Back at home

Our trip has been wonderful, but now it is good to be back again.
Though... it is so dark here and unfortunately the huge amount of snow which was here a week ago, is melting, it is so good to see my mum and friends and to sleep in my own bed.

I am asked what was the greatest thing during the trip. No doubt, it was New Zealand. If i think back, what was the reason the land won my heart... there is not any special thing to name... just all together it is perfect place to be. Reminded me my childhood and beautiful summer days, visiting my grandparents in countryside. Birds singing. Smells of nature. Sunshine. Peace and harmony everywhere, and of the course the people, who are so much more handsome than we here are.

... but.. now it is time to go on with everyday routine here. Till the next trips and bye!!

25.11. my mate's birtday and leaving US, 26.11. London and reaching home

The date 25.11. started at 00am when i gave my hugs, a little gift and best wishes to Katri. In the morning we checked out from the hotel and headed to the restaurant. Birthday lunch was awesome - probably the best Italian food i've eaten, some champagne and much fun :)

And then it was time to say Good bye to the great city, also to US and take a seat for the next 10 hours in Virgin Atlantic's plane. The flight was ok (as i've said before it is routine already), watched some good films and read books and.. in the morning we had the most terrible breakfast. Seriously. It was something like a bun or a hamburger, but i bet it all was only chemistry. How can they eat such things?

We reached London, when it was nighttime by San Francisco time. Next 6-7 hours we spent going from Heathrow to Gatwick airport and spent an hour in the center as well. Katri went there shopping and i stayed a Pret A Manger cafe, enjoyed my tea and muesli and watched people. It was so fun to do it, though it was so hard to keep my eyes opened.
Flight from London to Tallinn was spent mostly sleeping, and here we are now - at home!!

It is so snowy here, almost like a winter fairy tale.

24.11. - San Francisco

Because of long flight and almost no sleep we slept until 11am. Wow, this was good. View from our 26th floor window was amazing: a bit foggy, but also sunny and all the City was in action. We had a fast breakfast next to Union Square, the portion of omelet and bacon was huuuuge. Like everything here is huge: people :), food portions, cars.
We spent some hours shopping in Union Square (it simlpy is not possible to avoid shopping here, all those great brands like Victroia's Secret, Gap, Sketchers etc put some additional weight to our luggage).

Then it was time for attractions. We jumped to a cable car, which is definetely San Francisco one must do things. Nice old-looking cable cars, going up and down the hills. We reached Grace Gathedral, one of the finest cathedrals here, around 5pm and spent some time admiring the majestic building. Then cafe and next attractions to head on. We had decided to see and walk on Golden Gate Bridge, the symbol of San Francisco. But getting there, pretty far from the main areas, could had taken at least an hour and we changed minds. What we did was going to Fisherman's Wharf, a place of entertainments and many restaurants next to the waterfront. Walking on a quay we could see in darkness some figures of sea lions and heard the weird noise what they did. From distance we also could see a lighthouse in Alcatraz prison.

Back to downtown with cable car, had an easy dinner and also made our choice for a restaurant, were to celebrate Katri's birthday tomorrow.

In our hotel room there later took place a fashion demonstration, lots of new things to try on and fun of making pics of the "event". And again packing, for the last time during this trip.

The second 23.11. in San Francisco (US)

It is not a joke, we really had 2 x the same day, 23th November 2008. We crossed the line, when date 23 goes back to date 22, somewhere close to Honolulu last night. Our flight from Auckland to San Francisco lasted for 13 hours, around 11 000 km and yes, during that night the time was changed and we reached San Francisco at midday 23th!

May sound absurd but that's how it is:
the flight came from Auckland on 23.11. at 19:30pm. I made a call home, to mum (aah, i know what i snowstorm there is at the moment, hard to imagine it in sunshine here..) and it was 23.11. 8:30am in Estonia.
And then we had a flight for 13 hours and reached San Francisco on 23.11. at 11:00am. ?????
It took me a while to think and understand it all, but yes, that's a short overview of different time zones and that's how it works.

I cannot say that i was happy to reach here. Was excited of course, but after 2 weeks in paradise even one of the sweetest US destinations San Francisco seemed pretty awful to me. It was suddenly all so different: noisy train, people who seem like they never smile and also sleepless last night in the plain.

But it all turned positive again when we had luck to find our hotel in this massive City very quickly and the hotel itself was the best we have had during the trip. Wow, what a view, soft sheets and perfect location as well.
We had a quick power sleep and had a walk and dinner in downtown later.
More exploring tomorrow and then.. back home on 25.11.

It is strange how 3 weeks away from home seem like more than they totally are. So many experiences, new people and new places to see. I feel like i've been away for some months already and that's good, that's real holiday.

Looking back to New Zealand

The land.

I would call it a blessed country. Its nature offers everything and because of its location, far from the rest of the world, it is so safe and peaceful being here.

Auckland – money capital and the city of the sails. Local people say that people in Auckland are not that nice than anywhere else in New Zealand (as Estonians say about people in Tallinn as well). May be true, may be not – it is very subjective i think. I've been treated very well and friendlily here and i can say that i really like the city.

Wellington – the capital, where the Parliament is. It did not seem that nice to me, but i think it is not fair to decide after spending there less than 20 hours.

Christchurch – it won my heart! It is lovely, green and homey. My number 1. Probably because i had enough time to sense it and had some very good contacts there.

Queenstown – just a small town with attractions which reminded to me some ski-centers in Europe, with lots of after-ski places.

The cities look wealthy, especially in center buildings look good, lots of nice and modern architecture buildings.

Roads are good, streets are easy to find and it is so clean everywhere and smells good! Even all bushes and trees almost shine like someone washes them up every night :)

One awesome thing here is that the stars in the sky look very bright. There are 2 extremely bright stars, close to each other, in the sky. I've noticed those in Estonia too, but never so bright.

The people.

The population of NZ is around 4 000 000 and 1 500 000 of them live in Auckland.

Generally are everybody very friendly and opened here. Here are many white people, many Maori (one Maori guy you can also see in a pic here) people and also very many people from Asia, black people not so many.

If you turn to somebody in a street and need to ask something, they always find time for you. I don't believe that it is all because we are tourists and bring money to their country. I cannot believe that money is so deep inside their heads that they smile to because of it. No way. They simply ARE trustful and sweet. I had luck to meet someone here, who shared my thoughts totally and said out some things to me, what i had been thinking about but still had not said out. Right things come in right time, as well as right persons saying right things.

One Newzealander told me that because of locating here, so safely far from other countries and doing their own things here, the people here are a bit far from understanding what life in this world really is, they trust too easily. Hm, there may even be some truth...

I have the same experience from my life, when i had studied for 8 years in a school in countryside and then i went to high-school to a city. It was different, i had been growing up in a safe place surrounded only by friends and suddenly it felt like i needed to compete.

So i do believe that life anywhere else – for example in Estonia, where people almost don't smile to you and are not the kindest – may be quite tough if someone moves away from here.

People look good. They look straight to your eyes and SMILE. So that all together, watching a Newzealanders in their action gave me back hope that the world has not turned upside down yet. They also seem intelligent, smart and self-confident, and that is the most attractive for me. They (and i mean now white people as we are) have their style how they look and behave, and i liked it.

And also about Australians, their closest neighbor: i think i didn't get finally what is it between NZ and AUS. Felt like a relationship of a bigger and a smaller brother, joking about each other. Hopefully there is nothing else, though i've heard some sentences said with sarcasm too. At least one pic here, made of a T-shirt here should show the attitude of Newzealanders :)

General.

I have heard siren of an ambulance or police here during these days maybe... 4-5 times. It is a city where approximately 1.5 million people live! In Tallinn it sometimes seems like one finishes and the next one starts...

Oh, and they have many very funny things here: traffic light which makes a sound like “kiuks” to let you know that it is time to go, they have funny old-looking windows and heaters in some older hotels, and sinks for running water with separate taps for hot and cold water (one pic of those too).

Cars are simple and mainly purchased for driving, not for show. So that's different from Estonia, almost can say no fancy cars here.

Food.

Food is just great, no doubt. And of course the wines, not to forget that these are new world wines and taste differently, and cider and beer are good.

I have never got such a tasty lamb as here, oh it melted in my mouth. After all – the food is very similar to our food. Eggs, ham, toasts, cheeses and muesli for the breakfast, all these taste like they taste at home. Also soups and salads are very much like in Estonia. Ice cream is very tasty and i specially liked buns with raisins, where to put on some whipped cream and jam. Mmmmm..

* * * * * *

The place made me believe in goodness again.

23.11. - Good bye, Kiwi land!

Sunday morning was perfectly sunny and warm, and i spent it in a church ceremony. Was lovely experience, met some really handsome people again and felt very homey founding out that the songs these people sing in churches here have the same melody as ours.

We had a lunch with Katri and later some shopping for some more gifts. It was terribly windy on that afternoon in Auckland and later the weather turned to colder and it started to rain heavily. Seems like right time to leave..?
Actually i felt sad it was already time to go. I had started to love this country and the people here.
PS this bird in the pic here is Kiwi, very shy and sweet bird of New Zealand. Newzealanders love them much and are called themselves Kiwis, almost every product here carries the name "kiwi".

22.11. - Auckland

It was one of the most beautiful days here, in New Zealand. Why? Just because of total peace of mind i've got here.

I woke up after a long good sleep, had breakfast in the hotel and ready to go on exploring Auckland. I started my walk going to downtown and spent an hour in a great book store. It was 3-floors store and so many lovely things: books, office stuff, diaries, notebooks, whatever.. I bought a diary for 2009 and a lovely book to write down my thoughts. So, good start for the weekend had been done and i couldn't wait for the moment when i reach to a park and can start writing. It is all because i have had lot of time for thinking here and i cannot miss writing thoughts down. And a nice place, where to sit and start writing, you can see here in a pic.

I also stepped into a Skycity cinema in Queen street and found out which movie to watch later. Also visited Auckland library (thank you, Neeme-Rain for an advice!) and was lucky to have some free internet (wrote down my last post here).

It was partly sunny, partly cloudy day and i spent some hours taking sun in Albert park.

Then i walked to another park, a bigger one called Auckland Domain and reached up a hill, to Auckland Museum. Until that time i had still missed Maori culture and now i could see it. This 3-floors majestic building offered everything: further and closer history of Maoris, information how the land of New Zealand came up, how the whites reached here and how it all changed then. One pic which shows wood made figures a la Maori you can see here.

Later in the evening i went to the cinema and later it was time to pack my things again. Still some gifts need to be purchased and then, good Bye New Zealand.

I have never felt that i don't want to go home. But i feel it now. And i would be very sad if i knew that i cannot come back here. I promise myself that i will come back one day. Seriously.

21.11. - Wellington-Auckland

In the morning i felt Wellington very nice place though. We had great breakfast in our cosy one night home, Tinakori Lodge. I would recommend it to everyone, really homey place to stay, friendly staff. Later we walked to Wellington Botanic garden and found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of colorful and good smelling roses. I also met a nice man with a dog there - oh, i miss my doggy so much and felt like i'd love to hug that quite one (dog, i mean :).

Then one more flight, the last inland flight actually, to Auckland. Flying is becoming routine here, must say. We were again lucky to have great weather here, some degrees warmer than in Wellington and as the sun is so bright here, it feels like really hot here.
Around 5pm i went jogging, a map in my hand and explored downtown. People were hurrying home, i was jogging there between them and life was so good!

Later we made ourselves beautiful :) and went to downtown. We found many nice places close to the waterfront, Viaduct Quay and had great Italian style dinner there. Later some dancing and talking with some interesting persons.

So, right at the moment we are having our last days in amazing New Zealand. I'm trying to make the best of it and to go out now, take some more sun.

PS Will add some pics and summary about New Zealand here very soon, just need a bit time to take all thoughts together and then write down here.

20.11. - Queenstown-Wellington

Last night in Queenstown ended up with a bottle of good red wine for 2 and a wonderful dinner. I have never eaten so tasty lamb before :)

We had some hours in the morning to pack things again and to reach airport. Then our short flight brought us to Wellington, to the capital of New Zealand. We reached lovely quest-house, which had small garden with roses. We drank a tea and took some sun, and found a good Indian place to have a dinner.

Later we walked to the center, our place had really good location and it took hardly 15 minutes to reach Parliament buildings etc. The center was very quiet, felt like Sunday evening though it was not. The city is beautiful, nice buildings and clean streets everywhere. But i cannot say what it exactly feels, sometimes like the world is really upside down and the people, even very nice, look a bit weird :)

19.11.- the last day on the track and reaching back to Queenstown

It was a day to have a boat trip in Milford Sound, while we saw again great rocks, mountains, waterfalls and seals on the rocks.

We headed on to Queenstown, said Good bye to our great tour guides and all those lovely people, whom we had met and reached back our hotel.

So, time for communications and the blog again... and later we'll see what Queenstown has to offer us.

I found a video, made on the same track, from Youtube. Watch it, gives good overview!

18.11., the forth day on the track and longest way 21 km to go

On that morning we had to wake up very early again, at 6:30, was still dark outside.

The track of that day was the easiest, just walking, only sometimes over rocks and stones and the weather was good. Sunny and around 15 degrees. So we finally had a day, when it was shining all the day and i also needed to use sunblock. It is unbelievable, how easy it is to get a tan here – the sun is extremely strong here indeed!

Soon my boots started to hurt me more and more and i took them off and passed the next (and last) 10 miles wearing my flip-flops. Everybody were wondering how could i do it. Ok, it was harder a bit, but possible.

And there it finally was – the sign of 33.5 miles!! We had done it!! So our hard work was over and after a short pause a boat took us to the last place to stay for the night. It was Mitre Peak Lodge, a hotel with warm rooms and a bath in our room!! :) Simple things rule again!

In the evening we had a great dinner and i could finally taste New Zealand lamb, which was soooo tasty! We also got certificates, changed contacts with and had really nice evening all together. It has been so great here.

17.11. the third and the hardest day on the track, 16 km

Sleep was great, though a bird Kea was almost screaming outside all the night long and our bunk room was pretty cold. 12 degrees or something :) We had taken 2 blankets on and it was really great to lay there, breathing fresh air.

The day started really early, we had hard work to do. We all cheered up because the sun was shining – pretty different than last evening, with huge amount of water coming down from the sky. So we started the track to forests, which was so wild, just like i had seen in the Lord of the Rings. Our track went up and up and up, we needed to reach the highest point of the track Mackinnon pass 1154 meters.

As we kept moving, it was warm at first. Then, climbing up and up the temperature turned to colder, and doing zigzags towards the top, it soon started to snow and plants around the track changed completely.

Reaching the top, we had our lunch and followed the track with good feeling – the sun, what had disappeared when it started to snow, came out again and it felt like an early spring day. Lovely! But coming down of the top was not that easy as i had thought, need to be very careful on every step. At 2:30pm there it was – our third place to stay overnight. Simple things ruled again: coffee, hot shower, much time for relaxing. Some of us walked to see the Sutherland falls, which is the world's 5^th higest waterfall at 540 meters but i did not. I was too lazy to go, happy with my book and writing for my blog. After the dinner (oh, what an awesome beef we had!) and a glass of wine i was falling down at 9pm. I fall asleep here in 5 minutes! :)

16.11. the second day on the track, 16 km

It was raining when we got up at 6:45am. We hoped it to stop and started soon our track, having packed ourselves to .... We had 16 km-s to go on the day. Our foot and clothes stayed dry for about an hour, then everything turned to more and more wet. And soon we were totally wet. Was important to keep on moving all the time, otherwise it was really cold and very uncomfortable. But it was half of the fun and everybody managed it very well.

Thanks to the rain we got amazing views of hundreds of waterfalls coming down from high mountains. Soon we passed some points, water until knees, but survived and made the most of it. I have never heard and said myself only words: fascinating, wonderful, amazing, awesome, magnificent, fantastic but it happened on that day. Just when you think there cannot be any more wonderful scenery – you see again a new picture and say “Awesome!!”
Reaching to the next sleeping point at 3pm was greatest thing to happen – totally wet, put your clothes to drying room, have a hot shower and tea... and just relax in a dry room with nice people who have just arrived from the same surviving test. Wow!

15.11. - start of "the finest walk of the world" Milford track 53.3 km

Finally i feel that im in the right time zone. Oh it's wonderful to be, when your eyes are hurting because of too few sleeping hours and you can sense everything with every part of your body. I woke up, it was 6am and the sun was shining. What a view from room's balcony to a big lake and birds singing, and smells of flowers!! After breakfast i tried to put on some new texts about last days, bad internet had gone off and i was happy not to get into it. So real vacation has started, without communications for next 5 days. Awesome!
Our tracking group came together at 9am and we were taken to lake Te Anau by bus. Driving there was beautiful: scenery views on left an right, fields and mountains, many lambs and especially quite baby lambs (spring lambs) everywhere. They have around 40 000 000 lambs here, it is approximately 10 lambs per 1 New Zealander! The boat ride was great, soon we reached the other side of the lake where the track started. Our first day on track was only 1 km to walk and soon we reached Glade house, the first house to stay for the night.

We go a room for 3 girls: Katri, Christin from Germany and me. Christin had been travelling and learning English in New Zealand for 2 months already and we had a lot interesting to hear from her. All our group together was 19 persons + 3 tour guides. There were people from everywhere: Australia, Japan, US, UK, New Zealand, Germany and of course Estonia. Was great to talk with about whatever people may be interested in during these days: politics, religion, traveling.. We also had a short walk around Glade house on that evening, when we got to know about different trees. Leaves of some of them taste like pepper, another one smelled like a pine though it had leaves. We also tasted a stream water and as here is not pollution, it is drinkable everywhere on the track. In the evening, after dinner, there was an introducing part and i with Katri, from a tiny land Estonia from the other side of the world, were pretty interesting for people from big countries.
All evenings here end up at 10pm, when the generator is switched off. Fun!

14.11. - Christchurch-Queenstown

We needed to wake up very early because check out time in this hotel was 10am. Found a nice coffee to have a breakfast, to sit in sunshine and watch people. Great way to spend a morning, isn't it?

Later we just relaxed in the maw of Cathedral Square and enjoyed sun. I also spent an hour in the cathedral, oh i love it. Wrote 2 postcards and posted them to the mailbox which you can see here.

Some hours later went our plain to a small south island town Queenstown, to the capital of entertainment. We flew for an hour over mountains and could see mountain tops very closely. As our last night had been extremely short, we headed to hotel and after dinner fell asleep.

13.11. - Auckland-Christchurch

We woke up and had a breakfast in the hotel. Also made a little walk outside – weather was nice, around 18 degrees. Took a shuttle to airport and had a flight to Christchurch, called gardens city.
I loved the city from very first moment: many trees, blossoming bushes and flowers. Our hotel SO was perfectly situated in the center, few steps from main attractions like Cathedral Square.
Our hotel, oh it was an excitement! It had very modern style and it took us some time to understand how to put on and shut down lights in the room :) But two heads are two heads, so that we succeeded finally. Had also some sleep and started a walk around in the evening.
We walked to Cathedral Square and we lucky to be there on right time. A Japanese pianist's concert was just about to start in the Cathedral. We got good seats and enjoyed it very much.

Later we stepped into a wine bar which was really good, with great live music. Had some great New Zealand wine and found some nice company. I like people here – they come to you, if they wish to talk with you and they say it out sincerely. Very friendly and easygoing people. We also reached a night club, Fat Eddie's or something like that. It happened to be a public holiday in the county on Friday, so that everybody were parting. It was interesting to see people, who anyway are very opened in a party – everybody comes and hugs you, it seems like they all know you for a long time already. OK, alcohol does its work, i agree, but still i like the attitude. And the people ARE more friendly than anywhere else i've been.

12th November, Auckland (New Zealand)

Flight from Singapore to Auckland lasted for 8-9 hours, flying over Australia itself took half of the time. Was interesting to watch where are we flying, it is sooooo far from home :) But still, if you fly like we do it, stopping for some days in half way, it is not so awful at all and flying seems quite nice. I am even not afraid of turbulence anymore.

We reached Auckland at midday, sun was shining and it was warmer than i had expected, 18 degrees when we landed. The airport was small but lovely, and we could also meet some Maori's in the airport. Seem friendly, as everybody else here.

We took a shuttle and reached our hotel in 15 minutes. At first glance none of us could decide what Auckland looks like: a bit like London, a bit like Cape Town and the grass smelled like in Estonia :) Our hotel is very well located so we have only few steps to downtown. We walk to downtown to have a quick dinner and wow, it was beautiful to walk there. Somehow it seems very safe and quite here, total chilling place.
It still takes time to get use to the time zone where we are right now, at the moment it is 2:41am (13:41pm in Estonia) and i feel that maybe soon i'm gonna get some sleep.

11th November, bye Singapore

11th in Singapore was another rainy day. Have to say that rainy here means much better than rainy in Estonia: it is wet but also very hot. Makes skin feel good.
I started the day with a huge coffee and breakfast, i mean huge because i ordered regular latte but it was like 3 liters of coffee:) Later had some hours reading time in pool area and did again a good swimming workout. Usual needs. Later we spent some hours in the hotel spa again (sauna lover as we north people are) and then it was time to grab a cap and head to airport. It was 6pm, getting slowly dark. It is the most beautiful time of a day here i think.
So we said good bye to beautiful, wealthy and clean Singapore, which i had really-really liked and had some nice time obviously in one of the best airports in the world. They think of everything here: lounge areas for everybody, wireless, hundreds of great shops and good smell. I could notice the same everywhere in Singapore: plastic bags for wet umbrellas, jogging maps in hotel... can't remember all those tiny good matters which make feel comfortable and safe.

Singapore, 10th November

It was one very rainy day in Singapore, was raining and raining.. So we spent some hours in the hotel's spa and as there was nobody swimming in the outdoor pool, i was the lucky to swim there and got pretty good workout done. It was really fun to swim when it was raining :)
Then, some hours later we starting walking to Orchard road - to the shoppers paradise as they name it. There are are only hotels and big shopping malls in the street, one bigger than another. Of course we could not avoid spending money there and got really tired of walking from one shop to the next one. In a shopping mall we found a big dining place, with tens different kitchens and choosing one from all of them was really difficult. Everything seemed so interesting and exciting, but definitely all those dishes were not right for us. I chose chicken with coconut milk and lemongrass, which i had tried in Thailand. Was delicious with rice! Katri took noodles with some sauce and meat (beef?). We happened to sit in the same table with a Chinese couple and had really nice talk with them. Very chatty man started to ask where are we from, he had traveled a lot in Europe, but still had not been in Estonia.
Soon it was already very late in the evening and we hurried back home. Tired and happy, having lots of nice moments to remind later.

Some facts about Singapore, very beautiful and wealthy state/city: the name Singapore got its name on 14th century. According to a legend, a prince set foot on an unknown island and named it "Singa Pure" ("Lion City") after a magnificent animal (thought to be a lion) here. The total land area of Singapore is 682.7 sq km. It is as among the 20 smallest countries in the world. Hee, quick calculations, our small Estonian is approximately 80-90 times bigger :) and the population here is 4.84 mln.

Soon we will say good bye to Singapore and continue our journey to the main destination New Zealand.

Singapore 9th November

We slept until 2pm and had really late breakfast. It was really hot outside, more than 30 degrees i think. So after a good meal we continued our first day in Singapore in hotel's outdoor swimming pool and took sun until 6pm. Oh it was great time there, wasn't too hot thanks to some foggy clouds.

We also did some reading in sunset light and during the day one of us said again something like “Oh, life is beautiful” or “Wow, what a vacation!” When it was dark, we got ready for a walk in the center.

Took a taxi and reached soon to Clarky quay, our taxi-driver had recommended to visit the place (he pronounced it more like Kaki :) ) and it was really fun place. Many dining places and bars, pretty many people walking and chilling there. The place was next to Singapore river, so we walked on both sides of the river and chose a Japanese dining place. Katri tried one salad with sashimi and was happy with it. I took a Japanese version of tiramisu, which was... hm.. interesting. We both injoyed a glass of Australian white wine and it was getting more and more fun :)

But the real fun started when we wanted to get back to the hotel. I think it was 2-3 kilometers distance to go and we found a bike-taxi with very cheerful driver. The bike-taxi had also loudspeakers with disco music and we only laughed and laughed, i think many people who saw us laughing and heard the music, cheered up too :) Our way went through main shopping area, Orchard road – it means that now we now were to go shopping.

Tallinn-London-Singapore 7th and 8th November

Our trip started on 07.11. morning from Tallinn airport, where we both - me and Katri - made our last calls, said bye to dear people who will wait us back home and then it started.

All together we were going to have 10 flights, 4 of them longer than 10 hours. The first flight was to London. We reached Stansted airport at midday, took a bus to the center and had 3-4 hours free time. London was super as always, a bit warmer than Tallinn and sunny. We sat in a caffee for some time, watching people who had finished a workweek and hurried where-ever. We steped into a lovely Westminster Cathedral, lighted a candle and prayed that everything could go well with us. It was getting dark and we started to head from Victoria station to Heathrow airport. And we had so much fun together :) Just laughing at usual things which never seem funny at home, but on holiday are different.

And then we started our 13 hours lasting flight from London to Singapore with a plain, where are around 470 seats. OK, i've seen massive plains before but this one surprised us in every step: socks for sleeping, toothpaste, TV/computer system with option for ieach traveller to choose your own film, music, computergames. With that flight we left 6761 miles (more than 11 000 km-s) behind and reached luckily Singapore today, just some minutes before it got dark. And the feeling was as it always has been in Asia: you get like a blower with hot air to your face when you step out of the plain. Our hotel is fine, with a swimming pool and with very good location.
So.. today we are terribly tired and will have a long sleep, and will start taking sun and exploring Singpore tomorrow. We have time for that almost 3 long days. And it is 31 degrees here!!

Greetings to you all, who you read it. You will hear about us soon again. A.

Freedom

Starting from today i am free!!!! Bags are almost packed, i feel that i´m ready-ready-ready for that great trip.
And so here i am, drinking a glass of wine in a dark November evening, thinking that starting from tomorrow my days will be full of my own doings.
I´ve been having really crazy days here and hopefully these are over now.

And still... life is beautiful and exciting. It is. It is definitely!!