4 Days In Barcelona - Day 1

Date of Travel: 22-25 Jan 2014

Barcelona is now my favourite tourist destination city. It has the perfect balance of sights, shopping, food and a great transport network linking all of them together. The whole city embraces the work of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi and his modernisme ways. And which other city can you find a church under construction since year 1882?

Day 1
We woke up in Rome at 4am to catch the flight to Barcelona, and landed at 10am. From here, grab the RENFE train from the airport to Passeig de Gracia and walk 200m to Hotel Europark. Though it was in the middle of winter, the weather was very pleasant, approximately 15°C, making the walk very pleasant. Hotel Europark was absolutely gorgeous and perfect for the 3 of us at only €61.60 per night (excluding the €0.72 city tax per person per night).

Triple Room for €61.60/night without breakfast (Off-peak in Winter). Extra bed slightly too soft

4 Days in Barcelona - Intended Itinerary

Date of Travel: 22-25 Jan 2014

This is my original itinerary for Barcelona. I still think it's a good itinerary, if not for the fact that my knee gave way halfway and we couldn't venture that far anymore. My actual itinerary will come next.

22/1    CIA-BCN    0810-0955
25/1    BCN-BER    1055-1345

Wed 22 Jan (1 x T10)
- 0955 Arrive BCN Airport
- Buy 2 sets of T10 tickets from the entrance of RENFE station
- Take RENFE train to Passeig de Gracia, walk to Hotel Europark to drop bags
- Walk to Casa Mila for photos
- Walk to lunch at La Flauta for fabulous Tapas. Order cabreados eggs, assortment of tapas platter and pam amb tomaquet, and a glass of house wine. Finish off with crema catalana. Total €33 for 2 pax - Walk to Casa Batllo for photos
- Walk to Placa de Catalunya for shopping at El Corte Ingles'
- Dinner at Cafe Alfonso
- Back to hotel for rest

6 Days Itinerary In Italy - Day 5 & 6 Florence

Date of Travel: 17-22 Jan 2014

Day 5 - Day trip to Florence

Many people love Florence. They say that I should have spent a night or 2 there. Yes I liked it, but I still think a day trip is good enough. Most of the sights can be covered quite easily by walking. We caught the 8:35am - 10:07am train from Roma Termini to Firenze S.M. Novella station. What's the first thing we did when we got to Florence? We went straight to the Factory Outlets!!

My aim was to get a Bottega Veneta wallet, and The Mall factory outlet near Florence is the only place in Italy that has this brand's outlet. From the S.M. Novella station, you have to locate The Mall's bus stand that will take you directly there for €5 per person. Finding this bus stand was no easy task at all. We ended up walking around the entire block before we found the entrance to the bus station. Here's a map for you:

6 Days Itinerary In Italy - Day 4 Napoli & Pompeii

Date of Travel: 17-22 Jan 2014

Day 4: Monday 20 Jan (My birthday outing)

The Ruins of Pompeii City

We had mostly covered what we had planned for Rome, so we were searching for another place to visit nearby Rome. Many friends suggested Venice, but to me, that was just too far. HH was very surprised to find out that Pompeii was so near to Rome, and was excited to visit. She told us about the stories of the volcano and how people died there. It sounded interesting. To get there, we had to go to Naples first, and then take another train to Pompeii. Naples rang a bell in my head. I had often watched movies about Naples, being a beach town, with many resorts and palm trees. On hindsight, I think I mixed it up with Naples, Florida and not Naples (Napoli), Italy.

So Pompeii + Napoli it was!

Pompeii, from what I gathered, was an ancient Roman resort town for the rich. Researchers believe it was founded between 600-700 BC, and captured by the Romans in 70BC. Disaster stuck when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, and buried the population of 20,000 people under 4-6metres of ash. Over 1500 years later, it was discovered once, and rediscovered again in 1748. The objects beneath the ash have been well preserved due to the lack of air and moisture. Rumors say that the rich people had already fled when the volcano erupted, leaving behind the poorer workers who died there. The most ghastly part of this story is that the bodies disintegrated, leaving behind a cavity under the ash. During the excavation, they filled up the gap with plaster, in order to re-create the bodies lying underneath. So you can even see the expressions on their faces when they died. Ghastly!

6 Days Itinerary In Italy - Day 3 Visiting The Pope!

Date of Travel: 17-22 Jan 2014

Day 3 - Sunday 19 Jan 2014: Visiting the Pope!

This is Vatican City

We started the day shopping at Termini Station. Why? To locate underwear! It was becoming increasingly urgent to locate where to buy underwear, so we found very expensive ones indeed. From memory, 2 pairs for €25 of Calvin Klein. Bought it reluctantly. We did not expect our next stop to buy underwear. Who buys underwear at a flea market?? Apparently, Italians do. 6 pairs for €10

6 Days Itinerary in Italy - Day 1 & 2

Date of Travel: 17-22 January 2014

Give him time, it's only Day 2 and he hasn't gotten used to our style of photography yet!

My first trip to Italy! And I loved it.

After I had booked my air ticket to Barcelona explained here, I suddenly realised that 17 Jan 2014 was a public holiday in Malaysia. With just 2 days leave, I can extend my trip by 6 days, so why not? I contacted Qatar Airways, and ended up paying RM320 per person for the extension, great!

I have always loved Italian food, and wanted to know the authenticity of Italian food in Malaysia, so I picked Rome for my extra 6 days. I did not want to shift hotel in the middle of the 6 days, because my flight arrived late, and departed very very early on the 6th day. Splitting the time in Rome, would be quite hectic.

AirAsiaX Flight Pass

During my university days, Dad used to buy me a MAS 12-month open-ticket to Perth. I would then have the option to nominate my return flight date as and when I wish to fly home. The cost of this ticket is of course much more expensive, but I needed that flexibility depending on when my exams ended.

Then came AirAsia where they are significantly cheaper if you book up to 12 months in advance, and a change of date will impose a penalty, and you also have to pay for the fare difference. Most of the time, it would be cheaper getting a new ticket than trying to change the date of the ticket.

AirAsiaX has now come up with a solution in what they call a Flight Pass. This is purchased via http://www.optiontown.com