Sunday, April 30, 2017
Saturday, April 29, 2017
[STOCKHOLM] Colder, Blonder, Pricier

I try to avoid Scandinavia
when I can. As they say in Europe, as you venture farther north the people
become blonder, the prices go higher, and the weather gets colder. The good,
the bad, and the ugly. My problem is that my return KLM ticket is dated May 1.
My Schengen visa expires April 30. Do you know how expensive rebooking a KLM
ticket can be? And so I had to look for alternatives and when it comes to
cheap long-haul flight between Eurasia, Norwegian is the name you should always
remember.
Friday, April 28, 2017
[BERLIN] Budget and Itinerary (2)
ESTIMATES
KLM (Manila - Berlin - Manila) - 575.00
AXA (Schengen Low Cost) - 38.00
German Embassy (Schengen Visa) - 60.00
IIK BerlinerID (German Course/2 Months) - 945.00
IIK BerlinerID (Single Room/2 Months) - 990.00
Food Allowance (EUR10 x 60 Days) - 600.00
EUR3,208.00
CATEGORY:
Berlin,
Budget and Itinerary,
Germany,
Travel
Monday, April 24, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
[SOFIA] A Tale of Two Churches: The Big One

Just think of these two
churches as two sisters who are polar opposites of one another. Boyana is the
shy one, timid and quiet but her beauty shines through thanks to her
simplicity. Alexander Nevsky is the one with all the bling bling, glittering in
fine jewelry from head to toe. If sheer opulence was to be the sole criterion
for inclusion on that UNESCO World Heritage list, then this sister is a
shoo-in. But the UNESCO maintains its own standards. But why compare? These two
are both charming in their own right.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
[SOFIA] A Tale of Two Churches: The Small One

Once again, I was that Asian
holding the immigration line. The officer asked what my purpose in Sofia was. I
said tourism, then showed her my Sofia-Berlin boarding pass for Sunday. She wanted
to see the ticket. I gave her a confused look asking why the ticket when I’m
already showing you the boarding pass? It took her around half a minute to
realize it, and then she let off an audible laugh. I also chuckled because I
didn’t want to be an unforgiving jerk. We then added each other on Facebook,
got married, and had four kids.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
[BERLIN] Caught Ticketless on the Tram

There are days when you just
know that the universe is shitting you. Today is one of those days. For those
who are not accustomed to how public transportation works here in Central
Europe, let me give you a brief orientation. You can ride the subway here in
Berlin without having to pay anything. You see, there are no turnstiles or
gates preventing you from going to the platforms. If you are from Manila, this
is downright strange. After a few weeks of residence here, though, you just get
used to this trust system.
Monday, April 17, 2017
[AACHEN] The Geographical Ménage-à-trois

Oh no, you got offended by the
word “Threesome!” I’m so sorry that you’re such a prude. But we’re not really
going to talk about sex in this blog entry, but rather about this spot in the forest
where the borders of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands converge. There’s
nothing erotic about that, unless you find hiking a la Blair Witch Project into
the woods somehow titillating. But I’m not judging you, dude. To each his own
fetish, no? Now let’s talk about the super sexually charged topic that is
political land borders.
CATEGORY:
Aachen,
Germany,
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Travel
Sunday, April 16, 2017
[MAASTRICHT] Lunch in the Netherlands

Given the proximity of cities
within the Euregio, you can just lump most of them together in a single day. As
they say: Breakfast in Belgium; Lunch in the Netherlands; Dinner in
Deutschland. Of course you can always add #blessed at the end of your post to
annoy the hell out of your friends, those who think that you need to ride a jet
to shuttle back and forth between these cities. But then again, their being
geographically challenged is the least of your problems. Besides, fate seems to
favor the geography geek.
CATEGORY:
Limburg,
Maastricht,
Netherlands,
Travel
[LIEGE] Breakfast in Belgium

The problem of the day was
whether the soft copy of our Belgian Rail tickets was valid or not. Their website
had contradicting instructions. On one hand, it said that we can just show the
ticket to the officer from our smartphones, which made sense because there were
barcodes on it anyway. And then another page of the website said that the soft
copy of the ticket was just the proof of purchase and that we had to print it
out, the hard copy serving as the actual ticket. WTF, Belgian Rail? Make up
your mind?
Saturday, April 15, 2017
[AACHEN] Dinner in Deutschland

Dinner in Germany happened
during the first night, actually. Landing in Cologne, I had to take another
bus to reach Aachen. I chose Deinbus for this particular trip. I am a Flixbus
fanboy, but Deinbus is not bad. They also have WiFi and with matching magazine
rack to boot. Okay, it wasn’t a rack per se, but you get the idea. The best
part? There were just two of us onboard. Hahaha. I wouldn’t be surprised if
Deinbus went bankrupt next week. How do they earn money from this kind of
scenario?
CATEGORY:
Aachen,
Germany,
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Travel
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Saturday, April 8, 2017
[ZURICH] Don't Go to Switzerland They Said

It’s freakin’ expensive, they
said. Well, they were right, but what I love about Switzerland, or maybe just
Zürich, is how you can survive here cashless. Visa took care of everything. I’ve
never really appreciated Contactless technology until now. Getting out of the
airport, we keyed in our destination on the ticket kiosk thingy, waved the magic
plastic and voila! Ticket. I’m not saying that it’s hard to find decent money
changers in the city, but if you’re like me and you’re a bit allergic to cash,
then you’ll like Zürich.
CATEGORY:
Switzerland,
Travel,
Zurich
Sunday, April 2, 2017
[LOMBARDY] Budget and Itinerary
SUNDAY: 2 April 2017
Baltour (Rome Tiburtina - Milan Rogoredo) - 17.00
ATM (Biglietto Urbano) - 1.50
McDonalds (Breakfast) - 4.60
Signorvino (Carbonara + Water & White Wine/4) - 14.00
ATM (Biglietto Urbano) - 1.50
Eataly (Gelato) - 2.20
ATM (Biglietto Urbano) - 1.50
Orio Shuttle (Milano Centrale - Orio al Serio) - 5.00
Ryanair (Bergamo - Berlin) - 22.00
ATM (Biglietto Urbano) - 1.50
McDonalds (Breakfast) - 4.60
Signorvino (Carbonara + Water & White Wine/4) - 14.00
ATM (Biglietto Urbano) - 1.50
Eataly (Gelato) - 2.20
ATM (Biglietto Urbano) - 1.50
Orio Shuttle (Milano Centrale - Orio al Serio) - 5.00
Ryanair (Bergamo - Berlin) - 22.00
EUR69.30
CATEGORY:
Budget and Itinerary,
Italy,
Lombardy,
Milan,
Travel
[MILAN] Italy the Modern

I was a zombie in Lombardy. A
typical one-way flight from Rome to Milan will set you back EUR50 (~PHP2,750)
if you fly with Al Italia. From the perspective of a Southeast Asian
who has seen better days as far as cheapo airlines are concerned, this is
already a good deal. But then I saw an overnight bus from Baltour/Eurolines
that cost no more than EUR17 (~PHP935). You depart from Tiburtina at 11:35 PM
and arrive at Rogoredo at 06:30 AM. Good deal? I don’t really recommend it.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
[ROME] Sono Pazzi Questi Romani

As the second day of my Roman
Holiday was split between the Vatican and Rome, it meant less time for the
latter. In my head, though, it was fine because we still had the whole Saturday
the next day anyway. On my very touristy list of priorities, only the Fontana
di Trevi and the Coliseum were left to cross out. And so after dragging my
Roman friend to Burger King and her reacting with a grimace and a groan
(Italians, they love their cibo don’t they?), we hopped on the Metropolitano en
route to the Colosseo.
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