On a plane

If you are wondering, I got my Europe package from Matta Fair early this year. We could not get the RM4688 for the same deal but in the end, we bought RM4988 package + RM700 Eurostar ticket for 9 days 6 nights including accommodation, breakfast and dinner.  Some thought it was a good deal as it was a summer trip and we covered 5 countries throughout the trip. And I thought so too.

What were I not so looking forward to the holiday?? The long flight. I hate long flight. So what did I do when I were on a flight, especially the long-haul one?

I've travelled and seated on a plane for more than 9 hours from KL to Central Europe. Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and connecting to London, another 3 hours plus in the plane.

The plane model

By the way, did I tell you I have a little plane anxiety? I hate sitting inside a plane doing nothing. I couldnt even doze off. Even if I were tired, how can I get comfortable sleeping with the plane floating in the air.

I used to travel quite often during my working days but mostly to West Malaysia which takes about 1.75 hours only. The longest flight I took was from Singapore to Korea back in 2010. That was it.

So what did I do in this long hours flight which takes more than half day and from one continent to another??

1. Dining!!
We dined 2 times from KL to Turkey and then once from Turkey to London. I were actually looking forward to the meals. International cuisine was simply good and comforting when we were airbound.

2. Reading and talking
Bought some travel guides and learn a bit of foreign language onboard. Felt like honeymoon again with hubby.  Yes, it was quite rejuvenating to travel without the kids (not that I did not missed them while I were abroad).

3. TV screen
Watched most of the movies before so I couldnt bother much. But I caught up with some live international news and interactive games.

4. Get comfy
I took off my shoes on flight. Don't worry, in my clean socks and no one complained. *wink*  Stretching myself now and then. Since I started off with night flight, I did catch on some sleep for few hours. Need all the energy for my Europe adventure so I tried to sleep as much as I could but again all those wine and food did not helped much as I am always a light sleeper.

5. To the loo
I tried not to visit the plane's loo as many times as possible. Hate the long walking to one and passing many people looking back at you. Lol. But actually the thought of many people using the same loo just freaked me up.

6. Sky gazing
Who doesn't love the sky with its beautiful clouds. I took out my camera and take some shots of the sky and what's below me.

Day started to break

Beautiful sky

We stopped for a couple of hours in Istanbul international airport for the connecting flight and believe me, the airport was so impressive and busy with activities and people!!

Alright, time to go back to my next travel destination.

Paris | Sunday wandering

Yes, we simply loved Paris. How lucky were we to enjoy the Paris tour on a Sunday.

Paris was glamorous. Exploring around Paris really was an eye opener and a chance of a lifetime. The city was so elegant and colourful; purely rich in history, culture and architecture.

We loved the time spent exploring the splendid cobble-stoned streets flanked by beautiful buildings in the crisp, warm air. And not forgetting the big crowds and street plays too.

Here are random photos that I took while wandering in Paris over the weekend. We covered quite few places in a day. The traffic wasn't that bad on most parts of Paris. And we did get a sudden rain in the afternoon while we were in Lafayette.

I think I took the shots of Eiffel Tower the most. We did not go in as time consuming. But the tower itself was panoramic! Wow!

There was also some shopping done in Lafayette. We were there for 3 hours and we also took the opportunity to go to the Lafayette building rooftop for the city view.

Eiffel Tower

Triumphal arch

Notre dame

Notre dame

Notre dame

Carrousel arc de triomphe

Lourve

Palace

Seine river

Another close shot of Eiffel Tower

Street show

Along the Seine river

Box (stall) along the river

A magnificient building along the river

Place de la concorde (Concorde square)

Fountain in Concorde square

Concorde square

Umbrella up, ice-cream was cool

Shopping in Lafayette

Breath-taking interior in Lafayette

From Lafayette rooftop

Paris | Summer, scents and shopping

What is there not to love about Paris?! We were utterly amazed by the mesmerising, beautiful and mysterious city of love!

The street was packed with people, tourists-alike.

So many photographs to be posted here so I am going to break my Paris adventure into two. So this first part would be from our train station to our hotel on Saturday, day 3 of the Europe vacation.

If I thought London was warm, then Paris was hotter!! Over 35C, the hottest we felt throughout our holiday. What a crazy summer in Paris!

Everywhere you see was people and cars!! And not forgetting the well preserved historical buildings and houses on cobbled streets.

Our 1st stop in Paris was the Fragonard Perfume Museum. We got the chance to understand a little bit about perfume and smell the famous scents of Fragonard.

The next stop was every ladies' dream.  Marne La Vaile outlet for our shopping therapy. Again, the place was packed with sea of shoppers. We spent almost 3 hours there and I walked home with few new blouses. ^^

Before the shopping started, we filled up our empty tummies first. Rice and noodle! Chinese! Cannot go on without them. Lol.

Dinner on our first evening in Paris?? French 3 courses of course. That will be in another post, another day though. ^^

Weekly market mostly by the immigrants group

Loots

Tall and magnificient buildings

Tourist bus

The palace

Fragonard shop

Fragonard museum

La Vallee outlet

La Vallee

Fried noodle

Fried rice

A basket of dim sum

Bill of our lunch

House

Another house

After that we were driven to our hotel for check-in. A nice and quiet hotel tucked in the greenery lush of countryside which was about an hour drive from Paris.

Paxton Resort & Spa, Ferrieres-en-Brie

Coming up, second part of Paris.