So, how do I start? Trying to write about this whole Europe grad trip thing actually feels overwhelming coz like so many things and places to cover HAHAHA so Im gonna just chill and go with the flow okay. In fact, I feel like posting this as a photolog of sorts but no words like no meaning ????? (as what dayre puts it, and on a side note I've been on dayre a lot these days - dayre.me/zhibingx)
Okay, I think people generally see grad trip as something graduates go on with their university friends (in a relatively big group, may I add) planning their itinerary from start to end. Well, mine was different hahaha I went with dearest adeline whom I've known forever since secondary two days (just nice we graduated together in Dec15) and it was hard for us to decide if we wanted to backpack or join tours. But in the end we decided on EU 12D9N All-In Europe Footprint tour coz CHEAPPP - SGD2888 covering London, France, Switzerland, Germany & Italy (that includes airfares, accommodation and at least two meals per day). The itinerary was really packed, and yes, basically it's 走马看花 but I feel like, THIS IS IT nothing can beat this price. And we got a really awesome tour manager to boot (You go Steve!!) which we both agree will either make or break a tour experience.
And you know how it's winter and all, I was sooo ready to see snowflakes for the first time but NOO it's freakin' cold but no snow ??? And I don't understand how it got sunnier as we travelled southwards down the continent but it just got colder and colder, esp in Italy my david god. So, our tour mates had been a bunch of nice people (there's this dad who always offers to help us with our photographs coz we no selfie stick lol) and basically everyone in the tour group came with their families or with their spouses EXCEPT US and I think for the first couple of days or so they thought we two were lesbians LOL it didn't freakin' occur to us until adeline told me people were staring BUT WE NVR DO ANYTHING I just wanna go Europe for my grad trip ?????
After a freakin' seven hours plus seven hours flight we finally arrived at the not so pretty side of Heathrow Airport. And yes, it's cold (but only maybe coz we come from a tropical island). Covered Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge etc. and had the nicest mint potatoes from their Marks & Spencer!!! And I heard Dover Street Market's gonna happen in Singapore, I didn't know what was that (hehe) but after a round of google, yeah that aesthetic is one I can appreciate. And the guide was going on about how London is different from the City of London and I didn't freakin' get what he was talking about YOU MEAN THERE ARE TWO LONDONS ????? So, a short history clip below I found (do watch, it's interesting!)
And you know how tour groups always allow a few hours of free time for people to do their shopping in malls but that is the most boring thing ever ever ever. I can do just that in Singapore tyvm!! So, adeline and I embarked on a little adventure of ours HAHAHA we took the metro from Bond Street to London Bridge and made our way to Borough Market coz our coach passed it by earlier and everything was so pretty w their xmas deco! Had really expensive scallops over there and we then chanced upon this British Museum of Food. It's a cute concept - they celebrate just about anything on food, from food menus with historical value (like a British prisoner of war menu from a Polish camp during Xmas 1944) to butterflies as undervalued pollinators in the food chain (they call this the butterfly effect and they've got this whole room of butterflies xiadaowo) And I realized the city has got this open window concept and you can actually see university class or bakery class going on right in there, I like this kind of transparency.
"You can't understand a city without using its public transportation system."
- Erol Ozan
So we were on the metro back to the meeting place when we saw this advertisement of the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park (which was one or two stations away from the meeting place). And boy, so glad we went for it!!! It made my heart super swell coz this is the kind of place adults become kids all over again I thought I entered some magical dreamland. And we took this bumper car thing which totally shifted my samsung camera lens due to the bump impact HAHAHA wtf and that trippy photo was the last photo my camera took so yeah, I was prepared for it to spoil when I go up the Swiss mountains tho but not so fast, like one day into the trip??? LOL
So cool to see my name when I stepped into the hotel room hehe till next time (Paris next!!)
