My Blue Heaven

“Plot to blow up planes foiled”

“A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.” – Full article here

Crap. Not again. *sigh* I really hope these security measures aren’t still necessary in 4 weeks time. Then again.. perhaps I should rethink my holiday plans! Not that I can, as everything is booked, and I’ve already paid for some accomodations.

At the moment, no hand luggage permitted. Only plane tickets and necessary things like wallets are allowed in a clear plastic bag!!! Not even spectacle cases are allowed. Man. Talk about chaos. 🙁

Puts a whole new thrill into flying overseas eh. :/

Cat Empire live

I went to see The Cat Empire last friday night. The last time I saw them in London was about a year ago, with a l. 🙂 It was such an awesome gig I had to go again, this time dragging Kwai with me. I bought these tickets as soon as they came out months ago. And this time I remembered to bring my digital camera. And again have uploaded some vids to good ol YouTube. 🙂

Pics to come too.

1. “The Car Song” – a very energetic opening song off their 2nd album, awesome keyboard solo starting around 4:00 and bass solo around 7:30

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Italy Itinerary

Ok, after many hours of research, surfing page after page of internet travel guides on italy (btw I highly recommend SlowTrav for any travel planning – excellent user contributed resource with lots of reviews and hints!!), scouring the net for the cheapest hotels and B&Bs… I have FINALLY put together an itinerary so organised it rivals that of a tour company! Hehe. It’s all coming together, car hired, accomodation booked… and there’s still over 4 weeks to go! Hrm.. me, anal? Pffft. 😛

So the plan is to drive ourselves around northern italy – flying into Milan, then onto Venice, Rome, through some Tuscan countryside, Florence, the Cinque Terre and finally back to Milan. All this in a very cool, very chic, Nissan Micra C+C convertible!! Fully designed & manufactured in the UK, and I think only available in UK/Europe. Check it out below (I want one!!)

So the itinerary break-down:

Day 1: Fly into Milan around 9pm, pick up our lovely nissan micra and maybe quick drive around to see Milan by night

Day 2: Drive to Venice early early morning to explore/sightsee for 1 day. Stay overnight in Venice East (on the mainland)

Day 3: Drive to Bologna for early lunch and a quick look around, then onto Palestrina (just outside Rome) for local dinner and some evening sightseeing. Stay overnight at a lovely B&B in Palestrina

Day 4: Explore Rome for the whole day. Morning visit the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon. After lunch visit Vatician, St Peters Square/Basilica, Sistine Chapel. Evening see Trevi Fountain and wander about eating loads of gelati and caffe lattes (gonna have to roll me back on the plane!) 😛

Day 5: Depart Rome early and drive up Tyhrennian coastline into Tuscany for quick stop at Orbetello/Monte Argentario & its beaches, then head inland to Saturnia for a scrumptious tradional tuscan lunch, then to the natural outdoor hot springs/waterfalls for a relaxing & healthy dip. Drive off to our accomodations at Castello Di Grotti (in a farmhouse apartment on some beautiful castle grounds!) which is in the Tuscan countryside, have dinner at the local village

Day 6: Depart for Florence (via Siena) arriving mid-morning, exploring & sightseeing for a day. Sleep overnight in the San Frediano Mansion (B&B) in central florence, near the river Arno.

Day 7: Visit the Uffizi gallery in the morning before departing for the Cinque Terre. Park up and lunch at Riomaggiore village and walk the coastal path Via dell’Amore (Lovers Way) to the next village Manarola. Train or ferry to Vernazza and hike the coastline path to Monterosso for a swim at this picturesque beach village. Depart Cinque Terre and drive to Milan
Day 8: Shopping, shopping, sightseeing and more shopping.. plane leaves at 9:15pm. Back to London and dismal reality.

*Phew* So there you have it. All organised and booked, with estimated driving times included thanks to Via Michelin. Of course there is some flexiblity in the plan, depending on how things go during the day. Only thing we can’t change is accomodation! We found some REALLY cheap rooms on RoomsNet. Sometimes at half the price of those “cheap internet rates”. Pretty cool eh.

Anyway, give me some feedback.. any flaws in my itinerary etc. 🙂

Current listening :: “Say After Me” – Bic Runga

Bella Italia

After much budgeting, scrimping and saving.. bringing lunch from home every day for work, never eating out or spending so much as a penny on shopping.. myself and Kwai have managed to save enough money to go on a much needed holiday! Yay! We are off to Italy for 1 week in september (6th – 13th). It’ll be just after peak season, so everything is much cheaper – but the weather will be (hopefully) still warm!

We’ve bought plane tix to Milan – cheap cheap on EasyJet at only £104 for two ppl, return! Not bad eh! We’re also hiring a car (hopefully the Nissan Micra C+C convertible if it is available *crosses fingers* – cheap on avis atm) and will be driving around north Italy, visiting all the major cities such as Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, Bologna, Pisa, Verona, Cinque Terre.. oh yeh and the Vatican too. Hm. Suddenly a week seems very short! Dunno if we’re gonna be able to fit all those destinations in.. plus I want to see the Tuscan countryside and the Amalfi coastline too. *sigh* Gonna have to make some tough choices methinks. Anyone who has been to Italy before, feel free to comment and give any advice about recommended destinations. So far for me, must see cities are Milan (oh the shopping!!!), Rome, Florence and Venice.. as well as some nice driving through the gorgeous Tuscan countryside, Cinque Terre and the Mediterranean coastline. 🙂

Lots to research and plan in advanced.. coz we want cheap accomodation, we’re gonna have to book in advanced, which takes out some flexibility. Not to mention, I should probably learn some italian before we go!! I’m starting to get all these european languages confused.. german, french, italian.. not as bad as Kwai though, who’s developed a tendancy to answer in the wrong language – usually german. Heehee. Anyway, anyone know of any good online italian tutorials?

Only 5 & 1/2 weeks to go! Can’t wait!! 😀

Current listening :: “Automatic High” – S Club Juniors (Pure cheesy pop packed full of cheesy goodness :P)

Just call me Thorpedo

I made a goal to swim 1km (that’s 11 laps) sometime within the next few weeks, or at most by the end of summer. Well… I have not only reached, but surpassed that goal in under a week. Last week I swam 3 times after work – the first two I only managed 8 laps, but on Thursday I swam 11 laps… 1 km!! Yay! My goal is to push myself just a bit more each time so yesterday I did even better and swam 12 laps. This was done in the same amount of time it took me to swim 8 laps just 1 week ago (approx 1/2 hour). Woohoo!! And it felt gooood too! 😀

I love swimming. I used to swim heaps when I was growing up, with a pool at home, I swam every day in summer. My parents and their friends even nicknamed me “fish”. Anyway, I got a bit bored of it as I grew older.. but in the last few years I started doing laps at the nearby aquatic centre (I think it was the prospect of relaxing in the spa/sauna/steam room that drew me there first) – but I gradually started getting more serious about swimming laps to increase fitness. I could barely do 500m in the 25m pool at first. But I improved.. and then in summer I was able to use the outdoor 50m pool, which gave me an additional challenge coz the pool length was longer. Anyway, I didn’t do much swimming in my first year in London (other than for a short period when I was living at my cousins). Recently finding out about a 90m pool in London challenged me to conquer that length! So that’s what I’m doing now. 🙂

So I wonder how many laps I’ll be able to swim by the end of summer. Perhaps my next goal will be to swim 1 mile. This is definitely doing great things for my fitness. I’m on a fitness role.. w00t! And I’m even ready to hit the gym tonight for something different. Gonna give the shoulders a rest and focus on legs/bum, stomach, lower back and lots of stretching. Go me. 🙂