summer
When I was planning my trip a couple months back, I initially wanted to do a Central/Eastern Europe route of 3 cities, Kraków, Vienna and Budapest. However, the cost to Krakow was way more than for a flight to Warsaw, so I decided to fly in to Warsaw, spend a night there and take the train to Kraków the following day.
After traveling alone for a few times, and dealing with flying and passport control, you’d think i’d be pretty decent with time estimation by now. But no, when I was planning for my trip, I thought I had given myself half a day to explore in Warsaw, before getting the train to Krakow. Sadly, with passport control, and the bus trip into Warsaw centre from modlin airport, and the 30 minutes i waited to get myself checked in to the hostel (YEA WHAT?! I know.) I was only left with 2 -3 hours for exploring before sun down.
In my head I thought I had to catch the train to Kraków at 1106 the next day, and so I was pretty devastated with the short amount of time I had in Warsaw, especially since I saw how pretty it was!
Anyway, I tried to make the most out of it, and bolted for the Old Town right after I dumped my bags in my hostel room. I walked from my hostel, passed a lovely garden, down what is known as Warsaw’s prettiest street (because it was rebuilt and redesigned after the destruction during the war), and eventually I made it to the Castle Square and the Old Town Market Square.
The area of the Old Town was lovely! They had beautifully decorated shops around the squares, wide open spaces where people could hang out, nice chairs for alfresco dining. It had such a nice summery atmosphere with the warm evening sun beaming through the sky.
Just around the Old Town, you can find Buskers, Magicians, Playing music and entertaining the crowd. "Ah, I wish I had more time in Warsaw!" That kept repeating over and over in my head.
Accommodation Info | Oki Doki Hostel
+ Near the Main train station, super easy to navigate there.
+ Nice clean rooms, pretty in pink in fact! Lovely ambience.
- WIFI was Bad. Huge minus sadly! :( I need my wifi at the end of the day!
Since wifi was horrid, I spent the whole night talking to a my german in my dorm mate. Warsaw wasn't initially on her itinerary initially, and like me, she came over because it was cheaper, she had extra time, and just thought it would be nice! We were both bonding over the mutual fact we wished we had more time here in Warsaw.
We talked till 12 midnight, and she mentioned how she just graduated from medicial school, was sharing about the whole industry in Germany. Love conversations like these, I feel like I'm building up my general knowledge every single time!
So as I mentioned earlier, I thought my train ride was at 1106. I woke up early (well late, because I intended to wake up earlier but early by conventional standards) went for a nice breakfast, walked around for a bit, and headed for the train station.
What a stupid stupid thing to not check my ticket the night before. Partly, because the train ticket was in Polish, and partly due to my stupidity, I went to the train station at 11, and realised 11.06 was the DATE. Not the DEPARTURE TIME. My departure time was a few hours later in the afternoon. Suddenly, it all made so much sense. I wouldn't have only given myself half a day in a city, even if it wasn't on my itinerary.
Low and behold, Rookie mistake number 2. So there I was at the train station with my luggage, and all my belongings stranded, wishing I could go out and explore, but not wanting to drag everything along with me. Walking back to the hostel to leave my things there, and then out again after would just be a waste of time, leaving me not much time to explore anyway. So... I found some cafe, caught up on some internet work, replied everyone that texted me the day before, talked to my mum who was worried I didn't make it (she usually checks up if I arrive at the hostel), and ate nice lunch (I tried this long cake/croissant thing which was really good!) hoping to forget I made such silly mistakes.
I guess no matter how used to traveling one is, mistakes are bound to happen. From this i've learned. 1, Use my common sense, and 2, check check check! Things tend to go wry when I don't plan ahead (thought i'd have learned from this experience, guess not haha!).
So far, it's just losing precious traveling time, Thank God. Things could have been a lot worse. I nearly hopped on the 1106 train without checking and could have ended up who knows where in Poland. Everything was in polish! Thankfully I asked the officers that were patrolling at the platform!
Well, we live and we learn, right? Embrace every moment good or bad. Still, I did manage to see the highlights of Warsaw, so at least there is that!
Warsaw in Photos + Rookie Travel Mistakes (sigh!)
25 June 2015 Warsaw, Poland
I was looking through the stash of photographs I have on my lap top - its running out of space. And I found pictures of my Bali Trip in the summer of 2013.
My trip to Bali has been my most MEMORABLE trip so far. Bali is unlike any other place i've visited. In the past, the countries i've travelled to in Asia are pretty urban and cosmopolitan. Visiting Bali was one of the best decisions ever, and i'd do it again in a heartbeat (well with minor changes in certain accommodation decisions!)
The trip to Bali was a rather spontaneous trip with my girl Sheryl, she got us a driver (its near impossible to travel through bali without a driver) and since we were both on a budget, we stayed at a place really up North - The Hamsa Resort - a deal we got off groupon.
We were having a 4 day trip in Bali, it was both our first time visiting bali, and our first time travelling together. Being 2 very clueless teenage girls, we had no clue what we were doing, and did not have too much of a concrete plan. Instead of deciding on which attractions we would like to visit and THEN decide on a place to stay, we only jumped on the deal.
Since most of the touristy attractions in Bali are located further South, in the Ubud Area, it took us a 2-3 hour drive to get there. So we planned our days to minimise traveling as much as possible.
Somethings i'd do better if I get the chance to visit Bali again include:
Living further down South
The resort we lived in was decent, it came with a spa, free breakfast (which were really good! The indonesians can really COOK) and, free morning yoga sessions. However, I wouldn't recommend anyone living in the resort for more than one night. For the reason that it is too far off from the "city" area in the South. One night is sufficient to visit the attractions in the North.
Getting a driver that is fluent in English
It was also a sort of a bummer that our driver couldn't speak really good english. There was some sort of a miscommunication with charges and that resulted in a small argument on the last day. Thankfully, sheryl had a friend who was fluent in Bahasa (?) and that helped us sort things out.
Checking up attractions, planning and then Staying for a longer time!
I can still remember the sights and sounds, the places we visited (ok no all of it, and especially not their names but you get my drift), the experience and my emotions. Growing up in a small cosmopolitan city like Singapore, you do not get the opportunity to connect with nature, much less climb waterfalls and visit lakes. It is always nice to get out and go some where more rural, where the sun rises at 5am and sets at 6pm. Though this gave us an initial culture shock of how things were closed by 6 and the lack of street lamps mean evening drives were mildly creepy.
I wished we stayed in bali for a longer time, or did a little more planning. But since it was sort of both our virgin experience traveling to a different country with no prior knowledge, I say it was a great experience and we learned a fair bit about travel planning.
We met a couple who were backpacking for 9 days through bali! We were so envious.
I encourage EVERYONE to visit Bali if you're ever in South East Asia - or even if you're living in the region (apart from Indonesians?? I believe locals know better places to visit - PLEASE SHARE). It would be better if you're not on a budget - it means you can purchase all the interesting paintings and souvenirs and spend more on food!! But that doesn't mean its impossible to enjoy Bali on a budget. If 2 young, clueless girls with a small amount of savings can have lovely memories in Bali, so can you!
More pictures of the places we visited coming up in the next few posts :)
Missing Asia | Learning Experiences in Bali
11 October 2014 Bali, Indonesia
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
