Go solo with no regrets...

Day 19

Sad to leave Slovenia, but guess I gotta keep moving if I want to see more of Europe. Next destination: Zagreb, Croatia. Got an 8am train and conked out immediately. Was woken up by some guards asking to see my passport at the border of Slovenia and Croatia. I thought these border checks were a thing of the past. The Slovenian guard tried scanning my passport several times in his little machine to no avail. It just wouldn't read. I was starting to get a little worried. What would happen? He then radioed something and spelt out my name. About five minutes of nervous waiting, he stamped my passport and handed it back. Crisis averted. Immediately after the Slovenian guard left, a Croatian guard came on and asked to see the passport. You'd think that if one country already approved it, it should be ok. Nevertheless I handed it over and got it stamped within seconds (no fancy machine for this guy). This whole border check took about half an hour so we were stuck in a stationary train meaning I got into Zagreb half an hour late. Not a big deal. At least I have more passport stamps!!

Slovenia: an unexpected delight...

Day 16

My alarm went off at 3:45am and I was surprisingly awake. Guess the fear of missing my stop was enough to forgo my usual snoozing pattern. The train attendant brought in breakfast which was completely unexpected but definitely welcomed. Ended up just having the tea and saving the croissants for later. If all overnight trains were like this, I'd probably make more overnight journeys. Saves a night of accommodation and also saves travel time allowing you a full day of sightseeing when you arrive.

Italian adventures...

Disclaimer: I can't get ready access to a computer while travelling, hence the lack of blog posts. However I'm now writing them on my phone so please excuse any words that don't make sense in sentences, they're probably auto corrects haha. I will try and keep more up to date with posts from now on (once I manage to catch up haha).

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Day 10

The plan was to get up at 7:30am to get the 9am train. Yeah, didn't happen. Ended up snoozing and finally ended up catching an 11am train. Highlight of my morning: having an entire conversation with a shopkeeper in German. Granted it was really simple German but nonetheless no English required.

The real Oktoberfest...

Day 4

So last I left off, I was considering whether to go via Liechtenstein on my way to Munich. In the end, I opted for a sleep in and stopped off in Zurich for two hours instead. My legs were still so sore from the hike/cycle a few days earlier that even in two hours, I wasn't able to see much of Zurich before I had to walk back to the train station. It was also the first time I had travelled wearing a backpack (also had my carry bag since I just wasn't able to pack light enough).

Money money money...

Day 3

Sleeping patterns still not adjusted. Went to bed at 2am in the hope that I would be so tired I'd wake up at a normal time. Woke up at 5am. Fail. Anyways, today was spent exploring Lucerne (even though I had seen it on my previous trip). My uncle and I decided to act like tourists and blend in with the busloads of Chinese tourists going through all the high-end stores. It's so hard to believe that people would pay so much for some of the items in these stores. The most extravagantly ridiculous item I saw was a watch for $200K. Who needs a watch adorned with diamonds?! Nevertheless, I'll be back to buy in the future when I have so much money that I have no idea what to do with it.

Living the active life in Switzerland...

Safely in Switzerland!! Apologies for any weird typing or symbols that may appear; I'm using a Swiss keyboard and a lot of symbols are switched around, as well as the letters Y and Z. Anyways, let us begin the recount...

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Day 1


The trip begins!! The flight from Sydney to Dubai was full, even on an A380. I was right in the middle of a huge soccer academy who I later found out were on their way to Manchester to play some matches. Pretty uneventful flight. Surprisingly I was able to sleep through most of the 14 hours which was quite odd given that I usually find it realy difficult to sleep on planes (unless I'm absolutely exhausted). I guess it's just me getting old haha.

The next adventure begins...

So last time I wrote, I had just finished my USA trip. I had also mentioned that while in NYC, I had received an email inviting me to a final interview with a new company. Well here's how it went down. I had a Skype interview with them the day after I flew back in Sydney, having to suit up in my own room and angle the camera away from all my wall hangings. It was also an odd sensation talking to a screen (which on their end would mean I was not making "eye contact" with them). All in all, it went well and I felt like I had left quite a favourable impression.