The Challenge: 20 Things to do in Italy

Last year I managed to head to Europe (yet again) for a short adventure. An opportunity came up 6 weeks before the travels and it didn't take me long to decide to go on the trip. I did the maths and sums, and could even afford a business class trip on the way home with my American Express Membership Rewards. Sweet! So a trip to Berlin, Italy and Paris was planned for a short 18 days. An andante pace trip it was not – hectic yet completely optimised amazing racing it turned out to be.

Prior to heading to Italy, I stumbled across this article whilst doing my trip planning and research:

20 Things Everyone should do in Italy. I read it and thought it would be novel to do it, but completely forgot about it when I went full steam ahead mapping out the itinerary and doing flight & train & hotel bookings. Whilst searching for other travel emails in my inbox recently, I found this link again, so thought it would be worthwhile to assess and review my amateur 11 day trip to an Italy-travel expert!

1. Take a night ride on the #1 vaporetto in Venice - Yes...and No

Did I take a ride on the vaporetto? Yes! I didn’t do it at night though and I didn’t sit on it for a full trip but it’s the experience that counts right? I did take an evening sunset ride on a Gondola with my travel partner along with 2 Japanese Tourists on a honeymoon though! I don't think they minded us crashing their romantic holiday (I hope?). One way to save on the pricey EU80 Gondola Ride is to just find other travellers that are willing to share the cost with you. As cheesy as it sounds, a ride on the Venice waters on a gondola is a must if you only plan to see Venice once.

2. Spend 15 minutes with “The Last Supper” in Milan – No to Last Supper. Yes to Milan

By the time I decided to take this trip, I would have been on the waiting list to see 'The Last Supper' in time for maybe Christmas. I did however go to Milan for half a day and saw the stunningly gorgeous Gothic Duomo. It’s incredible to see it as you surface from the metro station. I wandered around the Milanese streets in search of lunch and hit quite a few cool spots, and took snapshots of cool ‘design things’ I spotted. Milan is after all the design capital of Italy. I did see drafts and copies of da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ whilst in Venice though - there was an exhibition dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings at the Academia - 'The Universal Man', so I saw at least conceptual drawings and sketches of ‘The Last Supper’. The best part of my Milan visiting was actually the opportunity to meet up with my parents for an hour or so to have tea at the stunning Park Hyatt Milan where they were staying for a few nights.

3. Overdose on Renaissance art at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence - Yes!

I think I overdosed before I even entered Uffizi! The queues for the Uffizi were unlike anything I have seen. And under that strong Tuscan sun in early October (I can only imagine how the summer would have felt), it’s not the best place to be standing in Florence. Even with pre-purchased tickets, we had to queue at our allocated time slot to get inside the museum. Actually, just be prepared to queue in Florence wherever you go if it is not winter. I LOVE art museums, but I can’t say Uffizi was my favourite museum I have visited in the world. But a mighty collection of Renaissance art it is - all the big names can be found here - Michaelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli etc. Where else to better understand and appreciate this art style which pioneered western paintings but in the Renaissance birthplace of Florence. And in an old Medici palace! My favourite painting in the entire Uffizi would have to be Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ - something captivating about the long wavy blonde hair and the curves of a woman’s figure!

The queue to get in!

4. Get a guided tour of the Vatican Museums - Yes...and No

I did go to the Vatican Museum not on a guided tour but with an audio guide. I would highly recommend pre-purchasing tickets to the Vatican Museum to ensure you get in on the day you would like to visit. I’m sure a guided tour would have been fantastic had I remembered to book it prior to going on holidays. The audio guide is still a good alternative and worth your money. The Sistine Chapel was definitely the highlight, so make that your last stop so you can fully appreciate everything in this museum. There are multiple tour groups that are on a tight schedule and race through this museum just to get to Michaelangelo's masterpiece, and unfortunately race out again. My advice is to take your time to appreciate the incredible detail in Michaelangelo's art (and not to lose your travel partner in the crowds!). You cannot take photos inside the Sistine Chapel so you may as well take it all in.

The beautiful spiral staircase inside Vatican Museum

5. Climb Florence’s Duomo - No...but

I didn’t climb it, but certainly did enjoy a view of the Duomo from my accommodation. My first Airbnb experience was pretty awesome. And I didn’t even know the apartment had a view at the time of my booking! Bonus! To be honest, I didn't even walk into the Duomo during my 2 nights in Florence. Refer to point 3 regarding crowds and queuing in Florence. I did take in a sunset view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo - stunning!

Yep, that was the view!

6. Eat pizza in Naples – Yes!

Naples is the birthplace of the world famous pizza. Not many people actually put Naples on their itinerary if they are on a 11 day trip of Italy. I did out of necessity to connect us to essential travel points (airports). The Naples I saw was rather grungy and dirty, and frankly dirtier than places I’ve visited in parts of Asia! However the pizza I ate in Naples was the best ever. Full stop. Head to Pizzeria Starita for a meal you will remember forever! By sheer luck we managed to get a table immediately even though there was a queue!

2013 Point Spending Spree!

Most girls I know enjoy a good shopping spree, especially when a sale is on, be it to buy shoes, clothes, handbags or all. Exhilaration and hysteria is experienced as beautiful items are purchased, money 'saved' and the credit card is handed over to get its workout. As life would have it, I am not most girls - exhilaration and hysteria is experienced when I am sitting at my desk comfortably accumulating 'points', particularly those bonus points that come from new credit card applications, upgrades and referrals! (That is not to say I don't enjoy a good sale either). After years of consolidation and treasuring my beloved American Express Membership Reward points, this year I went on an unintentional point spending spree.

This is how the point-spending blow out occurred:

• 20,000 points for a One Way Economy Class ticket – Melbourne to Sydney on Jetstar
• 46,750 points for a One Way Business Class ticket – Sydney to Shanghai on Malaysia Airlines
• 46,750 points for a One Way Business Class ticket – Kuala Lumpur to Sydney on Singapore Airlines
• 51,000 points for a One Way Business Class ticket – Paris to Sydney on Malaysia Airlines
• 40,000 points for a One Way Business Class upgrade – Paris to Sydney on Malaysia Airlines for my travel partner

Total Blowout = 204,500 points!!

Now that is quite a spending spree and all in one calendar year, but hey, I probably saved thousands of dollars with the business class trips I took :)

In the interest of full disclosure, I did use some personal funds to supplement the point-spending spree as well.

• I applied for a David Jones American Express card this year which came with 20,000 sign up bonus points for a $99 annual fee. Those points funded my one way Melbourne-Sydney Jetstar flight which was a pretty good deal since I was purchasing the ticket one week before a long weekend! (FYI: I used my own money to purchase the Sydney-Melbourne ticket) I made the flight redemption by using a cool feature in Webjet to 'redeem' my points. However, I do not recommend this strategy unless it is last minute! Also, I don't think the DJ Amex points are really worth all that much...but hey I wanted to save some money.

• Since 2011, I have been paying $99 p.a for my American Express Platinum Edge card. I get a discount on the annual fee as I am a member of the ICAA (Institute of Chartered Accountants). The best thing about this card was my sign-on bonus of 20,000 points! Additionally, I have been referring family, friends and colleagues this card and I have pocketed another 70,000 points from that. Another awesome feature of this card is the 'free' domestic flight you get each year - I managed to fly to Launceston for free this year so well worth my $99!

• Each flight redemption triggers surcharges & taxes. For the Asia trip in earlier in the year I spent about $600 on those taxes & surcharges; and for the Paris-Sydney flight on Malaysia Airlines A380 business class I spent about $580. These surcharges do sound hefty, but when you compare it to the actual dollar value of a business class flight and the utility consumed, I think it is well worth it!

So what is the deal with buying one-way tickets everywhere?
I wanted to do a few 'open jaw' trips this year, and a lot of the online flight redemption booking tools do not allow this. To overcome this issue, I bought one way tickets and it allowed more flexibility in choosing my reward flights and carriers. Another reason for this decision is that I lacked points to complete my Europe trip wholly in business class this year + upgrade my travel partner, so it was easier to buy a one way economy ticket combined with a one way business class flight redemption. (The sacrifices I made!)

For example, this is how I structured my short 8 day Asia trip this year

1. Sydney-Shanghai via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines Business Class - 46,750 points  + $352.71 in taxes & surcharges
2. Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines - bought one way economy ticket for $237.31 - it was cheaper to buy MAS than Air Asia at the time. 
3. Kuala Lumpur-Sydney via Singapore on Singapore Airlines - 46,750 points + +$252.60 in taxes & surcharges - and it gave me a chance to try the A380 cabin!

Total = 93,500 points + $842.62

A Sydney-Shanghai business class flight on MAS is about $5,500, so I definitely think this point redemption was value for money! Not to mention the additional comfort of a lie-flat bed, fantastic champagnes and wines to indulge on, proper headsets, a huge screen to watch my movies etc. To provide some perspective, 95,000 Amex Membership Reward points only convert to a $750 gift voucher. It still puzzles me to learn people would rather use points for a gift voucher instead of treating themselves to a business class flight you otherwise can't afford ordinarily!

I could have avoided the point blow out if I had known that I was going to be flying overseas twice this year. I was only planning on doing one trip this year (hence my logic to blow out points on Asia), but sometimes life takes a turn and new opportunities arise. Sure I could have found a better way to utilise my points to the max, but I am thankful that I had such a healthy balance of Amex Reward points to treat myself another time this year.

The point blowout obviously means that I am not sitting on a healthy Amex Membership Rewards balance anymore, nor do I see any bonus points coming my way soon. (If anyone in Amex is reading this, please feel free to send some bonus points my way!) For my upcoming travel endeavours, I will be going back to my 'purchased' US Airways points to make a redemption. Once you've sat in business class a few times on a long haul flight, it is pretty hard to go back to Economy.

Meanwhile, I am diversifying my points portfolio and really hoping the HSBC Platinum Qantas card I have applied for will be approved so I can start building on my Qantas Frequent Flyer points! Always good to have options when it comes to travel and point redemptions :)

Four Days in Provence

Head to 'Taking to the Open Road' to read my first ever guest post - Four Days in Provence!

Read about my travel tips and experiences exploring the gorgeous villages and towns in Provence - Avignon, Les Baux de Provence, Rousillon amongst others!

Rousillon

Les Baux de Provence

Provence, Purple, Lavender...trip planning!

Traveled June 2012

The decision to travel to the sunny, warm, French countryside was made at the bookshop whilst my travel partner and I were flicking through French travel guide books. Conflicted with the array of options and choices - Lyon? Normandy Coastline? Mont St Michel? The Champagne region? Loire Valley? Once we saw photo spreads of Lavender fields, we both decided that there was no other choice, we had to head to Provence!

Beautiful Lavender fields

Months and many after-work long nights were spent researching the best options to tour Provence. Bus trips? Private Tour? Self-drive? Trains? There is an abundance of information and resources in books, web pages, travel forums, blogs dedicated to ‘Provence’ that it was all a bit overwhelming! I actually spent weeks researching all the private tour operators, since it is meant to be a ‘holiday’ and I didn’t want to plan out each day and stress myself out with driving…on the other side of the road! However, the price-point for a private tour just proved a bit too expensive for us (approx EU350-450 per day), so we went with the self-drive option to cut costs down. In hindsight, I can say the self-drive option worked out very well – it definitely added an element of adventure to the holiday - moments of cursing the GPS; accidentally setting the speed limit to 50km/h on the German hybrid Mercedes C-Class hired car; driving 6 different ways from Avignon to our B&B; taking the backroads of Provence and almost driving through private driveways. After conquering the hills and windy roads of the Alpilles region (why is the GPS showing trees? omg we are driving up the little alps!) I can now say with confidence I am able to drive on the other side of the road. Win!

Archi-tour of Spain: Part 3 | Barcelona

Visited: June 2012

I’ve been fortunate to see quite a bit of this world through my travels, but one city that always eluded me all these years and one that I've been super keen to visit - Barcelona.

Almost every visitor of Barcelona that I have spoken to sings praises of this city. The culture, architecture, food, shopping, weather, shopping, eating, shopping, eating (one can just rotate on shopping and eating) – everything about it seems to enchant its visitors. Little did I know this city was going to completely blow me away!

I’ve already given you all a taste of Barcelona through my Food Safari post, and if you are a foodie, please make it a mission to visit this amazing food capital! To me, the most stunning aspect of Barcelona would have to be its architecture. Whilst Gaudi’s buildings are stamped all over Barcelona, and I do love Gaudi’s incredible mind, imagination and willingness to experiment and push the boundaries in modern architecture, but it is actually the component of its small parts that make Barcelona shine. 

Now onto the photographs so one can see why Barcelona is such a cool place to visit!

Centuries old buildings that are still standing strong!

No building looks the same in Barcelona!

The mansions on Prasseig de Gracia

The Chimney Tops (or we liked to call them 'ice-cream cones') from Palau Guell are incredible works of art. They are imaginative, distinctive, colourful, fun and just plain unusual! Really appreciated and admired the creative efforts of artisans of the time, and of course thank you Gaudi for having such a vivid imagination.

I actually thought another cool feature of Guell Palace was being able to checkout the Barcelonean rooftops, which was such a contrast from the colourful, imaginative chimney tops!

Archi-tour of Spain: Part 2 | Segovia

Segovia is a relatively easy day-trip away from the hustle and bustle of Central Madrid. We took the RENFE high speed rail train from the Chamartin Station, (can I stress here how much I LOVE fast moving trains that are modern and clean), and a bus into this quaint historic town.

Upon our arrival, Segovia greeted us with its most impressive sight - the ancient Roman Aqueduct.

As you can see above, it is simply a brilliant piece of architecture and civil engineering. The arches are perfectly balanced and in proportion, which is where I see the beauty in the design. The aqueduct was allegedly built during the first century to supply the city with water, using just blocks of granite stone. No concrete or mortar were used at all, and this is evident when you look at the aqueduct up close. I'm still in awe as I post these photos.

Archi-tour of Spain: Part 1 | Madrid

As a keen observer and appreciator of the built-environment, I can only imagine that Spain must be a dream destination for architects. From the whimsical and magical creations of the ingenious Gaudi, the jaw-dropping aqueduct in Segovia, to the grand Catholic cathedrals with traces of Islamic arts embedded in the design, the few days I had in Spain to admire these creations left me wanting to linger in Spain for far more than I had planned to. Spain has had a colourful history, and the architecture which stands now and continues to evolve demonstrates this vividly. Travel is not only about ticking off sights seen, foods eaten, and racing to beat everyone to it, travel is also about understanding history, culture, people and society today, at least that is how I see it. What better way to see a country than through centuries of architecture!

As I present my archi-tour snapshots, I hope you will all come to appreciate the beauty and ingenious of the built environment.

Part 1: Madrid, Spain

Wandering through the old streets of Madrid - such colours and details!

Exploring  the grandeur of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The official residence of the Royal Family of Spain, although they physically live elsewhere. 

Almudena Cathedral behind and built on an old Islamic mosque and site. Love this picture below as it reflects the changing status of religion and history in this city. Surprisingly, this Cathedral is fairly modern as construction only began in 1868 and was only officially declared complete in 1993.

Food Safari Spain

I visited Spain this year from June 2nd - June 9th and had a great time eating my way through Madrid and Barcelona. We didn't research any places to eat during our trip, so everything we ate in this country was something we 'stumbled' into, or only looked into it upon arrival. I have to say Spain is a great country for stumbling into food joints!

I had high expectations for Tapas in Madrid, given it is supposed to be THE CAPITAL for Tapas. I would say we hit some great food joints on some nights with the most mouthwatering offerings, and other nights it was more random, in other words, not the most amazing food. Unfortunately I only took tapas photos of places where there was decent light - most tapas joints we walked into were high on atmosphere and low on light!

Pictorials of the Food tastings in Madrid:

Chocolatería San Ginés - Churros & Chocolate!

Stumbling into food joints in Madrid

Business Class Rocks!

The one unattainable dream for the longest time - scoring a business class flight. I'm not as fortunate as some people that travel on business for work all the time; or am one of those lucky few that get picked by some random formula to be seated at the pointy section of the plane. No, no such luck for me. I've always had to work for things in life, and that includes scoring a business class flight. If you want to find out how I scored a business class flight, read my post from a few months ago.

Alas my 2012 Summer Holiday was going to be THE holiday - not just because I was going to be in Spain, England and France during June, but because I was finally going to experience Business Class Travel! I can report that it was fabulous! How did I survive those long haul flights on Jetstar, United Airlines before? How did I convince myself that Singapore Airlines A380 Economy was the best experience? 

There's a world of difference between Economy & Business. I cannot even imagine the quantum leap between Business and First!

Now lets break down my Thai Airways experience :

Adelaide, Barossa & The Hills (South Australia)

Evidently it has been a long while since I last posted about a trip! My plans to post about Leura after writing about the National Pass have obviously failed - 8 months later still no update. The awesome food-safari-esque trip to Penang Malaysia last year has also failed to materialise thus far, however, I will be writing about my most recent trip to the delightful Adelaide City and surrounds...Yeah!!

Courtesy of my awesome American Express credit card, I am entitled to a free domestic trip each year. As is customary RC style, the best time to redeem a free flight, is when it is just about to expire. As I panicked about the possibility of losing my free flight if I didn't act fast enough, I booked a trip to Adelaide, South Australia, for no reason other than, I've never been there before! As Mothers Day was approaching, I convinced mum and dad to go on this last minute trip with me, just so we could do something different for once on a weekend; and Mothers Day seemed like a good excuse to get mum out of the house! Luckily, my parents were both very keen on the idea, especially mum! Win!

Vineyards @ Barossa

Business Class Travel...it is possible!

A few weeks ago I booked my trip to Europe for June 2012! Holiday planning is definitely one of the best ways to start the new year! My destinations will include and not be limited to Madrid, Barcelona, London and Paris for a 25 day period. Aside from seeing these great cities, I am most excited about experiencing business class travel for the first time ever! Yes, that's right I am a newbie to business class travel. For someone that does zero business travel for work, I think I have done quite well to achieve my return business class ticket on Thai Airways. 

I have shared this with some of my friends, and everyone is asking - how did you score a business class flight for the price of an economy price ticket? 

I am about to share my secret, which is not so much a secret when you ask google about it. 

The secret: points. 

Points? But it takes FOREVER to accumulate credit card points &/or frequent flyer points unless you are travelling for work all the time. That statement is correct. However, another option is to buy points. 

Over a 2 year period I have been buying US Airways miles (points) whenever they have the 100% bonus special on. This enables you to buy up to 100,000 miles for about US$1,600. (I have to thank my travel savvy cousin for sharing this secret with me 2 years ago) Now to travel from Australia to Europe on business class requires 120,000 miles, which equates to approx US$1,900. To me, that sounds like a bargain, especially when economy flights from Australia to Europe are about AU$2,000+. But why would I be buying US Airway miles if I am in Australia? Thankfully US Airways is part of the Star Alliance network which inclues Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand to name a few. Once you have accumulated the required miles, you can claim on ANY of the Star Alliance airlines. All you need to do is pick up the phone and call US Airways (I use skype since it is an international free call), tell the call centre representative the trip you would like to make, wait for them to do the relevant searches, confirm your booking and pay the taxes and fees. For my Europe booking the taxes and fees was about $250, so all up less than $2,200 for a return business class trip to Europe.  I think it was worth all that effort and planning! 

Easy! 

Kind of. 

It's been a learning experience, but I am willing to share more secrets. 

1) If you are planning to redeem a business class flight on Singapore Airlines - forget it. 

SIA make it pretty much impossible for business class flight redemptions. In 2010 I tried to book a business class flight with the points I bought from Singapore-Munich. But because I was such an amateur back then, I ended up booking an economy class ticket! Now that was a waste of points  because I didn't even save that much money! However, given the circumstances of that trip, it all worked out OK. 

2) It is best to know the exact route you want before calling up US Airways. Otherwise, you will spend over an hour on the phone trying to make a booking. How to find my exact route? Use the Star Alliance website to find out which member airlines will suit your itinerary. There is also another tool to use to find business & first class availabilities, but that requires another lengthly blog post. 

3) Book your holiday more than 3 months in advance. I actually tried the business class redemption method last year for my mum's holiday to the UK. I booked 3 months in advance, and whilst I managed to get her to London on business class from Sydney, she had to go via Bangkok & Zurich. A long way, but she got there in the end! 

4) Best to book tickets more than 6 months in advance to popular destinations like London. Unless of course you are willing to travel for more than a day to get there. 

Now I just have 4 months of waiting to look forward to this!

Thai Airways A340-600 Royal Silk Business Class

Important Note: US Airways have recently increased the value of points. So even if they do have the 100% bonus special on again, it is unlikely that you will be paying US$1,600 for 100,000 miles.  But given I don't accumulate points fast enough, it is still a viable option to make business class travel possible!

15 Oct 2011 | The National Pass + Katoomba, Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains is a popular day-trip destination for many Sydney-siders and tourists alike. Sydneysiders like myself make trips to the mountains to escape citylife, enjoy nature, breath in the fresh mountain air and just chill. There's also enough going on in the mountains to keep city people entertained...at least for a weekend. This time however, me and a group of girlfriends decided we should be more 'active', so we planned to give bushwalking/hiking a go.

It took us about 2.5 hours to drive from the city (on a Friday night) to Medlow Bath, just one station away from the more popular, touristy Katoomba. A friend of mine (check out her travel blog here) booked us into this lovely B&B - 'The Chalet' - which is a delightful guesthouse featuring a large number of modern Australian art throughout the property. The main dining/living area in particular is a mecca of great art books and art works. If we had experienced bad weather that weekend, I would have gladly enjoyed a day 'in' just reading up on the art books by the fireplace. This guesthouse was definitely one with character and charm which I'd recommend to anyone wanting something 'different' for the trip to the mountains.The guesthouse had excellent facilities and a family room suited the four of us fine.

In the dining room...surrounded by great art!

Tea & Chat time! My fave part of the photo - the images in the mirror! 

On Saturday morning, after much deliberation - to hike or not to hike as the weather looked questionable; then which hike out of the 100 available trails in the blue mountains? We finally decided to go on 'The National Pass' - a 6km hike around the Wentworth Falls region of the Blue Mountains.

All I can say is that the hike was simply stunning. I am so glad we decided to hike because the weather worked out perfectly for us. There were a few wet areas from the previous nights rain where I had to be careful and walk slowly to avoid tripping in my running shoes (memories of Taipei 2009 and tripping whilst hiking were haunting me), but nothing that requires too much skill or experience. I personally have a fear of going down stairs, so again I was slow on those parts of the walk. But made up time as I like going on the ascent! The worst part of the hike was actually just the last 10 minutes, due to the ever increasing rather than diminishing number of stairs one had to climb; and the increasing temperature and humidity. Plus I think a large part of the tiredness/fatigue was just mental endurance by that stage. The great thing about being active is the sense of accomplishment. The walk took us approx 3 hours  including a 20 minute lunch break.

I will now let the photos show and convince you that Australia just has some of the best scenery in the world.

Blue Mountains

Scenery from start of hike

First glimpses of water

I just love waterfalls! 

Nature at its best. 

Parts of our hike...

Amazing rocks

Wentworth Falls (I believe!)

Creative shot!

Obsession with waterfalls continues...

Even though I've visited The Blue Mountains over the years, it had actually been about 15 years since I last saw the Three Sisters at Katoomba. We couldn't have picked a more appropriate time to catch sunset and the sister light up by night.

Sunset colours at Katoomba Three Sisters Lookout

Three Sisters by sunset

Next update: Leura Walkabout

Travel Hiatus

My blog has been empty for the last couple of months because quite simply. I have not left Australia. Sadness.

There was an option to travel around England with my parents, but I finally decided to give my career a good go, rather than take my neverending holidays. I hope it pays off some time in the future...otherwise, there's reason to be sad about that too. (In all seriousnesss, I think it was a good thing I stayed in Sydney to work on a few interesting projects)

So to compensate for lack of flights out of this city, I've been trying to get out of Sydney...

Just last weekend I went to the Blue Mountains for a weekend-away trip with the girls. Unlike most 'girly' trips, this was not the 'relaxing' type. So stay tuned as I will be blogging about that trip! I will say it was an awesome trip to keep my readers (if there are any left!) amused.

Back in August, I also went up to the Central Coast (Gosford/Terrigal) - to see a friend and her family. August was literally the first time I left Sydney since March this year. It's hard to believe that once you stop moving, you really stop moving. And just a drive out of the Sydney Metropolitan area becomes an accomplishment. I was so pleased that I did get out of Sydney that day though - just for a change of scenery and vibe; and of course to see a friend I had not seen in a few years and her new bub who is just so adorable!

This weekend I have a trip to Jervis Bay for an 'adventure' challenge. I'm getting quite excited about seeing the white sands and the crystal clear waters of Jervis Bay. The first time I ever went to Jervis Bay was when I was 11 years old, and I still have a clear memory of the beauty of this place. Now, I just need to get through that adventure challenge and then I can relax and take in the scenery of Jervis Bay.

Now for overseas travel...any news??

I will be travelling somewhere for Christmas 2011! My first Christmas away from Sydney in 4 years! I am getting quite excited about it. I am not going to a new place at all, in fact, to the country I have been to the most number of times - Malaysia. I usually don't consider a trip to Malaysia as a holiday at all, but I just have to take what I can get. 11 Days in Malaysia, I really hope to cover more than the usual KL & Sitiawan this time. I must! Hope to be seeing Penang, Melacca and maybe Singapore to visit friends if time permits. But the point of Malaysia 2011, is really to end the year in a relaxed state. I've been on-the-go these last few months in terms of everything, and I just need to take some time out. Need to start 2012 full of energy so I can conquer more countries and travel. So far I am thinking France & England...but who knows?!

5 Mar - 6 Mar | Singa-bore, No more lah! | Singapore

Singapore, a familiar yet foreign destination for me. Our affairs are so brief. A simple exchange of 'Hello & Goodbye' - that's been the extent of our encounter. Over the years I have learnt to navigate my way around Singapore Airport T3 like it is my second home. I know where to find my kaya toast with milk tea; to find the internet terminal with the least people; to find my favourite shops to satisfy my need to browse but not buy; to find a place to sleep on those brief stopovers. Routine and familiarity. 'Singapore', the city outside the confined space of an orderly and homely airport terminal - I've never known you too well. Although I have come to visit you on countless occasions, and experienced a close encounter of almost setting up life in Singapore 17 years ago, you have still been a stranger all these many years. This time, no. I am determined to venture beyond T3 and discover Singapore the modern Asian metropolis booming with activity under the hot equatorial sun.

I only just visited Singapore 6 months ago in October; but it was a whirlwind visit where I didn't really have much time to explore. This time, I was determined to do a bit of sightseeing and exploring for once.  Here are the highlights of my 48 hour stopover! (still a short trip!)

Raffles Hotel - One of Singapore's most famous hotel and landmark, and for very good reason. After 20 or so years visiting Singapore, this was my first time walking 'inside' the hotel. It is a grand, gorgeous hotel that takes you back to the Colonial days of Singapore aka 1920s. In a city where the newest project always attracts the most attention and fanfare, this is definitely a welcome change from the modernity of Singapore. I arrived at this hotel to have lunch with my friend S whom I hadn't seen since Taipei 2009! She treated me to a lovely Nasi Lamak lunch with a Singapore Sling (invented at this very hotel around 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar) @ The Empire Cafe - a delightful 1920s style 'Coffee House' cafe with local dishes and some international dishes. You will not find 'value for money' here, but a colonial-Singaporean experience! I definitely recommend coming here during your Singapore stopover.

Raffles Courtyard



Nasi Lemak @ Empire Cafe...HUGE servings!



Tourists lounging @ Long Bar



3 Mar | 喝茶，享受 － 這是我愛的台北 | Taipei, Taiwan

My ideal 3 day trip would have included an outing to either Jiufen 九份 or Yangmingshan National Park 陽明山國家公園. As I've mentioned in the last 2 blog entries, the weather in Taipei was just too cold and wet this time to go to either destination, so we settled on a mini-trip to Maokong 貓空. (I've got no idea how this place derived its name as it sounds so strange even in Chinese!) The decision was also made easier by the fact that the Maokong Gondola 貓空纜車 rides were advertised extensively on the Taipei City MRT trains.

When I was here in 2009, the Maokong Gondola rides were not even in operation as they were under extensive repairs. I was told they were the scariest gondola rides one could go on. (In actual fact, they had to shut down the service as a typhoon caused significant landslides near one of the Gondola towers in 2008) And the only other way to get there was to rely on a friend/acquaintance to drive you there to enjoy the Taipei City views and drink tea. We were game to try these new gondola rides, well at least I didn't tell M the history of this until we were on the return journey down from the mountains! Ignorance sure is bliss on such occasions.

The new and improved gondola rides @ Maokong

To get to Maokong it couldn't be simpler - simply hop on the brown Wenhu MRT line 文湖線 and head to Taipei Zoo Station. When you get out of the station, you will be greeted by cute cartoon characters such as the ones below, and you just need to follow the signs to get to the Gondola station (about a 5 minute walk). Once there, you will be presented with the option to go on the 'Crystal' cabin rides or the normal ones. I didn't know what the difference was so simply went for the non-crystal rides as there was no queue! (We later took the crystal rides on the descent. It just means the floor of the cabin is made of glass so you can see through it).

太可愛了吧！