I am supposed to be doing my clinical case presentation for Monday, but I am running out of ideas. Hence decided to give my blog a visit. It has been ages since I last updated my blog! Sheesh. I guess I have been s00000 busy for the past few weeks, that I completely did not have the time to scribble a thing or two in my blog. huhu. And now I plan to put aside my presentation for a while and write about my incredibly and ridiculously unforgettable yet fun trip to Paris.
Me and Munirah went to Paris for three days on the start of our summer holiday. Well, little did we know that we were about to embark on an 'amazing' journey! A journey that was filled with so many ridiculous and unexpected incidents. Too many absurd incidents that it is just almost impossible to forget.
Well, lets start with day 1.
23 June 2008
I had a doctor's appointment earlier that morning. My blood results were fabulous. I was happy! Headed straight to the train station as I had promised to meet Munirah there at around 1 pm. Went to the designated platform, Munirah arrived just a few minutes after I arrived. Our train arrives around 130. The train was packed! We had to sit on our handluggage in the corridor near the toilet as all of the seats were taken. Thankfully it was only a 30 minutes journey. As we arrived Derby, we left the train and waited for the shuttle bus to take us to the East Midlands Airport. The bus arrived a bit later than the scheduled time, but alhamdulillah, we did manage to get to the airport on time. Everything was going smoothly then. I was content. Thinking that alhamdulillah, this is a good start.
I guess everything started when we were in the airport. Alhamdulillah, I had no problem checking in, but that was not the case for Munirah. Apparently, her hand luggage was TOO HUGE to be fitted in the airport cabin! Ridiculous!! The size of her bag was actually smaller than the bag that i always bring for hand luggage, and yet her bag was claimed to be oversize and had to be checked in. And for the bag to be checked in, she has to pay an extra 14 pounds or so! Urgh. That was simply unfair. But, who are we to argue? Huhu. Defeated without a battle, she headed off to the BMI Baby office to pay the fee.
Later, we headed off to the security check area. My liquid stuffs were not placed in a proper transparent bag ( i simply put them in the tesco plastic bags. huhu) since my house ran out of supply. Confident that the airport will provide them for free at the entrance of the security check area, we walked to the security check area. We were about to reach the area when we realized that there were no plastic bags provided! Panicked, we walked out of the line and tried to think of what to do! I was panicking; stretching my neck, frantically trying to see if we had missed it amongst the crowd. My eyes, somehow, managed to caught this vending machine, standing proudly near the entrance of the security check area. I did not know what caught my interest, but something was not quite right with the vending machine. Oh gosh. No wonder. That was a vending machine for the transparent plastic bags! Huhu. It costs me 1.50 pounds for 2 plastic bags. Huhu. Thankfully the bags were good in quality!!
So, after putting my stuffs in the plastic bag, we headed off to the security area and alhamdulillah, no problem there. We went to see the main screen if the boarding gate has been announced, and it was not. Oh well, it was still early then. No problem. We lingered around and bought myself a sandwich and had my lunch. After a while, we checked the screen again, and still the gate number was still not announced. It says "Relax and shop". Ok. Fine. We will relax, but maybe not shop. huhu. Every 10 minutes or so, we checked the screen, and still it said the same thing. It was already nearing 4.30 pm and still no gate number. Our flight was supposed to board at 4.30! We started to get restless. We stood in front of the screen, staring at the screen, as if that will change a thing! We paced around, irritated. Oh come on. If the flight is delayed, just announce that it is delayed. At least our mind will be at ease. It was already past 4.30 and the screen still says "Relax and Shop". Urgh. How annoying.
Later on, we heard a couple saying that the gate number has been announced. All of us rushed to the boarding gate like a flock of bees swarming a field of honey! I think our flight departed about 30 - 40 minutes later than the scheduled time. And that, cost us our plan for the night! Huhu.
We arrived Paris ( can't remember what time) and headed off to the Metro. Happy, we were. Yay. Finally, I am in Paris. Hehe. We got on one Metro and get to Saint Michael Notre Dame station. There we had to change metro to get to St Ouen station (that's where our hotel is). We somehow, brilliantly managed to get on the wrong metro and found ourselves heading towards the opposite direction! After asking a passerby (who was also clueless and had to ask the metro driver for direction!), we managed to get on the right metro and headed off to St Ouen. As we arrived St Ouen, that was when a new problem arises. We had NO idea how to get to Formula 1 Hotel from the station! Huhu. To make things worse, it was almost 1130 pm and it was completely DARK! We asked one of the workers in the metro and he told us the way to get there. And yet, we managed to get lost. Me and my bearings! huhu. Then, we simply walked through the darkness of the night. To be honest, I was scared. To be in a foreign place, where nothing is familiar in the middle of the night. Every time someone walked by, I can feel my heart beating faster. I cling to my rucksack as firm as possible, as if that would protect me from danger. Huhu.
Alhamdulillah, after walking in circles for almost 20 minutes, we later managed to bump into a group of ladies. They walked us off to the hotel. It was almost 12.30 when we were finally there. Crazy. I know! You have no idea how I thank Allah right after we bunked into our room. Our first day was already a disaster! We naively hoped and prayed that tomorrow will be better. My body was aching, my stomach was grumbling. And yet, I managed to sleep through the night like a baby.
Fuh. There's more to tell. I will continue in the next post. huhu. Till then, ciao.
Me and Munirah went to Paris for three days on the start of our summer holiday. Well, little did we know that we were about to embark on an 'amazing' journey! A journey that was filled with so many ridiculous and unexpected incidents. Too many absurd incidents that it is just almost impossible to forget.
Well, lets start with day 1.
23 June 2008
I had a doctor's appointment earlier that morning. My blood results were fabulous. I was happy! Headed straight to the train station as I had promised to meet Munirah there at around 1 pm. Went to the designated platform, Munirah arrived just a few minutes after I arrived. Our train arrives around 130. The train was packed! We had to sit on our handluggage in the corridor near the toilet as all of the seats were taken. Thankfully it was only a 30 minutes journey. As we arrived Derby, we left the train and waited for the shuttle bus to take us to the East Midlands Airport. The bus arrived a bit later than the scheduled time, but alhamdulillah, we did manage to get to the airport on time. Everything was going smoothly then. I was content. Thinking that alhamdulillah, this is a good start.
I guess everything started when we were in the airport. Alhamdulillah, I had no problem checking in, but that was not the case for Munirah. Apparently, her hand luggage was TOO HUGE to be fitted in the airport cabin! Ridiculous!! The size of her bag was actually smaller than the bag that i always bring for hand luggage, and yet her bag was claimed to be oversize and had to be checked in. And for the bag to be checked in, she has to pay an extra 14 pounds or so! Urgh. That was simply unfair. But, who are we to argue? Huhu. Defeated without a battle, she headed off to the BMI Baby office to pay the fee.
Later, we headed off to the security check area. My liquid stuffs were not placed in a proper transparent bag ( i simply put them in the tesco plastic bags. huhu) since my house ran out of supply. Confident that the airport will provide them for free at the entrance of the security check area, we walked to the security check area. We were about to reach the area when we realized that there were no plastic bags provided! Panicked, we walked out of the line and tried to think of what to do! I was panicking; stretching my neck, frantically trying to see if we had missed it amongst the crowd. My eyes, somehow, managed to caught this vending machine, standing proudly near the entrance of the security check area. I did not know what caught my interest, but something was not quite right with the vending machine. Oh gosh. No wonder. That was a vending machine for the transparent plastic bags! Huhu. It costs me 1.50 pounds for 2 plastic bags. Huhu. Thankfully the bags were good in quality!!
So, after putting my stuffs in the plastic bag, we headed off to the security area and alhamdulillah, no problem there. We went to see the main screen if the boarding gate has been announced, and it was not. Oh well, it was still early then. No problem. We lingered around and bought myself a sandwich and had my lunch. After a while, we checked the screen again, and still the gate number was still not announced. It says "Relax and shop". Ok. Fine. We will relax, but maybe not shop. huhu. Every 10 minutes or so, we checked the screen, and still it said the same thing. It was already nearing 4.30 pm and still no gate number. Our flight was supposed to board at 4.30! We started to get restless. We stood in front of the screen, staring at the screen, as if that will change a thing! We paced around, irritated. Oh come on. If the flight is delayed, just announce that it is delayed. At least our mind will be at ease. It was already past 4.30 and the screen still says "Relax and Shop". Urgh. How annoying.
Later on, we heard a couple saying that the gate number has been announced. All of us rushed to the boarding gate like a flock of bees swarming a field of honey! I think our flight departed about 30 - 40 minutes later than the scheduled time. And that, cost us our plan for the night! Huhu.
We arrived Paris ( can't remember what time) and headed off to the Metro. Happy, we were. Yay. Finally, I am in Paris. Hehe. We got on one Metro and get to Saint Michael Notre Dame station. There we had to change metro to get to St Ouen station (that's where our hotel is). We somehow, brilliantly managed to get on the wrong metro and found ourselves heading towards the opposite direction! After asking a passerby (who was also clueless and had to ask the metro driver for direction!), we managed to get on the right metro and headed off to St Ouen. As we arrived St Ouen, that was when a new problem arises. We had NO idea how to get to Formula 1 Hotel from the station! Huhu. To make things worse, it was almost 1130 pm and it was completely DARK! We asked one of the workers in the metro and he told us the way to get there. And yet, we managed to get lost. Me and my bearings! huhu. Then, we simply walked through the darkness of the night. To be honest, I was scared. To be in a foreign place, where nothing is familiar in the middle of the night. Every time someone walked by, I can feel my heart beating faster. I cling to my rucksack as firm as possible, as if that would protect me from danger. Huhu.
Alhamdulillah, after walking in circles for almost 20 minutes, we later managed to bump into a group of ladies. They walked us off to the hotel. It was almost 12.30 when we were finally there. Crazy. I know! You have no idea how I thank Allah right after we bunked into our room. Our first day was already a disaster! We naively hoped and prayed that tomorrow will be better. My body was aching, my stomach was grumbling. And yet, I managed to sleep through the night like a baby.
Fuh. There's more to tell. I will continue in the next post. huhu. Till then, ciao.
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