It is always great to pen down my thoughts on my future travel plans. Whether that comes to fruition or not is another thing though. This is the main reason that keeps me going in life. Talk about motivation. Haha!
Travel has and will always be my passion. At least until a time when I'm no longer able to do so.
Anyway, moving on to the happy thoughts. My September round-the-world trip is more or less cast in stone, and I'm so looking forward to it!
This requires me to make a trip in person to apply for an indian visa in a downtown office.
As a Singaporean, I'm allowed to apply up to 2 e-tourist visas a year, each valid for 2 months, for 2 separate entries. This year, I have actually applied twice, successfully. And I went to India twice, once in March for my Cathay Pacific flight and another time in June for my SQ flight. So when I tried to apply a third time, my application was rejected. And sadly, my money was forfeited as well.
So I had to apply for a regular visa for more $, but will allow me to visit India multiple times over 6 months. At the point of application at the office, I had applied for courier service as well, so my passport, together with the affixed visa, was delivered personally to my home just yesterday.
With the visa in hand, I can now proceed on my trip. Really looking forward to visit Fiji for the first time.
While in Los Angeles, I will likely head down to Hollywood to catch the recent launched movie crazy rich asians. A movie that has garnered positive reviews and inspired many asian americans.
In Orlando, I will finally be visiting Walt Disney world, just 2 of the 4 theme parks. Disneyland has a special place in my heart, as I subscribed to the notion "the happiest place on earth". Haha! Still, I want to always be happy. I have previously visited Disneyland in Tokyo, California and Hong Kong. But the Orlando version is on a much bigger scale.
In New York City, I would like to visit central park and madison square park. Two quite popular areas that I have yet to visit.
Of course, what better way to end my quick round-the-world trip than be pampered by SQ business class all the way from America to Europe to Asia.
For my year-end mega-trip, this will likely be my last mega-trip. Time to constraint my travel budget. 😀
In the recent weeks, I have finalized and booked air tickets for most segments of this trip.
Meanwhile, my excitement is building up as well as there will be a lot of "firsts"!
My trip will begin in mid-november with short regional hops to Bali, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both cities I've been to before. The main reason for this short hop is to try out:
(1) KLM fifth freedom flight Singapore-Bali sector in economy class
(2) Malaysia airlines business class on the Bali to Kuala Lumpur sector. A mini-highlight of this trip.
I'm also considering visiting Yogyakarta, Indonesia while in Bali. Still looking out for affordable domestic fares.
In the next segment, recently I have figured out an affordable way to position myself to Almaty, Kazakhstan for my Asiana business class flight.
After the short regional hop, I will touch down in Singapore again before moving on to visit Krabi, Thailand for the first time. Another reason for visiting Krabi is to position myself for the Norwegian flight to Stockholm, Sweden.
I only recently discovered that Norwegian actually flies the Krabi-Stockholm/Oslo route with their B787 aircraft. Apparently the route was only started in 2018.
Though Norwegian is a budget carrier, I actually enjoyed flying on it, not only because of their dreamliner aircraft, but also their free PTVs and they allow a free small wheelie bag in their cabin.
This is unlike Ryanair and Wizzair which recently announced that they will start charging for that small wheelie cabin bag. An unfortunate extra charge for me. Hopefully, no more other budget carriers follow this trend.
This also means that I will be in Europe earlier than I intended, in end of november rather than early december.
This is where today, I have decided which cities of Europe I would like to visit on these few days. My decision is based mainly on fares. Must be realistic! I have been wanting to visit more countries in Eastern Europe, such as Berlin, Germany. Bucharest, Romania. Sofia, Bulgaria. More exotic and easy on my budget.
The one segment that I have finalized but will have to give up is the Helsinki to Rovaniemi round trip domestic flight within Finland, again on Norwegian, as they offered the cheapest fares on this route.
Rovaniemi is where the Santa Claus village is, a place I have been wanting to visit for some years, to experience the year end Christmas cheer. But Santa Claus will have to wait.
This trip to Rovaniemi is also presenting me with a dilemma. Flights to and from Helsinki and the rest of Europe has usually been expensive due to the lack of budget carriers flying there. So positioning there for this segment at the start and end is going to cost me quite a bit. Something I only realized after booking this segment.
So I have decided to give my business to Ryanair. Even with the extra priority boarding charge, just so I can take my roller cabin bag onboard, it is still coming out way cheaper than the competition.
Upon landing in Stockholm Arlanda airport, I will need to transfer myself to Stockholm Skavsta airport for my ryanair flight to Milan and then onward Bucharest.
This seems to remind me of my transfer from Oslo Gardemoen airport to Oslo Torp airport. Where I made it to my flight, literally just in time. Hopefully the transfer this time around will be just as successful!
While in Bucharest, Romania, I'm thinking of visiting both bran castle, famous for count dracula, and pele castle. Somewhat ambitious, based on my online research.
After Bucharest, I will take an overnight bus to Sofia on flix bus, both of which are first time experience.
With a day in Sofia, Bulgaria, I will next move on to Nis, Serbia, arriving by bus at nightfall. Must remember to register myself at my Serbia hotel.
I will end my tour of Eastern Europe with a ryanair flight, again, to Milan, Italy, for a quick tour of the Italian city.
Moving on, I'll be taking an "overnight" ukraine airlines flight from Milan, Italy, departing at 4am, with a day's layover at their hub, Kiev, Ukraine, then onwards to Almaty. This gives me an opportunity to try out ukraine airlines twice on their shorthaul, overnight flights (to save costs) and also to visit Ukraine for the first time!
In addition, I'll be arriving in Almaty with two full days to explore Kazakhstan in Central Asia for the first time. Probably both Almaty and Astana.
I would have liked to visit Tashkent, Uzbekistan while in the vicinity. But flights between the Central Asia countries at quite expensive at the moment. Not sure why the budget carriers have not made their foray into these countries. Still looking out for cheap fares in this region.
The Asiana flight, which is the main highlight of this trip, will then bring me across the vast pacific ocean into the United States. I have previously visited the U.S. east and west coast multiple times. So I initially thought of visiting the Universal Studios in Orlando.
Just days earlier, I chanced upon another Norwegian flight, yes again, this time on the Newburgh-Shannon, Ireland transatlantic route for ~S$160. Upon some research, Newburgh is located further up north from New York city. And Norwegian actually operates a paid bus service to transfer its passengers from Manhattan to Newburgh airport in 2 hours. After some calculations, including the cost of this bus service, I decided to book the transatlantic flight.
Shannon airport is located east of Ireland, near to the famed tourist attraction cliff of moher, where I can easily visit. In fact, from my online research, the Irish big cities are all connected by reliable, long distance trains. So I'm looking forward to visit the Ring of kerry and the giant's causeway near Belfast as well. Looking forward to visiting Ireland for the first time!
After my tour of Ireland, I'll be moving on to London to catch my flight to Marrakech in North Africa. This will be my first foray into Morocco as well as Africa! I haven't yet settled on my itinerary for the 3 days in the country. Likely going to visit Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco. So excited !
After Morocco, it's back to London and then onwards to Gothenburg to position for my cheap turkish airlines flight, via Istanbul, to Seoul, South Korea. I have previously been to Istanbul, so I won't be visiting the city while in transit in both directions.
As I will be in South Korea again in this same trip, I will just wander around Seoul for a couple of hours, if at all, followed by an overnight bus to Busan for a day's tour before moving on to Osaka, Japan.
I will only have a few hours in Osaka before taking the airasia flight to Honolulu, Hawaii. Finally manage to visit Hawaii, first time !
After Hawaii, I will take a series of domestic american flights, transiting through San Francisco and Seattle, to reach Chicago for my returning flight on Asiana airlines. I'm hoping to visit Chicago for a couple of hours though.
My returning flight will bring me back to South Korea where I will have about 5 days to visit the country proper. I have previously visited the country twice, about 8 years ago, I think. So this time around, I'm thinking of visiting other cities in South Korea. Nothing planned yet for now.
After my tour of South Korea, I will be back on the turkish airlines flight to Gothenburg, Sweden for the last leg of my european trip.
I'm still leaving this unplanned as I'm unsure when I need or want to return home. So nothing is planned at the moment, save for a short flight from Copenhagen to Dublin, Ireland, where I'll probably explore Dublin.
Some days ago, I chanced upon aigle azul airlines with their flight from Paris orly to Beijing and Xi'An, China at an affordable fare. Though it's not yet bookable for travel in december. I would like to travel on it, if the opportunity ever arises.
Quite a haul of "first" experiences for me:
Firsts:
Airlines:
KLM
Malaysia airlines
Ukraine airlines
Asiana airlines
Easyjet (a budget airline in Europe)
Destinations:
Krabi, Thailand
Romania
Bulgaria
Serbia
Milan, Italy
Ukraine
Kazakhstan
Ireland
Morocco
Hawaii
Chicago
Yup. This is a long, long post. Goes to show how much thoughts went to it. I'm really excited at the thought of it. Fingers crossed!😀
Travel has and will always be my passion. At least until a time when I'm no longer able to do so.
Anyway, moving on to the happy thoughts. My September round-the-world trip is more or less cast in stone, and I'm so looking forward to it!
This requires me to make a trip in person to apply for an indian visa in a downtown office.
As a Singaporean, I'm allowed to apply up to 2 e-tourist visas a year, each valid for 2 months, for 2 separate entries. This year, I have actually applied twice, successfully. And I went to India twice, once in March for my Cathay Pacific flight and another time in June for my SQ flight. So when I tried to apply a third time, my application was rejected. And sadly, my money was forfeited as well.
So I had to apply for a regular visa for more $, but will allow me to visit India multiple times over 6 months. At the point of application at the office, I had applied for courier service as well, so my passport, together with the affixed visa, was delivered personally to my home just yesterday.
With the visa in hand, I can now proceed on my trip. Really looking forward to visit Fiji for the first time.
While in Los Angeles, I will likely head down to Hollywood to catch the recent launched movie crazy rich asians. A movie that has garnered positive reviews and inspired many asian americans.
In Orlando, I will finally be visiting Walt Disney world, just 2 of the 4 theme parks. Disneyland has a special place in my heart, as I subscribed to the notion "the happiest place on earth". Haha! Still, I want to always be happy. I have previously visited Disneyland in Tokyo, California and Hong Kong. But the Orlando version is on a much bigger scale.
In New York City, I would like to visit central park and madison square park. Two quite popular areas that I have yet to visit.
Of course, what better way to end my quick round-the-world trip than be pampered by SQ business class all the way from America to Europe to Asia.
For my year-end mega-trip, this will likely be my last mega-trip. Time to constraint my travel budget. 😀
In the recent weeks, I have finalized and booked air tickets for most segments of this trip.
Meanwhile, my excitement is building up as well as there will be a lot of "firsts"!
My trip will begin in mid-november with short regional hops to Bali, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both cities I've been to before. The main reason for this short hop is to try out:
(1) KLM fifth freedom flight Singapore-Bali sector in economy class
(2) Malaysia airlines business class on the Bali to Kuala Lumpur sector. A mini-highlight of this trip.
I'm also considering visiting Yogyakarta, Indonesia while in Bali. Still looking out for affordable domestic fares.
In the next segment, recently I have figured out an affordable way to position myself to Almaty, Kazakhstan for my Asiana business class flight.
After the short regional hop, I will touch down in Singapore again before moving on to visit Krabi, Thailand for the first time. Another reason for visiting Krabi is to position myself for the Norwegian flight to Stockholm, Sweden.
I only recently discovered that Norwegian actually flies the Krabi-Stockholm/Oslo route with their B787 aircraft. Apparently the route was only started in 2018.
Though Norwegian is a budget carrier, I actually enjoyed flying on it, not only because of their dreamliner aircraft, but also their free PTVs and they allow a free small wheelie bag in their cabin.
This is unlike Ryanair and Wizzair which recently announced that they will start charging for that small wheelie cabin bag. An unfortunate extra charge for me. Hopefully, no more other budget carriers follow this trend.
This also means that I will be in Europe earlier than I intended, in end of november rather than early december.
This is where today, I have decided which cities of Europe I would like to visit on these few days. My decision is based mainly on fares. Must be realistic! I have been wanting to visit more countries in Eastern Europe, such as Berlin, Germany. Bucharest, Romania. Sofia, Bulgaria. More exotic and easy on my budget.
The one segment that I have finalized but will have to give up is the Helsinki to Rovaniemi round trip domestic flight within Finland, again on Norwegian, as they offered the cheapest fares on this route.
Rovaniemi is where the Santa Claus village is, a place I have been wanting to visit for some years, to experience the year end Christmas cheer. But Santa Claus will have to wait.
This trip to Rovaniemi is also presenting me with a dilemma. Flights to and from Helsinki and the rest of Europe has usually been expensive due to the lack of budget carriers flying there. So positioning there for this segment at the start and end is going to cost me quite a bit. Something I only realized after booking this segment.
So I have decided to give my business to Ryanair. Even with the extra priority boarding charge, just so I can take my roller cabin bag onboard, it is still coming out way cheaper than the competition.
Upon landing in Stockholm Arlanda airport, I will need to transfer myself to Stockholm Skavsta airport for my ryanair flight to Milan and then onward Bucharest.
This seems to remind me of my transfer from Oslo Gardemoen airport to Oslo Torp airport. Where I made it to my flight, literally just in time. Hopefully the transfer this time around will be just as successful!
While in Bucharest, Romania, I'm thinking of visiting both bran castle, famous for count dracula, and pele castle. Somewhat ambitious, based on my online research.
After Bucharest, I will take an overnight bus to Sofia on flix bus, both of which are first time experience.
With a day in Sofia, Bulgaria, I will next move on to Nis, Serbia, arriving by bus at nightfall. Must remember to register myself at my Serbia hotel.
I will end my tour of Eastern Europe with a ryanair flight, again, to Milan, Italy, for a quick tour of the Italian city.
Moving on, I'll be taking an "overnight" ukraine airlines flight from Milan, Italy, departing at 4am, with a day's layover at their hub, Kiev, Ukraine, then onwards to Almaty. This gives me an opportunity to try out ukraine airlines twice on their shorthaul, overnight flights (to save costs) and also to visit Ukraine for the first time!
In addition, I'll be arriving in Almaty with two full days to explore Kazakhstan in Central Asia for the first time. Probably both Almaty and Astana.
I would have liked to visit Tashkent, Uzbekistan while in the vicinity. But flights between the Central Asia countries at quite expensive at the moment. Not sure why the budget carriers have not made their foray into these countries. Still looking out for cheap fares in this region.
The Asiana flight, which is the main highlight of this trip, will then bring me across the vast pacific ocean into the United States. I have previously visited the U.S. east and west coast multiple times. So I initially thought of visiting the Universal Studios in Orlando.
Just days earlier, I chanced upon another Norwegian flight, yes again, this time on the Newburgh-Shannon, Ireland transatlantic route for ~S$160. Upon some research, Newburgh is located further up north from New York city. And Norwegian actually operates a paid bus service to transfer its passengers from Manhattan to Newburgh airport in 2 hours. After some calculations, including the cost of this bus service, I decided to book the transatlantic flight.
Shannon airport is located east of Ireland, near to the famed tourist attraction cliff of moher, where I can easily visit. In fact, from my online research, the Irish big cities are all connected by reliable, long distance trains. So I'm looking forward to visit the Ring of kerry and the giant's causeway near Belfast as well. Looking forward to visiting Ireland for the first time!
After my tour of Ireland, I'll be moving on to London to catch my flight to Marrakech in North Africa. This will be my first foray into Morocco as well as Africa! I haven't yet settled on my itinerary for the 3 days in the country. Likely going to visit Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco. So excited !
After Morocco, it's back to London and then onwards to Gothenburg to position for my cheap turkish airlines flight, via Istanbul, to Seoul, South Korea. I have previously been to Istanbul, so I won't be visiting the city while in transit in both directions.
As I will be in South Korea again in this same trip, I will just wander around Seoul for a couple of hours, if at all, followed by an overnight bus to Busan for a day's tour before moving on to Osaka, Japan.
I will only have a few hours in Osaka before taking the airasia flight to Honolulu, Hawaii. Finally manage to visit Hawaii, first time !
After Hawaii, I will take a series of domestic american flights, transiting through San Francisco and Seattle, to reach Chicago for my returning flight on Asiana airlines. I'm hoping to visit Chicago for a couple of hours though.
My returning flight will bring me back to South Korea where I will have about 5 days to visit the country proper. I have previously visited the country twice, about 8 years ago, I think. So this time around, I'm thinking of visiting other cities in South Korea. Nothing planned yet for now.
After my tour of South Korea, I will be back on the turkish airlines flight to Gothenburg, Sweden for the last leg of my european trip.
I'm still leaving this unplanned as I'm unsure when I need or want to return home. So nothing is planned at the moment, save for a short flight from Copenhagen to Dublin, Ireland, where I'll probably explore Dublin.
Some days ago, I chanced upon aigle azul airlines with their flight from Paris orly to Beijing and Xi'An, China at an affordable fare. Though it's not yet bookable for travel in december. I would like to travel on it, if the opportunity ever arises.
Quite a haul of "first" experiences for me:
Firsts:
Airlines:
KLM
Malaysia airlines
Ukraine airlines
Asiana airlines
Easyjet (a budget airline in Europe)
Destinations:
Krabi, Thailand
Romania
Bulgaria
Serbia
Milan, Italy
Ukraine
Kazakhstan
Ireland
Morocco
Hawaii
Chicago
Yup. This is a long, long post. Goes to show how much thoughts went to it. I'm really excited at the thought of it. Fingers crossed!😀
