Lufthansa's A380 to and fro Frankfurt

It's been a week and a half since I got back from Germany. It was an amazing trip. Germans are the friendliest people I've met so far. Before I go into the full details of our trip, let me get this out of the way since I have an over eager friend who's waiting for my A380 pics :-P. I was thinking of adding watermarks to my pictures but since I'm lazy, I trust that my friend will add a link back to this blogpost lest he wants to be sued for plagiarism haha.

On the way to Germany, I was lucky once again. The middle seat beside me was vacant which meant more space. Yey!

My first impression of the A380 was "how spacious!", not surprisingly. Unlike what my friend said that only newer planes have retractable overhead bins, this wasn't true for the A380 - probably because they don't need it with all the available ceiling space.
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Guten Abend

Greetings from Germany! It's past 12 midnight here. I've actually been sleeping very early since we arrived last Saturday (like 9pm or 10pm) since I'm usually tired from each day's sightseeing. Tonight I can't seem to sleep since I'm probably anxious I won't be able to wake up for our 4:30am train to Paris tomorrow in a few hours. I'll be posting more detailed travel blogs soon after I arrive in Singapore so this is a just a quick one.
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Moving In; Q1 Observation Deck

Finally, I'm back in the blogging world. It's been so hectic the past few weeks. As you know (or don't), I've temporarily stayed at my friends' place for 3 weeks. I finally moved in our new place last Saturday but I haven't fully settled in. Minor things really, but they add up to the stress. REALLY.

My room doesn't have a cable tv point (it's not so bad actually). I don't have a wardrobe (BAD!) so most of my clothes are still in my luggage until my closet is delivered (thank you Ikea for cheap furniture). My bed is so firm (read: Hard) that I had to buy a topper, plus king size sheets since I've never experienced renting a room with a king bed (but yes I'm loving the king bed for a king-sized person like me haha). And some home appliances for household use. Minor things like I said but they add up to the expenses, and my pockets are really burned (BAD!). But I'm just ranting. I'm really happy we finally found a place. I moved in with friends Krizia and Lenin so I should really stop complaining.

Anyway, below are the last batch of pics from my Australian trip - photos from Q1 (meaning Queensland One) - Australia's tallest building. I'm flying to Germany in 3 days (yipee!) and I'm looking forward to visiting Paris for a day on 27th September :-) More importantly, I'm looking forward to spending time with my Mom, Stepdad, Twin Brother, Aunt and Uncle.

Enjoy the pics! :-)

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Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast

It's been a week since I've been staying at my friends' place since our new place is only available on Sept.15. It really helps to have your closest and bestest friends when you really need them :-).

Anyway, back to regular programming. Here's another photo dump from my recent Gold Coast trip and this one is in and around Surfer's Paradise.

Eco-friendly toilet at the airport upon arrival..

 

Look for "Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle" at the arrival area to buy your "Go Card" - for use on public transportation. 

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Four Fingers Crispy Chicken, Ion Orchard

They seriously make good great business... there is almost always a queue...

Wow, it's been quite a while since I last did a restaurant review. I normally eat the usual food on a daily basis so nothing special enough to share on this blog...

Until I met Four Fingers! :-P

I did a little bit of research (a.k.a. googling) but I still can't seem to figure out if Four Fingers is a Singaporean company (it seems like it though). Their website says 4Fingers represent 4 friends who started this fast-food "phenomenon" in Singapore when they were inspired by eateries in New York City selling korean-style fried chicken.

Now don't get confused as Four Fingers is totally different from BonChon Chicken. And I've tried the BonChon Chicken in Bugis+ and it pales in comparison to Four Fingers. Really!
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DreamWorld Theme Park

I miss Dreamworld! Luckily, my highschool classmate Jason and his wife, Jen, were travelling to Gold Coast the same period I was, so we were able to go together. It would have been awkward to scream shriek on the rides alone haha.

Since the day I arrived was Jason and Jen's last full day, I just freshened up at the hotel then we went straight to Dreamworld. Good thing there was a shuttle from their hotel, Chevron Renaissance, to the theme park (AUD 18 each).

This is what I love in other countries that we don't have here in Singapore - long and winding highways...

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Flying Scoot and Feeling the Vibe!

Gold Coast was awesome! I will definitely want to come back - when money is no longer an issue hahaha. Let me start my blog posts with my Scoot and Vibe experience.

 

The flight on the way there was at night so I didn't rent the iPad nor did I buy food on the plane. I actually forgot to take my melatonin along so I wasn't able to sleep properly on the plane. But not because of the flight experience to make it clear, I just normally couldn't sleep on planes.

My first glimpse of Scoot's plane

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Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies

Today is a happy day! :-) After 2 days and viewing 6 flats, we finally found the perfect new place! I'm not sure if I mentioned it here before but our rental contract is expiring and my cousin bought their own place so I'll be moving out with friends in less than 2 weeks. I was sort of in panic-mode already as we really only started to look 2 days ago. I'll be flying off to Australia this coming weekend then the following weekend we have to move out so I'm extremely happy we found the place just in the nick of time. AND the best of it all is that it's in Novena which is 2 mrt stations away from Orchard! :-)

So since I just stayed in tonight (it being a Saturday), I decided to make full use of the remaining days with our amazing oven and to clear the pantry. Thus, I came up with... (drum roll) Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies! Hahaha what a mouthful!
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Prepping for Gold Coast

Crap, a little over 4 years with this blog and I've maximized the storage for photos. I honestly thought it was unlimited. I was uploading photos and I kept on getting this error message below and was hoping it was a bug. I don't know when blogger decided to start storing my photos in Picasa. Argh.

I had no choice but to purchase additional storage space lest I want to lose this blog. It's not exactly expensive but it's still freaking money that recurs every month and I seriously thought blogger is a free service entirely. Working in a software company myself, I do understand they need to start charging for storage space. BUT STILL. I'm pissed. :-P

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Hiatus

Wow it's been a while. Apologies for the long hiatus. As if anyone cares haha. I've been pretty busy (obviously), mostly with work, renewal of documentation and other stuff. Last May, I renewed my passport since it's up for expiry on December plus I was up for work visa renewal. I got my passport last June (after a month, ugh) and I finally renewed my work visa in end-June.

It was really a relief to have my work visa renewed for another 2 years. Singapore has been very strict lately with the influx of foreign workers. In fact, some of my Filipino friends got their passes either rejected or demoted to the lower type. I can't blame the government though. I just feel grateful I could stay here longer. Towards the end of this year, I plan to apply for Permanent Residency for the 3rd time.

Anyway, it's been 3 months since I started gym and I'm darn happy I've lost 7kg. Slowly but surely. I've been sick though the past few days due to flu and have been giving in to my cravings but I hope to be back on track.

Earlier this month, I was in Manila and Cebu for a short 4 days. The trip was mainly for the Cebu townhouse turnover. Yey! I'm a homeowner! :-P Huge thanks to my Mom really. She has really helped a great deal, not only financially but more importantly by physically going to Cebu to handle all the admin stuff prior to turnover and minor renovations with the townhouse after the turnover. I love you Mom! :-)

I'll be broke for the next 8 years to pay for the monthly amortization haha, unless we get the place rented out. Either way, it's a great investment. I'm happy my mom influenced me to make this investment :-)
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