As I’ve mentioned before, I’m planning a trip to London-Paris with my mother this September. Well, it is God’s will for us to go there since we got the visas. ^^ Actually, it is a bit late, we got the French visa just the other week ago. ^^; It has been a wishy-washy ‘to go or not to go’ because earlier, a lot of people are telling us not to go since it isn’t safe and we cannot do it with just the two of us. The one I’m more interested in going, turns out to be not that ‘safe’ and that is Paris. ^^; It isn’t reassuring that before we applied for visas, there is a report of some mainland Chinese being attacked in Paris. Asians seem to be likely targets. Neither is it reassuring after reading all sorts of horror internet posts, and stories from people we know about pickpocketing, scams, aggressive beggars among other things there. I didn’t know if it is really that bad. ^^;; Or, is it? It can be said that it is common in large cities but then, being a tourist seems to be a liability.
I’m really wondering if I can still enjoy it since I always have to be on guard from bad people. Lol, we even got bags that are difficult to pickpocket that we, ourselves, have difficulty in opening them. =P And recently, it seems UK is jittery about terrorist attacks. ^^;;; So, I just let it be God’s will wherein we’ll go if we get the visas. It also took a lot of planning on my part hence, the reason why the summaries are slightly delayed these few months. It was also somewhat hectic since the visas want the itinerary and other information. The London embassy wants to compute the costs of the trip. So, more research plus the hotels, areas, etc since I totally have no idea about the places except their famous tourist spots. This will be my first trip outside of Asia and we are not joining a tour. I had to research a lot of the places I want to go, know most part of the city where this and that are, and plot out the itinerary. My mother’s wants are quite basic = pass by the important tourist spots and window shopping. =P
In order to minimize asking for help, I even had to check all of the buses/trains that we are going to ride on and map out the route to go here and there. Ah, the internet is quite useful with google maps, trip advisor, online train/bus sites of both cities, etc. I can virtually imagine the whole trip that even if I didn’t go, I think I can confidently pretend to have gone and talk about it with someone who went to both places. Lol Ah, but then, I have mixed feelings if we didn’t get the visas and all that time + energy spent on the research. ^^;; Of course, there is no perfect trip but I hope and pray that we have the energy and time to do the important parts of the itinerary. ^^ This is probably the first trip that I’ll be praying hard for everything to go smoothly and especially our safety including our money and passports. Unlike in Hong Kong, we won’t be able to blend in and I’ll be playing tourist guide to places that I also have not gone before. In short, I’m anxious yet excited. ^^
We originally planned this trip at the end of September. Then, my younger sister also kind of wants to accompany us even if she had already gone there before. We would want that since the more the merrier, and probably, lesser chance of being a target. I’ve adjusted it to the 20th when she is available. And, her son has some recital by then. So, it ended up from the 8th to the 18th. The last day is pretty much just on the airplane on the way back. ^^; It should be longer but then, the costs and worry about the places kept us wishy-washy about it and somehow, it ended up to just 10 days. Also, something came up for my sister so she ended up not coming with us. ^^; By the way, originally, the major trip for this year is supposed to be Hokkaido in July. The tour agencies, which we want to join with, didn’t have it this year. My mother casually said that we go to Paris instead since that is the European country she hasn’t been to and she thinks that the cost is pretty much the same. So, that is how it started.
We checked the ticket prices to London since there was a mention of promos for that place from a certain local airline. My mother is shocked by the cost and started to become hesitant. She casually asked my cousin about it. Another shock, the cousin willingly wants to give me her mileage for the plane ticket. Later on, it became for the two of us. Then, much later on, it included all the taxes and other miscellaneous fee. As my mother said, it is like a gift from heaven since this is a cousin, whom we are not that close with, yet she would suddenly do that. Of course, it helps that my mother works part time at their company =P And, a couple of weeks ago, an uncle suddenly dropped by to visit us. After not agreeing that only the two of us will go to the trip, he suddenly gave us some pocket money. Ah, it is really like God has been helping us along. ^^
That’s the short story of everything. Anyway, I did the summaries that I can work on before leaving. We’ll be on an early morning flight tomorrow so I have to finish packing things up today. The rest of the summaries will just have to wait until we come back. Oh ya, as usual, I’ll be activating the CAPTCHA for the tagboard to prevent spams while I’m away. If the posts had become overwhelming and deleted, sorry if I won’t be able to read them since the number of posts are limited. So, back to regular stuff when I get back ^^ We'll be back late in the afternoon of September 18. I'm not sure if I can write a summary after a 16-hour flight so most probably, I can do it on the 19th starting with the easier to do summaries. So, until then~
Word of the day:
Keep your soul invigorated with the fresh air of change and challenge. ‘Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth. Isaiah 43:19’ ~ 101 mottos for success by J. Richards and M.S. Fontaine.