holiday trip! now, with my own pictures!

traveling as much as it is fun and exciting is also exhausting. nevertheless, it is still worth all the sweat, money, time and other stuff that comes with it.

the lack of couches in Rome also opened my eyes to the benefits of hostel-ing, meeting roommates from everywhere...mostly Brazilians and other South Americans

let me post the time frame from the beginning of my holiday trip for 2009-2010.

December 16 - flew to Charleroi Airport in Brussels, Belgium from Venice Treviso Airport

December 20 - took the TGV to Lille from Brussels Midi Station after a very exhausting attempts to buy my ticket for the train which I eventually didn't pay; met Corinne and Maica after arriving in Lille

December 25 - off to Paris...we tried to hitchhike to Paris but eventually gave up as we did not know how to get to the correct highway and time was running out; eventually took the TGV to Paris; we were picked up by Antoine and his dad to stay in their house for the coming days

December 28 - from Saint Germain, outskirts of Paris, we moved to rue St. Denis, center of Paris and red-light district..couchsurfing with Julien
December 31 - we moved back to Antoine's in Saint Germain as we had no other option! basically just slept for a few hours after spending New Year's Eve in the center; Eiffel tower then Champs Elysees...Banana!

January 1 - Travel tip: Never forget to check in Ryanair 15 days to 4 hours before your flight...basically, we forgot to check in for our flight to Barajas Airport in Madrid from Paris Beauvais Airport and had to pay 40 euros each for them to print our boarding pass...flight was delayed 2 hours; stayed at tita Lia Limcauco's house until the 7th

January 5 - day trip to Toledo by bus

January 6 - day trip to Segovia by bus; had to sleepover the airport to catch my flight at 7am to Brussels

January 7 - flight from Barajas Airport to Charleroi Airport; spent the day waiting for my flight at 6pm after arriving in Brussels at 9am...finally decided to explore Charleroi and saw the center and went to the grocery after seeing the sales everywhere; flight to Rome Ciampino from Charleroi...stayed at Federico's brother, Stefano with his girlfriend, Erika at Fiumicino, my desperate plea for a couch to surf yielded this from a good friend from Erasmus Student Network

January 9 - moved to Hotel Alessandro after meeting another lone traveller, Felipe from Brazil, who recommended the place; met a couchsurfer, Daniele Ferrando at his bar with the view of the dome of St. Peter's

January 10 - went around Rome on a scooter with the Daniele

January 12 - flight to Venice Treviso from Rome Ciampino

now, im back home...need to study but can't wait for my next trip...

i also just came back from snowboarding yesterday and my body is very very sore...loved snowboarding by the way

i took these pictures myself!
oh and do ask first if anyone would like to use my pictures...

goes and wanders

scootering...

just came from scootering around the city of Rome!

it was too cool that a smile was plastered on my face the whole ride...

my friend from Couchsurfing had his scooter and picked me up in Republicca then we went around the main areas and the not so known areas...

it was especially cool to see this keyhole where when you look in, the dome of st.peters is perfectly framed with an arc of vines...these things aren't written on any guide i have seen and that's why i love couchsurfing!

goes and wanders

PARIS-MADRID-ROME

too much to write in so little time....

have to get back to writing after this i get back from ROME....

now i am in a hostel in the center of Rome after staying over a friends place for two nights and after sending tons of couchsurfing requests and getting no positive response...

bad bad weather...baaah...

updating soon...christmas day in Lille, New Year's in Paris, Delayed flight to Madrid, sleeping in airports...

goes and wanders

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

today, we hitchhike to PARIS!

goes and wanders

brussels-france

i came in Lille yesterday around 5pm with the TGV train from Brussels after all the hassle in the South station of Brussles. Good thing my hosts were really really nice...i really have to go and get them something for all their kindness! i wouldnt have known what to do if they werent there to help...

the tram was late and full, the trains were also late...all becau

se of this damn snow. when i got to the station, good thing Zak was there when me and Salim arrived. we tried getting a ticket but took too long then went up the platform to try and buy there but the train was 15mins late so we went down again but when we finally got to the window, the man said he couldnt sell anymore tickets to the train i needed to take...so, up again to the platform and just got on the train with no ticket...i intended to pay but the man who was supposed to sell me the ticket did not find me! oh well, the hassl

e was the payment, i guess...in the train, i met a couple of people who had no ticket too!

when i arrived, corinne and maica met me in the station and then we walked back to their flat...

sinigang and adobo for dinner! then international get together with their friends...met some italians and talked italian!! haha...i was so psyched with the fact that i carried on conversations in italian!!!

it's snowing again but got to make most of my stay here! oh and my phone started working again..in belgium i guess, my network had no partners...

while planning what to do for xmas and new years

goes and wanders

brrrrgium

i spent my first day walking around and exploring... i got in around 1030 in Charleroi and took the shuttle to the center of brussels. from there i got on the line 5 of the metro to Thieffry where Jean Baptiste, my host, lives...

had a bad start to that day, ripped a shirt and had to sew it back right before i was set to leave, i didnt sleep so as not to oversleep for the 530am bus to the airport but as i boarded he bus, got too tired, slept and woke up when the bus already passed the airport...good thing the end of the line was not too far fro, the airport. realizing i was too early for my flight, i just slept again. boarded, took pics of the dolomites, landed and realized my phone does not instantly go on roaming...baaaaah...why is it that there has to be so much fuss for the networks here??? countries are all close together anyway...now, i have to struggle with having no phone

and not to mention how freaking cold it is here! it was snowing yesterday when i arrived at Jean Baptiste's flat and right now, i have to be in my jeans over my jogging pants over my longjohns over my shorts over my briefs because it is snowing again!!!

the pic up there is not one which i took as i couldn't be bothered to upload pics now...but it is where i was last night...the center had a blue christmas tree and the building to the lit up with moving lights, making it seem like it was dancing...

off to salim's place this afternoon...another couch to surf

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back in the air

i'm off to fly to brussels in a few hours...
yet another 'vietnam trip' for me...not knowing my exact plans are, not knowing much about the country...oh well...

i'm going to be in brussels until the 20th or earlier then heading down to france...or maybe going up to amsterdam...or east to germany...i really don't know and i like it that way...but i stay in that side of europe until the 7th of january, then im off to Rome! 12th im back to padova! back to packing...

goes and wanders