133

Welcome to the Agglomeration

As promised, I've completed the travel guide Ngiam tagged me. Well no I haven't. Not as I'm typing this anyway. But it will have been when you're reading this. Planning ahead. Me cool, no?

Part 1 - FLYING / Travel Guide

Quick note before we start: I don't know if there are more parts to this "Travel Guide". It's been a while and only one part has surfaced on the blog of Ngiam. Not sure if that's because he hasn't been bothered or if there's only one part. All those who fall for the implication that there are more parts to come because there's a "1" in the title please be aware this eventuality may not arise. Best not to get your hopes up like I did. Now onto the actual travel guide itself.

a) Planes

Favourite Part about Flying

Sleeping. On long flights, nothing beats good ol' shuteye. It literally makes time pass by and it saves you the trauma of turbulence bouts, the smell of the "food" and headaches induced by the entertainment systems. Of course it's an unfortunate fact that the very traumatic things you escape in sleep can also grab you from its depths. But hey, the best things often have to be fought for, right?

Worst Part about Flying

The "Food" - specifically the cooked stuff that they store onboard for who knows how many hours then reheat before serving. It's all got the same nausea-inducing smell and has caused many a bout of stomachache (which makes it harder to sleep, thus making this particularly harmful to one's health). I'm fine with the rolls and the yoghurt and the chocolates though, somewhat surprisingly.

How to Overcome Boredom on Long Flights

A tried and tested method I use on several occasions is to listen to calm and soothing music (My tones of choice are my beloved soundtracks but use whatever works best in your individual circumstance). Closing your eyes while focusing on the melodies and the sounds allows one to be taken out of the confronting environment of the plane-food-congested cabin and into a more relaxing frame of mind which will facilliate one getting to sleep. When one's asleep, one can't be bored. Boredom overcome.

One Tip on Flying

Well if it hasn't become painfully obvious by now, get to sleep as soon as possible. The longer one is asleep, the less one has to endure the monotony of being in the journey itself. Therefore, my tip isn't about the flying itself but how one prepares for the flight. Keep yourself up the entire day before a night flight or pull an all-nighter for an early morning flight. Simply put, make sure you're as tired as possible when you actually get on the plane. If you're travelling with a companion, tell them to refuse the food and inflight service for you so you're not interrupted during your slumber. If you're travelling alone, just look convincing when you're asleep. Turn the other way from the aisle and adopt a stance that makes it obvious you don't want to be disturbed. That way, you can sleep for as much of the flight as possible.

b) Same Country

Cities You Have Been To

Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Cairns

Cities You Would Like To Go To

Hobart

Favourite City Besides Your Own

Brisbane

Suggestions of Places to Visit

Uluru, Snowfields and Asian Grocery Stores

c) Another World

Countries You Have Been To

Hong Kong, China, Japan, Thailand, USA, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, England

Country You Want to Travel To Most

Russia

Favourite Country Travelled To

No favourite. They've all been enlightening experiences for different reasons.

Suggestions of Where To Visit

Wherever your heart takes you.

d) The Dodge

Worst Food/Restaurant

I can't remember too far back to the places I went when I was say 6, so I'll just use the worst food experience in my most recent trip. An Austrian restaurant in Salzburg our tour took us too which served us typically NON-Austrian cuisine: oversalted Seafood Risotto, hard and dry chicken breast fillet and profiteroles that were about as fresh as the dying flower on our table.

Worst First Impression

One of the owners of the hotel in London (only met him on the 2nd day) - thought he was a comedian:

Me: "Hi, can I have my key?"
Him: "Yeah, but it'll cost you. Five pounds every time you take it."
Me: "We paid for the room..."
Him: "Too bad, you're being annoying. Leaving and giving me the key, then taking it. I don't run a hotel you know..."
Me: "Ok..." *takes key without handing over money and begins to leave*
Him: "Hey! I was joking"
Me: *opens door*
Him: "Hey, we cool, right? WE COOL?"
Me: *leaves*

Yeah funny guy.

Worst Hotel Experience

You'd think it'd be that one. But for the sake of variety, I'll say this Chinese one back in 2007. Nothing wrong with the hotel itself. Bad experience though because I spent the entire day by myself (my fam and friends went sightseeing) watching BBC News for 9 hours (you know how there is never any variety in their news stories because shit doesnt hit the fan that ****ing fast in real life) between bouts of headaches, vomiting and extreme nausea on New Year's Day.

Worst Bathroom Experience

Probably isn't the worst but it was certainly scarring. We were in a sauna in a thermal pool complex in Germany. To get out we had to traverse the terrain of the men's bathroom. As we made our way to the entrance, we saw an elderly man in his 80's showering and pleasuring himself naked in public. Cool beans.

e) The Best

Best Food/Restaurant

On this trip...possibly a giant pork knuckle at a Bavarian restaurant in Prague which was gigantic and very tasty.

Best Hotel Experience

Again, this probably wasn't the best ever, but it's the relativity that counts. A 4 star in Thailand where we stayed for four hours for free because we were delayed 8 hours in Sydney Airport, and the Sydney to Bangkok flight we did get on made us miss our connecting flight to Rome. Had a massively nice bathtub, awesome room and a cool TV showing...erm...BBC News.
One of the best buffet breakfasts I've had too. Pity we only stayed from 5am to 9am.

Best Television Experience

I don't see the relevance between this and travel. So imma skipping it. Well not really, because this is a response. Just providing a redundant placefiller is all.

Best City/Country

Sydney. I've lived here my whole life, so it takes the Number 1 Spot. England was lots of fun though too.

And that's it. End of Part 1 of the "Travel Guide", and possibly the end of the entire Travel Guide. Don't forget the disclaimer. THERE MAY BE NO PART 2! It's up to Ngiam, really. We'll see if he updates it or not.

And as for the matter of tagging. Well the people I'd want to tag don't write blogs (I don't think). This means I get to simultaneously fulfil my obligations to this chain mail aspect of the activity and terminate it. How exciting. So Duncan and Claire it is.

Till next time, may you agglomerate all your unpremeditated contemplations.