tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44527467161466973922024-03-06T09:17:09.836+08:00Kenneth & Stephanie Travel Adventureskennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-27666682744599774872024-01-16T00:12:00.018+08:002024-01-16T14:10:37.350+08:00Japan 2023 Itinerary<h1 style="text-align: left;">Travel details</h1><div style="text-align: left;">Dates: 28 Nov 2023 - 19 Dec 2023</div><div style="text-align: left;">Group: 2 adults, 3 kids (3, 5, 8 YO)</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Flight details</h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">Singapore to Fukuoka</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Singapore Airlines SQ 656</div><div style="text-align: left;">SIN 01:20 - FUK 08:10<br />Total travel time: 5hrs 50mins<br />Boeing 787-10</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Tokyo to Singapore</h3><div>Singapore Airlines SQ 635</div><div>HND 22:55 - SIN 05:15</div><div>Total travel time: 7hrs 20mins</div><div>Airbus A350-900</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Pre travel Arrangements</h1><div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Immigration QR Code <a href="https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/" target="_blank">https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/</a></li><li>Travel insurance</li><li>Pack luggages to be forwarded to the different locations upon arrival</li><li>JR Passes</li><li>Book car rental</li><li>Fill up check in details for accommodations</li></ol><p></p></div></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Fukuoka </h1><div>Accommodation: </div><div>GRAND BASE Hakata Haruyoshi. Location is not very accessible</div><div><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/uYxtE1aTG7uvdkq68 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/uYxtE1aTG7uvdkq68 </a></div><div><br /></div><div>Day 1 - Canal city. Hakata station </div><div>Day 2 - Marinoa City </div><div>Day 3 - Uminonakamichi Seaside Park </div><div>Day 4 - Marinoa City (Another option was to view Gundam here: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ri6nHr8Q8KwsLUzT8" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ri6nHr8Q8KwsLUzT8</a>)</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Osaka </h1><div>Accommodation: </div><div>ESLEAD HOTEL NAMBA SOUTH Ⅲ </div><div><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZrvxZ4tK3CbLbMrE9 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZrvxZ4tK3CbLbMrE9 </a></div><div><br /></div><div>Day 5 - Train to Osaka </div><div>Day 6 - Mipig. Not worth it. Dinner at Dotonbori. <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/ufCKaPRmZDmQTC1e7" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/ufCKaPRmZDmQTC1e7</a></div><div>Day 7 - Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. Udon lunch. Chikko-men-kobo honten: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/c5wLNL1u3sXqXzoL7 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/c5wLNL1u3sXqXzoL7 </a> Genji-Soba dinner: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/51WWFJ1ai8noDTNo6" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/51WWFJ1ai8noDTNo6</a></div><div>Day 8 - Kobe beef. <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/nty1G2rP2Whs6zo49 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/nty1G2rP2Whs6zo49 </a></div><div>Day 9 - Osaka castle. Kimono photoshoot. Rental shop: Oukakimono osaka <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/t9j6sqy77y7Fju126 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/t9j6sqy77y7Fju126 </a></div><div>Day 10 - Nissin cup noodle museum. Tonkatsu lunch: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Z1X4KWst3Y1UUi46 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Z1X4KWst3Y1UUi46 </a></div><div>Day 11 - Shopping at Don Quijote. Travel to Hakone </div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Hakone </h1><div>Accommodation: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/QX5dr8DmyzJpbiEd8 " target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/QX5dr8DmyzJpbiEd8 </a></div><div>3 day Hakone Free Pass: <a href="https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/">https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Day 12 - Open air museum. Lunch at Sushi place. <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/SmpMXq6mgwCmDPcX7">https://maps.app.goo.gl/SmpMXq6mgwCmDPcX7</a></div><div>Day 13 - Hakone Kowakien Yunessun. Must do. <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/r5bLvWUbd3K83sH28" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/r5bLvWUbd3K83sH28</a></div><div>Online price is cheaper: <a href="https://www.yunessun.com/global/en/spa/">https://www.yunessun.com/global/en/spa/</a></div><div>Day 14 - Ropeway & pirate ship. Travel to Tokyo. <a href="https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/transportation/hakone-ropeway" target="_blank">https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/transportation/hakone-ropeway</a></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Tokyo </h1><div>Accommodation: </div><div>Tokyo Bay Tokyu Hotel </div><div><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/2TAMFRapTFfRVX116" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/2TAMFRapTFfRVX116</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Day 15 - Disneyland </div><div>Day 16 - Disneysea </div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Hakuba, Nagano</h1><div>Accommodation: </div><div>T Square Hakuba </div><div><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/tXV4dxnZkMFXXin37" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/tXV4dxnZkMFXXin37</a> </div><div>Snow equipment rental: <a href="https://centralsnowsports.com.au/" target="_blank">https://centralsnowsports.com.au/</a></div><div>Lessons: <a href="https://www.evergreen-skischool.com/" target="_blank">https://www.evergreen-skischool.com/</a></div><div>Car rental: <a href="https://rent.toyota.co.jp/eng/" target="_blank">https://rent.toyota.co.jp/eng/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Day 17 - Drive to Hakuba </div><div>Day 18 - Snow play. Settle equipment, ski pass and classes </div><div>Day 19 - Kids Lesson at Happo One, Snowboard at Hakuba47</div><div>Day 20 - Kids Lesson at Happo One, Snowboard at Hakuba47</div><div>Day 21 - Snowboard at Tsugaike, Dinner at Yakiniku Miyama <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/1dVK76VNJYwVXYEb8" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/1dVK76VNJYwVXYEb8</a></div><div>Day 22 - Drive to Haneda. Stops at SA. Udon restaurant with nice mountain view: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/BY1STtPmxuk1RpG36" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/BY1STtPmxuk1RpG36</a> . SA with nice lake view: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/cLY51NHTUkqxsKkVA" target="_blank">https://maps.app.goo.gl/cLY51NHTUkqxsKkVA</a></div>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-87383082738799642252015-11-02T14:19:00.000+08:002015-11-21T03:01:58.429+08:00Personal tips for exploring Europe (Part 1)I made my first trip to Europe in 2008 when I embarked on a one year <a href="http://www.overseas.nus.edu.sg/" target="_blank">NOC</a> internship program to Stockholm during my time in my time in <a href="http://nus.edu.sg/" target="_blank">NUS</a>. As a Computer Science student, I initially applied to do my internship in Silicon Valley, but due to the high demand, I was offered a place in Stockholm instead. Although I was extremely disappointed, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The IT community was very vibrant in Stockholm, the Swedish people are friendly and VERY beautiful, and Europe is an awesome continent to travel. Crossing borders in Europe would bring me to a different country, with different cultures, food and architecture. As compared to America, you could be driving for hours and still end up eating burgers and fries and visiting American museums. I'm not saying America is inferior to Europe, but I was just glad that it wasn't a bad thing that I was posted to Europe instead of America for my one year internship during my time as a student. America is definitely on my list of places to travel and I'm looking forward to an amazing road trip there someday.<br />
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Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden 2008</div>
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<a name='more'></a>It was during that one year where I made multiple backpacking trips all around Europe, some were road trips, some were with friends and some were solo. Even after my one year internship there, I have been making annual trips to Europe for work, and of course using the opportunity to travel around after my work is complete. You can find some of the places that I have visited in the map at the end of this post. So if you need some tips and advice on those places, feel free to drop me a comment on it and I would provide you with whatever knowledge I have of it.<br />
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My NOC batch mates after our first experience with Innebandy </div>
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(aka Floorball, a sport that was developed in Sweden)</div>
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So after traveling to the various places around Europe, I have come up with some personal tips that I find useful for myself and hopefully some of them might be useful to you.<br />
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<b>1. Season for traveling</b></h3>
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The time you travel to Europe is very important. Do you want to experience summer or winter in Europe? Which country is good for which season?<br />
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<b>Summer</b><br />
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Summer in Europe is generally very warm, crowded and expensive. Of course, they also say it's the best time to travel around Europe and that's why they have the summer vacation. Europeans are in love with the sun and they treasure it a lot, especially those that reside further up north. That's because they don't see the sun that much. During summer, the day times are longer, so the operating hours for museums and attractions are extended. But then, things are also more expensive since it's the summer vacation and everyone is looking to travel around. But if you're doing mostly nature activities, then it's really the best time because you literally have more (day) time. So even if the operating hours of the attractions are over, you could still explore the city or other nature related activities. And if you go further up north, you can experience the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_sun" target="_blank">midnight sun</a>. Do note that even in summer, the weather can get unpredictable in the northern hemisphere. You may get lots of rain, chilly weather and constant gloomy clouds. That's why the Scandinavians love traveling towards central and southern Europe, or even to Asia, to ensure they have a good summer vacation. This is also the best time to visit the beaches in Europe.<br />
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Santorini, Greece 2008</div>
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Santorini Perivolos beach, Greece 2008</div>
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Mljet Saplunara, Croatia 2014</div>
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<b>Winter</b><br />
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If you can get the midnight sun, then you will also experience the other extreme in the northern hemisphere where you don't see the sun at all. During winter, it can get really cold and snowy. This is also the best time if you would like to see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora" target="_blank">aurora borealis</a> (or northern lights). Since it's a natural phenomena, it's not a sure thing that you will get to see it everyday. So it's advisable to do a week's visit and hopefully you will get to see it on at least one of the days while you're there. The popular places to view this are in the northern part of Scandinavia. You can find more details here: <a href="http://www.visitnorway.com/northern-lights" target="_blank">Norway</a>, <a href="http://www.visitfinland.com/article/doze-off-under-the-northern-lights/" target="_blank">Finland</a>, <a href="http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions--Cities/Northern-Sweden/The-Northern-Lights/" target="_blank">Sweden</a>. Make sure you're prepared for the weather as it can get as cold as -40˚C. Winter is also a great time for winter sports like skiing and snowboarding. And there are many good places like the French Alps, Swiss Alps, Austrian Alps, Spanish Alps and Italian Alps. To get a good experience, I would recommend you go to those resorts in the Alps rather than those small resorts that are near the city center. Although it's more inconvenient to travel to the Alps (it may take up to a few hours of bus ride to get there from the city center or airport), but you get a significantly better ski/snowboard experience with the better snow, facilities, accommodations and instructors. You can read more about our winter and snowboarding trip in the french alps <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/04/switzerland-france-2015.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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During winter, the day time is shorter and tourist attractions and shopping centers tend to close earlier. Do also factor in extra time in traveling as there would be possible road blocks due to avalanches or snow storms. In worst case scenarios, you might need to alter your plans as your only route to a destination might be closed due to an avalanche. Do also research on the places you're visiting as operating hours of tourist attractions and shopping centers maybe be shorten during winter and they might have lesser tour trips running as well.<br />
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If you're afraid of the cold but you still want to (or can only) travel during winter, you can head toward central or southern Europe as it would be relatively warmer the further south you go.<br />
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Road trip from Zurich to Interlaken, Switzerland 2015</div>
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Zurich, Switzerland 2015</div>
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Les Gets Alps, France 2009</div>
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2. Backpacking</h3>
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As the name suggests, it mean traveling with a backpack rather than with a trolley luggage. I once had a friend telling me that she was going on a backpacking trip and then off she went with 2 checkin trolley luggages. <i>Right...</i></div>
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Some of the benefits of backpacking:</div>
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<li>You travel light</li>
<li>You pay lesser on budget airlines without the need for checkin luggage</li>
<li>You can skip the luggage drop off and pickup queue (For some airlines, you can checkin online and proceed directly to the gate)</li>
<li>You can avoid getting your checkin luggage lost (if you hand carry it)</li>
<li>It's easier to get around some places in Europe as some metro don't have lifts and they have lots of stairs! (Like in Rome and Paris)</li>
<li>You can checkout from your hostel without the need to leave your luggage with the reception</li>
<li>You can rent a smaller car (luggages do take up a lot of space in a car)</li>
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Bunk bed in Generator Hostel (Berlin) that I stayed in (€10 / night). </div>
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(Credits: Generator Hostel)</div>
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Europe is an awesome place for backpacking! There are so many backpackers hostels and you would be spoilt for choices. They can go as cheap as SGD $8 / night. These cheaper options are usually double-decker bunk bed style with as many as 6 or 20 people in a room. Some of them don't come with bedsheets as some backpackers bring their own sleeping bags and prefer to save as much as possible. These travelers usually travel for months at a go and they try to stretch every single dollar possible. So when booking, do check if bedsheets and towels are available, else you can top-up extra for them. They might not have a place for your to store your backpack (or you might have to pay for the use of one) and I would usually sleep with my backpack as a pillow or put it beside me on my bed.<br />
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Most hostels have fridges, cooking facilities and laundry facilities. So you can save on meals by cooking your own.</div>
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<b>Traveling alone</b></div>
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Backpacking is a fantastic way to travel around Europe and it's generally quite safe to travel alone as long as you avoid doing stupid things like walking through dark alleys at night or letting strangers lead to some random places. There are many people traveling Europe alone and you get to meet lots of them in your hostels, tour activities and walking tours. Traveling alone allows you to be more adventurous and helps you to be more sociable. It allows you to meet new people and travel with them, rather than just sticking to your own clique and doing what friends want to do rather than what you really want to do.</div>
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I have traveled alone to Berlin, Barcelona and Madrid. During those times, I got to make new friends in my hostel and during the free walking tours. I would just chat up with people during breakfast or maybe they would come share a table with me and a conversation would naturally ensue. We would talk about our itinerary or places we have visited and sometimes we would end up traveling together that day. Every day is a new adventure and maybe with a new companion.<br />
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Our free walking tour guide and a new Korean friend I made while doing a solo trip in Berlin 2008. After knowing her from the tour, we traveled the rest of the day together.</div>
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A Japanese friend I made from my hostel while doing a solo trip in Barcelona 2008.</div>
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We traveled to <a href="http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/tour/montserrat-spain.html" target="_blank">Montserrat</a> together.</div>
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<b>Traveling with "friends"</b></div>
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When traveling with friends, I would advise not traveling with more than 3 other people. It's very important to choose your travel companions wisely. That will determine if it will be a memorable trip, or the last time you would want to be friends with them anymore. The person may be a nice friend, but you were only seeing them a few hours a day, maybe everyday or probably once a week. When it comes to traveling, you're spending up to 20 hours with that person and when it comes to money (you all probably spent a lot just to get to Europe and more for food and activities), people will have very different and extreme opinions on what they want to do and where they want to go. Now put 3 (or more) of those people together for a few weeks or months and you have a nice recipe for an exciting drama series.<br />
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Why 4 people? It's a nice number when renting a car or sharing a cab. It's not too many people in a group and decisions can be made easier (depending on their personalities). It's also a nice even number if you're getting hotel rooms.</div>
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When I did backpacking, I would frequently use <a href="http://www.hostelworld.com/hostels" target="_blank">Hostel World</a> to find a hostel for my next exciting adventure! While you're staying in hostels, do check our the various brochures they have for the different kinds of activities and tours available in that city. Some of the activities have guides that come and pick you up from your hostel or they might have promotions/discounts when you book from hostels.</div>
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3. Couchsurfing </h3>
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If you're more adventurous and have a big risk appetite, you can try <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.com/" target="_blank">Couchsurfing</a>! It's the most budget way of traveling and you actually look for free accommodation at someone's place. I tried looking for a place in Barcelona via Couchsurfing but due to the peak season (Christmas), I was unable to find a suitable host. I had a friend who managed to find a host in a country house in northern Scandinavia for a month and he managed to catch the northern lights.</div>
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Do note that this is rather risky and since your host is providing accommodation for free, he might reject you at the last minute if their place is suddenly not available. So make sure you screen your host based on reviews and keep in contact with them to be updated on any changes to your accommodation.</div>
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4. Airbnb</h3>
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If you're looking for something better than hostels, cheaper than hotels and not as unpredictable as couchsurfing, you can go for <a href="http://airbnb.com/" target="_blank">Airbnb</a>. Airbnb is a site where people list their apartment/house/room for rentals (short and long term).<br />
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This is my current favourite way of traveling. You pay about the same rate as hotels, but mostly significantly lesser, and you get a much larger living area. Depending on the location and the prices, we would either rent a room or the entire apartment. And even if you rent just a room, you get to use the main hall, kitchen and possibly other available facilities like sauna and swimming pool. Apart from the living space, you also get to interact with the host (usually a local) and you get to learn about their city and get tips for your travel around. And if you're lucky, you might meet a host who's free and willing to bring you around or they might whip up some amazing local dishes for you during their meal time.<br />
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If you're interested in Airbnb and have yet to register an account, you can register for one via this link (<a href="http://www.airbnb.com.sg/c/klim86?s=8">www.airbnb.com.sg/c/klim86?s=8</a>). By doing so, you and I will each get a SGD $33 credit for our next booking. One advice, as a first timer, make sure you read the reviews of your host & apartment and try to book places that have good reviews (or at least have some reviews) to avoid disappointment or unwanted surprises.<br />
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Occasionally Airbnb will have some credit card promotions, so just google "airbnb credit card discount" and you might get some nice discounts from the various credit cards.</div>
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So far we have used Airbnb in Sweden, Croatia, Norway, France, Switzerland and Finland and they have turned out really well. I'm sure we will still be continuing to use them. You can find my updated <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/402581" target="_blank">Airbnb profile here</a>.<br />
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Our Airbnb country house in Lausanne, Switzerland 2015</div>
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Our Airbnb room in Interlaken, Switzerland 2015</div>
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Our Airbnb place in Interlaken, Switzerland 2015</div>
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5. Free walking tour</h3>
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Whenever I go to any city in Europe, I would look out for a free walking tour in that city. It's a cheap and effective way to learn about the city and it's history. The guides are usually passionate students or young adults, thus they tend to give information that's more in-tuned to what I'm interested in. Although it's a "free" walking tour, they operate on a tips basis. So you can tip them at the end of the tour depending on how much you can afford, how much you got out of it and how much you're willing to give them. The truth is there's no free lunch in this world, and as a working professional, I believe in paying for a good service as well. So do give them a good tip if you really enjoyed the tour.<br />
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<a href="http://www.neweuropetours.eu/" target="_blank">Sandmans tour</a> is one of the bigger companies in Europe that offer this tour and this would be my first choice. But if they don't have a tour in the country I'm in, then I would look for the other local companies that conduct such tours. Like when we were in Zurich, we went for the tour with <a href="http://www.freewalkzurich.ch/" target="_blank">Free Walk Zurich</a> and we enjoyed it.<br />
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Apart from the free walking tours, you should consider going on their other paid walking tours on top of going for the free ones. When I was in Berlin, I went for the paid <a href="http://www.newberlintours.com/daily-tours/sachsenhausen-memorial.html" target="_blank">Sachsenhausen Memorial</a>. Sachsenhausen is a concentration camp that's located on the outskirts of Berlin. And when we were in Amsterdam, we went for the paid <a href="http://www.newamsterdamtours.com/daily-tours/red-light-district-tour.html" target="_blank">Red Light District Tour</a>. If I had more time in the cities, I would definitely go for more of their tours. If you're into nightlife, you can join their pub crawls. It's a good way to check out the different clubs/pubs in that city.<br />
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I would try to go for the walking tours on the earliest possible day when I'm in the city, so that I would get a rough idea of the city and the places that I would be interested to re-visit again or maybe get a local opinion on the queries I have regarding the city. This would help me better plan my itinerary for my remaining time in the city.<br />
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<a href="https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3268/2574611207_2e25c609ca_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3268/2574611207_2e25c609ca_z.jpg" title=" (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our Berlin guide for our group. There is a another group in the background. Berlin 2008</div>
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Our Sachsenhausen Memorial tour guide giving us some history lesson before we enter the Concentration Camp.</div>
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Germany 2008.</div>
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Conclusion</h3>
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Traveling is a fun and memorable experience. Most of the time you would want to cover as many places as possible, but I would highly advise against that. You would only be spending your time packing, unpacking and rushing from place to place. The world is too big to squeeze everything in one trip. Pick a few places (depending on the days you have) and take time to enjoy them. Then arrange to cover the over places at another time. This way you get to enjoy your trip and you will definitely get a better experience out of it.</div>
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If you have other points you would like me to cover, or need some personal tips regarding a city I've been to (see map below) or if you would like to find out more regarding the tips I mentioned, feel free to drop me a comment on it. Do also share this with someone whom you think might benefit from.</div>
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Stay tuned for my next part, meanwhile, happy traveling! ;)</div>
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kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-79309962695251814532015-08-19T10:00:00.000+08:002015-08-19T15:01:31.058+08:00Lausanne, Switzerland 2015<div>
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As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and Lausanne was the last leg of our Switzerland trip before we completed our winter holidays for 2014. We made a decision to use Lausanne as our base, from which we would travel to visit the surrounding regions: Gruyères, Montreux and Martigny.</div>
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We found <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2047549" target="_blank">a nice cosy country-side house on Airbnb</a>. As it was located in the country-side, the roads were not very well lit, rather bumpy and the exact location wasn't easily found on the maps. To add to the challenge, we were driving at night in pitch darkness. We were literally the light shining in the darkness! After ending up in a few wrong locations, some detours and off-road driving, we completed our drive from Geneva and arrived at our country home for the next 3 nights. </div>
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<a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/9933993" target="_blank">Our Airbnb host</a>, Corinne, is a semi-retired midwife and while cooking our dinner for the night that we arrived, we got to know her and her other longer-term tenants. One of them is a midwife-in-training who's understudying Corinne. We learnt from them that it's very common to do home delivery without the need for a gynaecologist. Even when deliveries are done in a hospital, a midwife would suffice. We have always been interested in having home birth or water birth and so, it was intriguing conversation for us. Of course these situations are for low risk pregnancies.</div>
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<a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7740/17789792444_2b0c7bf3ee_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bressonnaz Dessus Vulliens Switzerland (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7740/17789792444_2b0c7bf3ee_c.jpg" title="Bressonnaz Dessus Vulliens Switzerland (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our country-side home and 4WD Mitsubishi </div>
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Gruyères</h3>
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The next day, we headed out to the city of Gruyères. It's a lovely, quaint old medieval town, which was quiet, sparsely populated and really brings you back in time. We had our lunch at <a href="http://www.lamaisondugruyere.ch/" target="_blank">La Maison du Gruyère</a>, the cheese factory where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruy%C3%A8re_cheese" target="_blank">Gruyère cheese</a> is made and distributed globally. We literally had a cheese overdose as we ordered a cheese fondue and a cheese risotto. I think by the end of the lunch, our blood colour changed from red to yellow!</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/498/19604428060_77092a8477_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/498/19604428060_77092a8477_z.jpg" title="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Us with an overdose of cheese dishes</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/464/19604420638_9e8c4ba9a1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/464/19604420638_9e8c4ba9a1.jpg" title="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" width="480" /></a></div>
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Cheese fondue in which we dipped bread & potatoes into.</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/441/19171552433_9068358680_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/441/19171552433_9068358680_z.jpg" title="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ingredients in our risotto - Cheese, cheese, cheese & just more cheese.</div>
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After filling our tummies to overflow with cheese, we took a quick tour to learn about the process of producing Gruyère cheese & the cost of the tour included a sample of Gruyère cheese that have aged over different months. We ended the tour at the souvenir shop and bought ourselves a few blocks of Gruyère cheese back to Singapore. I couldn't wait to get back and try out the cheese risotto with legit Swiss made cheese!</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/268/18226298819_4652ea2677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/268/18226298819_4652ea2677.jpg" title="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Gruyère cheese left to mature in the affinage cellar.</span></div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8770/18414129041_c5c41e44c9_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8770/18414129041_c5c41e44c9_z.jpg" title="La Maison du Gruyère (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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This was the actual size of a round of Gruyère cheese. HUGE!</div>
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After we've had our fill of cheese for the day (month perhaps...), we set off for the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g198820-d775674-Reviews-Castle_of_Gruyeres-Gruyeres_La_Gruyere_Canton_of_Fribourg.html" target="_blank">Castle of Gruyères</a>, which was located very close to the <span style="text-align: center;">Gruyère cheese factory, approximately a 5-8 mins drive away. To get from the carpark to the castle, we took a leisure walk through the medieval town of </span><span style="text-align: center;">Gruyères and it was just so pleasurable to take in the beautiful sights of the mountains which formed the backdrop.</span></div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8797/18386080416_0906579848_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Castle of Gruyères (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8797/18386080416_0906579848_c.jpg" title="Castle of Gruyères (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Entrance of the medieval town to get to the castle</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-xsrqfUsW1MgGI32soCdxLsuvHzI7DtycCuA5DauhyhJyCSjD57a_5ajgNbaU8A99WYddhZxQGX49AbC8SQfd7cvt2kPH6OhwO3vEqyEHKmDQYgGs1Hv6AZIJAIoEDiUfZXiYg7W-WkQ/s1600/DSC00143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Castle of Gruyères (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-xsrqfUsW1MgGI32soCdxLsuvHzI7DtycCuA5DauhyhJyCSjD57a_5ajgNbaU8A99WYddhZxQGX49AbC8SQfd7cvt2kPH6OhwO3vEqyEHKmDQYgGs1Hv6AZIJAIoEDiUfZXiYg7W-WkQ/s640/DSC00143.jpg" title="Castle of Gruyères (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Love the cobblestone walkway. The castle is just behind us!</div>
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The tour around the Castle of <span style="text-align: center;">Gruyères took us about 30 mins, walking through the rooms and looking out of the windows, we were treated with unblocked views of the mountains. We ended off the tour with a </span>mandatory selfie at the lawn of the castle, one could imagine walks taken by those who lived in the castle just to enjoy this amazing view all those years ago!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekkR4-i4JIfC2eZCbkM_PpYCJDPBxPW0dtEaR3myFs-BsylvBmMGNLlzgsXv6rQLqR6j-tGpd-bQcI4JiDbdrTls6HrBA1E9hb5lJU71OZNTqHZrILxBlD1zy8GXSqh7ZJWVvVyHm3GM/s1600/DSC00146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Castle of Gruyères (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhekkR4-i4JIfC2eZCbkM_PpYCJDPBxPW0dtEaR3myFs-BsylvBmMGNLlzgsXv6rQLqR6j-tGpd-bQcI4JiDbdrTls6HrBA1E9hb5lJU71OZNTqHZrILxBlD1zy8GXSqh7ZJWVvVyHm3GM/s640/DSC00146.jpg" title="Castle of Gruyères (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tranquility</div>
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There are quite a number of things Switzerland is pretty known for: Top quality swiss-made watches, Swiss army knives, all sorts of cheeses and CHOCOLATES - an all-time favourite snack & perk-me-up. We HAD TO make a trip to <a href="https://cailler.ch/" target="_blank">Maison Cailler</a> - The Swiss Chocolate Factory before we could end off our first day.</div>
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We managed to make it in time to catch the last tour for the day and was thoroughly entertained by the interactive tour through the chocolate factory. The tour brought us through the history of Cailler as well as allowed us to take a look at the actual process of creating the different types of chocolate. There is a free chocolate tasting session included and when I came to the end of a factory line, I thought this was it (See the photo below). We each took 2-3 pieces and walked on, thinking that's the end of the tour.</div>
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<a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7730/18224684028_97f6745cb4_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Maison Cailler (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7730/18224684028_97f6745cb4_z.jpg" title="Maison Cailler (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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These chocolates were fresh from the factory line, just behind me.</div>
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We were certainly pleasantly surprised when we came to this last stop, where there was a huge counter filled with 10-15 kinds of Cailler's most popular chocolate and that was the real deal! We could have as many pieces of each kind of chocolate as we would like and we were in chocolate heaven. I would say the tour itself was value for money simply for the fact that we could have a chocolate "buffet" to end off the tour. Both of us walked out happy and overdosed, once again, this time with chocolate. Needless to say, we were filled with happy hormones for the day.</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8780/18412510585_ce13c0190c_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Maison Cailler (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8780/18412510585_ce13c0190c_c.jpg" title="Maison Cailler (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our chocolate spoils for the day.</div>
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Before we left, we bought S$200 worth of chocolates to bring them back as souvenirs and Kenneth kept saying he couldn't believe we actually spent so much money on just chocolates and cheese alone. What can I say, how could we go all the way to Switzerland and not buy them for our loved ones back home? Well, that brought us to the end of Day 2 in Lausanne.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Montreux</span></h3>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/431/17789782054_6fd7d856ae_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Freddie Mercury (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/431/17789782054_6fd7d856ae_z.jpg" title="Freddie Mercury (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Statue of Freddie Mercury - Singer of Queen - at Montreux</div>
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On our last full day in Lausanne, we decided to just drive around and explore the Montreux & Martigny region. First stop was Montreux, where we had a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant before taking a walk around the city centre. We saw the 3-meter statue of former Queen Singer, Freddie Mercury facing the lake near his home and recording studios. The overcast skies & light drizzle gave a more somber feeling but we enjoyed the walk nonetheless.</div>
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Martigny</h3>
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One would say it was pretty romantic for us to walk hand in hand in the rain, and it was, but it was also getting to be quite cold so we headed back to the car and took to the roads to go check out the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g580371-d1547838-Reviews-Musee_Et_Chiens_Fondation_St_Bernard-Martigny_Canton_of_Valais_Swiss_Alps.html" target="_blank">St. Bernard Museum</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/270/19604535878_a829ee0d68_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="St. Bernard Museum (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/270/19604535878_a829ee0d68_z.jpg" title="St. Bernard Museum (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Saint. Bernard looking a little down, maybe because of the wet weather.</div>
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The entry to the St. Bernard museum included an informative tour where we could read up on the history of this special breed of dog as well as a chance to see these big, friendly giants in real life. We were blessed to have been able to see some puppies that were only about 2-3 months old then. One of the St. Bernards was lying on a bench (looking kinda bored actually) while enthusiastic kids (and adults like myself) were happily stroking him and snapping photos away on our cameras and phones. We had some fun looking at the adorable dog but I don't think it was worth the entrance fee (12CHF/~S$18) we had paid.</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/548/19604571768_4792206a52_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Les Bains d'Ovronnaz (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/548/19604571768_4792206a52_c.jpg" title="Les Bains d'Ovronnaz (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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The MOST AMAZING experience of soaking in a hot pool with the views & cold temperatures.</div>
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After a very fruitful but cold & rainy day, we decided to end off our trip by going for an outdoor hot pool experience. Our host recommended a very beautiful place to us - <a href="http://www.thermalp.ch/" target="_blank">Les Bains d'Ovronnaz</a> and it was located on the top of a mountain. It seems only the locals knew about that place and the lady at the customer service counter didn't speak English at all, so we had a bit of trouble telling her we wanted to get tickets for 2 of us to use the pools.</div>
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So after we managed to buy the tickets, we went in and changed into our swimwear and explored the 3 different pools available for us. There are 2 outdoor pools and the water temperature was about 30-36 degrees while the air temperature was about -2 degrees! What an amazing experience and to top it off, we were surrounded by snow capped mountains and there was even a trickle of snow flakes falling while we were soaking in the pool. I think it was the perfect way to end off a very wonderful winter vacation!</div>
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<a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3673/19606030689_985a970f6a_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Les Bains d'Ovronnaz (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3673/19606030689_985a970f6a_c.jpg" title="Les Bains d'Ovronnaz (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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There was a jacuzzi in one of the pools and it was one of my favourite part to be at.</div>
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After changing up, the sky had turned totally dark & I was a little concerned about the drive down the mountain without much street lights. The roads were very narrow with many twists & turns, slippery because of the snow that had melted, at times, we were driving very near the edge of the mountain and it was pitch black 90% of the time. Thank God Kenneth was a very steady & good driver, the whole time I was just sitting on the passenger seat and praying that we would get back safe & sound.</div>
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Which we did! After a long and fruitful day, we ended the last night in Lausanne (And Switzerland) cooking one last pasta dish and packing up our luggage for our flight the next day. We had no regrets and loved every second of our trip, because of the beautiful places & people we had met but I think the main reason is because we had each other to share & make these memories with.</div>
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We hope our travel blog has inspired you to visit these beautiful places & may you have as great a time as we both did! Au revoir!</div>
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You can read more on our full Switzerland trip and overall itinerary <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/04/switzerland-france-2015.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Date of travel: Jan 2015</div>
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Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?tags=2015%20kenstephtravels%20lausanne" target="_blank">Flickr Lausanne Photos</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g188107-Lausanne_Canton_of_Vaud-Vacations.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor (Lausanne)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g188108-Montreux_Canton_of_Vaud-Vacations.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor (Montreux)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g198820-Gruyeres_La_Gruyere_Canton_of_Fribourg-Vacations.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor (Gruyere)</a><br />
<a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Lausanne" target="_blank">Wikitravel Lausanne</a><br />
<a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Montreux" target="_blank">Wikitravel Montreux</a><br />
<a href="https://www.sbb.ch/en" target="_blank">Public Trains (SBB)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.swiss-pass.ch/en/" target="_blank">Swiss Travel Pass</a>steffyhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07506264778616124100noreply@blogger.com0Lausanne, Switzerland46.5199617 6.633597099999974546.4326062 6.4722355999999746 46.607317200000004 6.7949585999999744tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-73487286507618418472015-06-22T10:00:00.000+08:002015-08-19T15:01:10.617+08:00Interlaken, Switzerland 2015<br />
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We have heard so much about Interlaken and how it is one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland, so after <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/05/zurich-switzerland-2015.html" target="_blank">our time in Zurich</a> we decided to stay here for 2 days & explore it with the car we have rented. As with most of the accommodations, we booked <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2945137" target="_blank">a room through Airbnb</a> & it was a very nice & cosy studio apartment connected to the main house but with our own entrance. The view outside the glass doors was that of mountains but we didn't really get to enjoy it because of the thick mist that hovered in the mornings when we were leaving the apartment.</div>
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Here's our review for <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2945137" target="_blank">our Airbnb apartment</a>:</div>
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"Gisela was really friendly and nice. Though her English was not very good but she did her best in explaining everything to us. Her place is very clean and modern. It is a studio apartment with minimalistic design and has everything you need. She lives just next door as a neighbour and is easily reachable. We were surprised that our bed was made up when we came back at night, which was really nice. We drove and had a space to park our car outside. Town is not too far away and you could walk or take a bus. We had a nice 2 night stay and would definitely go back there again if we pass by interlaken!<span style="line-height: 1.428571em;">"</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.9999942779541px;">The red building behind us was where we stayed for 2 nights & that Toyato was our trusted ride for a couple of days around Switzerland.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.9999942779541px;">Our studio apartment</span></div>
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This was the view outside our glass doors but it was too foggy to see the mountains in the distance.</div>
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Our plan for the day was to drive around the Interlaken region but we didn't have any specific destination or stops in mind, it was more of a "We'd take it as it comes" mentality we had that day. We packed in our sandwiches, hot cocoa & tea, turned on our GPS & embarked on the road trip for the day.</div>
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Interlaken, here we come!</div>
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At the start of our journey, the fog that surrounded the area was so thick, we could barely see more than 50m ahead but we decided to just drive & hopefully the fog would clear up as the day went by. Whenever we see something interesting or beautiful sights, we would park the car, get out and just explore on foot.<br />
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First stop at Riggenburg & there were pretty wooden houses lining the main road.</div>
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We had to drive VERY slowly & carefully. I was glad Kenneth drove the whole time, all I had to do was sit beside him and navigate.</div>
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This view gave a very surreal & mystical feeling and we just had to snap a shot to remember it by.</div>
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We stopped by a place with a lake but the visibility was limited because of the heavy fog.</div>
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<span style="line-height: normal;">There was one place that we were hoping to be able to see - Giessbach falls, a waterfall that was supposedly quite pretty to see. We had a rough idea where it was but not the exact direction to get there so while we were travelling in that general direction, we chanced upon a restaurant with an amazing view as we ate lunch - </span><span style="line-height: 1.428571em;">Restaurant Bramisegg</span></div>
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Restaurant Bramisegg was perched on the edge, just beside the windy road we took randomly going up the mountain.</div>
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We are big fans of awesome views & experiencing local food so we got out of the car & scooted into this restaurant without a second thought. It was one of the most memorable place we ate at this trip & we enjoyed ourselves totally!<br />
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We had this view as we sat by the windows of the restaurant. Breathtaking. </div>
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Our yummy Rosti (Homemade!) with eggs, bacon and cheese as well as pork sausage. </div>
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The local (Interlaken) beer was super good as well!</div>
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It felt like a good place to take an emo shot. Model!</div>
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With our tummies filled & hearts full, we got back to exploring the Interlaken region. After driving and just enjoying the views along the way, we finally found Giessbach Falls tucked in a cosy area where we took a short hike of 5-10mins from where we parked the car.<br />
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We were so excited to see the waterfall at our backs.</div>
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The path leading up to the waterfall was covered with snow & quite slippery to walk on. We had to take the risk of falling so we could get up close & behind the waterfall.</div>
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From behind the waterfall. It was so cold there were icicles forming at the top.</div>
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A closer shot of us with the waterfall.</div>
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Quite a nice view on the hike up to the waterfall. That's the <span style="text-align: start;">Grandhotel Giessbach sitting just in front of the lake.</span> </div>
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We took a walk to the base of the waterfall before heading back to the car. The water flowed from the top all the way down to the lake.</div>
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The view inside the mini forest just by the side of the waterfall.</div>
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After the short hike & burning off some of the calories we took in during lunch, we continued driving and the plan was to drive around one of the lakes before ending off the day grocery shopping & cooking a warm home cooked meal. Unfortunately, we found out that some roads were closed due to heavy snowfall & the potential danger of an avalanche. Kenneth was feeling adventurous and wanted to just drive up anyway. Thankfully, there were road blocks & he was forced to U-turn back home instead.</div>
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Road block!</div>
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We drove through a town that is well known for handmade wood carved products but it was too late and most, or rather all, the shops were closed. Too bad for us :(<br />
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Without shops to go into, we just got out and take some pictures of the lake we drove along for most of the trip instead.</div>
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Hot cocoa on a cold winter day kept us warm through the day.</div>
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Just as we were heading back to our place, it started to rain quite heavily. After this, it was about a 15-20mins drive & we just took our time getting back and enjoying hot cocoa from our flask. All in all, we had a pretty good & fun day just taking things slow & easy.</div>
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We would certainly recommend this drive around the Interlaken region if you just want to enjoy beautiful views & fresh air with no stress of rushing from place to place. Enjoy!</div>
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You can read more on our full Switzerland trip and overall itinerary <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/04/switzerland-france-2015.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Date of travel: Jan 2015</div>
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Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/steffyho/sets/72157652468365035" target="_blank">Flickr Interlaken Photos</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g188081-Interlaken_Bernese_Oberland_Canton_of_Bern-Vacations.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor (Interlaken)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.interlaken.ch/en" target="_blank">Interlaken Tourism</a></div>
steffyhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07506264778616124100noreply@blogger.com0Interlaken, Switzerland46.6873837 7.869550500000059446.6438117 7.7888695000000592 46.730955699999996 7.95023150000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-26513967980367853452015-06-12T12:06:00.000+08:002015-07-30T23:17:42.559+08:00Geneva, Switzerland 2015When we first arrived in Switzerland, we flew in via Geneva but left immediately for <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/05/zurich-switzerland-2015.html" target="_blank">Zurich</a> for our first leg of the trip. You can read more about our Zurich section <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/05/zurich-switzerland-2015.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<h3>
Getting to the city</h3>
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But for those that fly into Geneva and are going straight to the city, you can make use of the free train ride to the city.<br />
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"<i>Since 2008, you can pick up a free ticket for public transport from the machine in the baggage collection area at the Arrival level. This Unireso ticket, offered by Genève Aéroport, allows you to use public transport in the canton of Geneva free for a period of 80 minutes.</i>"<br />
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You can visit <a href="http://gva.ch/" target="_blank">Geneva Airport Website</a> for more details about it. And if you're staying in a hotel, hostel or campsite, you can also travel within Geneva for free using the <a href="http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/en/useful-information/how-to-get-around/geneva-transport-card/" target="_blank">Geneva Transport Card</a>!<br />
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"<i>The Geneva Transport Card is your free passport to Geneva's transport network.</i><br />
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<i>When you stay in a hotel, a youth hostel or at a campsite, you receive free of charge a Geneva Transport Card. Taking the tram, the bus and the train on Geneva territory will not cost you a penny. You even can cross the lake with the yellow taxi-boats for free.</i><br />
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<i>This personal and non-transferable card is offered to you at arrival. During your stay in Geneva, you can use the entire Geneva transport network (UNIRESO: bus and tram (TPG), train (CFF) and taxi-boats (Mouettes Genevoises).</i><br />
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<i>If you arrive at Geneva International Airport, you can get a 80-minute ticket free of charge for a ride to the place of your accommodation. The ticket machine is in the luggage retrieval hall.</i>"<br />
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Visit <a href="http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/" target="_blank">Geneva Tourism</a> for more details.<br />
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For this current trip, we arrived into Geneva after our <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/01/the-val-thorens-experience.html" target="_blank">snowboarding trip in Val Thorens</a>. Although our coach from Val Thorens alighted us at the airport, we were unable to make use of the free train ride as we didn't fly in on that day. So we bought a train ticket and traveled to our <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/12351642" target="_blank">Airbnb accommodation</a> in the city. It was a nice apartment that's slightly outside the city (2 bus stop from the central station or about 10-15min walk) and our host <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/12351642" target="_blank">Ari</a> is an extremely friendly and hospitable person.<br />
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<h3>
Steph's birthday</h3>
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Geneva wasn't a very exciting city for us. The reason for visiting this city was that we had a friend who was here and decided to just meet up with him and explore the city a little.<br />
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Upon arriving the first night, we met up with Gabriel for dinner and went to a nice steak place near the central station called, <a href="http://www.chezboubier.com/en/" target="_blank">Cafe De Paris</a>. It was nice quaint restaurant with vintage decor. There was only 1 item on the menu, steak and fries. That's what I call having focus. Doing one thing and doing it good. The place was fully packed when we arrived but we were glad Gabriel made a reservation. We also had a surprise to celebrate Steph's birthday while dining there. It was really memorable as everyone in the restaurant sang along and cheered for her; some also came up to wish her a happy birthday. Visiting Switzerland during winter time has also been one of Steph's wishes as she would love to see a nice white wintery wonderland with sparkling snow-filled landscape. Thus I decided we would go and visit Switzerland during this time, even though I had been here before. We were really blessed that the weather was good, snow was fluffy for snowboarding and she had a great time visiting this place. I'm glad that I'm able to make the wishes of my wife come true! Happy birthday my dear! :)<br />
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I thought the steak were decent and rather tender. It was quite unique as they serve the steak over a small fire. Probably so that you could further control how cooked you want your steak to be. You can also check out <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g188057-d783852-Reviews-Cafe_de_Paris-Geneva.html" target="_blank">TripAdvisor reviews</a> on that place.<br />
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Gabriel and I with our steak</div>
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Celebrating Steph's birthday</div>
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Everyone singing along and cheering</div>
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Lunch at a Middle Eastern eatery with some church friends</div>
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CERN</h3>
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Another big highlight in Geneva (mainly for techies) is <a href="http://cern.ch/" target="_blank">CERN</a>; The home of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider" target="_blank">Large Hadron Collider</a> as well as the birthplace of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web" target="_blank">World Wide Web</a>, or more commonly known as the Internet. And that's also the reason why you're able to read this blog post now. Cool right? ;)</div>
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They have a free tour but you need to register for it before the actual day of your tour. You can do so <a href="http://outreach.web.cern.ch/" target="_blank">here</a> or navigate to the page via their main home page. Do note this tour does not include the underground visit. You have to wait for special open days to visit their underground facilitates.<br />
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CERN, Geneva</div>
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CERN, Geneva</div>
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<h3>
Outlet shopping</h3>
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There is also a decent outlet shopping just slightly outside of Geneva called <a href="http://www.outlet-aubonne.ch/" target="_blank">Aubonne Outlet</a>. It is quite a big shopping center with food and super market as well. We were in a rush so we only managed to get a pair of winter boots. If we had more time, we would probably have needed to get an extra luggage as well. ;)<br />
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Conclusion</h3>
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Geneva is generally a small city and there is nothing too fanciful, so don't expect to be having lots to do there. You can see the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attractions-g188057-Activities-Geneva.html" target="_blank">attractions on TripAdvisor</a> or <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Geneva" target="_blank">Wikitravel Geneva</a> to get a feel of the things to do there. It's a good place to start or end your trip since most international flights fly here.</div>
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You can read more on our full Switzerland trip and overall itinerary <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/04/switzerland-france-2015.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Date of travel: Jan 2015</div>
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Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?tags=2015%20kenstephtravels%20geneva" target="_blank">Flickr Geneva Photos</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attractions-g188057-Activities-Geneva.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor (Geneva)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/" target="_blank">Geneva Tourism</a><br />
<a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Geneva" target="_blank">Wikitravel Geneva</a><br />
<a href="https://www.sbb.ch/en" target="_blank">Public Trains (SBB)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.swiss-pass.ch/en/" target="_blank">Swiss Travel Pass</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Geneva, Switzerland46.1983922 6.142296100000066946.110477700000004 5.9809346000000669 46.2863067 6.3036576000000668tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-30562192128300219412015-05-25T10:00:00.000+08:002015-05-25T10:00:00.650+08:00Zurich, Switzerland 2015Zurich was our first destination upon arriving in Switzerland. Although our flight was to arrive in Geneva, we decided to leave that city for a later part as we had a friend there but he wasn't around during the time we arrived. As per our predictable habit of traveling, we still have yet to decide on how we would travel from Geneva to Zurich when we touched down.<br />
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At a park beside Lake Zurich</div>
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<b>Traveling to Zurich</b><br />
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We were considering the option of traveling by train or driving. After speaking to the staff on the ground of the various transport departments and considering the cost of the <a href="https://www.sbb.ch/en" target="_blank">Public Trains (SBB)</a>, <a href="http://www.swiss-pass.ch/en/" target="_blank">Swiss Travel Pass</a> and <a href="https://www.hertz.com/" target="_blank">Hertz Car Rental</a>, we decided to rent a car for 24H, drive to Zurich and then return it there. It was actually cheaper to rent a car (including petrol, insurance, different return location charge... etc) than traveling by train. Actually for most travel within Europe, trains are generally costlier, but in some scenarios they are more convenient, timely and scenic. But in our current situation, it was more convenient with a car as it would bring us direct to our accommodation together with the 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks that we had. And since it was cheaper, it was quite a no-brainer option for us. The other considerations we had were flight fatigue, night time driving and snowy road conditions; We had just arrived from a long flight and it was actually snowing & raining.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Driving is one thing, but driving during snowy conditions is a totally different ball game. One has to be extremely cautious and alert when driving during winter time because the way the car reacts when driving on snow is very different as compared to normal road. Considering that I have had experience driving in different parts of Europe, including snowy conditions and I was well-rested during the flight, we made the decision to do the 3hr, 290km drive. While driving, there were a few moments where we could feel the car skid a little when it was really icy but we got a good Mazda 4 wheel drive SUV and I think that helped with the road conditions that night.<br />
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Our Mazda SUV</div>
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We also made some pit-stops along the way to freshen up and get some caffeine in my blood. That's really important to prevent driving fatigue as it is crucial to stay alert while driving in such conditions.<br />
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<b>Some tips for car rental and driving:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Ensure you have the right tyres (winter or summer tyres)</li>
<li>During winter, ensure you have snow chains (for your tyres) in your boot in case you need to put them on</li>
<li>Always get the pre-paid petrol/diesel option (it's cheaper and you can top up to a full tank to get a refund when you return if you don't fully utilise all the gas) (See <a href="https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/productservice/index.jsp?targetPage=refuelingoptions.jsp" target="_blank">Hertz Prepay Fuel</a>)</li>
<li>Avoid driving alone (your partner can help keep you alert and watch the road conditions)</li>
<li>Instead of paying to rent a GPS, get a local sim card with data plan and use the maps and GPS on your phone (Have a physical map as backup in case you drive to areas without a network)</li>
<li>Bring/Buy a USB car charger for your phone (especially if you're using your phone for GPS)</li>
<li>Generally, an international driving license is not required when renting a car in Europe. But if your license is not printed in English, then it's recommended you apply for an international driving license and use that for rental</li>
<li><b>ALWAYS get car insurance</b>, or any insurance for that matter. You never know what can happen, that's why they are called accidents. And don't always get the cheapest. Check the coverage and get one that's within your risk appetite and budget. Talk to Steph if you need some tips/advice on insurance</li>
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<b>Exploring Zurich</b></div>
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Our itinerary for Zurich was very simple, or rather, "What itinerary?!". Basically it was just chill and roam. Here's our standard daily routine:<br />
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<ul>
<li>10am: Wake up. Have breakfast in our apartment while watching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Family" target="_blank">Modern Family</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory" target="_blank">The Big Bang Theory</a>.</li>
<li>11am-4pm: Head out to visit some sights, have lunch at some nice funky cafe, chill at some coffee place</li>
<li>5pm: Grocery shopping and have dinner in the apartment</li>
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When we are on a holiday, we really meant it as a holiday. It's a break and we just take things easy. We got most of our info from <a href="https://www.zuerich.com/en" target="_blank">Zurich Tourist Site</a>, <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Zurich" target="_blank">Zurich Wikitravel</a>, <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g188113-Zurich-Vacations.html" target="_blank">TripAdvisor</a> and our <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/users/show/10379615" target="_blank">Airbnb host</a>.<br />
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As per all our travels in Europe, we will always look for free walking tours in that city. It's a cheap and effective way to learn about the city and it's history. And the guides are usually passionate students or young adults, thus they tend to give information that's more in-tuned to what I'm interested in. Although it's a "free" walking tour, they operate on a tips basis. So you can tip them at the end of the tour depending on how much you can afford and how much you got out of it. The truth is there's no free lunch in this world, and as a working professional, I believe in paying for a good service.<br />
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We went for the tour with <a href="http://www.freewalkzurich.ch/" target="_blank">Free Walk Zurich</a> and we enjoyed it. Our guide also recommended us a really nice cafe, <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g188113-d1320094-Reviews-Cafe_Schober-Zurich.html" target="_blank">Cafe Schober</a>. It looks very simple on the outside, but the decor in the interior is amazing and the desserts too yummy!<br />
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The entrance of Cafe Schober</div>
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Decor of Cafe Schober</div>
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Decor of Cafe Schober</div>
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Desserts!</div>
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<b>Freitag</b></div>
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If you're a fan of <a href="http://freitag.ch/" target="_blank">Freitag</a>, then you probably don't need me to tell you this, their <a href="http://www.freitag.ch/media/stores/zurich" target="_blank">flag ship store</a> is in Zurich. The design of the store is as innovative as their products and it's actually built from 19 recycled freight containers. By the way, Freitag means Friday in German. That's what a local explained to me when I was asking him for directions. Some of the cool stuffs you learn when talking to locals. If you are looking for some discounted Freitag products, you can head slightly further down the road from the flag ship store over to <a href="http://www.thegloss.ch/" target="_blank">The Gloss</a> (about 2 bus stops away). Over there they carry a few brands and you can find some discounted Freitag stuffs, it's like a mini outlet store. Varieties are limited though.</div>
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Freitag Flagship Store Zurich</div>
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<b>Thomas Sabo</b></div>
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If you're a <a href="http://www.thomassabo.com/" target="_blank">Thomas Sabo</a> fan, do check out the stores in Zurich as they have limited edition designs that are only sold in Switzerland and not anywhere else in the world. I've checked with the Singapore store (at Orchard ION) and the staff said they don't carry the Swiss Snowboard design that we got.</div>
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Thomas Sabo Swiss Snowboard Charm</div>
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<b>Airbnb Accommodation</b><br />
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We stayed in a nice and <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2021797" target="_blank">simple apartment</a> slightly outside of the main city center, near Lake Zurich. It's 2 metro stops away from the main train station, so you could actually walk back instead of taking the train. We booked this place via Airbnb and <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2021797#host-profile" target="_blank">our host</a> is an extremely warm and friendly Japanese living in Switzerland. His day job is to fly hand gliders, bringing tourists on flights above the city!<br />
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Here's our Airbnb review for <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/2021797#host-profile" target="_blank">his apartment</a>:<br />
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"Although Yosh replies are quite short but he's an extremely friendly and nice person! The photos show exactly how the room is: Simple, spacious and sufficient for 2 people. It's good that the shower area and the toilet is separate so that both are not occupied by a single person. He even has a simple "mini-mart" for you to buy food in the event you arrive late and all supermarket are closed. His place is easily accessible by public transport or you could walk from the main central station (but definitely not with your luggages). There are street parking lots around but it might not be so easy to find available lots. Thanx for having us Yosh! We had a great time at your place. Have a great 2015! :)"<br />
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If you have yet to travel via Airbnb, you should do so! It's a great way to find accommodation that's value for money. My favourite part of it is the space you get for the price you pay. Even if you book just a room, you get to use the main house space (like the living room and kitchen). That's a significant larger amount of space, compared to a hotel room. Of course, it also depends on what you look for in an accommodation. I will blog more about Airbnb in another post. But if you're interested in Airbnb and have yet to register an account, you can register for one via this link (<a href="http://www.airbnb.com.sg/c/klim86?s=8">www.airbnb.com.sg/c/klim86?s=8</a>). By doing so, you and I will each get a SGD $33 credit for our next booking. One advice, as a first timer, make sure you read the reviews of your host & apartment and try to book places that have good reviews (or at least have some reviews) to avoid disappointment.<br />
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Have fun booking!<br />
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You can read more on our full trip and overall itinerary <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/04/switzerland-france-2015.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Date of travel: Jan 2015<br />
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Some useful links:<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?tags=2015%20kenstephtravels%20zurich" target="_blank">Flickr photos (Zurich)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.airbnb.com/" target="_blank">Airbnb Website</a><br />
<a href="https://www.zuerich.com/en" target="_blank">Zurich Tourist Site</a><br />
<a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Zurich" target="_blank">Zurich Wikitravel</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g188113-Zurich-Vacations.html" target="_blank">TripAdvisor (Zurich)</a><br />
<a href="https://www.sbb.ch/en" target="_blank">Public Trains (SBB)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.swiss-pass.ch/en/" target="_blank">Swiss Travel Pass</a><br />
<a href="https://www.hertz.com/" target="_blank">Hertz Car Rental</a><br />
<br />kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Zurich, Switzerland47.3686498 8.539182500000038147.1966098 8.2164590000000377 47.5406898 8.8619060000000385tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-50730520324115837942015-04-30T17:40:00.002+08:002016-01-05T16:36:31.478+08:00Switzerland & France 2015<div>
For the winter of 2014/2015, we were planning for our snowboarding trip as it's actually been a while since we last did snowboarding. I first picked up snowboarding during my one year in Stockholm while I was doing my <a href="http://www.overseas.nus.edu.sg/" target="_blank">NUS NOC internship</a>. It was definitely a rough and late start to the sport but the beginning of a highly addictive hobby. Since then, I've snowboarded in <a href="http://www.rommealpin.se/index.asp?lang=1033" target="_blank">Romme Alpin</a> (Sweden), <a href="http://www.skistar.com/en/salen/" target="_blank">Sälen</a> (Sweden), <a href="http://en.lesgets.com/snow-ski/" target="_blank">Les Gets</a> (France), <a href="http://www.nanshanski.com/index-en.asp" target="_blank">Nanshan</a> (China) and <a href="http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/ski/overview.asp" target="_blank">Yongpyong</a> (South Korea). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCljOHE9LYsa4FRtzxN7ANBTk37nkxUcDvdsC5KOQRnsJcXQPdm8icAhvJZna0IhLFA4HORmqDLhgeT646gWF3HVTWzWTosx_KoMPIEJayVXN5gLmTKJtEgQ6pC84vxq6P7A7EPB7rWNjT/s1600/P1072191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Snowboarding in Les Gets, France 2009 (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCljOHE9LYsa4FRtzxN7ANBTk37nkxUcDvdsC5KOQRnsJcXQPdm8icAhvJZna0IhLFA4HORmqDLhgeT646gWF3HVTWzWTosx_KoMPIEJayVXN5gLmTKJtEgQ6pC84vxq6P7A7EPB7rWNjT/s1600/P1072191.JPG" title="Snowboarding in Les Gets, France 2009 (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Snowboarding in Les Gets, France 2009</div>
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For this trip, we were planning to go somewhere near, preferably in Asia so it wouldn't be too costly. With those considerations in mind, we decided to head back to South Korea. Over there we could find good food, nice people and decently priced places for snowboarding. But as I researched on, it didn't seem as value-for-money as compared to snowboarding in Europe. The prices of the ski-passes and snowboard rental between Korea and Europe were almost the same but the ski domain is significantly larger in Europe. We are talking about 29km of ski runs in <a href="http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/ski/overview.asp" target="_blank">Yongpyong</a> and 600km of ski runs in <a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/01/the-val-thorens-experience.html" target="_blank">Val Thorens</a>!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2s6lEnz3QrrZ588nVisij3vInPqyoiwe97TDYsE0licDnkHyiP6MVhuuJFXRYUe0_tqfm5ogTo1uIzlwvKzeHuZA6yvnR8O5tEyxqA_ixY9HovhFeEbhqUXBKQDEC8Ak4SnD1ruQKeXq/s1600/IMG_3742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Snowboarding in Yongpyong, South Korea 2013 (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2s6lEnz3QrrZ588nVisij3vInPqyoiwe97TDYsE0licDnkHyiP6MVhuuJFXRYUe0_tqfm5ogTo1uIzlwvKzeHuZA6yvnR8O5tEyxqA_ixY9HovhFeEbhqUXBKQDEC8Ak4SnD1ruQKeXq/s1600/IMG_3742.jpg" title="Snowboarding in Yongpyong, South Korea 2013 (kennethstephanie.com)" width="478" /></a></div>
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Sunset in Yongpyong (South Korea) after our runs</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIWZP5SB1UNaaaoFfPiBwXLbf6vNz0BdZbrh_YX2hE6mntuCiLzWKcj5iYwXorznm2YWN2QUkHiFoXnO1FqdxkFFRAI9X0a0509h9lm7jrGOVSQXNdZYpGoUaoYFibZuf6-sdHUFlk_ADd/s1600/IMG_7406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens Village (Les 3 Vallées) France 2015 (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIWZP5SB1UNaaaoFfPiBwXLbf6vNz0BdZbrh_YX2hE6mntuCiLzWKcj5iYwXorznm2YWN2QUkHiFoXnO1FqdxkFFRAI9X0a0509h9lm7jrGOVSQXNdZYpGoUaoYFibZuf6-sdHUFlk_ADd/s1600/IMG_7406.jpg" title="Val Thorens Village (Les 3 Vallées) France 2015 (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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View of Val Thorens village, France 2015</div>
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One week before our expected date for our winter holiday, I chanced upon various flight promotions to Europe. Of the different promotions, we managed to find a return flight to Geneva for about SGD $1000 via <a href="http://www.qatarairways.com/" target="_blank">Qatar Airways</a>. Qatar has won the Best Airline in the World for a few years, so that's definitely a good deal. And since the cost of flying to Europe is just $200 more than our flight to South Korea, we decided to ditch our Korean plans and go for a white winter wonderland in Europe. That's the benefit of being spontaneous in our traveling, we get to go where the wind blows, or rather, where the promotion blows. ;) As you read our different travel stories, spontaneous traveling has always been our style where we travel based on what inspires us. I guess it is also partly due to our busy and hectic schedule in Singapore during our normal daily lives. So when it comes to a holiday, we really let it be a holiday; no fixed timings, no deadlines to meet, no stress and just relax. That's a holiday for us! Even for our 3 week honeymoon in New Zealand back in 2011, we only bought the flight tickets and nothing else. Our first few nights of accommodations were only decided and purchased in Christchurch airport based on the recommendation of the Tourist Information booth staff. Yes you read that right, we only bought our flight tickets and boarded the plane with no accommodations booked at all. You could call us crazy but we were just too busy with our wedding preparations to be planning for our honeymoon. I guess our experience with traveling and backpacking around Europe has given us confidence in doing something as crazy as that. And no, we didn't end up sleeping on the streets, on the contrary, everything turned out fantastic! We shall leave that for another post. :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBAccGffAFwoEPeZINYDenIO2P-LNNsbUOBbkeMKJ4ifQQb9S7k2B6LlJX7R5Oo4DtK11E-DukSwFHfj6o30539ZuJd-lZbowLG6LHk6TggzRH8JAv6LMSPBNyv5JjHDm7hAcTIZauT4/s1600/IMG_4731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Driving from Zurich to Interlaken, Switzerland 2015 (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBAccGffAFwoEPeZINYDenIO2P-LNNsbUOBbkeMKJ4ifQQb9S7k2B6LlJX7R5Oo4DtK11E-DukSwFHfj6o30539ZuJd-lZbowLG6LHk6TggzRH8JAv6LMSPBNyv5JjHDm7hAcTIZauT4/s640/IMG_4731.JPG" title="Driving from Zurich to Interlaken, Switzerland 2015 (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our drive from Zurich to Interlaken, Switzerland 2015</div>
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Our white winter wonderland trip started from Geneva -> Zurich -> Lucern -> Interlaken -> Val Thorens -> Geneva -> Lausanne -> Geneva. Although I've been to Switzerland before but Steph hasn't. So I decided to bring my wife on a nice trip there and I think winter is one of the best time to do it. We will blog about the different sections of our trips in the next few posts and you can click on the city names below to view the different legs of our trip.<br />
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<b>Itinerary:</b><br />
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<tr><th>Day</th><th>Location</th></tr>
<tr><td nowrap=""><a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/05/zurich-switzerland-2015.html">Day 1 - 4<br />
(Geneva-Zurich)</a>:</td><td>Arrived in Geneva, drove to Zurich.</td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/06/interlaken-switzerland.html" target="">Day 4 - 6</a><br />
<a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/06/interlaken-switzerland.html" target="">(Zurich-Interlaken)</a>:</td><td>Drove from Zurich to Interlaken. Visited Lucern, Bern, Iseltwald and Jungfrau.</td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/01/the-val-thorens-experience.html">Day 6 - 13(Val Thorens)</a>:</td><td>Drove to Geneva and took a coach to Val Thorens. Snowboarding in French Alps!</td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/06/geneva-switzerland-2015.html" target="_blank">Day 13 - 15</a><br />
<a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/06/geneva-switzerland-2015.html" target="_blank">(Geneva)</a>:</td><td>Took a coach back to Geneva.</td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/08/lausanne-switzerland-2015_19.html" target="_blank">Day 15 - 19</a><br />
<a href="http://travel.kennethstephanie.com/2015/08/lausanne-switzerland-2015_19.html" target="_blank">(Lausanne)</a>:</td><td>Drove from Geneva to Lausanne. Stayed in the country side and visited Gruyères, Friburg, Montreux.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Day 19<br />
(Geneva):</td><td>Drove back to Geneva for our flight back to Singapore.</td></tr>
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For those that are interested in budgeting for your future trips similar to ours, here is the expenses breakdown for our trip in SGD.<br />
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<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #ccc; table-layout: fixed;"><tbody>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Expenses breakdown"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"><b>Expenses breakdown</b></td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Amount (SGD)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"><b>Amount (SGD)</b></td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Percentage"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"><b>Percentage</b></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Food"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Food</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,905.138]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$905.14</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[8]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.10027719259046583]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">10.03%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Transport (Car rentral, petrol, parking, bus)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Transport (Car rentral, petrol, parking, bus)</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,1459.2876]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1,459.29</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[7]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.16166956166913626]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">16.17%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Personal (Shopping)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Personal (Shopping)</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,449.116]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$449.12</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[6]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.049756050047020065]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4.98%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Activities (Snowboarding)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Activities (Snowboarding)</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,2069.09]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2,069.09</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[5]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.22922751714877393]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">22.92%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Utilities (Mobile plans, data)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Utilities (Mobile plans, data)</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,26.400000000000002]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$26.40</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[4]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.0029247671453284446]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">0.29%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Gifts (Soveniers)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Gifts (Soveniers)</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,186.568]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$186.57</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[3]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.020669240786728684]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2.07%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Accommodations"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Accommodations</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,1766.7600000000002]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1,766.76</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[2]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.19573339400304862]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">19.57%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Others (Flight ticket)"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Others (Flight ticket)</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,2164]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2,164.00</td><td data-sheets-formula="=R[0]C[-1]/R[1]C[-1]" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,0.23974227660949826]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">23.97%</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"GRAND TOTAL"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"><b>GRAND TOTAL</b></td><td data-sheets-formula="=sum(R[-8]C[0]:R[-1]C[0])" data-sheets-numberformat="[null,4,"\"$\"#,##0.00"]" data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9026.3596]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;"><b>$9,026.36</b></td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,3,"0.00%",1]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"></td></tr>
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Our exchange rate then:<br />
CHF: 1.32 (<a href="https://www.google.com.sg/#q=1+chf+to+sgd" target="_blank">click here to view current rate</a>)<br />
Euro: 1.6 (<a href="https://www.google.com.sg/#q=1+euro+to+sgd" target="_blank">click here to view current rate</a>)<br />
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Here's a summary video of our trip. 19 days in 5 minutes.</div>
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Switzerland / France 2015</div>
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Date of travel: Jan 2015<br />
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Some useful links:<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?tags=2015%20kenstephtravels%20winter" target="_blank">Flickr photos (Switzerland & France)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-sg/home.html" target="_blank">Switzerland Tourist Site</a><br />
<a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Switzerland" target="_blank">Switzerland Wikitravel</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g188045-Switzerland-Vacations.html" target="_blank">TripAdvisor (Switzerland)</a><br />
<a href="https://www.sbb.ch/en" target="_blank">Public Trains (SBB)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.swiss-pass.ch/en/" target="_blank">Swiss Travel Pass</a><br />
<a href="https://www.hertz.com/" target="_blank">Hertz Car Rental</a></div>
kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Geneva, Switzerland46.1983922 6.142296100000066946.110477700000004 5.9809346000000669 46.2863067 6.3036576000000668tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-88781987357876354942015-01-20T23:14:00.000+08:002015-05-09T14:56:05.216+08:00The Val Thorens ExperienceAs promised, we are back with our Val Thorens (Snowboarding) Experience in this second blog post.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GVjlxVHtKLd5gIof_8l6oYeZcu88Pag9z-yYo287bUJU-ZGGlf0FlPvZurGdb-J4PR3smWpBuwlWaaSjHGtRywuINrwXyTebuZSipCH6X04q8dvIoh0I6lX6IjFdCCVxFu1b_iP28fQ/s1600/DSC00122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GVjlxVHtKLd5gIof_8l6oYeZcu88Pag9z-yYo287bUJU-ZGGlf0FlPvZurGdb-J4PR3smWpBuwlWaaSjHGtRywuINrwXyTebuZSipCH6X04q8dvIoh0I6lX6IjFdCCVxFu1b_iP28fQ/s1600/DSC00122.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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We were so happy that we got to stand up on the peaks & snowboard down snow-covered slopes together.</div>
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As mentioned, we had signed up for 5 days of snowboard lessons & that would be conducted by 1 instructor and a small group of us, ranging from 3-10 people, depending on how many turned up for that day. Here's how our day was like for the first 5 days with lessons:<br />
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Each morning, we would gather with our classmates at 8.30am and start the lessons at 9.00am for 3 hours before ending off at 12 noon for lunch. Ken would go off with his class & I would scoot off with mine to learn at our own pace, linking up to share a meal (literally 1 set of meal because it is so expensive & the portions were pretty huge) for lunch. Since we flew all the way to France to snowboard, we had to make sure we made full use of each day's ski pass & continue to snowboard in the afternoon till about 5-6pm everyday.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuaK4Uy5lc_L6veKqQXTK3grnYJSlH7FXvRIJMMeCwhANQAGa1DkC4jupXEUdmIdlP_CbQrFC4ryG9d0uHHLhhj1zZvUBapR-WLBWdTUW6Z0AfJYytAyUiaunF2oa7oUnUkQVw8GNYEEw/s1600/IMG_7405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuaK4Uy5lc_L6veKqQXTK3grnYJSlH7FXvRIJMMeCwhANQAGa1DkC4jupXEUdmIdlP_CbQrFC4ryG9d0uHHLhhj1zZvUBapR-WLBWdTUW6Z0AfJYytAyUiaunF2oa7oUnUkQVw8GNYEEw/s1600/IMG_7405.jpg" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="480" /></a></div>
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Us on the first day of snowboarding. I wanted to have a photo before I fell too much & destroyed all my snowboard equipment :)</div>
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I was super nervous on the first day of lessons, worried that everybody else were much more advanced & that I would not be able to catch up, scared of falling flat on my face too many times & injuring myself and end up ruining the rest of the trip. I didn't know what to expect & had no idea how the lessons would go.<br />
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When we arrived at the gathering point that first day, I was pointed to a guy and asked to wait. Once a group of 5-6 of us formed, our instructor came over (He was having a very strong French accent) and introduced himself as Christoph. He started by giving us some rules to follow throughout the lessons, taught us basic body postures & how to break going down slope. Although I had learnt how to do that through trial & error, it felt good to learn the right techniques during the lesson.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdpcXLfSviHsYsq3kRqZYzFIpkOMtcL-Q7YwUqZ9Qwl6jgou8AmaEkXp6dBnHj4EP0mAMtPQZr5NluBzbg8PPaLjnJh8j2EFKSpTSJs8LYB9nUR-Wq5Aw8HBjKeZPj3DsOyCKzq2lKRd4/s1600/IMG_7444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdpcXLfSviHsYsq3kRqZYzFIpkOMtcL-Q7YwUqZ9Qwl6jgou8AmaEkXp6dBnHj4EP0mAMtPQZr5NluBzbg8PPaLjnJh8j2EFKSpTSJs8LYB9nUR-Wq5Aw8HBjKeZPj3DsOyCKzq2lKRd4/s1600/IMG_7444.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Yay to wonderful lessons that made me feel good about snowboarding!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAdZPGUZBXNZzI2afYOBudx8ZCPqwkPOy1ucr-cew_aMMRon4ZH9jGvQJgKRKqv2yzz4h8PtM9E2h0sRxitNw7sQDfBImWeJSS5vEBEACMuXzSsxeK47KhdYa-4yGLgmi_HXkK33n17Ms/s1600/IMG_4864.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAdZPGUZBXNZzI2afYOBudx8ZCPqwkPOy1ucr-cew_aMMRon4ZH9jGvQJgKRKqv2yzz4h8PtM9E2h0sRxitNw7sQDfBImWeJSS5vEBEACMuXzSsxeK47KhdYa-4yGLgmi_HXkK33n17Ms/s1600/IMG_4864.jpg" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="480" /></a></div>
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Yay to riding on snow, FINALLY!</div>
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Once Christoph was satisfied we could do the basic snowboard techniques, he brought us up Green (Beginners) slopes to practise & do our first few runs of the day. As the lessons progressed day by day, he brought us to slopes with higher difficulties (Blue & even Red) and added interesting snowboard tricks along the way. Here are some photos of the views we had on the slopes throughout the week. Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdYyyMM80yEwJYqOFzpipw3LgSkVJwP-wicUy6CX_LoCf1SI6PTTweG9BaVoIotOf9DyZEErUDIr9DxcpjnoWM8LoFua9G4U-_qyjQfgPzWc_uJNvh7qOh4DWyMCXViLOpBdjz3GeRNQ/s1600/IMG_7416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdYyyMM80yEwJYqOFzpipw3LgSkVJwP-wicUy6CX_LoCf1SI6PTTweG9BaVoIotOf9DyZEErUDIr9DxcpjnoWM8LoFua9G4U-_qyjQfgPzWc_uJNvh7qOh4DWyMCXViLOpBdjz3GeRNQ/s1600/IMG_7416.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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It feels a little like we're on the top of the world</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirm5b7e_sz4PTBZIuVitKZ8Vi1Ck1d5hmPW8pTLCClQUDoxEoEcRjz_7OoJI5dXasOtVUdtwwdU6uJC9DCFsVUQooDE1dh6VE92-PkCeQyzuGWfjZ4Pe9pZBJoxD0pKj0m8fslhhxJCBs/s1600/IMG_7469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirm5b7e_sz4PTBZIuVitKZ8Vi1Ck1d5hmPW8pTLCClQUDoxEoEcRjz_7OoJI5dXasOtVUdtwwdU6uJC9DCFsVUQooDE1dh6VE92-PkCeQyzuGWfjZ4Pe9pZBJoxD0pKj0m8fslhhxJCBs/s1600/IMG_7469.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was a cloudy & misty day, you could see dark clouds forming in the horizon</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeADQY0Vaf9u302NBA4dqZJtr77dDhzGUnn3X8bGtTR4xmICCfzjDb35Y-PlrdMQ7nb0zPTxD4FzsaCBf_20BGbd8OKv9RB9D94vSF6b4AXy7cNB1yM0opS8c6g1uYNgUiuEy3YefrdR0/s1600/IMG_4884.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeADQY0Vaf9u302NBA4dqZJtr77dDhzGUnn3X8bGtTR4xmICCfzjDb35Y-PlrdMQ7nb0zPTxD4FzsaCBf_20BGbd8OKv9RB9D94vSF6b4AXy7cNB1yM0opS8c6g1uYNgUiuEy3YefrdR0/s1600/IMG_4884.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Snowboarding into the sunset</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHADW5yDxSSPfLLMVbNwaZ7OgVL3gLE5O2PZ917HkomWArqgY-ZEeZmiBkGioEkYtP-wkPhDFNp3qTWqAtlraGHZEFCzsR6NrGtDmPHkMZdUEjce0DFThaDBfnnwfwr0AFIlpopZs0uI/s1600/DSC00126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHADW5yDxSSPfLLMVbNwaZ7OgVL3gLE5O2PZ917HkomWArqgY-ZEeZmiBkGioEkYtP-wkPhDFNp3qTWqAtlraGHZEFCzsR6NrGtDmPHkMZdUEjce0DFThaDBfnnwfwr0AFIlpopZs0uI/s1600/DSC00126.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Us being goofy & enjoying the view at the peak between Val Thorens & Meribel.</div>
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Ken wearing his board & preparing to go down the slopes. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSWXE6gy19aZjy4L9-KW4rB9QMZVbrcK4W2NeuWdbmk_uUg8aXj7d1J1yU8itzvkAXkYrOOUm2j2OWgRkqOOFsAoAHFrzlElvhnen0We9Sr56l7dnZPR5b1yUoHaKZe39jQGHYvd-JJs/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSWXE6gy19aZjy4L9-KW4rB9QMZVbrcK4W2NeuWdbmk_uUg8aXj7d1J1yU8itzvkAXkYrOOUm2j2OWgRkqOOFsAoAHFrzlElvhnen0We9Sr56l7dnZPR5b1yUoHaKZe39jQGHYvd-JJs/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's always amazing seeing the sun going down behind the alps</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnpf2jtx_xvCPAI42WdXCcrpBjjuNdpQ3baITzIdb_5ZOa731_b2WE2BGRcPDshBdIBG0X2y3qDOOKAY1agvFBAA08vslv2RqZyPkS53ONooC3UXSRAZNEuoNmcPui-40iabr35TBf1Fc/s1600/IMG_7450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnpf2jtx_xvCPAI42WdXCcrpBjjuNdpQ3baITzIdb_5ZOa731_b2WE2BGRcPDshBdIBG0X2y3qDOOKAY1agvFBAA08vslv2RqZyPkS53ONooC3UXSRAZNEuoNmcPui-40iabr35TBf1Fc/s1600/IMG_7450.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can see the Ski Resort on the right side of this picture </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5VOizuzrLFUZ3fdQEzb69hLd3jWAnzz7cMZaB6ZerEDcaoC8UUKtcOIIs-uVzw-DZUcU3KvWpBNJpI_1mWaEvnvsG1D80YjjiOSOgpxvjkAnsPtXdlgqomey3-ANTEIYpeluqn1Qwqo/s1600/IMG_7426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5VOizuzrLFUZ3fdQEzb69hLd3jWAnzz7cMZaB6ZerEDcaoC8UUKtcOIIs-uVzw-DZUcU3KvWpBNJpI_1mWaEvnvsG1D80YjjiOSOgpxvjkAnsPtXdlgqomey3-ANTEIYpeluqn1Qwqo/s1600/IMG_7426.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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All we see are peaks of alps</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB2o_qqkcIh9MGYoSnVk5Uz32ckYe7ek6ctMRkLqZxXdrJ6qKL6hzNNBLE8mQKYqXmrP4m9ve-eJjRcOJC3qIMUG50spiN1Ra7c4ZCUzX2l3_bEF6CimAsjw55-mdHRJJ21_2IjwwgqiI/s1600/IMG_4907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB2o_qqkcIh9MGYoSnVk5Uz32ckYe7ek6ctMRkLqZxXdrJ6qKL6hzNNBLE8mQKYqXmrP4m9ve-eJjRcOJC3qIMUG50spiN1Ra7c4ZCUzX2l3_bEF6CimAsjw55-mdHRJJ21_2IjwwgqiI/s1600/IMG_4907.jpg" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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We loved the views we saw everyday on different slopes. They all looked like this.</div>
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Look how happy my man is!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRSq2gzdIVvqN3HMvQBkDWEslXk4ylkuS5r9EpD-nLQwdLMlLXA1deal5kDYXQvFPFQ2dqR3bW86KQ8rVo8QVpSbxugsYNDRv21lrH5HYLnIy-6KRn9gh6qG5NvUTlFbqQntCwuXEzjE/s1600/IMG_7423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRSq2gzdIVvqN3HMvQBkDWEslXk4ylkuS5r9EpD-nLQwdLMlLXA1deal5kDYXQvFPFQ2dqR3bW86KQ8rVo8QVpSbxugsYNDRv21lrH5HYLnIy-6KRn9gh6qG5NvUTlFbqQntCwuXEzjE/s1600/IMG_7423.jpg" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Taking a selfie with Mont Blanc (The highest peak in Europe) directly behind us</div>
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Christoph taught us to jump over a stick while going downslope, Ollies, Nollies (other types of jumps over obstacles), doing a 180 & then 360 deg turn on slopes and Tripods (This was the greatest achievement for me!). You can see some of the snowboard tricks (done by professionals of course) <a href="http://onboardmag.com/features/lists/18-snowboard-tricks-can-pretty-much-anywhere.html/4" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Lessons with Christoph were never boring & Ken said we had learnt some things which weren't even taught in the Intermediate class! Achievement unlocked. Christoph was really a good instructor who pushed us to go beyond our comfort but knew our limits. Once, he even brought us to snowboard off piste (which is off the normal snow slopes) & that was quite an adventure! My heart was pounding & all I could focus on was not falling down & getting stuck too far behind my class. What a relief when I made it down & alive.<br />
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Meet Christoph, my awesome snowboarding instructor. I was shocked to find out he was 50 yrs old.</div>
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He looks too young to be that old!</div>
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Kenneth & his instructor, Denis. He teaches for 6 months & spends the rest of the year traveling & just enjoying life.</div>
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Kenneth would certainly love that kind of lifestyle!</div>
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So on the last day of snowboarding, we decided not to have any lessons as we had planned to venture outside of Val Thorens. We had bought ski passes for The 3 Vallees - Val Thorens-Orelle, <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 18px;">Les Menuires-St Martin de Belleville, Méribel, La Tania, Brides les Bains et Courchevel. That meant we had access to more than 600kms of runs and a variety of slopes with different difficulty levels to go on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d1d1d;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Off we go in the morning on the route Kenneth had planned out in great excitement & he had to accommodate to my ability to snowboard, sticking to mostly blue slopes and avoiding red (more advanced) slopes as much as possible.</span></span></span><br />
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Ski chair lift ride (Plein Sud - Val Thorens)</div>
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Ski chair lift ride (Pionniers - Val Thorens)</div>
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We saw these cute little kids and ponies enroute to Meribel Valley.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Unfortunately, I was so tired, fell down & was hurting in too many places, plus I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it back in time before the ski lifts closed, we only managed to get to the next ski resort, Meribel & had to turn back. I felt so bad because Kenneth was really looking forward to snowboard further & make full use of our ski pass. But being the patient & loving husband he was, he didn't push me to do what I didn't want (was scared) to do. It's no wonder I loved him even more that day.</span></span></span><br />
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One of the days, when we took our last run on a slope & the sun was going down fast. Can you spot Ken?</div>
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After a full day of snowboarding, w<span style="text-align: center; widows: 1;">e would then return to our cosy apartment (</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center; widows: 1;">Residence Serac) in Val Thorens itself & cook dinner, soak in a hot bubble bath (great for our sore muscles) before slapping on tons of moisturizers and get ready for bed. This goes on for a week & it was really quite a fun & enjoyable routine to do together with the hubs.</span></div>
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As the weather is so dry & cold, it was heaven to be able to soak & enjoy a warm bath but there was limited hot water in the tank. Usually after one of us bathes, the other would be left with cold water so we started to boil hot water to fill the tubs with. It was quite fun actually, we were literally preparing baths for each other!</div>
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The beauty of being at Val Thorens was that the ski resort was like a very happening village with many other amenities & things to do other than snowboarding. There were MANY restaurants & fast food places, ski & souvenir shops, a few supermarkets, a swimming pool & many children play areas. There's something to do for anyone from little babies to the elderly, no one would ever feel left out here.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXRLKd1FRiEyNkmofiG0s9unCGA0fJRZMZa6LLvIEI0EHYTyg9YsHyShfVxJvZ8zOvAeO2fJShUewA_rMFEKuzsHmQIcOpRRgy5BZLN4eBZwDGtFqc0jJ8XqBx1KLrET2gR96HDVACUc/s1600/IMG_4855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXRLKd1FRiEyNkmofiG0s9unCGA0fJRZMZa6LLvIEI0EHYTyg9YsHyShfVxJvZ8zOvAeO2fJShUewA_rMFEKuzsHmQIcOpRRgy5BZLN4eBZwDGtFqc0jJ8XqBx1KLrET2gR96HDVACUc/s1600/IMG_4855.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can see the village in the background, which consists of many apartments, restaurants, shops & chillout areas to sit outdoors to people-watch</div>
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One of the fast food place we went to for lunch because of the portion & wifi ;p</div>
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We saw a Slurpee look-a-like running around the resort happily & freely. We wished we could bring Slurpee to a place like this. He would certainly love it!</div>
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Video of the Golden Retriever</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fbta7btFW0mLKSU8pc11tXCd_CQETLIgvNq0PFjovay_Bn76r-a8K8CkWyCVofNps1mV4V10x98lLZXsGrDs56GKsCnmNHYXpbgq9BHJaA41iN2iywWNNkbv3jNjM0jf8Bba0sFjJqs/s1600/IMG_7442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fbta7btFW0mLKSU8pc11tXCd_CQETLIgvNq0PFjovay_Bn76r-a8K8CkWyCVofNps1mV4V10x98lLZXsGrDs56GKsCnmNHYXpbgq9BHJaA41iN2iywWNNkbv3jNjM0jf8Bba0sFjJqs/s1600/IMG_7442.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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There were many people dressed up as animals & in funky clothes like these.</div>
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We had to take a photo to remember this experience by!</div>
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The view from our apartment window.</div>
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All good things must come to an end, and that included our 6 days of snowboarding. We had booked & confirmed our bus that would bring us from Val Thorens back to Geneva Airport the day before so we checked out at 12pm and just hung around the resort until the bus arrived.</div>
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A note to those travelling to Val Thorens, remember to buy (and confirm) your bus tickets at least 48 hours before because it is usually sold out on the day itself. While waiting at the ticketing area, I saw many people trying to buy tickets for a bus that day told all bus tickets were sold out. If you didn't have accommodations that day, you would probably have to stick it out in the cold until you get a bus the next day or hire a cab (SUPER EX!) to bring you wherever you want to go.</div>
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As we packed up & prepared to leave the beautiful & lovely Val Thorens resort, we'd decided in our hearts, then and there, that we would be back again and hopefully soon. Thank you, Val Thorens, for a wonderful & memorable snowboard experience!</div>
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We would HIGHLY RECOMMEND everyone who wants a great experience with skiing or snowboarding to book their trip to Val Thorens :)</div>
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<a href="http://valthorens.com/" target="_blank">Val Thorens Website</a> </div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/kennethjayden/media_set?set=a.10152693943708157.682086162&type=3" target="_blank">Facebook photos</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kensteph%20val%20thorens%202015" target="_blank">Flickr photos</a></div>
steffyhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07506264778616124100noreply@blogger.com0Val Thorens, France45.298184 6.582425999999941319.7761495 -34.726168000000058 70.8202185 47.891019999999941tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-79068885914293573622015-01-18T21:30:00.000+08:002015-07-30T23:16:39.656+08:00The long awaited Snowboarding Trip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICE2qnU8o4qg5LbUU85VJdeGBx-kqieUvnAhMFIb2FXxtzIl0RKgChKQXkN19QOjvT2NX7GFC_6VzDP834cv2jGKl70F0O4bcqjiH40_esaa4hGAAbWqKJuKaaC2wkaeUPSvsrN84T0U/s1600/IMG_4888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICE2qnU8o4qg5LbUU85VJdeGBx-kqieUvnAhMFIb2FXxtzIl0RKgChKQXkN19QOjvT2NX7GFC_6VzDP834cv2jGKl70F0O4bcqjiH40_esaa4hGAAbWqKJuKaaC2wkaeUPSvsrN84T0U/s1600/IMG_4888.jpg" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Standing at the peak of the alps with the love of my life (Val Thorens, France)</div>
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Kenneth is crazy passionate about snowboarding since he first clipped on the snowboard & went down the slopes in 2008. Since then, he has always planned (or tried to) for snowboarding trips once a year.</div>
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A beautiful view with the sun hanging in the clear blue skies & Kenneth waiting for the much slower me.</div>
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Me, I didn't start out as a big fan of snowboarding, but because I wanted to be interested in what Kenneth loved, I decided to try so we could snowboard together. Kenneth always told me he wants to bring me up to the top of alps and snowboard resorts so we could enjoy the beautiful views together.</div>
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Sometime mid-dec 2014, Kenneth's snowboarding itch was too great & he started planning & researching on getting on a snowboarding trip. In a matter of days, we got our flight tickets, snowboard rentals & ski resort accommodation booked. Talk about being spontaneous & quick!</div>
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We had flights into Geneva & we had 2.5 weeks to spend in that area and up till the day we flew off, there was only one thing that was booked & certain, we would be at Val Thorens for 8 days & we would be snowboarding for 6 days.</div>
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To Ken, that meant 6 days of pure bliss, taking ski lifts, gondolas & whisking down the snow slopes on one of the top alps in France (as voted in 2013). To me, I was more hesitant & unsure if I would enjoy the trip as much.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGSPxRfeTgDvDujSyBvo4PwCwBY8XEhhHrPVS3P46tvKbaac1v49XisNnryh6UfoOyAYkPAMGRP-wKNkpNfZksyOKq1bBIklkjUpF_Hq4Fex7J3F7mJpiQP2tbCVQ__thRXZSNDse8kE/s1600/IMG_7420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGSPxRfeTgDvDujSyBvo4PwCwBY8XEhhHrPVS3P46tvKbaac1v49XisNnryh6UfoOyAYkPAMGRP-wKNkpNfZksyOKq1bBIklkjUpF_Hq4Fex7J3F7mJpiQP2tbCVQ__thRXZSNDse8kE/s1600/IMG_7420.jpg" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ken on a ski lift with his fellow classmates in Intermediate class</div>
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This was my fourth snowboard trip & I had never had any lessons before and unlike Ken, I was not a natural snowboarder. I had ALOT of falls, tumbles & injuries than I care for the past snowboard trips and was not looking forward to more bruises & sprains to bring back as souvenirs this trip.</div>
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Kenneth decided that we should sign up for snowboarding classes so that I could learn from a snowboard instructor in a structured manner as well as pick up the basics in the correct manner. I think that was one of the best decision made & I started to love snowboarding!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIht5uwsiF-mY0mlAMYQ6JJ47luJxoi87SfKJOp4fitJ9opTcAz79ZdSZfHPQQ7kaObNOwpLptwd_SAqrYpS5UlM5iX9N80eWeor4pNrMpcK20h3-CcYkOMYmn7_KzPgsNYHLpbE0MW0M/s1600/IMG_4865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIht5uwsiF-mY0mlAMYQ6JJ47luJxoi87SfKJOp4fitJ9opTcAz79ZdSZfHPQQ7kaObNOwpLptwd_SAqrYpS5UlM5iX9N80eWeor4pNrMpcK20h3-CcYkOMYmn7_KzPgsNYHLpbE0MW0M/s1600/IMG_4865.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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View of Val Thorens Ski resort from the slopes</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">We stayed at Val Thorens from 3-10 Jan 2015 and on the first day we arrived, there was a snow storm & it was an adventure on its own taking the bus from Geneva airport to the alps. Once we arrived at the resort, we checked into our apartment, bought our ski pass, picked up all the snowboard gear we had rented (Snowboard, snowboard boots, helmets) and arranged for our snowboarding lessons.</span></div>
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We signed up with ESF Ski School at Val Thorens for 5 days of lessons at 159 Euro per person and it was a very good investment. Kenneth was much more advanced and was placed in the Intermediate class and I was in Class 1 (between beginners & Intermediate). I felt much happier snowboarding this trip than the last 3 trips combined.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQV-FkQAQtBeEIiztCIdl0SqxeIowPYf4X8lNJ9PnYer_tok3U2YAJOnFJzd646UsRT4Avt2-OO8WOY1x1Zs_Ptr4eKMqcE1Qf1PtZkjrKxNRn3UnyCnshWZxo5iYq4h-mqCnXBIz2uz4/s1600/DSC00127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQV-FkQAQtBeEIiztCIdl0SqxeIowPYf4X8lNJ9PnYer_tok3U2YAJOnFJzd646UsRT4Avt2-OO8WOY1x1Zs_Ptr4eKMqcE1Qf1PtZkjrKxNRn3UnyCnshWZxo5iYq4h-mqCnXBIz2uz4/s1600/DSC00127.JPG" title="Val Thorens (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is me, leaping for joy after a good day of snowboard lesson & snowboarding with Ken.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">We then went to our apartment, unpacked & cooked dinner, prepared everything we needed for our first day of snowboard lessons, bathed & went (tried) to sleep early so we would be all ready in the morning. Well, we were certainly too excited to sleep that night and I had butterflies (nerves disguised as a beautiful insect), excited & worried about how the week of snowboarding would turn out for me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Val Thorens was a beautiful place & there, we fell in love with the French alps, snowboarding and each other even more. There is so much to share about our snowboard trip, one blog post would not be enough so we'd continue part 2 of our trip - about Val Thorens, our snowboard classes & more pictures!</span></div>
steffyhohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07506264778616124100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-83335560994691382612014-11-30T12:49:00.000+08:002015-06-22T21:57:35.912+08:00Ibis Styles Bandung Braga Hotel Review (Indonesia)It's a lovely hotel with modern and funky decor from the lobby, to the dining area, corridors and of course the rooms. The rooms were spacious enough for you to open your luggages and you get a nice view of the city if you're on the higher floors. I love the design of the room with the glass separator for the toilet.<br />
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The staff were really friendly and helpful and always greeted and conversed with smiles on their faces. There are pubs around the area and a nice spa place nearby too. Great place and will definitely consider coming back again!<br />
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8821/18148403535_65f1770d14_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ibis Styles Bandung Braga Hotel Indonesia (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="318" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8821/18148403535_65f1770d14_b.jpg" title="Ibis Styles Bandung Braga Hotel Indonesia (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our room</div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8862/18121498806_35bba6cbaf_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ibis Styles Bandung Braga Hotel Indonesia (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="316" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8862/18121498806_35bba6cbaf_b.jpg" title="Ibis Styles Bandung Braga Hotel Indonesia (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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View from our room</div>
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Date of stay: Nov 2014<br />
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Address:<br />
Jalan Braga No 8, Bandung City Center, Bandung, Indonesia 40111<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g297704-d5960110-r240687808-Ibis_Styles_Bandung_Braga-Bandung_West_Java_Java.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor listing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/ibis-styles-bandung-braga-hotel/hotel/bandung-id.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0BE Mall, Jalan Naripan, Sumur Bandung, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40112, Republic of Indonesia-6.9202866 107.61617810000007-6.9212716 107.61491760000007 -6.9193016 107.61743860000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-12642484781471426872014-07-30T12:37:00.000+08:002015-06-22T22:06:48.086+08:00P-Hotels Brattøra Review (Trondheim Norway)Considering that Norway is such an expensive country, this hotel is very value for money and is within walking distance to the city. It's conveniently located near the train station (just beside the hotel), ferry terminal and airport bus station. So this is a good location if you have an early morning flight/ferry/train to catch as you could easily make your way there from the hotel.<br />
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Simple and nice rooms with enough space to open up your luggages. The toilets were rather spacious too.<br />
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Wifi is accessible from the lobby. So request for the rooms nearer to the lobby if you want the wifi in your room. Mine was the last room, so we couldn't really access it.<br />
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Rough walking time without luggage:<br />
Trains - 1 minute<br />
Bus - 1 minute<br />
Ferry - 10-15 min<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tVECVftCq_C6oqUG1VpOspc8XLl3UQa-Bbelyjx7d9WvrJ-jXtzBOCVOlbfzuJy2loysPvWxJQqf7aX_svBeONX8usj9R8EavO7YOsZ-YvXKRXpbJaLKtJdSL-zb6otDUucowHXV5DZs/s1600/photeltrondheim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="P-Hotels Brattøra Trondheim Norway (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tVECVftCq_C6oqUG1VpOspc8XLl3UQa-Bbelyjx7d9WvrJ-jXtzBOCVOlbfzuJy2loysPvWxJQqf7aX_svBeONX8usj9R8EavO7YOsZ-YvXKRXpbJaLKtJdSL-zb6otDUucowHXV5DZs/s640/photeltrondheim.jpg" title="P-Hotels Brattøra Trondheim Norway (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Hotel entrance</div>
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(Credits: Agoda)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiG-jWqCi7YckyI_s8uz7Vpx4T0dRlJyXw-6ppaliGqxHUIzy1jUSuL4JR4CF8HyxUj6ZaKirG_UheZPGVwuO1c02Wi2NHLKkWv1LC6FbNYcGm84wBN6-Q0BILOPwAMM6qAa-tcHB1xba/s1600/hotel_room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="P-Hotels Brattøra Trondheim Norway (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiG-jWqCi7YckyI_s8uz7Vpx4T0dRlJyXw-6ppaliGqxHUIzy1jUSuL4JR4CF8HyxUj6ZaKirG_UheZPGVwuO1c02Wi2NHLKkWv1LC6FbNYcGm84wBN6-Q0BILOPwAMM6qAa-tcHB1xba/s640/hotel_room.jpg" title="P-Hotels Brattøra Trondheim Norway (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Hotel room</div>
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(Credits: Agoda)</div>
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Date of stay: July 2014<br />
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Address:<br />
Fosenkaia, Trondheim, Norway<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g190499-d3504983-Reviews-P_Hotels_Brattora-Trondheim_Trondheim_Municipality_Sor_Trondelag_Central_Norway.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor listing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/p-hotels-brattora/hotel/trondheim-no.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Fosenkaia, 7010 Trondheim, Norway63.435773899999987 10.39583079999999963.432223399999984 10.385745799999999 63.43932439999999 10.405915799999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-21430892439933503652014-06-01T12:00:00.000+08:002015-05-27T12:29:02.353+08:00Guesthouse Anita Review (Mljet, Croatia)Anita and her husband were really helpful and ensured that we got everything we needed. The weren't working on site at the guest house but they arrived to greet and welcomed us when we arrived. During the times there weren't around, their neighbours acted as host and helped us resolved any issues or enquires that we had. We had the room on the ground floor and could have our meals outside while having a nice view of the ocean. You could also head down to swim. There were a few eateries within walking distance. It was a simple, nice, quaint and peaceful place. Overall we had a good stay. Would recommend this place!<br />
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Entrance to our room</div>
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View from our bedroom. That's the porch where we would have our breakfast. And that's our rented bike.</div>
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<a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5461/17746482768_6b89e44fcf_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Guesthouse Anita Mljet Croatia (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5461/17746482768_6b89e44fcf_c.jpg" title="Guesthouse Anita Mljet Croatia (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Area in front of our room</div>
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Date of stay: July 2014<br />
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Address:<br />
Sobra 34, Mljet, Croatia 20225<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/guesthouse-anita/hotel/mljet-hr.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g2034471-d6375459-Reviews-Guesthouse_Anita-Sobra_Mljet_Island_Dubrovnik_Neretva_County_Dalmatia.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com020225, Babino Polje, Croatia42.7477712 17.51501389999998542.6544942 17.353652399999984 42.8410482 17.676375399999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-69199241365863841332013-08-31T11:31:00.000+08:002015-05-09T14:57:05.369+08:00Homey house Review (Taipei, Taiwan)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzh1QYusqA6S-7g-w-tst46cL3OmiX3P7oQvlPBbHx9Np-XtP69yt2b0YQin1rcdk7aLXfY2mwryBjRjY1y2s2QndddrF5a9Lyczjw-b4PcIMTKd17ccpKeQq5wzXLHKEo7ZTAtaf4eBf/s1600/400785_14071422000020265432_800x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzh1QYusqA6S-7g-w-tst46cL3OmiX3P7oQvlPBbHx9Np-XtP69yt2b0YQin1rcdk7aLXfY2mwryBjRjY1y2s2QndddrF5a9Lyczjw-b4PcIMTKd17ccpKeQq5wzXLHKEo7ZTAtaf4eBf/s1600/400785_14071422000020265432_800x600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Credits: agoda.com)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2SaXLvXtVCnFgerWyjEFRZ8EqEZjVHyr6wFLfEWe4fVMNIIRcDbRE2WKQOwKACCcEOJSltz7vL4C9ecDxykqx8fqeY0jnmAhwlRVqa-ztMqbRbbfI9CUYN5FTS1xWRG5twGCt0C_-NY5/s1600/400785_14071422000020265431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2SaXLvXtVCnFgerWyjEFRZ8EqEZjVHyr6wFLfEWe4fVMNIIRcDbRE2WKQOwKACCcEOJSltz7vL4C9ecDxykqx8fqeY0jnmAhwlRVqa-ztMqbRbbfI9CUYN5FTS1xWRG5twGCt0C_-NY5/s1600/400785_14071422000020265431.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Credits: agoda.com)</div>
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Everything looks brand new. The staff was extremely friendly and prompt. We arrived really early at around 10am and we could not check in yet as the standard check-in time was 3pm. That was fine as there weren't any extra rooms and they needed to wait for the guest to check out and clean up the room. But staff was really kind and offered us additional complimentary breakfast for that morning. Thumbs up to Vivi for that kind gesture! :)<br />
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Date of stay: Aug 2013<br />
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Address:<br />
No.56, Changchun Rd., Zhongshan District, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.homeyhouse.com.tw/" target="_blank">Official website</a><br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/asia/taiwan/taipei/homeyhouse.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Taipei, Taiwan25.0329694 121.5654177000000124.5725269 120.91997070000001 25.493411899999998 122.21086470000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-11404648638392677912013-04-01T11:36:00.000+08:002015-05-27T11:13:04.884+08:00Goodstay Nobless Yeoksam Hotel ReviewThis hotel located behind Yeoksam station and the airport bus stop is located nearby. They have large rooms and just a few stops away from lots of shopping and food.<br />
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It has a good location and you could walk to Gangnam underground shopping located 1 train station away or head over to Gangnam COEX. The rooms were spacious fitted with a large flat screen TV, a 2 seater sofa and luggage storage area. The toilet was extremely spacious with a jacuzzi tub (the jacuzzi wasn't working or maybe we had to get the staff to switch it on? We didn't really need to use it so we didn't ask them about it), separate shower area and toilet bowl area. It can get quite noisy as it's located near the main street but that could also be due to our open windows as the air-conditioning was only powered up during winter time.<br />
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We only booked this hotel for one night as we just ended our snowboarding trip in Yongpyong and needed a one night stay in Seoul prior to our flight back. Overall we had a good stay and the main intention was to have easy access to the train station and the airport bus.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhUHjY3Tcn0y66hq4uI2dhc_PQK3HL6ouukLlInvPnFEaIaGVQOtojLUCHlIObmdqI6MzIq5PUUOmAyCE2rs_0iK2oaZw_QCFKjsX8toxUpt7JvwoQr2wnEBcGHOLUTMMwDgGb9LGzqvF/s1600/GoodstayNoblessYeoksam1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Goodstay Nobless Yeoksam Hotel (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhUHjY3Tcn0y66hq4uI2dhc_PQK3HL6ouukLlInvPnFEaIaGVQOtojLUCHlIObmdqI6MzIq5PUUOmAyCE2rs_0iK2oaZw_QCFKjsX8toxUpt7JvwoQr2wnEBcGHOLUTMMwDgGb9LGzqvF/s640/GoodstayNoblessYeoksam1.jpg" title="Goodstay Nobless Yeoksam Hotel (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our spacious bedroom </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ggOiXgV6SMMdALXDtp0t9jbE9WWAeBWQx4E_KG2Hd0zQQVALBCKsZ1gZXonC_yhIhVDkXBGV-wTVgxPyFMNm4Hmh9OhbVgMT46Cc_Ic6PH0bE-igdzDgKoAOlAPvv-wcVykMujgy98jj/s1600/GoodstayNoblessYeoksam2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Goodstay Nobless Yeoksam Hotel (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ggOiXgV6SMMdALXDtp0t9jbE9WWAeBWQx4E_KG2Hd0zQQVALBCKsZ1gZXonC_yhIhVDkXBGV-wTVgxPyFMNm4Hmh9OhbVgMT46Cc_Ic6PH0bE-igdzDgKoAOlAPvv-wcVykMujgy98jj/s640/GoodstayNoblessYeoksam2.jpg" title="Goodstay Nobless Yeoksam Hotel (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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Toilet with tub, shower and toilet bowl area</div>
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Date of stay: March 2014<br />
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Address:<br />
642-2, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam - Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/asia/south_korea/seoul/goodstay_nobless_yeoksam_hotel.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g294197-d506801-Reviews-Noblesse_Yeoksam_Hotel_Seoul-Seoul.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor listing</a><br />
<br />kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Seoul, South Korea37.566535 126.9779691999999637.1637645 126.33252219999996 37.969305500000004 127.62341619999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-61187369524439276602013-03-30T11:43:00.000+08:002015-05-09T14:58:43.120+08:00Vesta Spa & Fitness Review (Busan, South Korea)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUiLGs0hNJeHG4VH5fKl4UkLHULg3oGLOQBo93QqeuH2fo5w_ZJlZIPnkYp21MdZsqofdUFDvT0JR4oZcrSjpY64-suZBWCa59lfx4TE_m1nBNg4ZtwcWlbDMHNZ1u-Y2g4dDMUwsRvfF/s1600/caption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUiLGs0hNJeHG4VH5fKl4UkLHULg3oGLOQBo93QqeuH2fo5w_ZJlZIPnkYp21MdZsqofdUFDvT0JR4oZcrSjpY64-suZBWCa59lfx4TE_m1nBNg4ZtwcWlbDMHNZ1u-Y2g4dDMUwsRvfF/s1600/caption.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Credits: Tripadvisor)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtic710Fdvjbm1ySnQ1Z81X4b22Xheo4jK1Kz03QzKfv0G9Ehph2WYZLkpekZAfhLoqwinUJw8RdHOBcYg_P3gVSTV20DvXTJXCNj0dVekYMmvHOnShe-evCgTCRWkD3PvtXMN0cUpPzsr/s1600/IMG_3598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vesta Spa Busan (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtic710Fdvjbm1ySnQ1Z81X4b22Xheo4jK1Kz03QzKfv0G9Ehph2WYZLkpekZAfhLoqwinUJw8RdHOBcYg_P3gVSTV20DvXTJXCNj0dVekYMmvHOnShe-evCgTCRWkD3PvtXMN0cUpPzsr/s1600/IMG_3598.JPG" title="Vesta Spa Busan (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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View from the lounge area</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfSh9KduoVYUh0LQ7NGVW-PQvX-Dl2tQHL66d71OC1_kVFFw2zCf39e-t8YZbo1q9RMdS_ehDRN2qTkpyfa7EbVHREr4mL1GCE9kKXcTdl1q5T2fP08cBW25Xwawv9FkQPYxlA4cqIu-8-/s1600/IMG_3597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vesta Spa Busan (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfSh9KduoVYUh0LQ7NGVW-PQvX-Dl2tQHL66d71OC1_kVFFw2zCf39e-t8YZbo1q9RMdS_ehDRN2qTkpyfa7EbVHREr4mL1GCE9kKXcTdl1q5T2fP08cBW25Xwawv9FkQPYxlA4cqIu-8-/s1600/IMG_3597.jpg" title="Vesta Spa Busan (kennethstephanie.com)" width="478" /></a></div>
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Entrance to one of sauna rooms</div>
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This is a typical Korean sauna, the real local experience. My friends, who are local Koreans living in Busan, brought us to this place. It has an amazing view of the beach and the sunset. I think the best time to head there is during the winter and in the evening while catching the sunset. They also have an outdoor pool section, where you could soak in the hot water while enjoying the cool breeze and even the snow.<br />
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Date of visit: March 2013<br />
<br />
Address:<br />
1509-6 Jung-dong, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea<br />
<br />
Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.vesta.co.kr/" target="_blank">Official website</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g297884-d1993597-Reviews-Vesta_Spa_Fitness-Busan.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor Reviews</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Busan, South Korea35.1795543 129.0756416000000434.7642763 128.43019460000005 35.5948323 129.72108860000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-29909739798318429862013-03-30T11:39:00.000+08:002015-05-09T14:57:22.277+08:00Yongpyong Resort Dragon Valley Hotel Review<h3>
Hotel</h3>
The rooms were large with comfy beds and the hotel was located just behind the ski lifts. It's about a minute's walk from the hotel lobby to the ski lifts.<br />
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Double room (Credits: agoda.com)</div>
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Twin room (Credits: agoda.com)</div>
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Entrance (Credits: agoda.com)</div>
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Hotel Lobby (Credits: agoda.com)</div>
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<h3>
Neighbourhood</h3>
There wasn't anything to do around our hotel at night as almost everything was closed around 6pm. So there's definitely no after-ski or places to chill during the night. It is a very different atmosphere from what you would expect from Europe. Maybe it's because we were there during off peak. The night skiing is only available during the weekends.<br />
<h3>
Transportation</h3>
It was tricky getting to the hotel from Seoul as the website to reserve the shuttle bus tickets were in Korean and you needed to buy using a Korean credit card. Fortunately we had a Korean friend who helped us buy the tickets. The hotel staff recommended us to buy the tickets online, but there were also some people who bought the tickets directly on the bus. There were no designated bus stop at the Lotte Mart (Jamsil) for the shuttle buses, but the buses generally arrived early so you could spot them and the buses we took were purple in colour. (More details regarding transportation here: <a href="http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/trans/tr_sbus.asp" target="_blank">Yongpyong Resort Website</a>) You can book your bus tickets through <a href="http://english.triptokorea.com/english/viewtopic.php?t=19128" target="_blank">Grace Travel</a>.<br />
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(Credits: yongpyong.co.kr)</div>
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Date of stay: March 2013<br />
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Hotel details:<br />
130, Yongsan-ri, Daegwalnyeong-myon, Gangwon-do, Pyeongchang, Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/accom/room_dragon.asp" target="_blank">Official website</a><br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/asia/south_korea/pyeongchang_gun/yongpyong_resort_dragon_valley_hotel.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g612377-d1193640-Reviews-Dragon_Valley_Hotel-Pyeongchang_gun_Gangwon_do.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor review</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Gangwon-do, South Korea37.8228 128.1554999999999636.2183635 125.57371299999996 39.4272365 130.73728699999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-60552423561375205802013-03-01T11:44:00.000+08:002015-05-27T11:57:44.866+08:00Show Tel Review (Seoul)We stayed here only because we needed just a cheap 1 night stay to catch the early bus to Yongpyong in the morning from Lotte World. It's more of a love motel and it was about 10-15 min walk to Lotte World (Jamsil). The staff didn't really speak english and our doors couldn't be locked, but he assured us that he could monitor our room from his CCTV when we went out in the day. At night, you could lock it with the door chains inside. The bed was hard to sleep on. We weren't expecting anything fancy for the price we paid.<br />
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The best part of this stay was that we had an AMAZING garlic bread that we bought from a bakery in Lotte World Shopping Center. :)<br />
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In short, it's cheap and reasonable (for the price) for a one night stay.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5eEaOmPjKMSxSq2oWyJPsgmEKTXZbnrRBZw6deQyKgetY3TSOg7YPXNFkh5pF-_0_8hWXDSUHjnvsFYqz2QWH_bcccdAHQd27ucdYYcRBiWAk37hCNmerLRNKdGE2Cvl-gW0pUhhZbsGa/s1600/showtel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Show Tel (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5eEaOmPjKMSxSq2oWyJPsgmEKTXZbnrRBZw6deQyKgetY3TSOg7YPXNFkh5pF-_0_8hWXDSUHjnvsFYqz2QWH_bcccdAHQd27ucdYYcRBiWAk37hCNmerLRNKdGE2Cvl-gW0pUhhZbsGa/s640/showtel.jpg" title="Show Tel (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Credits: Agoda)</div>
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Date of stay: Feb 2013<br />
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Address:<br />
5-13, Olympic-ro, 34-gil, Songpa-gu, Jamsil / Songpa, Seoul, South Korea<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/show-tel/hotel/seoul-kr.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g294197-d3723609-Reviews-Show_Tel-Seoul.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Songpa, Garak-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea37.499739 127.1122010000000337.096968499999996 126.46675400000002 37.9025095 127.75764800000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-89165332016177825232013-03-01T11:34:00.000+08:002015-05-27T11:39:57.613+08:00Elysee Motel Busan ReviewFor a first time visitor, the place might look sleazy or haunted. The place is quite dimly lit and it looks really shady. You might also find it tricky to locate the entrance as you enter via the carpark.<br />
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The owners sent us a prior email before arriving to give us directions to the motel. Upon arriving, they gave us an introduction of shopping, food and sightseeing locations around the area coupled with print-outs of the maps and descriptions.<br />
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Although the place looks rather old and worn out, the couple running the place were extremely helpful and friendly, giving a warm homely feel to the place. They readily helped us with any information we needed and also helped searched for the information if they didn't know the answer to it. There was a jacuzzi, shower area, computer and a huge flat screen tv in the room.<br />
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The location was quite good as you could walk to get to the shopping and food areas that are nearby.<br />
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Apart from the looks of this place, I would actually give them a double thumbs up for their impeccable service and value-for-money.<br />
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<i>Update 27 May 2015:</i><br />
<i>From their photos, I think they had some renovations and they look significantly better now, especially the rooms. Triple thumbs up now!</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpsnJ5WtWT00-T3Civi2zpbHr64oHLRKZUTLG4LubeonrB2wSKTOHLDOzpcw_QO6XH-burk4i4LjExiNLssISLnegoTSpGk29sBhcFrKeYOZ9Q6U-PPAudnTRhdVTqZmj6aasw0l9tNESr/s1600/ElyseeMotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Elysee Motel (kennethstephanie.com)" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpsnJ5WtWT00-T3Civi2zpbHr64oHLRKZUTLG4LubeonrB2wSKTOHLDOzpcw_QO6XH-burk4i4LjExiNLssISLnegoTSpGk29sBhcFrKeYOZ9Q6U-PPAudnTRhdVTqZmj6aasw0l9tNESr/s640/ElyseeMotel.jpg" title="Elysee Motel (kennethstephanie.com)" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Credits: Agoda)</div>
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Date of stay: Jan 2013<br />
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Address:<br />
22 Daecheong-ro 126beon-gil Jung-gu, Jung-gu / KTX Busan Station, Busan, South Korea 600-023<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/asia/south_korea/busan/elysee_motel_busan.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1229131008"></span>Tripadvisor listing<span id="goog_1229131009"></span></a><br />
<br />kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Busan, South Korea35.1795543 129.0756416000000434.7642763 128.43019460000005 35.5948323 129.72108860000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-1551143778558153772013-02-28T11:37:00.000+08:002015-05-09T14:58:03.268+08:00J Hill Hotel Review (Seoul, South Korea)This hotel is centrally located in a shopping and food district. There was free wifi in the rooms and the breakfast area is located at the top of the building, providing some nice view of the surroundings.<br />
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It's well located in between Myeongdong and Euljiro 1-ga train station. It's less than 5 minutes walk to either stations, without luggages of course. :) There are lots of street food & shopping around the area and there's a Lotte departmental store nearby too. The room is really small and you could only open 1 luggage at a time while the room. The room had a slight cigarette smell though. Because it's located in the shopping and food district, it might get slightly noisy but we find it still ok. The staff were very friendly and helpful and could converse in english. They helped us search for locations/items online when we had questions and the staff at the lobby was extremely enthusiastic in helping us with our luggages and at one occasion he brought us directly to the restaurant when we asked him the location of a food place. Double thumbs up to him! The toilet had the auto washing function too, that was quite cool! Overall it was nice and comfortable stay, with everything within walking distance.<br />
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Our bedroom</div>
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Toilet bowl</div>
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Date of stay: Feb 2013<br />
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Hotel details:<br />
J Hill Hotel (3 star)<br />
48 Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Myeong-dong / Namsan<br />
Seoul, South Korea<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.jhill.kr/" target="_blank">Official website</a><br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/asia/south_korea/seoul/j_hill_hotel.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Seoul, South Korea37.566535 126.9779691999999637.1637645 126.33252219999996 37.969305500000004 127.62341619999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4452746716146697392.post-16204887309009014732008-06-30T11:41:00.000+08:002015-05-27T10:50:47.208+08:00Airo Tower Hotel ReviewMe and my friends had a bad experience staying at that hotel.<br />
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Although it was located quite far away from the city, having to take the train to the end of the line, then switching to a tram and travel to the end of the line again, it was rather near the tram station (3min walk).<br />
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As we arrived there in the night, we were told that 1 of the 2 rooms which we have <b><u>booked and fully paid for</u></b>, has been taken up and there are no other available rooms in the hotel! After the staff spent some time on the phone, they said we would be staying in a different hotel. Despite them making arrangements to call for a cab and paying for the trip to and fro, we found it extremely unprofessional as we have already made the full payments for the rooms. The staff behind the counter wasn't emphatic about our situation and even retorted that we could choose to sleep on the streets if we're still unhappy when all the necessary arrangements have been made. And after my friends went over to the nearby hotel, they only gave them 1 room with 1 small bed when there were 2 of them and the reception was closed there. They had to call us and we in turn called up our reception to get another room for them there. Though the rude staff apologized for his bad attitude, but it was an unpleasant experience staying there. The staff at the souvenir store wasn't too friendly either. He was unhappy that we touched the display glass infront of his shop that left A (ONE) fingerprint mark on it and told us not to do that.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8VeVwMjxhBrv9cOO1M0XhI0pB1-wmJOeQT7-lp4vb7h41keiFmgMOlbCjj8tfjKaKhO3mnngEO-p_VZquzoQg8-tir6hBnCj3I3ngH93tuao6R8sBRY8wixgA2WDXIEEUmIuvbXBv4wk/s1600/Airo_Tower_Hotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8VeVwMjxhBrv9cOO1M0XhI0pB1-wmJOeQT7-lp4vb7h41keiFmgMOlbCjj8tfjKaKhO3mnngEO-p_VZquzoQg8-tir6hBnCj3I3ngH93tuao6R8sBRY8wixgA2WDXIEEUmIuvbXBv4wk/s640/Airo_Tower_Hotel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Credits: Agoda)</div>
Date of stay: May 2008<br />
Review score: 1/ 5<br />
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Address:</div>
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Kurbadstrasse 8, Vienna 1100, Austria</div>
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g190454-d206615-Reviews-Airo_Tower_Hotel-Vienna.html" target="_blank">Tripadvisor listing</a><br />
<a href="http://airo-tower-hotel.viennaaustrohotel.com/" target="_blank">Official website</a><br />
<a href="http://www.agoda.com/en-sg/airo-tower-hotel/hotel/vienna-at.html" target="_blank">Agoda listing</a>kennethjaydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04063722123121349173noreply@blogger.com0Vienna, Austria48.2081743 16.3738189000000647.8696338 15.728371900000059 48.546714800000004 17.019265900000061