Articles from this Category
27 June 2025
Making our own circle line After breakfast in comfy room, equipped with a dining table, we headed out to explore Vienna by tram. We had read that it is possible to do somewhat of a circle line by combining trams 1, 2, 71 and D. We attempted to do that but the best views were […]
22 June 2025
Missing the detail Being Sunday, the supermarkets here are closed. We couldn’t get milk for my cereal or pastries from the supermarket bakery. Fortunately, there was a nice café-bakery next to the hotel, so we treated ourselves with a filled croissant and a pastry back in our room with our own drinks. Despite the luxury […]
27 June 2024
Koshkar Ata Necropolis I’m in Aktau because I managed to get a cheap redemption ticket from here to Istanbul whereas flights from other Kazakh cities were pricey. It seemed interesting enough with the Koshkar Ata necropolis which I will visit today. The country, especially this “corner” is dotted with many similar places but most are […]
25 June 2024
Sightseeing fail I stayed in my room and made do with a breakfast of coffee, yoghurt and bread. As I had seen awesome salads at the nearby big supermarket, I wandered out at 1100 to get some for brunch. To my surprise, I had accomplished seeing a significant part of the new area during a […]
30 March 2020
For an introvert, lockdown wasn’t too difficult. All businesses except for essential services were closed. Practically it was only supermarkets that were open. No cafe, takeaways. OK, it was a hassle to not have a fallback to eat out. I’m pretty good with cooking. I did miss my gym, yoga and swimming. I enjoyed the […]
28 March 2020
Many people like to vilify large corporations but I think small businesses can be equally bad. Just before our lockdown, I went to our local neighbourhood greengrocer. Broccoli was $6 and cauliflower was $14 per head, while prices were normal at the nearby supermarket. I will remember this when choosing where to shop in the future. […]
24 March 2020
I was meant to fly out tonight. But nope. It would been pure dumb. But it would also have been impossible with various legs of my itinerary cancelled. It was a bit of a process to get everything cancelled and refunded. Timing was critical as I wanted, as much as possible, the provider to initiate […]
20 March 2020
I have friends and family who are wondering what to do with their travel plans, especially flights, in the coming months. They have been asking my view on what to do. No one knows how long this pandemic will disrupt travel for. First of all, if your travel is not imminent, don’t do anything hasty! […]
19 March 2020
In the meantime, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand had all closed its borders to foreigners. Covid-19 cases climbed rapidly in many countries. Travel was no longer wise. Travel restrictions and low demand meant that many flights had been cancelled. The risk of getting stranded was very high, in addition to the risk of getting an […]
12 March 2020
In January 2020, some six weeks before my visit to Manila, Taal volcano blew up. There goes my day-trip from Manila! Covi-19, a corona-virus outbreak had been brewing in China since late 2019. In February, things started going international. By early March, the world outside of China was significantly impacted. I was still happy to […]