Surviving a long ass journey...

I am finally making my way home from the UK to the other side if the world. I will be leaving my house here at 8am Wednesday and reaching at 9pm Thursday at home. I am so looking forward to being home but the thought of three flights, one being 13 hours, and the endless transits in airports is killing me.

In order to make my way home as painless as possible, I have prepared a survival pack for myself. Basically, when I go on long flights, I get in uncomfortable because of:

1. Getting hungry

2. Feeling gross

3. Becoming extremely dry

4. Being very bored 

I am lucky that I am able to sleep quite easily on planes, it really kills the majority of my time.

Anyway, I tend to get hungry because sometimes the meal times on the plane are not coordinated with my meal times. So I get really hungry and verge on gastric pains. And when food finally arrives, I am too far in pain to enjoy it, and in fact sometimes feel even sicker. I refuse to go through that. Also, I am going to spend a lot of time in two airports, and while it may become inevitable at some point, I am going to hold off spending money on overpriced airport food. Let me introduce to you my solution to this problem.

That's right, my survival pack. I ain't joking around. For substantial food, I am packing pita bread, cheese strings and ham (which is still in the fridge). For snacks, dried fruits and nuts. They are so good for you.

About feeling gross and dry, this is what I am doing to solve that problem.

What I have there is face moisturiser, toothpaste and toothbrush, Chapstick and hand cream. The second photo consist of dry shampoo, wet wipes and facial wipes. I bringing along dry shampoo because my hair tends to get really greasy and disgusting in those long flights. I was quite tempted to bring normal shampoo as I have never used dry shampoo before, but it is not a practical option. I will tell you if this makes me feel better. Facial wipes are there for the same reason, they are more convenient than face wash. And I cannot moisturise a dirty face, I just cannot. So I am hoping this works.

As for boredom, well. What can I do besides the usual? Provably going to get a book or two tomorrow, cram my laptop with movies and shows and load songs into my iPod. Aside from that, nothing much can be done.

I am by no means a pro in this. I am hoping these extra little effort will make my journey a little smoother and faster. I went to this extent just because my previous trips were really uncomfortable. Also because all I think about is going home. My previous flights to and from home to UK have been torturous, and I do actually enjoy flying. It is just difficult to enjoy the whole way through went you are basically stuck in a limited parameter of space without much to do for more than 10 hours. Bloody hell, I don't do anything for 10 hours straight ever. So in a day, the process will begin. I will be praying ever so hard that it would be quick and painless. I just really really want to go home. NOW!!!!

Ttyl! Hope this helps. If you have any tips for long haul flights, please so share. :)

Thanks for reading!

Packing...

I was in Spain for two weeks and I packed for two weeks. Do not do that. If I were to go back and give myself good advice, it would be bring less clothes and more soap. In fact I did not even run out of soap.

 

While packing up to go back to UK, all the clothes that I did use fit in this bag. In fact just about more than half of it. I'm using it as measurement for clothes to pack from now on.

Anyway, at the end of the trip I was struggling to fit everything into my poor country road bag and I prayed very hard that it would not rip. Thankfully those bags are not highly priced for no reason, they are pretty sturdy bags. The other problem was lugging it around as I stuffed it so full it was so heavy. I am not big on the whole small suitcase thing, I like carrying a duffel bag much more. In this instance however, I would have been very thankful if my bag had wheels. I now need to reconsider my take on travel bags. I suspect I would stick to my beloved country road bag even though it might be harder in myself (build muscles I tell myself, but who am I kidding?). 

I used only thirty percent of the clothes that I brought, however I have to factor in the fact that I was in Barcelona volunteering for which we were given uniforms to wear. Even so, I have decided the next trip that I take I will take as little as possible. More space for shopping and souvenirs, of which I end up buying a few as I manage to not spend as much in daily necessities as I thought I would need to.

Here is my simple list if things that I will bring for the next time.

1. Three tops

2. Two t shirts and shorts) for sleeping, one if shorter than a week)

3. One pair of jeans

4. Two pairs of shorts 

5. Three pairs of underwear (four if more than five days)

6. Walking shoes 

7. Slippers

8. Shampoo and soap

9. Moisturiser (depending on skin condition)

10. Face wash and toothpaste

11. Detergent 

12. Two dresses (three max. One casual, one formal)

13. Outerwear if travelling to somewhere cool

That is all. And remember that the outfit you wear there count as well. Traveling light is not something you will regret. If you are only staying for a few days, chances of needing a very specific outfit is quite rare, unless of course you went there for a specific reason. However, if you are staying for a longer period of time and found that you need something you did not bring, buying could be an option. You provably would gained an idea where to get things that are not overpriced targeted especially to tourists. Plus, if you stayed in a place long enough, you are likely to buy things. You will be extremely thankful to your past self for bringing only the bare mininum leaving more space for new things. Something I did not manage to do.

I pride myself as a light traveller and compared to most of my friends I am. However, I learnt that I still have more brushing up to do on my packing skills. So for the next trip I will try to bring only the items that I have listed above. If it works I will inform you if it does not I will do was so too. My next trip should be quite a long while to go. It would most likely be during my Christmas break. I am considering Germany, Norway or France. I do not think that I will travel to more than two places at once. Somehow I prefer staying longer at one place rather then rushing through multiple cities, but that is just a personal preference.

Till the next time. Hope this has help you majorly edit out unnecessary items from your travel bag.

Thank you!

Catalonian summer...

Barcelona. Party, beach and football. For some reason, it was not on the list of cities I was dying to visit. But due to some fan girl-ism and the search for new adventures I volunteered for the 15th Fina World Aquatic Championships which was held in (surprise surprise), Barcelona! 

I was there for a whole two weeks and worked in the diving segment. It was amazing. I have to say, I had a preconception about the Chinese divers thinking that they would be pretty stuck up since they practically dominate the sport. However they were so humble and only know of working hard that I ended my week cheering for them above others. Also, google Sascha Klein. I think I am in love. Go team Germany!

Swimming started once we ended our work at the diving segment. My friend and I went into stalker mode, she for Nathan Adrian and I for James Magnussen. I did not actually expect to get to see him but there he was walking by and I was like I need a picture with you. And I got it, him in speedos and all... He is one beautiful man.

Of course we left a few days to tour around Barcelona. The one thing that always comes up googling the city is its notoriety if pickpocketers. We were extra careful all the time and it did become tiring but hey, we survived two week with all our belongings intact. Achievement unlock!

We did not go crazy tourist sightseeing just because we were pretty tired. Also, I did not think it was possible for any part of Europe to get so hot. Barcelona certainly did! We went to the common places such as Sagrada Familia, Casa BaTtlo, Park Guell and Barcelonata Beach. It was more personal to me as two years ago I did an architecture project on Gaudi the architect and studied Casa BaTtlo really closely. So it was great!

One thing my friend and I took away from our trip is that Barcelona is full if life. The El Born and Las Ramblas areas are bustling well into the night and you can get lovely food even after 9pm, something you would not be able to so back here in Durham. The people were extremely nice and goodness gracious, do sit yourself down along one of the restaurants in Las Ramblas and order a litre of Sangria and drink if yourself happy. It's alriiight (inside joke, Anthony Ervin thing. I just had to).

Some tips for visiting the city, if you stay in the more central areas, you can practically walk to most of the attractions. The walk itself is pretty enjoyable and you'll be able to discover little bakery type shops which actually sell really inexpensive pastries (I was surprised as people always tell me how expensive Barceloba is). We were given the T10 metro ticket by Fina and it was extremely useful, but if your destination is in walking distance you could for go it. Another thing my friend and I fell in love with was this strip of boutiques in El Raval (I think) that sold the cutest dresses and accessories. I ended up buying a bag and she a dress. We walked through it from La Ramblas to the beach. We absolutely loved this froyo natural juice place in El Born which was amazing. 5 euros for a gigantic cup of juice and frozen yoghurt plus any toppings you wanted. We would have gone every single day if not for the fact that it was a little far from our place. Another thing I loved and hated at the same time was the abundance of ice creams in the city. If you managed to hold off temptation from one shop, many more will pop up sooner or later and you're better off just getting a scoop or two rather than fighting off the urge. The Nutella flavoured ice creams... Every single olace in earth should have them.

And of course, get yourself some Paella and Tapas. The Spanish certainly know their way around food.

I loved Barcelona and would definitely go back again. If I could choose one place to have a holiday home, at the moment, I would choose Barcelona for its life and warmth. I'm glad Fina decided to hold their World Championships there because believe it or not, the idiot that I am may not have visited Barcelona in my three uni/travel years (it's common knowledge that we come to the UK to study so we can travel around Europe, no?). It is a city with the perfect blend of old and new. I hope those of you planning trips there will enjoy your time as much as I did. I will certainly make my way back one day in the future.

Here are some pictures :)

Make sure you stop by La Boquera. I went crazy in there!

Amazingly good natural fruit juice PLUS frozen yoghurt!