Articles from this Category
3 July 2024
Prague Castle I fell asleep so deeply after my 0700 alarm that when I woke again at 0800 I had no recollection of silencing the alarm. Kim had some work to do this morning to sort out some bookings in the UK. We had a simple breakfast of cereal while he did that. Finally, we […]
2 July 2024
Bus to Prague Today we move on to Prague by Flix bus at 0925, which required us to be at the nearby station at 0910. We got there before 0900 and ended up waiting for nearly an hour till the bus arrived and finally departed at 1000. This wasn’t my expectation with Germany, especially when […]
1 July 2024
Nuremberg Trial site The hotel did an awesome breakfast for EUR11 and to my surprise, it did have some hot eggs and sausages. Here I was thinking that it would be cold continental in Germany. First up this morning was a visit to the site of the Nuremberg Trials. We got there by underground just […]
30 June 2024
Going to the airport I was happy to take public transport (NZD11 or EUR6 per person) to the airport for our midday flight but Kim was keen on an easier option. Last year, the hotel offered us a ride for EUR20 (per car) but this year it was going to be EUR40. So, we decided […]
29 June 2024
Revisiting sights Kim arrives in Istanbul today, coming from Taipei via Hanoi. His flight was scheduled to arrive at 0520 but had landed at 0445. I had set the alarm for 0610 and hit the tram at 0630 for Aksaray Metro. He had already been waiting 10 mins when I got there at 0640. The […]
28 June 2024
Flying to Istanbul I woke to an email from Turkish Airlines advising of a 50 min delay to my 0725 service to Istanbul. From the airport hotel, I walked over to the terminal about 1h25 prior to the new departure time. At the check-in desk, I asked if they would accept a mobile boarding pass […]
26 June 2024
I spent the morning indoors reinstating the bookings I had cancelled two days ago for my alternate scenario in case I cannot be hosted in Normandy later in the trip. I had been expecting to pay megabucks for (re)-booking so late but surprisingly, I saved EUR8 in total across 7 nights in three cities. Not […]
24 June 2024
Today I fly from Shymkent to Astana at a very pleasant time of 1130, meaning that could have a leisurely breakfast before ordering a car. I got to the airport at 1000 to find the counters already free of queues. The staff asked me to get a paper boarding pass even though I noticed people […]
23 June 2024
I woke after 0500 with the early sunrise, despite having drawn the curtains. I hadn’t been given a time for the pick-up for today’s hike. After breakfast, I waited and waited. Finally, after 0900, I messaged the driver Katya who told me it would around 0930. It was a 45 min drive to the Sayram […]
22 June 2024
Horse trek Today I start a two-day excursion to the foothills of mountains about 90 mins out of Shymkent. They day’s program is a horse trek along the Aksu Canyon in the Aksu Zhagbaly National Park. I was picked by Katya for the drive at 0815, a little later than planned. Surprisingly, she’s Muslim despite […]