My first ever no-parents'-supervision trip!
Woohooo!!
On the plus side, my first ever independent trip with my best friend - Li San!!
It was a 2 weeks trip, covering Italy, Paris and London, in the month of Aug'12.
Let's kick start with Italy!
Italy
Day 1 - Rome
This was our first hands on experience joining Contiki. Well I must say, it's certainly a way to go tour! Contiki Holidays is undoubtedly an unconventional travel experience catering to the 18-35-year-old group. With this being said, our trip consist of youngsters from all around the world, such as Malaysia (4 pretty babes from Penang!), America, Canada, and Africa! We learnt a lot of amusing things happening in different countries, cultures, and most importantly, getting to know and make new friends!
Our trip started on Friday, 18.08.12, well, my trip, as I was travelling from Penang to Singapore, to meet up with my dearest bestie. :)
It was a very very hectic departure, as I left work at almost 7pm, beat the traffic, rushed home, have a quick shower, grabbed my luggages, hopped onto a cab and made it to the airport! Good thing I made it in time for a lite dinner.
My snacks-cum-dinner prior to midnight!
YAY!
Cute babe~! And I remembered that big pimply!
:P
I was ready for the long haul!
Us before departure
Our flight EK097
Awwww.. the beautifully illuminated cabin ceiling made
our flight all the more pleasant (:
Finally, arrived in Dubai, awaiting transit
Our journey continued on
Finally, arrival in ROME!!!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~
I tell you, the moment we stepped out of the airport, we were excited at the sight of "Welcome to Rome" yet horrid at the weather! The weather was so effing HOT! Compared to Malaysia's tropical weather, the usual hot was still bearable, with about 32 Degrees Celsius. I know it's summer time but that Roman's hot weather was like 38 DEGREES CELCIUS! Holy shit!
We were both perspiring profusely all the way out to taxi stand! Eck!
It was a mad rush to make it to our hotel, as we were supposed to gather at the lobby to meet our Tour Manager at 5pm, while we had only arrived in Rome at 4.30pm. Our cabbie to hotel actually cost us €50!
That was like almost RM250 for one trip!!!! Damn expensive!
Well actually not that expensive in terms of local currency, it's just that the weakening of MYR against Euro was a pain to me!!!
Our 3D2N stay at Hotel Lux, a local 4 stars hotel, located at Via Gaeta.
But err, according to Trip Advisor, it's a 2 stars hotel only
/.\
After our meet up with Christina, our bubbly tour manager + brief overview of our Contiki tour + a quick Hi to our tour mates, we're off for dinner on foot. Here're some sceneries caught on camera:
Termini Railway Station
Our dinner place!
(:
<3
cheers~*
*Burp* we were overloaded by pizzas
Hahaha. Bashful Li San :P
*sorry for the blur pic*
with pretty Lyndsey
After *burp* pizza dinner (so-so only), we were set on foot for a night life tour in Rome! (I was truly thankful, for the cooler weather)
The Fountain of the Naiads on Piazza della Repubblica
>.< sowweee for the bad shot as I
was snapping while on the move
Us, above the Spanish Steps, overlooking Via dei Condotti,
the narrow shaded streets, housing the greatest number of Rome-based Italian fashion retailers
≧✯◡✯≦
٩(•̮̮̃-̃)۶
Fontana della Barcaccia
Spanish Steps
(Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti)
The widest set of steps in Rome, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top.
A little history about the Spanish Steps, (as extracted from Wikipedia), the monumental stairway of 135 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy, and the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France. *teehee*
It was shooohhh crowded!!!
@ Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat)
Next stop, Trevi Fountain,
the largest Baroque fountain in the city
uber crowded here!
Mmmmwaahhh!
Aaahhh.. Time for G-E-L-A-T-O to quench our thirst!
Pantheon, temple to all the gods of ancient Rome
Street artists in Piazza Navona
Breezy night time stroll
It was quite a lot of walking for just an evening. Our walk ended around Piazza Navona, after that, it's leisure time. We were given a free ticket each for boarding a bus. That's it for Day 1. It was a total tiring day. I haven't even slept for more than 24 hours. I was awake since 6.30am 18.08.12 till about 10pm 19.08.12. Phew!
