.:a sUdDeN sLiP:.

1. This is the least-prepared journey I have came up with. Relatively to Spain, France, Berlin n Czech, I have made no intense research for this journey, which prove to brought about a lot of humorous events on the future. While it proves to raise a lot of difficulties, I found it enjoyable sometimes to get lost in the city with your 12kg luggage strolling behind you to find the correct adress for the hostel.

2.Essential preparations: The itineraries. COnsisted of 10 days, I came up with the coloured-table Excel spreadsheet , forming a time line that I believe is important for all of us to keep pace in our journey. I foun
d it sooner that it was only me who give a feck about the timeline. Most of the member actually left the itineraries tucked under their pillow in Volgograd!!!

3.Hostel, apartment, and a low-cost hotel reservations. All made via the hostelworlds.com, and using my new AmBank debit card..uh, actually I dont have enough money in there, so for the last hostel reservation, I had to borrow Zamir’s debit card…eh aku dah bayar ke belum ha???

4. Flight tickets!!!! Difficult as hell to get one!!!While searching here and there for the lowest fare, "Euro"flot (Spell: aeroflot, the Russian flag carrier) came up with a discounted fare to any one-way destination in Europe. Offered last till end of November. So, by November we scrambled up and down to the Aeroflot office, and thanks to the new aeroflot website, it minimalise the conversation needed with the unfriendly aeroflot officer there. With their around-the-clock grim faces, I wonder how could they post up a sign on the door saying "IF WE"RE NOT SMILING, ITS JUST BECAUSE WE ARE WORKING HARD TO MAKE U SMILE"..hahah, u euroflot ppl can kiss my arse..
After spending approx 300euro for the discounted international tickets, and thinking that we’ve saved up a lot, and thanking God for the fact that we manage to grab the chances, the next few days , aeroflot post up a new advertisement. "Discount for discounted-tickets".Duh…………..
Newsflash, while we saved up a lot for international tickets, Euroflot actually cheat by increasing the domestic prices!! OMG my Vog-Mow ticket cost like half the price of the intnl ticket!!!

5. Dont even get me start with the russian red-tape bureaucracy just to get a visa that is actually you are the owner!! Why do they really like to keep other people’s stuff???? Oh, I forgot , stealing is not a crime here. Ask that to Lenin or Stalin when they started stealing all the farmlands and making it state-owned. I guess they apply that to the Passport service in our universities too….

6.I made a complete list of essential budgets to all members of the journey. It was even individualised.  A complete list about how much each people need to spend how much. Yet, Raja came and asked me like for the n-th times, "eh, ko rasa brapa euro baru cukup ha???"

7. A complete map of metro system in Rome n Milan, and waterbus route in Venice. Since my printer is b/w here, it really didnt helped when I cant differentiate the "blue line" with the "light-blue line"

8. A rough guide to Venice, Milan, n Rome provided by hostelworlds. Some budget tips I found on the net, and the not-helpful location of our hostel marked on the unsufficient city map.A prayer compass, and prayer schedule for all members.

9. Some Italian phrase : Ciao ! is Hello and goodbye..really!! I kid you not…when a cashier saying Ciao!! U cant really know whether she/he is saying goodbye to the previous customer, or is welcoming you….The famous Mi’scusi is Excuse me (thanks to Eurotrip , a teen-semi-porn film)..Permisso is "grant me access"…Grazie is thanks…Arriverdeci is Goodbye..Per FAvore is Please….and "amo la vostra maniglia di amore" is "I love your love handles"

10. A to-do-list is essential for a journey. Printed a copy for each member acutally diminish the necessity for last-minute-time-consuming briefing. Thank God they comply with the list (or so I hope).

11. An "emergency copy" of all of our travels documents. 2 copies actually. I brought one for myself, and left one with Haneep. Just in case. I really learn my lesson since Ai chen lost her ticket in Madrid n we have no photocopies, and the recent overwhelmingly bad-news about how Chris lost his passport, and how the Malaysian embassy in Moscow being such an ass..

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