Flo around the world 08

[jjpb3]

IMO, it's nice touches like this which make you a fan of SQ for life!

Indeed.

MEL. Now to find out what you got up to there ? No doubt it was a blast! A gripping story to come I'm sure.

You think? I'm going to shut up now.

[Kiwi]

Customs was easy but then came the feared quarantine station. You remember me buying a Godiva chocolate bar at Changi, right? Well - I did that on purpose. An officer asked me about my ticked 'yes' box about food and I told him I just had a bar of chocolate ... He asked "no soups, herbs, etc?" - "No, sir" - "Fine, just go straight ahead then, see ya!" and off I was. I cleared the parcours from the gate to SYD departure hall including CIQ in about 15 minutes - if that's not a record, I don't know. Anyway, I made my way to the Quantas Domestic transfer counter

This "trick" surprises many but is often successful in Australia (doesn't work in NZ though). However, if you have an express immigration card (due to class of travel or status) then having no food is better (you can't use the express lane if you've ticked any of the boxes).

Oh, and no "u" in Qantas.

[Kiwi]

We actually landed at 7:25

...

It was 7:05 by the time I arrived at the terminal

...

Nice time-travel trick. What is your secret?

[flo]

Nice time-travel trick. What is your secret?

Well I was rather tired when I typed this sorry ... (on the picture with the clock showing 6:06 at Changi, I also punched in 6:36 because I was too sleepy to punch in the numbers correctly)

[Kyo]

Great read, simply hilarious! Will have to succumb to resm and get a bar of choccies before boarding to Oz next time, speaking of which... bring on da Ozzie chix!!!!

But those London ones were still better... yay Singapore!!

[jjpb3]

... bring on da Ozzie chix!!!!

But those London ones were still better... yay Singapore!!

Don't you already have a girlfriend?

[Kyo]

Love one, please all

[getonline]

Next to me, there was an Australian girl; about 25 years old or so. She read some novel whilst I tried my best on my Machiavelli again.

I thought you were off on another 'adventure' with this mention. Wasn't she attracted to the dark and mysterious European reading a 16th century political treatise? I do believe you left something out...you dog, you!

[token01]

haahah i think i second getonline's comment.

Aint no what goes on tour stays on tour going on 'ere

[cawhite]

Flo, it sounds like you're having a wonderful trip so far! I'm sorry I'll miss you while you're in the US (and again in VIE in September).

Don't you already have a girlfriend?

Love one, please all

I wonder if she'd appreciate seeing that...

[phaleesy]

Wasn't she attracted to the dark and mysterious European reading a 16th century political treatise?

One of those *cheem* books sitting (unread?) on my brother's bookshelves. Were they there to impress the girls?

I have not managed to get my paws on his collection of cheem books in recent years, partly because of geographical reasons and also because I've outgrown reading intellectual stuff.

[flo]

Hello folks xD I am in Auckland right now. I am staying at the Mercure Auckland, which was the best hotel pick ever. For only 50 Euros a night, I am right at Queen's street and have a beautiful room in the 11th floor with a view of the SkyTower haha.

So, as the in-hotel internet rate seems to be really bad - they charge per megabyte used - I will update this thread (incl. photos) when I come to LA if the internet is better there.

phaleesy - the Prince is a great book xD if you read it, knowing what happened in the renaissance, you will find it highly entertaining in a sarcastic way. And it's only a few pages thick... so a good read for a longer flight! xD

[KeithMEL]

Hello folks xD I am in Auckland right now. I am staying at the Mercure Auckland, which was the best hotel pick ever. For only 50 Euros a night, I am right at Queen's street and have a beautiful room in the 11th floor with a view of the SkyTower haha.

Bargain! Excellent location too if i am remembering correctly where on Queen's St the property is.

[flo]

Bargain! Excellent location too if i am remembering correctly where on Queen's St the property is.

It's right on the corner of Queens/Customs. I am really in love with the location because I can reach everything I need within a 5 minutes walk

[flo]

Melbourne
This was supposedly the highlight of my trip given the number of people I would meet there. My host singaporu_kooku was most welcoming, truly deserving the title "Flo approved 5* Host in Melbourne". Not only did he bother to pick me up from the airport, he was also as kind to letting me stay at his place and helped me with the little problems one encounters on such a big trip.

Upon arriving, I still haven't had a lot of time to sleep, putting me in the strange position to act really tipsy and drunk-alike when actually being sober. singaporu_kooku and I were able to track down the other MEL-based party of KeithMEL, taipeiflyer and Mr. K.. We went for a cup of coffee at a place that had really great coffee (and I should know, usually having way more caffeine than normal people in my blood-circle) at some place KeithMEL should have noted the name. The place somehow reminded me of the time I had in Ottawa and Toronto last year; Melbourne seemed like a fusion (this word, 'fusion', seems to be everywhere in Australia!) between these two cities when it comes to the buildings and like Singapore or Hong Kong when it comes to the people there (which is a funny thing hehe).

We visited the Melbourne Gaol before splitting up again to have a break. I had a fine one-hour-nap before we met up again at the Taxi Dining Room which is located near the famous Flinders Street train station. We had a great time there, having way overpriced menus with way overpriced drinks (note: don't read any negative connotation into this sentence ). Just kidding but honestly speaking: this is not the way I usually eat so this was clearly something new for me. It was interesting to see so many different styles to eat: European-traditional food in Austria consisting of soup, mains and desert for 10 Euros, Hawker-Center and street food in Singapore for way less and starters, mains and desert in a hip Melbourne restaurant for way more. Always nice to see different things but the first impressions of dinner made me think that Melbourne is actually an expensive place to eat out as I usually spend less on food. But I also have to say that the dinner there was really, really good and that I should not have left Melbourne without trying it! Yumm....

Well, the time after the first day is like one big pile of impressions to me so I won't bother splitting them all up. It's probably better this way as it is more authentic ... so I had a really great time in Melbourne, having great nights in with singaporu_kooku, great nights out with KeithMEL, blast-off and his friends and some other guys (you don't know so I won't bother you with the details here hehe).

So the main impression about Melbourne was that I really slept a lot. I was just so jetlagged that I did not really manage to find my way to normal sleeping hours here. But the sleep here in Melbourne was just so refreshing... I remember that when I was young, I once slept 48 hrs in a row here in Melbourne after an exhausting flight from Singapore.

Another thing I loved in Melbourne was the food. Also the Taxi Dining Room of course but that was the kind of food I never had again in Melbourne. From Japanese to Thai, Chinese, Malay, Greek and even plain fries, I had everything and this really made my trip to Melbourne special. The deserts here were just gorgeous but see for yourself, I think 1/3rd of the Melbourne pictures I took are food pictures

Before I forget ... at the Taxi Dining Room, something great happened. As you might know, I am not really into drinking alcohol. Sometimes I do, but I generally don't because I don't like the taste of most alcoholic drinks ... taipeiflyer had a glass of scotch at the Taxi DR and let me try it: I instantly liked the taste. Don't worry, I am not going to become an alcoholic but the taste was something new to me and something I really enjoyed!

But then there was also this one night when I went over to KeithMEL's place to meet up with him, taipeiflyer and Mr. K. to go enjoy the nightlife of Melbourne. I was really looking forward to this night and it was really good. Unfortunately taipeiflyer could not join the pack ... but the fellowship of three (how epic!) managed to get into the Love Machine Melbourne to get a portion of serious Melbourne nightlife.

Another SQTalker, blast-off, made a big impression on me. We met randomly after he returned from Singapore and meeting his friends was a really great thing. We had a superb night-photography sessions at the Docklands and the results are - indeed - something I want to share with everybody here.

I also met the sponsor of my Business Class upgrade, Steven who joined me and some friends over dinner. It was a superb meetup and I hope we'll see each other again!

All in all, Melbourne has been a blast and I am happy I came here instead of Sydney or another place... looking back, Melbourne was a really weird, yet exciting city:

- on the streets, there were actually more Asian than Caucasian people
- the food wasn't very Western at all but rather a fusion of Asian cuisines.
- Australia is all 'fusion'.
- the highest tower of the city actually consists of apartments O.O
- no Sheilas, Kylies etc. at all.
- this place has even more coffee-places than Vienna!
- I even got to eat my beloved egg-tarts in Melbourne.
- The heaters outside the coffe-places are interesting. Really cool but so wasteful.
- Public transportation is even more chaotic than in Vienna.
- Although I felt like I had so much food there, I did not even nearly exhaust my budget of AU$ there.
- It was frickin cold.

But apart from that Melbourne still felt like my far-away home again and I am eagerly looking forward to returning as soon as possible. I met great people in Melbourne, ate out a lot, visited many places and had one of the best stays of my life here. The guys and girl who took care of me in Melbourne were as great as one could imagine.