Europe and Middle East done (but cost me what?!)...

Now that I'm back home, so begins the inevitable tallying up of my expenses of my 80 day trip. I might just say that I'm really pedantic when it comes to this kind of stuff, and I actually recorded my expenses daily in my notebook while travelling, both what it was that I paid for and how much it cost. As such, I was able to transpose that all into an excel spreadsheet, before I could play around with the numbers. Gotta admit, I actually quite enjoyed playing around with my excel spreadsheet. It's just so satisfying when the formulas work and you find out interesting things in your data. Haha I sound like such a nerd. Anyways, because of my pedantic record keeping while on the road, I was able to break down and analyse my expenses according to city, as well as expense type, which was broken down into food, transport, accommodation, sightseeing, entertainment, souvenir, gift, miscellaneous and leftover. Like I said, "pedantic".

Dubai, the final leg...

Day 76

Said my goodbyes to Fetty and Fadzli as I checked in for my flight (within a minute - the airport was just empty), and headed through to wait for my flight back to Dubai. Slight delay but not like I had anything urgent to attend to in Dubai. An hour flight later and I was back in Dubai. Clearing immigration was simple once again, although the guy was pretty interested in my ethnic background. He seemed genuinely confused that I called myself an Australian when I was clearly Asian. Landing back in Terminal 2, I was told there would be shuttle buses to the larger terminals where I could get the metro. They never came. Ended up taking a taxi to the metro instead.

9 years too early for the World Cup...

Day 70

Given the extravagance of Dubai Airport's Terminal 1 and 3 (their "international" terminals), you would expect that Terminal 2 (for budget and "domestic" flights to Abu Dhabi and the surrounding Gulf nations) would be similarly fashioned. Not so. Pretty small and drab. But I guess I wasn't really there to check out the airport or duty-free. I was only an hour flight from Doha, Qatar, and seeing my sister (Fetty) and brother-in-law (Fadzli), along with my nephews (Adam and Aqil) and niece (Iris), and that was all I cared about. They had relocated there Fadzli's work, and had been there for about a year.

Goodbye Europe, hello Middle East...

Day 66

Said my goodbyes to Elina and bid farewell to London. My flight was to fly out of Luton Airport (quite a way out from the city) but I had booked a shuttle bus so no issues. No dramas with check in and security, although I was able to get a bottle of water through the scanner. Guess they don't check the bags that carefully. Boarded my Easyjet flight and in no time, I was back in Emmenbrucke and doing an afternoon cycle through the Swiss forests, before settling down in my relatives' restaurant and enjoying a delicious dinner and a night of recounting my many adventures. That's pretty much it for Day 66, you don't do much when it's a travel day. Although as I unpacked my backpack and did laundry, it hit me that my trip was coming to an end (well, the Europe component at least). Scary. I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave. There's always more to see.

Musical binge in London's West End...

Given that I did most of the London attractions last time (not that I didn't do them again this time), I will refrain from elaborating too much about them. However, what was different about this trip was that I splurged on musicals and shows, and took advantage of what London's West End had to offer. I feel like this blog post will be more about the different shows that I saw, so apologies in advance if that doesn't interest you. I did see some new sights, so I will also speak about Hyde Park, Science Museum, Greenwich and the Harry Potter Studios.

Viva la France...

Day 56

Slept through my alarm so didn't leave the apartment until a bit after midday. Given that my Musuem Pass expired today, I dedicated today to mainly museums, as well as a few attractions which were covered. Climbed up the towers of Notre Dame to check out the view as well as the stone chimeras. Apparently gargoyles are used for water drainage and since these beasts were purely for decoration, they were chimeras. I was also up there when Quasimodo rang the bells which was quite an experience.

Paree 'olds ze key to your 'eart...

 Day 51

Another travel day. Honestly it is so draining after a while. At least today was only a 90 minute flight (as opposed to train or bus), but throw in all the airport procedures and the time drags out. But hey, I should just be thankful that I even get to travel. And my destination was Paris, one of my favourite cities, and be surrounded by so many people speaking French!! Sexy. And I would get to see Tash and Aniqa again which was even more exciting!!