had bought to put my stuff and I think that itself weigh about 12-13kg. So you can imagine how much I had bought, hahaha.
Erm I think that about all the bitching I have (okie actually I do have more to bitch about for the trip, but they are pretty minor stuff), the major issues are here. Okie look out for the next posting!
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