Wayfaring: Still

Leavenworth, the Bavarian Village

December 5, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

The penultimate Saturday of my work trip in the US saw us driving to Leavenworth, a town located in central Washington with the entire town centre completely modelled after a Bavarian village in the 1960s. Naturally this town became a major tourist attraction with festivals and activities organised year round to keep up the hype. P really wanted to visit for the beer and the sausages while I was sold when I heard about the Christmas lightings. Since it wasn’t too far a drive from Everett, we left it as one of our final day trips before we flew home.

It was very scenic along the way since Leavenworth is located within the Cascade Mountains and was an apt precursor to how the town would look like. As usual, I didn’t embark on any research, leaving all the decision-making to P our exceedingly competent trips organiser. We made a quick stop at the entrance to the town to take pictures of and with this welcoming board.

*A signature Bavarian building decked in Christmas decor*
*along the main street of the town.*

We walked into the town and saw the signature Bavarian architecture along the beautiful main street. It felt like we were instantly transported to the European continent. The multitude of visitors ambling about was evident of the popularity of this town as a weekend getaway. Apparently everyone shared the same braincell: most of us wanted to arrive at the town early enough to enjoy the atmosphere while there was light but were all eagerly awaiting the Christmas light-up.

*Taking a picture with Father Christmas.*

It looked like the children were having loads of fun sledding down the gentle slopes and I envied them. To be honest, I wished I were a child again, living in the moment with no cares in the world except for going down the slope as quickly as possible and making a splendid landing. Also, I was secretly envious of the way they were all warmly bundled up because I was starting to feel the chills, having been out in the open for a while. My two companions were feeling the same way, so we started exploring the retails shops instead, admittedly it was mostly for their heated spaces.

By and by, the small town got more and more crowded as visitors drove their way here before dark and getting harder to move around with hindrance.The sun was setting, so was the temperature dipping rapidly. Most revellers began drinking German beer or mulled wine to keep warm, but since I enjoyed neither, I continued suffering the cold in silence. It was an unfortunate circumstance that the sausage bun I ate did little to elevate my little problem that was frozen fingers.

And night fell. Everyone gathered and huddled closely together in the central square and in the darkness, waited with frozen, bated breath for the instance when we would be greeted with the awesome Christmas lights. We were not disappointed; the atmosphere was magical and brought back fond memories of what I felt as an eleven-year old in California Disneyland near Christmas. This was even better, with real snow!

I took a gazillion number of pictures after the light-up but only these few made the cut. The difficulty of taking pictures at night is very real for an amateurish photographers, and it showed in how many of them I had to painfully reject. Few there might be, they were enough to bring back the memories of that evening in the magical town nestled within the Cascade Mountains. Although I’m not fond of driving in winter, I would love to bring the mister back to visit one day.

Visiting Microsoft HQ

November 22, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Washington is world-famous for three things originating from this state – Starbucks, Boeing and Microsoft. It’s probably no big deal to some people, but since we found ourselves in this state, we decided to visit the Microsoft HQ in Redmond. In particular One Microsoft Way, which we learnt from the Microsoft website is where it is situated.

For some reason or another, it was extremely cold there in Redmond, to the extent that I was opting to wear my gloves all the way. Both Peter and Desmond were lamenting over how they had forgotten their gloves again. Unfortunately there was absolutely no way I was giving up my gloves to share with them. Not that I’m selfish, but I’d probably end up even colder than they were, without my gloves. Furthermore I really didn’t think they could fit into my kids’ sized gloves.

*The numerous buildings within the compound.*

The whole place is just huge! It was so vast that we got quite hopelessly lost. We simply didn’t know where to go and where to start. So we decided we should just start with Building 1 and then proceed to Building 44 for some photo-taking. We thought there were 44 buildings in total, but apparently we were wrong since on our drive out of the massive campus, we noticed a Building 50. To hazard a guess we think there could be a total of 50 Buildings in Microsoft HQ in Redmond.

For those aspiring to work for Microsoft, please proceed to Building 19. Well, yes they have a building dedicated to the purpose of recruitment. Out of sheer curiosity, we decided to check out the positions available. Microsoft was looking for cleaners. Any takers?

We found Building 1 as well, but we simply could not locate the street One Microsoft Way. The closest we found was the street sign that said MICROSOFT WAY. Close enough, I reckon.

After satisfying our curiosity on how the campus of Microsoft corporate headquarters looked like, we left for Bellevue Square for a spot of shopping. Apparently men shop too, but mainly for their wives and girlfriends.

Olympia – The Capital of WA

November 21, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Our day started early since it was the day Y was returning to Singapore and needed to be at the airport at 8.30am. Two other colleagues from a sister company decided to join us today and we wasted no time after depositing Y and his luggage, to proceed to Olympia the capital of Washington State.

ToD-Olympia004 — *The imposing City Hall building.*

ToD-Olympia002 — *It was turning cold and the leaves were changing hues.*

The first place we went to was the City Hall. We signed up for a tour around the building and had a rather concise history lesson about the State of Washington.

The state Washington, otherwise know as the Evergreen State, was the 42nd state to join the United States of America. All the chandeliers and lights in the building are from Tiffany’s and they are now priceless although they only cost USD5,000 and USD10,000 respectively in the 1920s.

ToD-Olympia016 — *The Olympia Highlanders.*

We were very fortunate to have met the Olympia Highlanders, who were at the City Hall to take their official band pictures (note: Highlanders are Scottish descendants whose clans originated from the highlands in Scotland).

Now, on normal days under normal situations, I would most certainly appreciate the music from the bagpipes… but playing indoors in a building shaped like a dome was simply a recipe for disaster. I suppose I learnt something from this scenario, that bagpipes are meant to be played in the open air, like the highlands.

I hate to admit this, but I couldn’t wait to escape from the building.

Following our walk through the numerous rooms and given a brief history of Washington, we were off to the Farmers’ Market nearby. Given that it was the weekend, the local produce market was lively and bustling with activity. It wasn’t too big though, and we managed to cover the whole place in less than thirty minutes.

ToD-Olympia037 — *Build-A-Bear is definitely kids’ paradise.*

We lingered around a bit more before deciding that we’d seen enough of what there was, and proceeded to Tacoma Mall. While window-shopping, I came to this very interesting shop called Build-A-Bear where shoppers can customise their own teddy bears. Ooh…. I would have loved to queue with the kids and get a teddy bear stitched up the way I wanted if I were with H (and not with 4 guys totally unrelated to me). And it’s relatively inexpensive to get a bespoke bear. On average, it costs about USD20.00 to get one done. The expensive items though, are the dresses and clothes for the bears.

ToD-Olympia038 — *Standing on one of those legendary steep slopes in downtown Seattle.*

After a quick lunch at Tacoma Mall, we drove on to Seattle downtown since both our new colleagues haven’t had the chance to visit it. By then, I was already nursing a headache. Not too sure if it was due to the heavy bag I was carrying or the cold climate. A definite dampener to my mood. It took us quite a while to find a parking lot, and finally, we found one on the steep slope characteristic of Seattle (since it was rebuilt above the ruins of the old Seattle which was destroyed by the earthquake). I reckoned the angle of elevation to be about 30 degrees. If you miss a footing while walking down, you can be rest assured you would be tumbling all the way down. No joke!

Pike Place Market was really busy and packed with weekend shoppers; I’ve never quite seen it like this before since it was always closed when we headed that way. We took the opportunity to explore the market. It’s really like one of our local wet markets in Singapore, the western version. And I spotted a frightening-looking fish. Upon closer inspection, we learnt that it was called a monkfish. If the fishmonger was trying to attract more shoppers to his stall, he had totally succeeded. Effective marketing at its best.

Dinner that night was settled in downtown Seattle, following which we embarked on the long drive back to Everett before it got too late. P had more activities planned for the next day so we wanted to have ample rest.

Passing Up on Skiing at Stevens Pass

November 14, 2005July 29, 2021 Genn1 Comment

And exactly one week later, we found ourselves driving up to yet another ski resort. I guess P truly wanted to snowboard. 😆

Throughout the week prior, D & I pondered over following P & Y (one snowboarding, one skiing) up to Stevens Pass since we both were certain we didn’t want to engage in either. Our Saturday could otherwise be spent doing something else but since there was only one vehicle to be shared amongst the four of us, we would effectively be car-less, and that left us with few options on where we could go. Furthermore D wanted to be the self-appointed driver on the drive down – he was being nice, knowing P would be too tired to drive safely after expending his energy snowboarding the whole day. So I too, decided to tag along otherwise D would be quite lonely.

The scenery along the way wasn’t as fantastic (last week’s drive was better) but the landscape was a lot more dramatic than Crystal Mountain’s. It was also much further but we were driving all the way there for the powder snow. According to our American colleagues, Mount Baker has the best powder snow for winter activities yet driving so far wasn’t an option for us. So Stevens Pass it was.

ToD-Stevens021 — *Visible ski slopes as we were driving up.*

From afar we could see the ski slopes. Felt so excited for the both of them. We started out slightly later than planned, at about 7.30am instead and when we finally arrived, it was just over 9.00am. Not many cars yet, but during the short 10 minutes preparing ourselves in the car (wearing more layers and gloves), there was an endless stream of cars arriving.

Again, time for pictures. Lots of them. Since we were more than adequately dressed this round, D & I ventured out of the cafeteria to walk about the ski resort when we got bored with sitting and sipping on our hot drinks. There were lots of space to explore.

ToD-Stevens037 — *Ski lifts were not even half full.*

It was still pretty early into the ski season so the lifts were not utilised at full capacity. Wished I could ski well enough to warrant additional expenses on buying ski suits and renting equipment, but I’m not exactly competent yet.

It started snowing midway into our exploration of the resort. From our prior experience, we knew that whilst falling snow may look all nice and romantic, it is not so nice to get wet from the melted snow. We walked back into the cafeteria shortly after, not wishing to get wet.

A parting shot prior to leaving Stevens Pass. One thing I didn’t quite like about this particular ski resort… it was a steep slope at the entrance to the resort. Walking up wasn’t too much of an issue but leaving was an absolute nightmare. Last week I couldn’t stop laughing at Y, but this week he had his revenge. I had so much trouble manoeuvring the steep slope down he took pity on me and lent me one of his ski poles (D took the other). Hilarious sight, I know. This taught me an important lesson in life: that karma exists. 😆

I sat beside D as he drove down the mountain, promising to keep talking to him so he wouldn’t doze off. But the interior of the car was so warm and toasty I dozed off. Felt so bad…

An unpleasant incident took place while at Stevens Pass. The resort had racks set up just outside the cafeteria/rest area for skiers and snowboarders to park their equipment since they were not allowed to bring them in. One thing I noted while I walked past them was that locks and chains were not involved (unlike in S. Korea, the other ski resort I had been to). Suffice it to say that the system was very much based on trust. I was skeptical that it would work, but well… who was I to judge?

P had a slight accident while snowboarding hence he stopped and came in to rest a lot earlier than Y, who continued skiing for a couple of hours more. By the time we got up to leave the resort, P couldn’t find his rented snowboard when he went to one of the racks to collect it. He panicked, and made a rash decision to pick out a random snowboard belonging to someone else. I didn’t agree with his action, but kept quiet since it was his decision to make (losing the snowboard entails a large fine).

Turns out that the snowboard he took and tried to return to the shop was also a rented one, and the other guy was a lot smarter in reporting the loss. Apparently all these rental shops maintain one system to track stolen/lost equipment. P got into a bit of trouble at the shop, I heard from Y. In the end, he had to pay a fine for losing his snowboard, but they decided to go easy on him for the other transgression since his intent was not with malice.

A questionable decision aside, it wasn’t really fair that P had his rented snowboard stolen. Seems like the system based on trust has broken down long ago.

Day Trip to Crystal Mountain

November 7, 2005July 29, 2021 Genn2 Comments

Courtesy of our parent company in the US, the four of us from Singapore were assigned a vehicle for our exclusive usage. With the exception of Y who didn’t drive, S, D and I took turns driving to and from the office daily. I didn’t want to, and they didn’t dare to ask initially since they thought I couldn’t handle a large car (Toyota Sienna). That was till they found out I drive a CRV back home. Boo… I really hated driving as it got progressively colder in Everett; the steering wheel got so cold in the mornings I drove with my gloves.

But they were nice enough not to ask me to drive during our long trips out of Everett come weekend. We were all rather easygoing about where to go, so P was usually the one planning the activities. We just gamely went along with whatever he had in mind.

ToD-Crystal006 — *The route to Crystal Mountain was very scenic.*

So, P planned for us to visit Crystal Mountain one Saturday morning since it wasn’t located too far away from Everett. The thing about Washington State is, it is full of mountain ranges all over the state. They have no lack of ski resorts receiving lots of snow each winter due to their geographical location so we were really spoilt for choices.

Alas, I was not packed for skiing on this work trip. And ski resorts in the States (I’m not sure about the other countries) don’t really rent out ski suits or equipment; you are supposed to get that all sorted out before driving up to the resorts. P must have researched all that and wanted to check out one of the closest ski resorts. I wasn’t complaining; the drive was scenic and I had the prime spot of sitting beside the driver. Heh.

We checked the temperature and weather conditions up on the resort before leaving and were all excited to learn that it was snowing! It was a long drive and P volunteered to be at the wheels the whole time. He seemed to enjoy driving.. I forgot how long the ride took, but it was long enough for us to make a few picture stops along the way in order to stretch ourselves.

The drive got progressively more interesting as we drove up to the resort. Somewhere along the way we also had to stop to put the snow chains on the tyres. I’d seen snow but to see the alpine trees get covered in more and more snow as the altitude increased was such a novel experience. At some point, I even wound down the window to feel snow drifting onto my face, much to the chagrin of my companions (they didn’t appreciate the cold).

ToD-Crystal013 — *Snow several inches deep.*

It was still early November but oh my, the snow was falling fast and furious. P and Y were the ones who wanted to recce a ski resort so they went ahead while D and I lingered everywhere to take pictures. D accidentally stepped on a spot full of fresh snow and we were quite surprised to see that it went so deep.

ToD-Crystal020 — *Poor Y was struggling so hard behind.*

This picture I captured of my three colleagues + a stranger was quite hilarious. You see, Y was wearing very insensible leather shoes to the ski resort and he was slipping and falling ever so oft. I really pitied him but I simply couldn’t comprehend what he was thinking when he wore those shoes. So, as we walked towards the resort, I was lagging behind and saw that it was a good spot for a shot. Asked D & P to stand and pose… and while I was fiddling with my camera, a stranger in full ski garb decided to join them for the photograph. That was so spotting of him. Without waiting for poor Y to join us (that’s the poor guy on the left struggling to walk in the snow), I took the shot. Makes for a very interesting picture, doesn’t it?

We walked into the resort and took in every sight and sound. None of us decided to ski since 1] none of us was really dressed for the sport (they don’t do attire rental here, unlike in Korea) and 2] the lift ticket is really expensive! The guys starting discussing about skiing and snowboarding at Steven’s Pass next weekend but I’m two-minded about joining them.

I was without a beanie…

And then I was wearing a beanie.

I’d brought along very limited winter wear to the States, and was most certainly not expecting ski resort visits. After nursing a headache from the cold, I finally succumbed and decided to get a beanie on the spot. Instantly felt much better after wearing it.

The snowfall was getting a little too heavy for comfort and we were all quite prepared to leave soon after our pizza lunch. By this time, we had started getting worried about our drive down the mountains. We decided to head to the information counter in hope of retrieving some useful information for the drive down. They had limited information but advised us not to step on the accelerator nor the brake and drive really slowly, ignoring any honking from cars behind us.

ToD-Crystal039 — *I was so taken by this sight I misstepped and slipped.*

At around the same time, the ski resort made an announcement stating that all access up and down the mountain would be closed in about an hour’s time, when the snow was predicted to get extremely heavy. We didn’t count on getting trapped up in the ski resort hence decided to head down immediately.

I would have loved to walk down the same direct route we walked up, but that wasn’t quite possible with Y’s leather footwear so we had to make a detour round the main road (more photo-taking opportunities yay!). I found the carpark with so many cars covered in snow a really pretty sight and was so preoccupied with taking pictures I slipped and fell. Got my jeans all wet as a result. Fortunately it was already nearing the end of the trip.

I wondered how our car would look like by now (with the heavy snowfall). Boy was it a long and cold walk before my question was answered.

ToD-Crystal042 — *Our Toyota Siena after a couple of hours out in the open.*

The car didn’t look too bad at all. After snapping some shots, I quickly darted into the car while the guys attempted to clear some of the snow on the windscreen to try increase visibility for the driver.

On our slow drive down the ski resort later on, we came by a vehicle that got into quite a bit of trouble and couldn’t get out of the snow heap. Being foreigners new to snowy conditions, we were in no position to help. Hopefully they managed to get the vehicle moving again, or they run the real risk of getting snowed in.

Thankfully, we got off the mountain before they closed all road access.

Museum of Flight: A Photo Gallery

November 1, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

In more ways than one, this was a trip that kept giving. Being in the aviation industry for both my first and now, second job meant that a planned trip to the private non-profit Museum of Flight in Seattle was such a treat. The fact that I had nothing to do with the decision-making process indicated that I was in the company of like-minded colleagues. Being employees of an aviation-related company meant that we also scored discounted entrance tickets. What a treat!

I really enjoyed strolling through the museum at my own pace, not being hurried at all. Guess it helped that my companions were also fellow aviation enthusiasts. On top of that, they were much more shutter-happy than I was, so that made up for the extra time I took to read the exhibits in detail.

We finally made it to the outdoor exhibit area, where we got to see retired aircraft/prototypes. The first B747-400 was just standing right there, in front of me. We also saw the very first Air Force One and the feeling was decidedly different from seeing the radar blip of its current incarnation flying in my airspace but that’s an entirely different story to tell.

When we were finally done with the museum, we drove down to Seattle for dinner. In specific, a Taiwanese cuisine restaurant. Having been away from home for almost half a month, I was starting to miss authentic Asian food and the guys decided to bring me to their favourite haunt.

Visit to The Farm

October 17, 2005July 29, 2021 Genn4 Comments

It was my first weekend in Everett but I soon learned that amongst three of my male colleagues – D, P and Y – P was usually the one researching and suggesting places we visited during our weekends. Since the rest of us were easygoing and had no inkling where to go, we gladly relinquished the right to him.

For my inaugural sightseeing trip, P decided on visiting a farm called ‘The Farm‘! That’s really the name, I kid you not! I was told we were going to take a look at the pumpkins available for sale, and the main attraction, the corn maze. I went along without any expectations since I wasn’t involved in the planning and decision process.

These were some of the pictures I captured while on the road when P was behind wheels. Loved how wide their highways are. Take a closer look at the 2nd picture if you will – those black dots on the grass… cows! Alright, I have seen cows in the wild but that was in Malaysia years ago as a child. I had to capture that shot fast since P literally stopped in the middle of the road to oblige me. Pays to be the only female in the group. 😆

We arrived at The Farm rather early, around 11am and the carpark was already quite packed! The picture above only captured half the width of the carpark so you could imagine the impressive size in its entirety.

The first place we stopped by was the Petting Station, where they had all types of farm animals from pigs, sheep, kittens to donkeys for the children to have close contact with. I wasn’t too keen to go look for a washroom to wash my hands after that, hence refrained from the activity. Immediately following, we walked over to the nearby hay maze meant for children and were all wondering why the maze was free for adults. It wasn’t until we walked in that we found out why.

As it turned out, even petite me was taller than the hay stack. It was still nice of the farm not to charge adults knowing it would not pose as any kind of challenge to anyone above 5 ft tall.

Next, we unanimously decided to pay the small fee of USD5 for entry into the corn maze. The adult version this round. After receiving an ink stamp (in the form of a picture of a cow) on our hands and a map each, we got up the wagons that would transport us to the entrance of the maze.

Admittedly P and Y aka ‘Mr Pumpkin’ (who was wearing an orange shirt resembling the colour of pumpkins) seemed much less enthusiastic about the corn maze than I was. Or perhaps it was the glare annoying them.

Soon enough, we arrived at the entrance of the corn maze where we were dropped off and left on our own, equipped with a map provided to navigate our way.

ToD-TheFarm-014 — *Such a huge pumpkin!*

ToD-TheFarm-015 — *Standing at the entrance of the corn maze and completely dwarfed by them.*

The corn maze reminded me so much of the movie ‘The Signs’. Was it by Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson? While I don’t remember the actors, I sure recall vividly the freaky crop signs and aliens running about in the tall crop fields. My imagination was running wild as we cautiously began our walk through the maze.

More pictures were taken within the crop maze, and I realised that my male colleagues were taking more pictures of themselves than I was of myself haha. There were 3 ‘bridges’ within the maze where we could take in views of the whole maze at a vantage point. It was on one of these bridges that Y took a picture for me. I reckoned I could have enjoyed the maze better if not for the muddy ground. Eeks! Of all days, I chose that day to wear my Hush Puppies and not my boots.

When we finally found our way out of the corn maze, the sight that greeted us was pumpkins in all shapes and sizes. Some of them were really quite huge, nothing like what we’ve ever seen in Singapore. Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins! We just kind of went crazy and starting shooting off (our cameras, i mean) like madmen at the pumpkin fields.

Shortly after, I learnt that they have an exceedingly interesting way of deciding how much each customer were to pay for the pumpkin they were buying. Arranged neatly in a row were about 10 pumpkins of various sizes. What you probably can’t see from the picture above were the prices written with a marker pen on every pumpkin. The little boy carrying the pumpkin in the picture just finished comparing his ‘treasure’ against the standard and came to the conclusion that his little pumpkin cost USD2.00. Seeing how cheap it really was, we decided to select a small pumpkin to bring back to our hotel totry cooking it. In the end we selected a very nice one for USD1.00.

ToD-TheFarm-030 — *Delicious pumpkin pie.*

We ended out trip with a pumpkin pie we bought at the bakery within the compounds of The Farm. Cost us USD10.00 for the whole pie of 6 slices. It was really yummy! Truth is, I didn’t used to be a fan of pumpkin, thinking it’s too sweet for my palate, but my opinion changed after tasting the fresh pumpkin pie. I need this pie recipe!

10 Things About Switzerland

April 28, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Switzerland’s official name is Swiss Confederation (Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin) hence explaining its official abbreviation CH.
Switzerland is a land-locked country in Western Europe bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria & Liechtenstein to the east.
The capital of Switzerland is Bern, not Zurich. Bern is the seat of the federal government, which makes it the de facto capital. The largest city is Zurich.
The President of Switzerland is elected once every year.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, and they use their own currency and legal tender – the Swiss Franc.
There are four official languages in Switzerland, namely German, French, Italian and Romansh.
Switzerland has no official state religion. Most of the Swiss are either Roman Catholics or Protestants.
Brietling, Cartier, Chopard, Franck Muller, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Patek Philippe, Rolex and TAG Heuer are some of the renowned Swiss watches.
Headquarters of the International Red Cross is situated in Geneva while the Headquarters of International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.
The Swiss has the 2nd highest life expectancy, after Sweden.

Luggage Choice for Long Trips

April 25, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

*Rimowa Salsa comes in a plethora of colours.*

The Europe Honeymoon was our first trip taken together that lasted beyond a week. In more ways than one, it was a special vacation. Logistically, especially. We thought hard over how we should pack so that moving around would be easiest. The mister, being the doting husband that he is, didn’t want to tax me over lugging heavy luggage. Eventually, we bought a large hard shell Samsonite luggage (could have been the largest available in the retail shop) and packed our clothes and stuff together. We also each carried a duffle bag to serve as our carry-on.

While our other group mates were struggling with their two to-be checked-in luggage (the husbands had to help their wives) at the airport we were flying out of, I watched on and marvelled at the pure genius of the mister. I will go as far as to admit that I even sniggered a little.

It was their turn to snigger when it was time for us to return from London Heathrow, after a long 16-day of holidaying, amassing many souvenirs while on the go. Our luggage was about 1-2 kg over 32 kg, which is the legal limit for luggage weight. Be careful not to mix this up with the baggage allowance (which differs from airline to airline). If one’s luggage exceeds the baggage allowance, one might be requested to repack and transfer some of the items into another bag, or to pay for extra baggage allowance. 32 kg (or 70 lbs) is the limit. The airline counter staff will not allow it even if one is willing to pay through the nose for extra baggage allowance. And there is a very good reason for this – anything weighing beyond 32 kg is deemed too heavy for the baggage handlers to lift.

We had to, on the spot at the counter, open up our luggage, and transfer some items into our carry-on (which were already bursting at the seams). It was very, and needlessly, embarrassing for us because it being London Heathrow, the queue was long behind us. With nothing else to do while queueing, most people just looked at what we were doing while scrutinising our luggage contents. I’ve had many embarrassing moments my entire life (including walking up a bus with my pants’ zip undone as a teenager) but this experience easily topped it all. Nobody should be made to go through this harrowing experience, and we needn’t have, if we had read up (or had someone advise us accordingly).

After we emptied the contents in the luggage when we got home, we weighed the luggage empty. It weighed a freaking 13 kg on empty! Naturally it was banished to a dark corner in our storage room. All these years, the luggage has been left there and never used again. We know it is a white elephant but we just can’t bear to throw it out.

I daren’t say we are very seasoned travellers, but we have left home often enough to know what works for us. In essence, I have summarised some useful tips:

Black and Navy Blue are passé, at least for luggage, they are. Opt for brighter, unique colours if you could, to easily identify your luggage on the belt. It also cuts down on the risks of someone mistakenly taking your luggage for their own (it has happened to my family twice, both times with the same generic Samsonite Black cabin luggage). That is unless you are making business trips and cannot afford being seen in the company of luggage in a ‘zany’ colour.
A luggage on empty should not weigh anything more than 8 kg, and most definitely should not weight 13 kg! One of the lightest luggage available commercially must be Rimowa. We bought a 31-inch Salsa Air in Germany and it weighed merely 4 kg. Cost an arm and a leg too. But with that weight cut, we are not complaining!
Invest in a portable luggage scale; they are generally inexpensive. Unless you are a light traveller and is very certain you will never have a problem with the weight of your luggage, investing in one such scale will save you a lot of guesswork and headache. This item is a necessity for us because we tend to take long trips (almost 3 weeks) in winter, complete with our very weighty electronic gadgets.

Baggage Scale — *A very trusty scale we bought in Tokyo’s Tokyu Hands.*

Epilogue – Europe Honeymoon

April 23, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Expectations were feverishly high because it was after all (pricey!) Europe and well… our honeymoon. The honeymoon. One may travel to many places in his entire lifetime and promptly forget about some of these places several moons later, but nobody forgets the honeymoon.

As luck would have it, our honeymoon turned out to be nothing short of perfect. The itinerary was unsurpassed, the tour leader unrivalled, and the company unparalleled. Our group was manageably small with only 19 adults including 3 other pairs of honeymoon-ers like us, and everyone was pleasant, jovial and considerate.

If anything, I only have two minor grouses – we didn’t get to see much of Rome and totally missed out on Vatican City because of late Pope John Paul II’s funeral. I also didn’t particularly enjoy the incessant rain, in which we were told was not in congruence with Europe’s usual climate in April. I didn’t remember this, but the mister recalled that the rain started shortly after we landed in Rome, and only stopped after our day trip to Volendam in The Netherlands. He knew it for a fact that it wasn’t raining prior to 8 Apr 2005 because of a colleague who left Rome the day we arrived – apparently it was the only day which rained in the week she was there.

We were in Volendam on 19 Apr 2005 having our dinner of fish & chips when our Italian coach driver (who is a Roman Catholic) announced that the new Pope had been elected. It was raining bucketfuls of cats and dogs prior to dinner, but reduced to a drizzle when we were done with our scrumptious dinner. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the rain had completely stopped.

Was it a coincidence, or was there divine ‘intervention’? The oddity of the rainy season occurring within the period of sede vacante (Latin for ‘the seat being vacant’) of the Holy See, which promptly ended with the cessation of sede vacante – seemed to suggest that it was more than mere coincidence. We are not deeply pious people, but… it was some food for thought.

Our honeymoon coincided with the funerals of late Pope John Paul II and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and the wedding of Prince Charles & Camilla Bowles. As you could see, we visited Europe during a very, for lack of a better word, interesting time. The trip was quite the eye-opener – we learnt how and why a papal conclave is convened, the difference between white smoke versus black smoke, Grace Kelly (not the bag!) and the House of Grimaldi from the Principality of Monaco. Speculations on the identity of the next Pope and expostulations on the sovereignty of Monaco considering Prince Albert II’s lack of a lawful heir totally preponderated the European, if not the world’s, prime time news. The media were having a series of field days.

We thought that Jeffrey Hoh, our tour leader, is the very epitome of an exceptional tour leader. He totally blew our minds with his experience, general knowledge, even temper and high level of service orientation. Following Jeffrey’s tradition of bestowing every tour group with a specific name (to distinguish all the groups he’d ever led), our group was aptly titled ’2 Funerals & a Wedding’. He professed that it would be difficult to forget our group given the unusual events facing Europe during our travel. He held true to his words, because several years later, he found and added the both of us as his friends on Facebook.

Regrettably, we’d lost contact with almost everyone in the group, with the exception of Kenneth and Sharon. If you are, or know any of our group-mates from the picture above, please email us at tenodddays[at]gmail[dot]com. We’d love to re-connect!

‘Of all the countries you visited, which is your favourite?’

We got asked this question umpteen times, by friends and family alike, following our return to reality. Not trying to play favourites here… but we have to concede that we enjoyed Italy the most. Something about the Italians’ honest charm, warmth and gregariousness tugged at my heartstrings – possibly because being reticent and bashful by nature, I couldn’t be more different than they are. The mister readily agreed with me, for an entirely different reason, I suspect – he had been raving incessantly about the unlimited potently flavoursome shots of espresso he got to enjoy at breakfasts in Italy.

Check out CTC Travel if you would like to trace our footsteps. While we do not sanction a package tour for seasoned travellers, we highly recommend it for virgin travellers (to Europe) who have no inkling of their travel likes and peeves, as a starting point.