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nowhereboundd · 5 years ago

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Travelling on a Budget - Tips & Tricks!

Hi again!! Hope you’re all wellll. In this post I’m going to share some travel tips that I’ve learned during my adventures and how to budget/save money while travelling!

First offff, my first tip would be to travel with friends. This way you can split a lot of costs! Food, hotels, taxis/ubers, renting a car, gas - you get the idea!

If you’re planning on travelling alone, HOSTELS will be your best friend. Hostels are a fantastic way to meet new like-minded people and make some friends! A lot of hostels also have “common areas” where you can relax and chill. This is also a great place to meet people from all around the world!

Hostels are similar to hotels, except you generally pay for 1 bed in a shared room. A lot of hostels have “female” and “male” rooms, but its usually cheaper if you stay in a “mixed” room. I get that the idea is sketchy at first, but I’ve stayed in many hostels and I haven’t had any issues. Everyone is there for the same reason. Usually all backpackers on a budget. A lot of hostels also have lockers, so BRING A LOCK! (Tip #2) You really never know when a lock is going to come in handy. For our 1 month Europe trip, I travelled with Alex and Jordan, so thankfully we were able to stay in a lot of hotels and split the cost 3 ways. It ended up being cheaper than a hostel and generally just more comfortable and spacious. Because we were on a really fast paced trip we wanted somewhere quiet to sleep because we didn’t have a lot of time to do that :)

My favourite website for booking hotels/hostels is hotels.com. For every 10 nights you book, you get one free, which is nice because you’re saving already on your nightly costs AND getting rewarded from it. If you’re planning a long trip getting a couple nights free here and there can really come in handy! They also always have some sort of PROMO CODES floating around for some sort of discount. Right before paying for my booking I literally do a google search for “hotels.com promo codes.” You usually have to try a couple before you find one that works, but spending an extra 2-3 minutes could save you some money!

This leads me into my next tip. SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS! I know they can be annoying, but they can be worth it! I have a separate folder in my email where all my “important” junk mail goes. I’m subscribed to a bunch of airlines, hotels.com, getyourguide.com (which I’ve mentioned in a previous post and will touch on more in this post, restaurants and so on. Whenever I’m about to book a flight, or a hotel, I also check this folder to see if they’ve emailed me any deals or promo codes. When looking for somewhere to eat, I again, check this folder to see if any chain restaurants are having any promos. Websites also sometimes give you a “new customer” discount when you subscribe, so if you are booking multiple things, subscribe with multiple emails! :)

My next tip/ money saver is to book through budget airlines. Most of these airlines are NOT boujee, but if you’re flying through Europe its likely that your flight won’t be any longer than 2 hours anyway. My favourite way (and the most effective way I’ve found after trying many different sites) to find the cheapest flights is good ol’ google. The thing that I love about finding flights through google is that there’s no extra “fees.” It takes you directly to the flight website and lets you book your flight as you normally would.

Just type into google: destination A to destination B flights. Then adjust the settings (how many people, round or one way trip) then it will show you when that flight is the cheapest and if that price is normal/ going to change before your date of travel.

In my opiniom, this next tip is one of the most important ones. ONLY BRING A CARRY ON! This one is so important to me for a couple different reasons. Firstly, MOST budget airlines allow you to bring a carry on for free (Ryanair does not.) and secondly, you don’t have to waste time waiting for your luggage to come out on that carousel thing. If you’re on a fast paced trip like I was, every second counts! Instead of spending 20 minutes waiting for your luggage you could already be checked in to your hotel or hostel!

I know it might seem a little intimidating trying to fit enough stuff for a long trip into such a small suitcase, which brings me to my next tip! FIND A LAUNDROMAT/ DO LAUNDRY! As I mentioned in my previous tip, there are so many positives to only bringing a carry on with you on your trip. If you’re going on a longer trip, laundromats will be your best friend. That being said, this usually is a pay per use service, BUT it will end up saving you a lot of money in the long run. A lot of hotels/hostels provide a laundry service, but if you’re staying at one that doesn’t, there is most likely a laundromat somewhere around you.

Another packing tip I have is to buy reusable toiletry bottles! You can find these at the dollar store and they are so handy. You can only bring liquids in bottles up to 100ml in your carry on, so buying the empty bottles and filling them up with shampoo/ body wash that you already have is going to save you a few dollars! What I did on my trip, is I bought a cheap bottle of shampoo (about halfway through the trip) when I was staying somewhere for 3+ days. I refilled my 100ml bottle and used the larger bottle until I had to get on a plane again. (If you’re travelling with friends this is a good opportunity to split on a bottle of shampoo and refill all your 100ml bottles!) Shampoo was actually the only thing I ended up running out of, but there are cheap pharmacies all over Europe where you can find pretty much anything you need!

I’ve mentioned this website in a previous post, but getyourguide.com is an amazing place to do a ton of tourist stuff for huge savings!! For example, entry tickets at Auschwitz were $30. Not including the 2 hour ride there and back. For $31 on getyourguide.com, I got an entry ticket, AND transportation there and back. I’ve used this website in Canada, the UK and Europe and I’ve never had any issues (except the one from my previous post, BUT their customer service is amazing and I ended up getting a full refund.)

My final tip for this post is all about USING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!! Almost 99% of the time, public transportation will save you money! Rather than renting a car or taking a taxi, download some train/bus apps and look into buying day passes whenever possible. Google maps is also super good when it comes to travel planning with public transportation. By utilizing public transportation, you get to dive deeper into the everyday lives of the locals, so in my opinion it makes the experience that much more authentic. We visited Santorini, Greece during the “off season” so there were literally no busses running at the time. We ended up renting a car (you do need an international license to drive in Greece) for super cheap, and split the cost 3 ways. For 3 full days we paid around $50/$60. So if you do find yourslef in a situation where you have to rent a car in order to experience everything that place has to offer, I recommend researching all of your options to get the best bang for your buck! Another alternative to taking a taxi is to WALK!!! You see soooo much when you just walk around. Things you wouldn’t normally “go out of your way to see” - might end up being the coolest part of your trip!!

Alright guys, well that pretty much sums up everything! If I think of anything else, I’ll add it in another post :)

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you in my next post!!

↞ to travel is to live ↠

xxoo chels

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chatchalita · 5 years ago

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I feels like writing something, since I rarely write things these days and I feels like my English will go down the drain soon, if I’m not writing.

Since I impulsively bought a plane ticket again, it’s time for me to summarize my other two trips I had this year as like a build-up for my upcoming new adventure the Taiwan trip in November.

This first post is about my side trip from business trip...I guess

I don’t know how I usually start my traveling post, I guess I start with a disclaimer that this post is not informative at all, just me writing about my trip for future me to reminisce about it.

It has been 2 years since I last visit Mikawa Anjo, the last time was for internship purpose, (which I happened to not write about the experience :/) I was greeted by the familiar feelings, I missed this place. I finally semi-ly made it back. I worked hard in this company for the past 1 year and I feels like it paid off a little.

This trip was my 6th time in Japan and took 14 days (Aug, 18th- Sep, 1st). Since this is a business trip, I’m able to ride Thai Airways, finally something that not low-cost and I’m able to load my luggage lol. The flight is TG644, I arrived at Japan around 8am, I decided to stop by my hotel for luggage storage, then go on an adventure to Okazaki Castle.

Before Okazaki Castle, I visited about 6 Japanese castles, so I know what I should expected from the castle. And spoiler alert, it was disappointing for me, I don’t know why, maybe because I’m burned out from visiting castle, or maybe because I saw a greater castle? Or maybe because I expected something from the castle that said to be the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu? The Evangelion exhibition saved this castle from a total disappointment, at least there are something interesting.

After the castle I went back to my hotel and then meet up with my boss and some Japanese co-workers for a little nomikai. Alcohol intake, not that much.

The second day, which is Monday, it’s the old atmosphere everybody was as welcoming as ever. I only spent half day there because I had to visit other supplier factory in Gifu, I’m still cursing myself for not taken any photos in my phone (for the location purpose), then that night another nomikai, and this time I drunk so much sake that actually made me drunk and made me worry for tomorrow. I’m not the kind of person to have hangover, so I didn’t worried about that, I was more worry about how much alcohol I will have left in my blood, since Tuesday, I will have to attend welcome party.

Tuesday, another nomikai, thank god my body can handle another round. That day, I was not drunk whatsoever, but I did drink Calpis sawla for at least 5 glasses, and other other things...overall probaby 15-20 glasses of alcohol. Those are nothing to sake I previously drunk on Monday though.

Wednesday, nothing worth mentioning ohh except I walked 2 km for Matsumoto Kiyoshi to get the stuffs ppl asked me to buy for them.

Thursday, yakiniku with my co-workers.

Friday, actually nothing?

So one week has passed, most the weekdays activity either hung out” with my co-workers or went to grocery shopping, my co-workers (in Thailand) asked me to buy kimono for them, and they keep called it yukata. It was a short kimono that you wear with hakama, these people want to wear them as “fashion”, these really culture appropriation *sigh*

Saturday, Saturday, where did I go on Saturday...oh Meiji Mura...again. I actually went there two years ago to dress in Hakama while this year is to see very small fireworks with actual same age people. Because I already went there once, not many pictures were taken

Sunday, the manager in charge of me took me to Iga, MIe to see some ninja. Iga Ueno castle is actually in the list of castle I want to visit. If you talking about Iga ninja, Hattori Hanzo, probably the famous ninja from that “school”?

The ninja demonstration was interesting, idk what I expected, I guess I did low-key expected movie stunts ninjutsu, but it turned out to be just ninja technique.

I do loves Iga Ueno Castle since I could see both the life of ninja and samurai in one place. The ninja village is really fun place and touristy.

So far the day went very well and pretty much free since the manager paid for everything, but my dumbass has to be extra and went to Nishio to see lantern festival (alone). And you know what, the taxi cost 6000 yen round-trip just for the station to the festival ground. And this is what 6000 yen gave me...

It only 8pm and the festival already over. I learned something new every time I went to Japan. Apparently, 8pm is late for the festival. I live in the city, 8pm is still early for me.

Monday, kaiten sushi with the same age people

Tuesday, in the afternoon I went to Toyohashi to see printing factory and the person asked me what is the food that I want to eat but have not eaten yet, and I replied “unagi”, which is something very expensive.

I think this was about 5000 yen for a set. In the evening, he treated me tempura like in actually tempura shop, where the chef actually fried tempura in front of us.

As a nekojita, I was suffering but it was so delicious.

Wednesday, I got stood up by the manager that took care of me 2 years ago. No biggie.

Thursday & Friday, spent my last day in Anjo as lonely as ever. (and spent 2 hours try to figure how to pack everything in my suitcase because of what people asked me to buy)

Saturday, I bought a day tour from Klook to Takayama and Shirakawago, the thing about tour is it convenience and probably cheaper than finding the transportation myself, but the downfall always, the time. There are not enough time!! I guess that is something I have to accept when it a day trip. In the bus, I was the only non-Chinese speaking person there.

Takayama...I was eating, so I didn’t had much time to explore, but you know what I feels like if you went to Kyoto, you don’t need to go to Takayama. It has it own charmed, I just didn’t had enough time to enjoy its charm.

The raw beef is the best out of the 3, this Hida beef made visiting Takayama worth it.

Next stop, Shirakawago, the highlight of the trip. The sunlight and everything made the pictures look colorful and amazing. The photos taken there was one of my favorite set of photos of all my trips.

Shirakawago, a place I would loved to visit again during winter and spent more time there. Due to the lack of time, I can only take pictures of here and there instead of absorb myself. I wanted to visit more museum, more historical stuff, but the time is limited :/

After the day tour, I went to Hikone and stay at the hotel there.

Sunday, the last day let’s make it count. I first planned to go see Tonbokiri in western shiga (which I forgot the name of the place), but because it was so far away and I don’t want to wake up early and my main goal was HIkone castle. I ended up with visited Nagahama Castle in the morning. That Sunday probably the day I cursed google map the most because the train schedule in there just not right! I didn’t missed the train, but like the map told me it departs at 9, I arrived at 8:50, the trained in the google map is the train that not stop in this station like what’s going on. And that happened a lot that day, I probably spent like almost 2 hour in (different) train station because the time in google map was earlier than the actual train.

Anyway, back to Nagahama castle, a castle built by Totoyomi Hideyoshi

In my opinion, definitely better than Okazaki, the overall atmosphere made it “feels” more significant than Okazaki castle. The view from the tenshuu is very pretty, in which you can actually see Biwa lake.

I just loves this kind of scenery.

After Nagahama, I went to Omi-Hachiman for some unknown reason. I’m like that awkward person that wouldn’t push the stop button because nobody seem to get off at this stop, and just kept riding the bus until many ppl get off. I mean they are Japanese people, they know what’s good right? Turned out, the popular spot Japanese people are going is like a “dessert park” called La Collina, I called it dessert park because they mainly sell dessert there, and “park” because they have large greenery area.

Their most famous dessert is Baumkuchen, I personally not that big fan of it, so I bought the small size along with macaron.

Then, I followed google map to Omihachiman canal area to find the bus to get back to the station.

The canal area is what I intended to go.

I’m glad I was awkward and decided to follow Japanese people because I got have variety of scenic photos.

Next stop, the highlight of this trip Hikone Castle, 1 of the 12 original castles yayyy.

I love Japanese garden, so first visited the garden in the castle area and just like other garden I visited (except Kokura Castle garden), i was not disappointed.

The Hikone Castle, I loved the castle that I have to work my way to see the tenshu. I love climbing, just to see castle.

The view from the tenshu also amazing.

After HIkone, I went back to Nagoya to see my same age co-workers? friends? comrades? again for the last time, and we ate “Taiwanese Ramen” which just spicy ramen

And then I got back at the airport, which seem very empty at night.

Good bye, Aichi. I hope they will send me there for business trip again next year.

If you read this far, stay tuned for another Japan trip, which is like 2 weeks later from this Japan trip.

#just chatchalita traveling #chatchalita in aichi round 2

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chrysaliseuro2019 · 5 years ago

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Shaken And A Little Bit Stirred

Our three weeks in Greece has gone by in the wink of an eye. We have loved all of it. While Milos has been our least favourite (but still very enjoyable), Folegandros was scenically stunning and the town intimate and magical. Little streets and alleys lead into squares and while tourists have definitely found it, it’s lovely to see the locals having hung on to their little houses, out on their porches in the evenings chatting away. The tourist crowd are mainly couples or families so no pumping dance music to detract from the gentle vibe.

The Peloponnese is a must-see and I hope this has come through in the blog. As a tourist in July wanting to go where the crowds aren’t this is the place. And there is something for everyone; history buffs, museum enthusiasts, hardy hikers or beach sloths. So much to see, so much to do and a month there would not feel too long.

But today we leave and it’s a mega travel day so up and about doing chores. First off was shuffling the odd piece of still damp washing on our balcony washing line (one of the small and welcome creature comforts of an extended holiday) to take full advantage of sun and breeze. Then packing of cases which is becoming increasingly strategic commensurate with additional purchases, followed by getting the hotel to print out our flight boarding passes. Breakfast, then the final odds ‘n sods into the cases in readiness for our lift from Hotel Riga’s to the port.

Hotel Rigas was delightful. While only 2 stars, the room and balcony were enormous. But the bathroom this time was the size of 2 telephone booths and only room for one person due to an oversized awkwardly placed door which to close you practically had to stand on the toilet. Fortunately after 36 years of marriage, modesty is a concern long forgotten. The staff were the real standout with brother Panos and Christos the front office charmers. But the real star of the show was the housekeeper, who when we returned to the room after our first day out, had hung up our clothes, put things away in cupboards and done a through tidy up. It felt like mum had been in doing a Spring clean . I wanted to pay her one way fare to Fergie Street.

Ferry due to leave at 11.25am and arrived only 10 minutes late which was a relief. Systematic disembarkment for the Milos foot passenger and car arrivals followed by and orderly boarding by those leaving. This was in stark contrast to the Athens leaving fiasco necessitating dashing hither and thither avoiding a reversing oil tanker, taxis, buses, boxes on the wharf, cases, the passenger carrying a canary in a cage and a lot of agitated passengers. Piraeus Port Authority could do worse than do a study trip to a few islands for a few tips on traffic management.

Ferry went via nearby islands Sifnos & Serifos gradually filling on its way to Piraeus. Happily the sea was calm and the boat steady with the 4 hours passing quickly and uneventfully. Food onboard was also worthy of mention for the wrong reason. We shared a smoked turkey, cheese and mayo sandwich. The less said about that the better.

The TVs were showing some FINA Watersport competitions including the Greeks versus the Sth Koreans at water polo. It was Goliaths vs The Punes. The score of 13-2 representative of the physical strength imbalance. Chris was surprised the Punes didn’t turn tail and head straight back to Sth Korea when they caught sight of their opposition. Next on were the prissy-glittery-glammed-up teams of synchronised swimmers. We were half watching it (Chinese coming first followed by the Japanese, who we thought only average, then Ukraine) when the TVs changed to another station. Because all Greek discussion is loud and intense (and our Greek has not progressed beyond yassas and efcharistó) we had no idea whether it was the Midday Show, a regular news bulletin or some current affairs show. With no more synchronised swimming our books got 100% attention until we docked at 3.30pm.

Things were going too well for them to last. So they didn’t. With our ferry due at Piraeus at 3.30pm and our flight to Rome via Trieste due to depart at 7.10pm it was going to be a bit tight to take a train so we’d contacted a car transfer company which sends quotes. First quote arrived on Tuesday for £65 then decreased incrementally over the 3 days to £30. There seemed to be no time limit as to when you could accept the offer so we made sure the ferry was (a) going at all and (b) not delayed before we committed. As soon as we sailed we booked the transfer and emailed the driver to confirm the booking advising what ferry we were on expecting someone to be there when we arrived

Needless to say they weren’t. Port of Piraeus is not our happy place. Meanwhile my phone reconnected to the internet and I received a message from our niece asking if we were ok after hearing about the earthquake. I didn’t think anything more of it.

Meanwhile I put in a phone call to our organised driver who knew nothing of the booking and said he would call me back. Five minutes and no call back so I called him back only for it to ring out. Chris called him but the +44 English prefix probably gave it away cos he didn’t pick up that call either. So several calls to the company who didn’t seem be able to sort a driver resulting in my ire being raised about taking bookings that can’t be filled etc. We await a refund. But the bigger problem was time was on the wing and it was now 4.30pm so we went in search of a taxi.

Taxis in the port area were all pre booked so we found a taxi rank and asked the price. €80/$120!! Tell them they’re dreaming! Already pissed off about pre-booked driver no-show I got into a debate with the driver saying “We would take the taxi and trust the metre”. His bluff was ”It would be more expensive”. I countered “That would work better for you and we’ll take our chances”. His final response was “Take the bus lady” so we walked off in principle. (Think Chris reading my mood thought silence was his safest option.) I asked his mate also in the taxi queue but it was clearly a cartel cos he looked sheepish as he quoted the same which saved him losing face in front of his thieving mate. At this stage I thought my principles might cost us dearly with a missed flight (and I’d have a lot of apologising to do and a lot of extra Holmesglen shifts to cover the cost of lost flights) when we tried to flag down a taxi joining the rank who waved us off. But sometimes sticking to your guns pays off because a little modern Mercedes came around the corner driven by a taxi angel called Lorenzo who stopped as we waved him down. Quote €50. Deal! As he was loading the bags Lorenzo excitedly asked us if we’d felt the earthquake. So this explained the change of TV programming and the text message checking in on us. At around 2pm central Athens had experienced a 5.6 earthquake followed by aftershocks. We googled it and sure enough it was Athens’ first earthquake since the one in 1990 which resulted in 146 deaths and many more injured. Lorenzo who was driving through the city at the time said you don’t feel the movement of an earthquake when driving so he wasn’t aware what was happening. He said people were running out of buildings and dropping to the ground causing him to wonder if it was a terrorist attack. Fortunately there seemed to be no damage and deaths this time.

We were finally on our way to the airport with Lorenzo who determined the usually fast freeway route was jammed (we assumed as a response to the earthquake) taking 1.45 hours so the slower coastal route was a better option. The traffic around Piraeus was appalling but this bloke had the same traffic mindset as Chris....never, ever, ever sit in a traffic jam. We belted down bumpy narrow backroads made even narrower with cars parked on either side as we avoided the bottleneck around the port. The traffic was still heavily congested but our driver took every advantage of space by cutting in at the front of queues, forming extra turning lanes etc. It was quite the performance.

Not only was he determined to deliver us to the airport on time, he loved a chat. He was an Albanian in his mid 30’s married to a Greek with with two primary school aged children. He had been a semi professional soccer goalkeeper and along with taxi driving worked as a goal keeper coach. He proudly told us that only goal keepers can coach the skills of goal keeping. Lorenzo kept us entertained with stories saying when he was young he was popular because he wanted to play keeper whereas it was usually the fat kids who were lumped into that role because all the aspiring Ronaldos wanted to be the goal kicking stars. Another one we enjoyed was that his father used to regularly dink him 24 kilometres on the back of his pushbike in Albania to see a soccer match. The distance wasn’t the only issue as the roads built by the Italians post WW2 hadn’t received any attention from the communist government leaving them rutted, potholed and crumbling. Lorenzo and his dad’s bums must have been black and blue after those 48 kilometre round trips. He was also very interested in our lives so by the time we arrived at the airport at 5.50pm we were thoroughly relaxed with our faith in taxi drivers restored. We happily handed him €60 which he thought generous. We felt certain we were on the better end of that deal.

Flight to Trieste had a Rome stopover. The first leg to Rome left on time and was fine. After landing when the seat belt lights were switched the bloke beside me on the window side stood impatient to get off and leaned all over the top of me breathing heavily - he was not a small man. Usually I would get up too but with leg room being tight and row 24 being towards the back of the plane I stayed seated waiting for the 23 rows ahead to get themselves organised. This did not please bully boy next to me. After putting up with him literally right over the top of me panting I eventually stood at my middle seat. He took this as an opportunity to lean over me attempting to reach up into the luggage hold to drag his oversized case down. With the two irksome experiences at Piraeus still rankling I was not in the mood to be hassled. I refused to move and pushed back against him thwarting his attempts. When I finally moved out toward the aisle he reached over and dragged the case down telling me to move off before the people from the row in front. I told him in no uncertain terms I wasn’t moving until they were out of their seats in to aisle. Could excuse him if he was a peasant or had another flight to catch, but indeed he was well dressed and did not go to transit when we got off. That made 3 strikes with the no-show and thieving taxi driver so my patience was sorely tested.

Fortunately for everyone, probably most of all Chris who’s cage doesn’t generally get as rattled as mine, we had a spare seat for the next flight.

Landed at Trieste just before 11pm so had been on the go for 12 hours. Luggage arrived quickly making a dash to catch the 11.15pm train possible. We arrived at the station with the train pulling in. However we hadn’t had a chance to purchase tickets and with the machine caught in a loop, the train stopping for less than a minute and the guard less than helpful with advice we had to let it go. The only tip he gave us was not to buy the tickets on train as they were €50 more expensive that way (sounds to me like a euphemism for fine). Gave up on the train, taxis €60 (A$100) so not prepared to pay that. Instead we waited and caught the bus whose ticket machine also wasn’t working. No machine =no pay. Suited us. Took 45 minutes to get to TriesTe central station but enjoyed talking to a young helpful Slovenian man who had lived in Sydney for 3 months and a young Romanian woman who works as a purser on one of the small cruise boats that was hit by the big liner in Venice recently. Fortunately for her she was on leave at the time.

Grateful that Chris had booked our hotel not 5 minutes walk from Central Station. To top it all off our room stunk off cigarette smoke and the window shutters refused to open. Night manager couldn’t open them either so a quick move into neighbouring room which proved to be far nicer. Needless to say both knackered. Hope the travel Gods go gently on us tomorrow.

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buckyscrystalqueen · 6 years ago

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The Unexpected Protector: Part 3

Pairings: Negan x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Abuse, Domestic Violence, Fluff.

Word Count: 5,003

A/N: HEED THE WARNINGS!!!!!! DON’T COME CRYING IF YOU DON’T!

Part 1 / Part 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How the fuck are you so damn cute?” Negan, who had changed out of his usual suit and tie into jeans and a Patriots jersey, asked as you headed across the private tarmac toward Robert’s personal jet. You shrugged and looked down at your off the shoulder Tom Brady t-shirt, ripped jean shorts, and black, ankle high, high heeled boots.

“I’m not, but OK.” You said with a shake of your head. Negan’s jaw tensed for a half second and he let out an annoyed breath through his nose as he took your duffle of clothes from you He reached into your dog carrier and scratched Chewie’s head.

“I’ll get you to see that beauty, baby girl. That’s a promise. You ready to go?” You nodded your head and gestured to the jet with a smile. Negan offered you his arm with a smile and gestured to your now ever present body guard to follow.

“Is he always so quiet?” You asked with a glance over your shoulder at Tank. “I don’t think he’s said three words to me in the past two weeks.”

“When he’s working, yes.” Negan said as he followed you up the stairs. “He’s ex military. Stays quiet to stay fucking vigilant. Ain’t that right, Tank?”

“Yea, boss.” The six foot seven man who was built like a linebacker said with a nod as he took a seat in the row behind you and Negan. You smirked back at him and buckled your seatbelt as Jessica, the flight attendant, closed the jet door.

“We’re at five words, now.” You teased as you took your pup out of the bag and set him on your lap. “Alright, so are you ready for the owner’s experience?”

“You’ll only fucking hear me admit this once but I’m like a fucking kid in a Goddamn candy store. But you fucking tell anyone and you’ll be sleeping with the fishes.” You laughed at his horrible Italian accent and got comfortable in your chair.

“You’re secret’s safe with me but you better make sure Mr. Blabbermouth back there doesn’t talk either.”

“He fucking knows better than to share secrets.” Negan said as the plane taxied down the runway and took off toward Massachusetts. You nodded your head as he glanced over at you and reached for your hand.

“Snitches get stitches.” You said as you laced your fingers with his.

“Exactly.”

——

“Well I’ll be damned.” Your Uncle Bobby said with a smile as you headed into the owners box a couple hours before kick off after dropping your bags and Chewie off at your hotel room.

“Hey, Uncle B.” You said with a smile as he pulled you into a strong hug. Tears welled in your eyes for a moment as the man that was the closest thing to a father to you held you tight and rubbed your back since he hadn’t seen you in nearly five years.

“Damn, I missed you, little girl.” He breathed as he leaned back and held onto your shoulders to get a good look at you. “You look so good, sweetheart. So much better than the last time I saw you.”

“Thanks, Bobby.” He pat your cheek once before taking a step back to be introduced to your guests. “This is Negan and that back there is my body guard, Tank.”

“You have a body guard?” Bobby asked with his eyebrow raised.

“I’m divorcing Christian.” You said as you glanced over at him. “Need to prepare myself for the worst.”

“Good point.” He said with a nod as he looked back at Negan. “Nice to meet you, son.”

“Pleasure’s all mine, sir.” Negan said as they shook each other’s hands. “You raised a wonderful girl.”

“She’s a pistol.” Bobby chuckled with a nod as he gestured over to the bar. “Give her time, you’ll see it. She was always a damn handful…”

“Thanks, Uncle Bobby.” You laughed as a blush rose in your cheeks. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“Says the girl who trashed my Lamborghini into a fire hydrant at three in the morning.”

“That was an accident!” You claimed over Negan’s laugh as you grabbed a glass of wine and a bottle of water as well.

“Yea, an accident that cost me 50 grand to fix.” Bobby laughed as you grabbed a spot at one of the high top tables in the back of the spacious box. “Don’t ever let this woman behind a wheel.” You groaned and covered your face with your hands as the waitress came over with menus.

“Well I will absolutely keep that in mind.” Negan laughed. “What else can you tell me about this troublemaker?”

“Negan!” You whined as you playfully hit his arm.

“Oh son, I could write a book!” Bobby laughed. “Like this one time…”

“This was the worst idea ever.” You groaned as you grabbed your menu to hide behind.

——

“See, this is how you watch a fucking football game.” Negan said quietly so only you would hear his swearing. You smiled and glanced over at him as you set your beer on the bar in front of your seat.

“You having fun?” You asked as you leaned into his side with a smile. He nodded as he continued to brush his thumb across your right knee like he had done the whole game.

“So fucking much. Thank you for this.”

“Of course, sweetheart.” He squeezed your knee and rested his cheek on the top of your head for a second before bolting forward in his chair as the Patriots intercepted the ball. You couldn’t help but giggle to yourself when his foot started to bounce with nervous energy as Jason McCourty ran the ball back to the end zone. You stood up and a proud smile spread across your face as the entire stadium erupted into a roar for the fourth touchdown of the game.

“Good to be home, right?” Bobby asked as he clapped you on the back. You nodded at him and clapped your hands as Negan put his arm over your shoulder. Instinctively, your arm went around his waist and you leaned into his side to watch Stephen Gostkowski make the conversion kick. Your phone started ringing in your back pocket and you glanced at your smart watch to see who it was. Your eyes went wide as Christian’s number stared back at you.

“What?” You asked of no one as you moved out of Negan’s arm to grab your phone from your pocket.

“No!” Negan said a little harshly as he grabbed your wrist. “Let it go to voicemail. He’s violating the fucking restraining order and that gives you more leverage when you go to court for your divorce.” You nodded your head, set your phone on the bar, and sat down in your chair. Negan turned back toward Tank and you over heard him saying to get someone on the phone before turning back to you. “I’ll be right back, baby girl.” You nodded your head and tried to focus on the game as Negan took Tank’s phone and headed back into the box for some privacy.

“Everything OK?” Bobby asked, pulling your attention away from your phone screen and the voicemail notification that had popped up. You sighed and shook your head.

“Christian’s not gunna make leaving him easy. I kicked him out a couple weeks ago and filed a restraining order for the abuse. I had to change the locks on my house, installed cameras in every room and covering every inch around my house, updated my security system, and I have someone watching my house 24/7. Negan’s… well, Negan’s in a position to help me out and he’s doing everything he can to get the divorce finalized as quickly as possible. But Christian, of course, is fighting it as hard as he possibly can.”

“Jesus, sweetheart.” Bobby said with a shake of his head.

“It’s OK.” You said as you reached over and pat his hand. “I’ve got help. I’ll get out of this.”

“Maybe you should move back to Boston…”

“Ha!” You barked, humorlessly with a smile. “Because Boston totally wants me back. Look, I can promise you without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Negan can help me. I know I’m in a rough spot right now but I’ll be OK. I have people in my corner now that will make sure of it. Am I scared of what Christian is capable of? Absolutely. But everyone keeps telling me that I’m gunna be OK so I have to believe them, right?” He nodded his head in agreement as he reached over and took your hand in both his.

“If you need anything, anything at all, you call me. I still have a lot of connections in Manhattan and I won’t hesitate to fly down there.” You smiled at him and pat his hands.

“You hate flying, Uncle Bobby.” He chuckled and nodded his head.

“Alright, you caught me. I’d drive really, really fast.” You giggled and pulled your hands back to give your attention back to the game.

“I’ll call you, Uncle B. I promise.” He nodded his head and went back to the game as Negan sat back down next to you.

“Don’t answer his damn calls, OK baby? For me?” He said with a glance over at you as he reached out for your hand and laced his fingers with yours. You nodded your head and squeezed his hand.

“I won’t.” He nodded and gently kissed your forehead before turning back to watch the rest of the game.

“I’ll put an end to all this shit soon. I promise you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What a day.” Negan said as the two of you headed into your hotel suite later that night. “What a fucking day.”

“Welcome to my life.” You said with a small giggle as you bent down to pick up Chewie and the pee pad you had in the kitchenette. “I used to come up at least once a month. Just wait until Super Bowl.”

“Fuck… the Super Bowl.” Negan groaned as he leaned his whole body and stomped his foot. “Baby girl, what the fuck am I supposed to do with you?”

“Walk the dog and come to bed with me?” You turned to look at him with pleading eyes as he searched your eyes. “Please?” You asked before he could say anything. “I don’t… I can’t sleep alone anymore.”

“Fuck, baby girl.” He groaned as he scrubbed his hand over his mouth and gestured to you. “Not the eyes.” You smiled as he nodded his head and rolled his eyes. “Fine. But I have some shit to take care of first.” You nodded your head as you grabbed your leash from the counter and clipped it on to Chewie’s collar. One long stroll around the large hotel, and one tuckered out pup later, the pair of you headed up to your suite to call it a night.

While Negan made his phone calls, you jumped in the shower. You were grateful that, with a hair dryer, your hair dried in a matter of minutes. You threw on a pair of cotton sleep shorts and the darkest, most non-transparent tank top you owned. Once you took off your make up, tossed your earrings and bracelets in your make up bag and put your phone and smart watch on their chargers, you turned off all the lights, and headed out of the room for bed.

“And if he still doesn’t have my fucking money, then fucking end him.” You gasped and tripped on nothing as you looked up at Negan’s darkened eyes. He completely ignored whoever he was on the phone with and forced his face to soften no matter how frustrated he was with post game gambling gains and losses. “Sweetheart, you’re OK. You’re safe, alright?” You nodded your head subtly as he hung up the phone and set it on the dresser. “I would never hurt you.”

“OK.” You whispered as he walked toward you. With quick yet slow movements, he reached out to cup your jaw in his hand.

“Baby girl, it’s just business…”

“I know.” You breathed as you leaned subtly into his palm.

“You gotta understand something. Being with me, you’re gunna overhear some shit. Lots of shit that ain’t gunna be fucking pretty. I’m literally as fucking polar opposite of your ex-husband as I can possibly fucking get. But I swear to you, on my life, that you will never have to worry about a single fucking thing with me. No matter what happens, you will never have to be fucking scared again, whether we’re together or not. Now, I’m not done working yet so I’ll take that shit out…”

“No.” You gasped as you reached out and grabbed his white undershirt in your fingers. “Don’t leave.” He searched your eyes for a moment before slowly nodding with a sigh.

“Alright, but just… don’t fucking listen to me, OK? You shouldn’t be fucking hearing any of this shit, ever.” He said with a small smile. You returned the smile and nodded as you jokingly covered your ears with your hands. “Smart ass.” He chuckled as he moved his hand to your shoulder blades and directed you over to the bed. You shoved the decorative pillows to the floor and pulled back the blankets as Negan grabbed his phone and laptop, and set them on the bed. You habitually snuggled in to the side of the bed farthest from the door and pulled the blankets up to your chin.

“Night, sweetheart.” Negan said softly as he took off his shoes and jeans, shut off the room lights, and got into bed in front of you.

“Night baby.” You responded as you closed your eyes. He smiled subtly as he leaned back against the headboard with a small shake of his head.

‘You’re trouble, baby girl.’ He thought as he shook his head and called his lead enforcer back. ‘You’re gunna be so much fucking trouble.’

“Yea.” He said as he laid his hand down softly on your head and began to run his fingers through your hair. “Alright, what’s next on the fucking list?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘She’s Negan’s girl.’ It became your monicker quickly after that weekend. You went from being known as just another socialite in the throngs of people to being the girl of the most notorious, untouchable man in the five boroughs. It was a simple monicker that boosted the self-esteem Christian had spent the past five years of your life tearing down.

You walked into the club with a whole new pep in your step in a new skin tight, low cut, white, collared, halter dress and the most cherry red heels and lips as you could. You nodded at ‘Jerry two-toes’ (a nickname you never, ever wanted to know the origin of) and Mikey, who were standing guard at the bottom of the stairs and headed up to the cat walk with Jade right behind you. The sound of your heels clicking on the metal platform was lost in the loud bass of the music down below and you smiled as you walked past Big Sam.

“Well holy fucking fuck.” Negan said as he looked over from the man he was talking to about who knows what. “Look at you.”

“You like?” You asked as you turned in a tight circle to show off your most recent purchase.

“Fucking love it, baby girl. Jade.” Your friend, who was conflicted about your blossoming relationship with the gangster, waved from her spot by the office door. “You just getting here?” You nodded as you walked over to lean on his desk.

“Spa day ran a little later than I expected. How’s work?” He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his stomach with a shake of his head.

“Fucking obnoxious.” He groaned as he pointed to the man sitting across the desk from him. “Dealing with idiots like this fuck who…” You quickly leaned forward and put your hand over his mouth with a small shake of your head.

“Mixed company.” You whispered so that only he would hear as you gestured to Jade with your eyes only. “Not now.” He nodded his head and reached up to lace his fingers with yours.

“Good girl.” He said as he kissed your fingertips. “You go have fun. I’ll be up here for a while.”

“Alright, baby.” You said as you leaned forward to leave a faint, red kiss on his cheek. “Have fun with the idiots.” He chuckled and gave you a light swat on the ass. You flipped your hair over your shoulder and looked back at him with a wink on your way out the door.

“I don’t like it.” Jade said with a shake of her head. You looked over at her as the pair of you walked side by side to the stairs.

“Weren’t you the one that told me that I was lucky that Negan liked me? Weren’t you the one that said I should sleep with him?” She came to a stop at the top of the stairs and sighed as she put her fingertips on her forehead with a shake of her head.

“I did.” She replied as she met your green eyes. “It’s just… look, I love you. I want you to be happy but I’m scared of what dating him could lead to for you. Especially with everything going on with Christian.” You glanced around to make sure no one was close to you, and pulled her a step closer.

“Nothing can ever happen to me.” You said directly in her ear so that no one could over hear you. “Trust me, Negan promised and I looked into it. I can’t be arrested because I don’t know anything. Christian can come at me all he wants but there’s not a damn thing he could make stick. I don’t call shots. Women bosses in the Mafia were phased out fifteen years ago to prevent wives from suffering the fate men can. I’m literally just arm candy along with the rest of the wives. I know it seems unbelievable but I’m safe. I’m untouchable.” You pulled away to look at her with a small nod.

“After everything I went through with Christian, Negan swore he would guarantee that no matter what, I’d be safe. He swore that no matter what, I would never know anything that could land me in jail or in a grave. Trust me, you aren’t the only one scared here with me dating a boss… but I trust him. I trust that he will protect me. I have to.”

“OK.” She agreed with a nod. “Alright, I trust you so if you trust him, so do I. But I know nothing. And I want him to keep Mark out of it as well.”

“You have my word.” You agreed as you laced your arm with hers and headed down the stairs. “Come on, let’s dance.”

——

You knew it was only a matter of time before Christian retaliated but you were absolutely not expecting the retaliation he delivered. You were working out in the gym when your door buzzer buzzed loudly through the entire house. You groaned at having to stop just shy of your two mile run and headed over to let whoever was there you’d be down in a moment. The welcoming smile you stepped out of the elevator with dropped instantly at the sight of two blue police officers uniforms standing on the other side of your red, frosted glass door.

“Boys.” You said a breathily over Chewie’s barking with a nod of your head as you looked back and forth between Jade’s husband, Mark and his captain, Ben.

“(Y/N). Sorry to bother you but… well, we have a warrant.” You cocked your eyebrow at them and stuck your hand out for the warrant as you took a step back into your house.

“What are you looking for? I can save your boys the trouble of tearing apart my house.” Your eyes danced across the page as Mark cleared his throat.

“Two watches. Chief claims you stole them from him. And roughly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” You swore under your breath and rolled your eyes as you folded the paper back up.

“Didn’t steal them.” You said as you closed your front door, picked up your dog, and gestured them toward the elevator. “I purchased them with my money and kept them…”

“OK, (Y/N). Stop talking.” Ben interrupted as you hit the third floor button and closed the gate to the elevator. “Not another word until you’re with your lawyer.” You nodded your head in understanding as the elevator came to a stop on the master suite floor.

“Can I at least jump in the shower first before you haul my ass in? I’ll make it quick.” You grabbed the two watches in question from their boxes in the top drawer of the dresser in Christian’s old closet and handed them to Ben, who nodded slowly.

“You gotta be quick, OK? And I’m gonna stand out here in the sitting room.” You nodded and looked at Mark with the hint of tears in your eyes as you passed him your fur child.

“Can you go down and feed Chewie? His food is in the pantry and the scoop is in the bag. One even scoop.” Your friend nodded and turned back toward the elevator. You growled to yourself and headed into the bathroom with a shake of your head. “Stupid son of a bitch is never gunna give up.”

——

You could feel your husband watching you from the other side of the two way mirror as you waited patiently and silently for your lawyer to get there with the documents you had told him to get from your house. Your still damp hair was making you shiver in the freezing cold room and you cursed yourself for not thinking to grab a sweater to throw on over your plain black t-shirt and jeans. You cursed Christian as well for being so damn ridiculous and petty since the division of property was clearly spelled out in the prenup you were so grateful you had made him sign before you got married.

“So how have you been, (Y/N)?” Ben asked from across the table just to fill the silence with something. You huffed a laugh and nodded your head minutely.

“I’m doing really well, Benny. Probably ten times better than the last time you saw me. How’s Susan doing?”

“She’s doing real well, thanks for asking.” He replied before someone rapped impatiently on the glass behind him.

“Uh oh! Better not talk to the enemy.” You joked with zero humor in your tone as you looked up at the mirror again. You huffed and shook your head as your lawyer, Nathan, finally came into the room with a giant pile of documents in his hands.

“OK.” Nathan said as he dropped the stack of papers on the table and pulled out the metal chair beside you. “So, let’s hear the charges against my client.” You crossed your legs and leaned back in your chair.

“Grand theft…” Ben tried before you simply interrupted him.

“You gunna come in here and get schooled or you wanna hide behind the glass?” You called out. Nathan hissed your name seconds before the door to the interrogation room flung open.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Christian demanded as Ben lurched to his feet. “You fucking thief!” You smiled contently as you reached out and grabbed the stack of papers from in front of Nathan.

“Thief, am I?” You asked as you flipped through them to find the prenup first. “We’ll start with this.” You held up the thick stack of papers and rested your elbow on the table for a moment. When his eyes narrowed, you pursed your bottom lip and nodded as you flipped through to find the page you needed. “Pre-nuptial agreement signed by both of us, right? The one you signed agreeing that we… oh, here we go.” You flipped the page over and slammed the packet down on the table where Christian and Ben could see it.

“We each had a fucking personal bank account where our incomes were coming in with a joint account in the middle we would both move money in to for bills. Your signature is right fucking here, Christian, agreeing that if we got a divorce, we’d split the joint account fifty-fifty. Right?” You cocked your eyebrow at him as you pushed the paper closer before flipping through the rest of the stack to look for the statement for the joint account.

“Well, that’s what I did.” You said as you pulled out the last two bank statements and the amount you pulled out the day you closed your personal account to switch banks. “I split it directly down the middle to the fucking penny. Two hundred, fifty-one thousand, four hundred and sixteen dollars and twenty-three cents. Exactly half of what was in the account despite the fact that I was the only one putting money in for bills in the last four months. So technically, I should have taken more but I didn’t because I’m not a shitty person.” Christian stepped forward and snagged the bank statements off the table as you continued on your rant.

“Now the watches? Those were paid for with my money, out of my fucking account. Not yours. They were anniversary gifts. Was I petty by keeping them? Sure, but I did anyways because fuck you.”

“Fuck me?” Christian snapped back as his eyes darted up with yours.

“Yea, fuck you!” You snapped back as you leapt up from the chair. “Fuck you for beating me and thinking it was acceptable! Fuck you for making me think I was less than what I was worth! Fuck you for everything you put me through! You want the fucking watches so bad you need to have me fucking arrested for it, then fucking take them! I don’t give a shit. But next time you pull a fucking stunt like this, keep in mind. I have been one fucking step ahead of you for seven years. I have kept receipts for every single fucking thing I have bought you since we started dating. Every dinner, every gift, every article of clothing, magazine subscription, and bottle of wine. Everything is documented. Every receipt is filed in the basement like it always has been. Just like the receipts for the two watches I supposedly stole from you.” You snagged the receipts out of the pile and slammed them down on the table and grabbed the prenup again.

“Sign the fucking divorce papers, asshole, because I will fucking take you to court and I will make it very public and messy as fuck. You signed off on this divorce before you even said I do. Sign- the fucking- papers! Can I go now?” You looked over at Ben with your eyebrow raised as you reached out as far as you could and snatched the bank statements from Christian.

“Yea.” He said with a nod as he fought hard to keep the smile off his face. “You can go.”

“The charges against my client are obviously going to be dropped, correct?” Nathan asked as you collected all the papers he had brought you.

“Absolutely.” Ben said with a nod.

“Sign the Goddamn papers.” You said again as you walked around the table and headed out the door. You paused in the archway and looked back over your shoulder at your hopefully soon to be ex-husband. “And if you fucking dare to have me arrested again on some trumped up, bullshit charges, I will sue you and the NYPD for harassment. Try me.”

“You fucking bitch.” Christian shouted as he lunged for you. Ben caught him around the middle and held him back as you simply flicked him off over your shoulder.

“Bye Ben! Send Susan my love!”

“Can you not taunt the chief of police?” Nathan asked as he walked with you through the police station. “At least, not in front of me.”

“He deserves it.” You said with a shake of your head as you stepped outside. Your smile grew as Negan, looking as dapper as ever, looked up from his phone and pushed off his town car.

“Hey trouble.” He chuckled. “Didn’t think I’d be the one picking your ass up from the police station.”

“Stop.” You giggled as he took your paperwork from you. “Misunderstanding. This is my lawyer, Nathan Riggs. Nathan, this is Negan.” The two men shook hands before Nathan gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.

“Sorry to cut this short, but I got court in twenty minutes. Judge Harris will kick my ass if I’m late again.”

“Oh! Tell Ian I say hi.” He nodded and waved bye before grabbing a cab.

“Let’s get you home, my little trouble maker.” You smiled as Negan opened the back door and gestured you in.

“I was completely innocent, here.” You said as you got in and scooted across the backseat to give him room. “And damn, you should have seen that jerk’s face. So priceless.”

“So, what the fuck did you get arrested for, anyways?” You sighed and leaned into his side as his driver pulled away from the curb and headed up town to the Upper East Side.

“Grand theft over three hundred thousand.” You breathed as he put his arm around your shoulders.

“Well fuck me running. Way to go, baby.” You looked up at him with a fake scowl and rolled your eyes.

“Shut up.” He chuckled lowly and kissed the top of your head.

“Anything you say, fellow felon.” You groaned and buried your face in his black suit jacket.

“Oh, my God.”

Part 4

#Negan x Reader #The Unexpected Protector #Negan thirst squad #Negan's thirst squad

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thetalkingrainbow · 6 years ago

Text

Maldives Travel Guide for First Timers

Even before we got married, my then fiancé now husband (Jamal) promised to travel with me to different countries– Maldives on top of the list. True to his word, after two years of our marriage, he took me to my dream destination.

I had various reasons why I wanted to visit this country. For one thing, it’s considered by many as “Paradise on Earth” and it’s undeniably true to me– after swimming in the clear, turquoise waters, walking around a local island with sparkling beaches and palm fringes, running on a white sandbar, and seeing aesthetic coral reefs that are home to plenty of marine species. Second, it’s a 100% Muslim country, and it was an exciting thought to beach bum without seeing too much nakedness. Haha. Indeed, if heaven on earth exists, it is definitely in Maldives!

I used to imagine visiting the tropical paradise as an exceptionally luxurious trip– accessible only if I have millions of pesos on my bank balance. I thought of it as a place I will never have the capacity to visit in this lifetime. I may be right years back, but things have changed now. Maldives is now reachable for budget travelers like me, despite it being a luxury destination. Thanks to the government allowing Maldivians to operate guesthouses, staying in a resort is just an option today.

ABOUT THE COUNTRY Maldives is an Islamic country located in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka and India. It consists of 1,192 gemlike islands grouped in clusters called “atolls” but only 200+ are inhabited. Its capital and most populous city, Malé, is geographically located at the Kaafu Atoll and is a ferry-away from the airport island, Hulhule.

Below are some of the local islands near Malé which are accessible by local ferry:

Maafushi Island

Hulhumale Island

Villingili

Gulhi

Guraidhoo

Fulidhoo

You can choose which island you want to stay in but I recommend Maafushi Island based on experience, and Fulidhoo Island based on positive reviews I have read across the internet.

VISA

Filipinos do not need a pre-arrival Visa to enter Maldives. You will be issued a 30-day free Visa upon arrival provided that your passport is valid and will not expire for the next six months from the entry date.

WHERE TO BOOK FLIGHTS Flights to Maldives normally cost around ₱20,000 to ₱25,000 with a layover either in Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand. There are several low-cost carriers servicing the Manila to Malé route—you can try Scoot Air, AirAsia or Cebu Pacific. In our case, we took the MNL-SG-MLE and vice versa flights via Scoot Air for P14,000 ONLY per pax inclusive of a 15kg check-in baggage. I honestly thought I scored the cheapest with the said amount, but unfortunately, several weeks subsequent to booking, I came across Scoot Air’s promotional flight of just ₱8,000 for MNL-MLE round-trip flights. There are times that AirAsia offers the same promo. Insane, right? You simply have to be always on the lookout for these unusual promo fares. It’s a different story if you have the moolah to splurge though.

For more info on how I usually score cheapest golden flights, read here.

HOW TO GET AROUND You might be wondering just how you should be getting around Maldives. Well, there are few methods of transport you can avail depending on your preference and based on factors such as convenience, budget, and safety.

From the Airport Right after stepping outside the arrival hall, you will see a number of booths and their respective staff scattered around the area. If you are expecting your hotel or resort’s staff to welcome you there, just look for a placard with your name on it.

To Resorts or other Local Islands – If no one shows up for you at the airport (insert sad smiley), you may consider taking a speedboat to your preferred resort or local island. Rate depends but it typically starts at 25 USD ~ 1,315 PHP per pax. You also have the option to take a seaplane that costs a lot more than my two kidneys combined. hahajk

To Malé City – If you’re on a budget plan, walk past the booths and locate the public ferry counter to purchase a ticket to Malé City for only 10 MVR ~ 34 PHP. The ride should only take 15 minutes and you’ll arrive at Hulhumale Ferry Terminal.

Ferry Schedule: FROM MALE CITY TO AIRPORT Every 10 minutes from morning 06:00 AM to 02:30 AM Every 30 minutes from morning 02:30 AM to 04:00 AM Every 15 minutes from morning 04:00 AM to 06:00 AM FROM AIRPORT TO MALE CITY Every 10 minutes from morning 06:00 AM to 02:30 AM Every 30 minutes from morning 02:30 AM to 04:00 AM Every 15 minutes from morning 04:00 AM to 06:00 AM

On Fridays, ferries operate every 10 minutes from the morning at 06:00 AM to 00:00 AM.

Conversely, you can ride a speedboat for your convenience. Within two minutes, you’ll reach the northeast part of Malé City.

Because I booked our hotel in Malé within a day before our arrival and because I did not communicate with them our arrival time, no one showed up for us. Wala kaming placard, jusko napaka-dukha feels. Haha. But they were supposed to greet us at the airport since we paid for that one-way airport transfer. Ang tanga ko lang talagang kausap. hehe

Around the City of Malé Arriving at the ferry terminal, you can take a taxi or a mini pickup truck to bring you either to your hotel (if you intend to stay at Malé) or to Villingili Ferry Terminal (if you want to go directly to a local island of your choice). Also, there are bus lines running a circular route around the small city. The downside is—if your hotel is not within their routes, you still have to walk after getting off on the nearest bus stop.

To our Hotel – We rode a mini pickup truck to reach our hotel. Pahirapan kumuha ng taxi, mga bes kaya nagpaka- Megan Young and Mikael Daez kami ni Jamal. Haha. We were charged 50 MVR by the driver. Minimum fare for taxis is 20 MVR per pax during the day and 25 MVR during the night.

To Maafushi Island From Villingili Ferry Terminal, the ride to Maafushi Island will only take about an hour and a half. Ticket price is only 53 MVR ~ 3.50 USD ~ 190 PHP.

Ferry Schedule:

For an updated schedule, click here.

After spending the night at Malé, we went to Maafushi Island where we planned to stay for 5D4N. From our hotel, a staff hailed a taxi for us (and paid for it because of their utang to us) and instructed the driver of our destination.

Since we arrived at the terminal early, we went to a food court nearby and had milkshake while waiting. Sobrang init, mga bes.

Around Maafushi Island From the terminal, getting to your hotel will be either through your hotel’s private vehicle or rickshaw. Yup, rickshaw. Maafushi is a very small island (1.275km x 0.260km) that you can see the entire island within two hours of walking. Some hotels and guesthouses offer a rental bike service for 5 USD per hour. A bit pricey. You can see the locals using motorcycles as a mode of transportation as well, though I am not sure if they are up for lease.

WHERE TO STAY There are a limited number of budget sleeps in Maldives. Unlike in any other Asian country where you will find a 30 USD per night accommodation for two, in Maldives, budget hotels or guesthouses usually cost no less than 60 USD. If you’re lucky, you may come across huge discounts in Agoda. Make sure to constantly browse the app, you might come across a crazy deal like what happened to us.

Or better yet, sign up on Airbnb using this link to earn ₱1,600 travel credit. Or get a 10% refund on your first transaction at Booking.com when you use this unique link.

For high-end tourists, exclusive resorts are the place to be but allot at least 600 USD per night.

The Melrose Hotel – It’s a 450m-walk from Hulhumale Ferry Terminal. We spent our first night here for just 30 USD. It’s the cheapest we could find on Agoda that serves breakfast. Our booking was inclusive of taxes, environmental fees, a welcome drink, one-way airport transfer, and free breakfast. The staffs were friendly and helpful; the receptionist is Pinay, yaay! Our room was small, enough for a 9-hour stay, but very clean. It has toiletries, coffee and tea sachets, iron, and a flat-screen TV among others.

Seven Corals Guesthouse – This was our home in Maafushi for 5D4N. I loved it! The staffs were friendly and attentive, the room was spacious and snug, food was in a variety, and the ambiance was cozy and relaxing. Not to mention the long list of inclusions on our ₱16,500 deal:

Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner)

Welcome drink

Afternoon tea

Express check-in

Fruit basket

Selected watersports (i.e. Jetski, but the schedule was in conflict with ours)

Free local mobile SIM card

Complimentary snacks

Night Fishing

Sunset Cruise

Dolphin Cruise (No dolphins on our cruise huhu)

Snorkeling Excursion

Sandbank Picnic

Taxes and other fees

We tried looking for another guesthouse/hotel that offers the same but only Seven Corals does. Highly recommended to keep an eye on a deal like this.

Adaaran Prestige Vadoo (optional) – One-night rate starts at ~1,000 USD inclusive of breakfast and taxes/fees. Additional of at least ~200 USD per pax for the roundtrip transfers. It can hurt your pocket but recommended to stay if you have the cash. OR- here’s the catch, you can ask a Maldivian in the local island where you stay to contact any resort you prefer and ask them if you’re allowed to arrange your roundtrip speedboat transfer. The local quoted us 100 USD (2 pax; 2-way transfer) only, 400 USD less than the quoted price on Agoda.

Novina Hotel – another great hotel centrally located in Malé City for ~70 USD only inclusive of a welcome drink, buffet breakfast, and airport transfer. Just like our room in The Melrose, it was small but well maintained. The floor was carpeted and there’s a mini-fridge, too. They served decent food which was great. I love the omelette. Staffs were very welcoming and friendly that they let us stay in the lobby after check-out while waiting for our evening flight.

PLACES TO VISIT IN MALE CITY

Masjid Al-Sultan Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al-Auzam

Fish Market

Republic Square

National Museum

Tsunami Monument

ACTIVITIES TO TRY

MONEY SAVING TIPS

If you have a layover in Singapore for at least 5.5 hours to 24 hours, join the FREE 2.5-hour guided tours of Changi Airport. More info about the tours here.

Visit during the low season (June to November) to score off-season rates on activities, accommodation, and flights. Prices tend to drop insanely plus, there are fewer tourists traveling.

Last minute deals exist, just be smart enough to plan your trip.

Currency exchange shops in Malé City offers better rates than those in the Airport.

Bring USD with you preferably in 100s or 50s. Usual buying rate for 50-100 USD is 15 MVR per USD while for denominations below is around 12 MVR per USD.

Resorts and guesthouses only accept Dollars while local restaurants and street side shops need Rufiyaa.

Local Ferry >>> Speedboat

STAY. ON. A. LOCAL. ISLAND.

If you’re into luxury resorts, choose those closer to Malé or to the island you’re staying at.

Get not just a full board stay, but an all-inclusive package. It’s very reasonable than bringing with you your wallet all the time.

Haggle like a pro. Be it souvenirs or activities, bargain a better price.

Pack chips and biscuits.

Do not forget your swimming essentials. Sunscreen lotions and rashies in the local islands are expensive.

For our ultimate travel hacks mostly on how to save on your next trip abroad, check these tips on our previous blog.

SAMPLE 6D5N ITINERARY

OPTIONAL: Stay on a high-end resort.

EXPENSES

*The amounts do not reflect our actual expenditures.

#maldives #travel #travels #explore #maafushi

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thetravelingaquarian · 6 years ago

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San Jose del Cabo

I’m not here to give a review on every resort we have visited in the past. We have traveled to Mexico seven times in ten years. There’s something for everyone in Mexico. All adult resorts, resorts that cater to the LGBT community and family friendly resorts where children can run freely while the parents relax. It’s been almost three years since our last visit and I promised my daughter I would take her on vacation one of these days. I laugh and tell her that she was with us in Mexico one year, she was just in my belly baking. We always went to an adult only resort but there a plenty of kid friendly resorts that are amazing. Which we will be planning very soon. Mexico is my favorite place to visit that has beautiful warm turquoise water, (the East Coast of Mexico) the amazing people we met and kept friendships with and the memories that will last us forever.

What I LOVE about Mexico, is the All-Inclusive resorts where you don’t have to worry about meals and unlimited drinks. Spa treatments, the romantic candle lit dinner on the beach and being able to relax and not have a care in the world. My one pet peeve is the resorts who harass you about Time Share. Yes, they will be waiting for you when you get off the plane and waiting at the resort. They can be convincing when they are offering you a free dinner, massage or something intriguing that will have you listen for a hour or more about why you should buy a time share. We now kindly say, “no thank you” and enjoy our stay. An All-Adult Inclusive resort can range in prices. We’ve stayed for 5-7 days and have spent $1800-$4000 with air fare included. There are many resorts to choose from for any budget. Be sure not to visit during Spring Break when all the college students are on vacation and check to see when their winter season start. This can put a damper on your trip due to rain. The seven times we visited it rained only one once, which we still enjoyed our day. We traveled in the months of April, May and June and had perfect weather.

My husband is a beach lover and I’m the female Indiana Jones. You can relax or you can go on many adventures from snorkeling, visiting the pyramids, booze cruises, and checking out great restaurants.

The Arch of Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas was our destination we set out to go. Cabo sits on the tip of the Baja California peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. We stayed in San Jose del Cabo. We read reviews of different resorts and I wanted to see real photos of visitors that stayed during their visit. I went to Trip Advisor where travelers share photos of there rooms, the resort and see what they had to say about their visit. We both agreed that we did not want a “family friendly” resort. We were on vacation and didn’t want to see any children while we were away relaxing.

When we booked our vacation during the big “Swine Flu” outbreak and officials made a warning for travelers going out of the country. We figured we could get sick from a person locally and headed on our way. We had a beautiful ocean view room with a jacuzzi that sat on the balcony. It was truly a romantic vacation. Due to the Swine Flu scare the hotel was 50% occupied. We had a great time. There were two pools, outside jacuzzi, three restaurants and the staff was amazing. They kept us entertained with daily activities and catered to all our needs.

Jacuzzi View Suite

Sea Lions relaxing

Adult Only Resort

Lovers Beach

Snake in bottle of Tequila

Suprise Whale Encounter

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas, Sunset Cruise

We took a 30 minute cab ride from our resort to Cabo for our sunset cruise to see Lovers Arch. As we sailed across the Pacific sea we were greeted by of family whales. I never seen a whales so close before and was an amazing site to see. We watched the sun set and headed back to the resort and continued the rest of our vacation. At the end of our trip I was a newly engaged woman and no swine flu.

Now that we visited the West Coast part of Mexico it was time to get a taste of the East Coast. There was a difference of the coasts for me. The Pacific Sea was rough and we weren’t able to swim in the water and I notice the water was colder. The East Coast of Mexico is in the Caribbean Sea making the water warmer that is crystal clear turquoise with soft white sand. We have stayed in Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Rivera Maya, and always take a taxi ride to 5th Avenue Playa del Carmen. We been to Mexico so many times, that we decided to rent a car to get around next time we visit. This is how comfortable we feel traveling when we visit. Playa del Carmen offer a strip of shopping boutiques, restaurants, night clubs and beautiful beach. During our visits we saw a few beautiful beach weddings. Mexico is also a big destination wedding location. This is something we considered, but spent our honeymoon here instead.

During our stay at the resorts we visited there was always a great staff, fun daily activities, night club on premises so you can have a good time and head back to your room. The rooms we have booked always had a king size bed, jacuzzi and some with an ocean view suite. Morning sunrise with coffee was something I didn’t grow tired of. During our stay we always made time to visit their spas for massages and I always booked my favorite seaweed wrap. It felt great waking up and walking on the the beach, soaking up the sun and being served drinks like royalty. The resorts have excursions you can book that leave from the hotel each morning. Tip: we did found out instead of going on the long bus tours you can hire a private driver for the day. You won’t end up on a 12 hour tour ( something my husband remind me all the time) but will have a private time and will be the same cost if not cheaper going with a driver. Speak to the hotel to have this arranged.

Chichen Itza was a spectacular site that is a MUST SEE, the Mayan architecture was incredible. Chichen Itza means, “at the mouth of the well of Itza”. Every time the History channel play an episode I yell to the TV, “I been there!” I felt like, I stepped back into time of the Mayans the structures were standing there untouched as they did in the past. The Mayans were technically advance but were quite brutal in their sacrificial offerings. When we toured here it was hot and not much shade to hide from the sun. I recommend wearing comfortable shoes, sun block, wear a sun hat and bring water. Tip: Buy souvenirs while you are here, they are cheaper. During our tour we were taken to a Cenote a few miles from the ruins. Cenotes were Maya sacred places of life and death, as their source of water and as the gateway to the underworld.

I will continue adding more trips to Mexico in the years to come. There are many places I want to explore and want to take my children along for the adventure. Here is my BUCKET LIST of Things to see in Mexico: Tulum, Cozumel, Merida, Copper Canyon, Sumidero Canyon, Marieta Islands, Palenque, and the Gran Cenote. Book your next vacation you won’t forget.

Why I Can’t Get Enough of Mexico I'm not here to give a review on every resort we have visited in the past. We have traveled to Mexico seven times in ten years.

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driftingthroughabsentmindedly · 6 years ago

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Italians love babies so even if you need to beg your next-door-neighbour, bring one with you to Rome, they’re like a free pass to everything! Listen up, I’m about to give you the ins and outs of how to do the Rome thing, this mainly applies if you have a little one but there are some gems of advice for the baby-less too.

Italians absolutely adore babies. Because of this it was an amazing experience bringing our Little One with us to this incredible city. Travelling with a baby can be quite nerve-wracking for some people, but I think for most things with plenty of research in advance a lot of the stress can be eliminated. D had to go to Rome for work so we hitched along at the end of his trip for a little holiday, it had been a long summer in the UK and we both needed some kind of break!

This blog is being broken up into different segments to make it easier to navigate your way through the piece. The full itinerary is included at the end too as is the walking tour map we used.

Accommodation

We were lucky enough to have his mum join us for the trip. So after a few comparison websites I found the best route was to go with an Airbnb. An entire two-bedroom apartment on the edge of Vatican City was cheaper than two bedrooms in a hotel. With the apartment we not only had the two bedrooms, we had a living room and a kitchen, which turned out to be a godsend. It meant the Little Lady wasn’t confined to one room and could roam about the apartment semi-freely.

We were also right across the road from a gorgeous coffee place which we got breakfast from every morning, it was €1 for a cappuccino!

Planning

I structured a plan for the few days we had but made sure it was flexible. As someone who is possibly a little too keen for organisation it was a lot for me to say this!

We had three full days in Rome, so though we didn’t get to see everything on the list, the Jellybean was the priority and we went by her moods, stopped when we needed to and gave her plenty of chill time in the morning and evenings in the apartment.

We made sure we had ample snacks and water for the Little Lady and brought a packed lunch along so we could let her run around in a shaded spot rather than try and restrain her in a highchair in a restaurant.

Tips

Stay outside of the main tourist hot-spots, though this is a tired piece of advice it’s very poignant. We ate out all but one night because the cost wasn’t horrendous.

They LOVE babies. The Jellybean got the royal treatment in a restaurant we went to on the first night, she attracted attention from all of the staff, they taught her how to blow kisses and she even got her own free dessert. Did I mention she had only just turned one?!

Prams are useless in Rome. If you have a carrier bring that, if not, see if you can borrow one. Remember most of the attractions are OLD buildings and don’t usually have elevators available to the public. We saw a couple having to carry a newborn in a pram up all the steps at Castel Sant’Angelo, I did not envy them.

All of the tourist hot-spots are crazy busy! I’m not talking a few tourists getting in your pictures, I’m talking jam-packed. It was the worst at the Trevi fountain and going through the museums in Vatican City.

Trevi Fountain

Baby Carrier at Trevi Fountain

ALL of the multi-passes available; Omni Pass, Roma pass…etc really aren’t worth it.

We booked nothing. NOT A SINGLE THING in advance.

Don’t fall for the trap of buying a skip the line ticket for Vatican City, listen up I’m about to seriously make this trip a hella lot easier for you.

We got approached at the entrance by many poachers who wanted to sell us a skip the line ticket for extortionate prices of €50+, we ignored them all and almost ignored the actual official man who let us skip the THREE-HOUR-LONG-QUEUE all because we had a baby strapped to our chest. We strolled on in, walked up the stairs and bought our €17 tickets.

THIS PART IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE. The Basilica is FREE to enter, however, after you go through the museums and see the Sistine Chapel, you technically need to queue again to see the Basilica – if you haven’t paid for a group ticket. You are encouraged to follow the ‘Exit’ sign at the left. Now, because my husband is a genius, he also did some research and found out if you follow the groups exit which is at the back right of the room, you can skip the next load of queues and enter the Basilica nice and easy. We felt like some super sneaky ninja spies defying the rules – so badass.

Give yourself enough time for Vatican City, you won’t appreciate it if all you’re concerned about is getting through it. Also the amount of people that will be there will just stress you out because everyone moves very slowly, the ambling pace however was good enough for the little lady to nod off so I wasn’t complaining.

Vatican Museums

Family Pic

Going Through into Sistine Chapel

Gardens at Vatican Museums

Vatican museums

Gardens at the Vatican museums

We struggled to book tickets for the Colosseum online without paying for a guided tour – which really wouldn’t be ideal with a baby. Instead, after buying the Red Sightseeing Tour Bus ticket, we added on the Colosseum Fast Track when we got on the bus. The queues for these places really are hours long, and this was the best deal we could find. We waited a total of fifteen minutes before getting through security and being inside.

Me at Colosseum

Outside Colosseum

Take it easy, give yourself plenty of time and try not to over plan things, your child is going to get tired and depending on how old they are they’re not going to want to stay in a carrier all day. We broke up the day by sitting in parks, letting her walk around and allowing her explore.

Pack PLENTY of water and snacks for yourself and your child. There is nothing worse than a hungry child besides perhaps a cranky Mama to match. This is where the kitchen in the apartment came in handy. We made a packed lunch and brought it with us for the days, which cut down costs as we were in the top tourist attraction places, but it also meant we could eat when hungry and keep everyone happy.

Despite reading otherwise, most of the restaurants we went to for dinner had some kind of highchair, though I did have to hold her in one place, Rome is definitely becoming more with the times when it comes to dining out with children!

The driving in Rome is TERRIFYING, lanes don’t seem to be a thing. We got a standard taxi from the airport and I genuinely couldn’t look at the road. We got an Uber on the way back to the airport and the driver seemed to have a lot more consideration for us as customers so I would definitely recommend them over the standard taxi service.

Itinerary

Day 1

Castel Sant’Angelo

Walk along the River Tiber towards shopping district

Spanish Steps

Gelato Stop

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Walking Along River Tiber

Spanish Steps

Inside the Pantheon

Fountain outside the Pantheon

Day 2

Red Sightseeing Bus

Pyramid

Colosseum

Pyramid

Colosseum

Day 3

Vatican City; Museums and Basilica

Tourist Shop Hopping

The Blog I found very useful and the Walking Tour included.

If you’ve never travelled with your little one before and would like some more generic airport advice then have a look at my previous post, Travelling Alone with an Infant!

Rome: Travelling with a Baby Italians love babies so even if you need to beg your next-door-neighbour, bring one with you to Rome, they’re like a free pass to everything! Italians love babies so even if you need to beg your next-door-neighbour, bring one with you to Rome, they’re like a free pass to everything!

#Airbnb #Basilica #Colloseum #mama blogger #Mama Travelling #Rome #Rome Weekend Itinerary #Rome with a Baby #Skip the Line Rome #Tips on Rome #Tourist Spots Rome #travelling #Vatican City #Weekend in Rome

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jacks-tracks · 3 years ago

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So what does it cost?

More than you think. The days of "Mexico on $10 a day "are long gone. Think $50 a day minimum. My examples are at the low end, since $50 a day is my whole budget. All prices in Canadian dollars.

First of all Airfares have doubled. Return out of Vancouver with Aeromexico, changing planes In Mexico city after an all night flight then flying into Puerto Escondido, cost$1600. There were cheaper options, but less reliable airlines, and sometimes the baggage charges bring the whole price way up.

Staying in Casa Dan is a sweet deal, monthly rate for my single fan room, with kitchen, ensuite, hot water fridge etc. is $700 /month. nicer rooms cost twice as much, but come with AC and views. However Dan's is booked forever.

Meals at the Deluxe cafe ,part of the hotel, run from $7 to $15, good clean food and large portions. Beer, for some the standard by which to measure the economy is as little as $2, less if you buy a 12 pack. You can pay$5 for a cold one in a place like the Santa Fe Hotel (4 star) Mixed drinks are always expensive. Since I don't drink,. booze does not enter into my budget. You can eat out on Tacos cheap $3 for 2) or risk street food for less. There are fancy restaurants, but the food is not exceptional.

I do my own cooking. Breakfast is granola(readily available) with yogurt, and fruit, and a cup of tea. Bring your own tea, the local supply is limited and poor. Costs me $1.

Lunch at home is often quesadillas, heavy on the tomatoes, peppers and oaxaca string cheese. Quick, no dishes. Some days it will be guacamole, more expensive with avocadoes, but muy rico. Tostito corn chips are good dippers. Still only $3 a meal. Dinner at home is pretty predictable, either chicken, fish, eggs,or a big salad. Costing $4 with rice or potatoes , side of sprouts(I make my own) or a leftover salad. Add on condiments, all you can eat fruit, and purified water($3/20 litres). Average $10/day U cook.

Transport. A taxi anywhere in town is $3. A ride in the back of a route taxi pickup truck is 60 cents. One gets you where you are going, the other gets you close and is much more cultural.(Make room for the bags of sliced Nopale cactus, maybe a weedeater or bicycle powered knife sharpener, for sure some Senoras with little shy kids, some times a seat, maybe just stand and hang on. People give up their seats to Mums and old people. Read the sign on the front, they are not all going down the highway, some turn up dusty dirt side roads and crash bang for miles into the hills to little villages. Free tour!

I shopped yesterday at the big chain supermarket, so these are current prices. Inflation is %10 annually. 1 litre cooking oil;$3. 1 litre mayonaise $4. 1 litre packages of orange juice(good!) $1.25, or 1.5 litre mangoe juice $2. Melons $2 kilo: Pineapple $1 kilo, yogurt same 750 ml containers as home/$2. those corn chips for dipping cost $2 for 280 grams, and a large chocolate cake is only $4. From the shop at the mercado fruit and veg are much cheaper and I stagger away with 2/ 10 pound bags for $12. Chicken is clean, fresh and unless you stop them, cut into unrecognizable bits. Costs $2 a pound. Beef and pork is rarely sanitary, hung in the open,not refrigerated, buzzing with flys. The dozy vendors leap to their feet when they see me coming, and industriously fan away a cloud of flies. no sale. there is packaged chicken and meat at the supermarket, more sanitary. Fish is expensive. Whole red snapper is $10 a kilo,while fileted Dorado is up to $20. Best deal for fish is to meet the incoming, boat as they slam up onto the beach around 6:30 am, and are immediatley surrounded by restaurant buyers, and locals. Prices are negotiable, gringoes pay double, but women stand by to scale and filet your choices for very little money. I had a 15 kilo sailfish fileted very nicely and bagged for $6. It's a good way to see what's being caught, with everything from Lobsters(crayfish ) to sharks, and some edibles in between. Saw a cod like fish ,massive , 30 kilos, politically incorrectly called a Jewfish. lots of 2 kilo tuna

fish, some black meat(oily strong flavored), or white meat tasty grilled. Shark fishing is officially banned but i saw lots. They get shipped to Mexico city. Seems there are longliners setting 1000 meter baited hook lines along the bottom or strung from floats, catching everything. Same fishery drove the Caribbean Costa Ricans out of the fishing biz when I was there. Industrial vacuums. Shrimp are all raised in onshore dug out ponds, tearing out the mangroves(there goes the erosion control), and pumping in the chemicals. Yum! Those mangroves are the nursery area for fish, nesting grounds for birds, and stabilize the soil. Gone! Shrimp cost $8 pound head on, frozen.

You can buy a cold coconut to drink for $2, a pop for the same, or rent a shaded beach chair for $3 each. With Christmas, some beach places put a minimum order of $15. OK if you swill a lot of beer, but most beach restaurants serve crappy food, heavy on the grease, and overcooked. Cheaper to find a shaded spot and sit on the sand. A good qualified Doctor charges $20 for an office visit, and there are pharmacys on every corner. Lots of people get dentristry done here, costing half or less than in Canada Likewise good quality , well trained , sanitary.

Speaking English. Well it really helps if you can communicate. And it shows respect. Locals are very tolerant of fractured Spanish.Smiles are the best communicator. I've often broke down and laughed as I try to say things to merchants and I know its garbled, and they laugh kindly. There are language schools, and for a beginner it would help. Once you have a vocabulary and basic verbs, you can get along , I'm doing a free online course called Duo Lingo. Mostly I listen to the locals for accents. Natch they speak 100 miles an hour, but so do we in English.

So, if you cook at home, take local transport, get a cheap place, and don't splurge, you can live very well here for $50 a day. Don't buy real estate. You don't really own it, and resale can be difficult. Lots chopped out of remote peanut fields go for $1000. For a Mexican looking for a family home ,it;s a deal. Prices are climbing fast as the new highway to Oaxaca and on to Mexico city is finally nearing completion. 2 hours to Oaxaca, five to Mexico City. This place is already changing in the 15 years I,ve been coming, and will really throttle up with the weekend crowds from Mexico city.

Still good, pretty safe, friendly, beautiful, great beaches, hot and sunny everyday! Can't put a price on that!

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panda-paco · 7 years ago

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Cancun and Furnal Equinox: The whole adventure!

Seriously do you want to read all my adventures that happened to me the past two weeks? It is a lot, so here is an index of events in case you want to skip something that doesn't seem so interesting for you: CANCUN - The airport - The hotel and the Cancun's bar area - Chichen Itza and Ik Kil - Beach and Kayaking Day - Viernes Furry Podcast ROADTRIP IN MEXICO - Trip to Chetumal - Trip to Coatzacoalcos - Trip to Mexico City - Mexico City FURNAL EQUINOX - Snowy day in Toronto - Artists Alley - Fursuit Games, Fursuit Festival and Toronto walking - Cutthroat Artist - The end of the adventure.

CANCUN

The airport

All this trip was a plan that came up very unexpectedly, a few weeks before I didn't know that I would go on a trip to Cancun, and even less than it would be with Fox Amoore, Majira, Kurtt, Dixie and Ed Puma. That unexpected is life with me, obviously I can't complain, it has been great. I LOVE IT!

Fortunately the flight went very cheap, I didn't pay more than 1,000 pesos (less than 50 dollars), a direct flight from Guadalajara to Cancun. And it was also fortunate that I arrived at almost the same time as the guys who came from the United States, but at another terminal. I arrived in terminal 1, they in terminal 3, and there was no way to go from one terminal to another, maybe they think "Who wants to travel from terminal to terminal in this airport if people only come for vacations?" so with baggage and backpacks, I had to walk to Terminal 3 to wait for them.

I must say that I was very nervous, not long ago I had started talking to Majira, and had spoken ver few with Fox Amoore, I didn't know Dixie, and suddenly knowing that I was going to spend a whole vacation with all of them, I felt I was not going to have much to contribute and I could feel intimidated since they know each other much more than I knew them. They are already like a family, I am just someone else, who is known in the fandom for drawing cute and such, but in reality I don't feel that I'm someone as interesting as them, I almost don't speak, I am very nervous and quite shy.

When waiting for them for a long time at the exit of terminal 3, there was a lot of confusion, because they thought that they were already outside the terminal and that I should go to where they were, that it was a place full of restaurants and bars, but I didn't have access to that area, it was still a place inside the airport arrivals. While I was waiting for them, a taxi driver, astutely, made an ephemeral friendship with me so that he could take me to the hotel as soon as my friends arrived; At the end it was good because it really gave me a price much cheaper than the one originally charged to me by other taxis. He told me that it was not as hot those days as it had before, he mentioned that when he saw me that I was sweating a lot, but believe me it was more from nerves than from the heat. In the end they knew where I was, and they were already escorting by another taxi driver who was willing to charge them much more than even the normal fare. What a pity that in Cancun there is no Uber, because all taxi drivers were charging us dearly. However, we went with that guy who had already talked to me several minutes before. I made them save 180 pesos, which for Mexicans is a lot, I don't know if 9 dollars for them is a lot of difference but for us it's like several days of food XD hehe. While we were on our way to the hotel, I still felt very nervous, as someone very inferior to them, I was more intimidated than they spoke in English, something that I didn't have a hard time getting used to, my English is not perfect but we can have a very good comunication. What I liked is that they quickly made me feel integrated into the group, with hugs, selfies, and very casual conversations. I realized at that moment that nothing would go wrong.

The hotel and the Cancun's bar area.

When we arrived at the hotel we met Ed Puma, who had already checked in the room several hours before. We went out to walk on the streets. It was evening and we went to the bar area.

This was the fourth time I went to Cancun, I love to go even though it is one of the most expensive places in Mexico, the beach is so beautiful that you never get tired of being there. However many foreigners see Cancun as the place for spring breakers and crazy parties without ceasing; for me that was not Cancun, for me Cancun was a place of relaxation and swimming on a very clean and beautiful beach. So I had never even stepped on that area of bars, which each was more bizarre and stunning than the other. It is a place like anything but Mexico:

All speaking in English, with prices in dollars, they charged tickets for entering any of those bars, the only ones that seemed to be in that area were American people.

I must say in advance that it was the only bad experience I had during the whole adventure, the only one I didn't enjoy even a little, what a pity it was of the first things that happened, because it made me think that it would not be a good start. But all the rest of the adventures on this journal were positive, this is the only one that I'll tell which was negative: We go to a bar, I must give the name of the place, to recommend avoiding it if possible: "Señor Frogs". Where I paid the most expensive beer I've paid in Mexico. I have paid more expensive beers in other countries, and I haven't complained, but in Mexico, not even in a concert I have been able to pay that amount, they definitely take advantage of the fact that foreigners don't get so stratospheric prices, so these places are thought only for them. And something that made me confirm that fact was a terrible experience I had with one of the local waitresses: She put in front of me a bottle of ... I do not know what it was, I completely ignore the drink, and she just yelled to me "SHOT", I really didn't know what she meant by that, if it was like a challenge from part of the place , or what was going on. I told her in Spanish, asking questions about that act, that if she was inviting me to challange that I could have a shot of that drink (even didn't know if it has to be directly to the bottle or if she had one of those little glasses) or if there was a price for that challenge to which she wanted to instruct me. Yes, if I had it, it costed me, and it was not cheap, and even though she understood perfectly what I asked her in spanish, she continued speaking to me in English, she asked me where I was from, when I told her my home town, she saw me with the worst possible face , almost like disgusting, and she said "What the heck are you doing in this place?" In short, I was being discriminated in my own country for being in a place that ideally is only for people who are not Mexican. That's horrible! Actually I didn't mention anything to our guests about this fact because I didn't want to leave them with a bad first impression of my country. I preferred that they didn't know that happened; if any of them for some reason is reading this long journal: yes, it happened, an apology for not telling you, I think the right thing would have been to leave that place immediately. I appreciate that nobody left tips, haha. On the way back to the hotel, while they wanted to take pictures with each of the funny sculptures that were on the street, a man offered to take the picture for us, he was a tour salesman, and of course he took advantage to offer some tour prices to us. It was where they learned that we had to ignore those people and just go indifferent, saying no. Well, they didn't do it with this man, they listened to him, and he wanted to sell us some tours, very similar to the same plan we were already willing to do on our own, but he wanted to sell that for only 99 dollars, Dixie thought for a moment that in reality It was a good offer for only 6 people to pay that. Oh, but no, the offer was BY PERSON! Dixie couldn't help but laughing in front of her face and leaving at that moment. Since we were back to the hotel, Kurtt arrived. We went out to buy food at Oxxo, a very popular self-service store in Mexico, very similar to a 7 eleven. Majira bought a gallon of purified water, which lasted him absolutely the rest of the trip to Mexico City.

Chichen Itza and Ik Kil

The next morning we left in a van that we rented to Yucatan. We stopped for breakfast at a cochinita pibil taqueria, which were quite delicious and very cheap.

Upon arriving at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza, I could see how amazed they were to see the main pyramid: the castle of Kukulcán, which is the first to be seen when arriving at the place. There we took several pictures and then we walked to the big ball game, a few moments later it started to rain.

We continue walking until we reach the sacred cenote, where we had to see a very beautiful iguana.

We missed a lot of the site, because unfortunately we arrived a little late, and they also wanted us to spend the same day at the Ik Kil cenote. Those who don't know what a cenote is, are natural formations from underground rivers, which regularly flow into caves. And in some you can swim. I recommend looking in Google images: "Cenote" to give an idea of how they look, they are beautiful. The sacred cenote of Chichen Itza is not apt for one to swim, however the one of Ik Kil does. And that's what we went to! The use of life vests was completely optional, and the only one that rented one was Majira. Warned that swimming in a cenote was a freezing experience (its waters are very cold), they agreed that we should dive in from a very high platform of around 8 meters. The cenote had a depth of 50 meters, so one definitely has to know how to swim to decide to get into one. We dived several times in the water, and the last time, which incidentally was recorded, my arms lashed with water, and they hurted me all that day. It was a very fun day, tho. I think it was of my favorite parts of the trip. Back in Cancun, we had the bad luck that two policemen at different points stopped us, one of them sadly asked for a bribe. Bad! That evening I asked Majira to record an advance video for the podcast "Viernes Furry", and then after that we had pizza. Kurtt, Dixie, Majira and I went to the beach at night, only to wet our feet while we talked. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable night.

Beach and Kayaking Day

In the morning we had breakfast in Vips, they did a few purchases in souvenir shops (Fox bought some cuban cigars, which really came out very cheap, I feel that they gave him an incorrect price, because they were too cheap; when I asked the price, the lady doubted the amount she had to say), and the rest of the day was more of being on the beach.

We rented some Kayaks, I had never rowed before. My Kayak companion was Majira, it was fun to see how anything frightened him: the waves, other ships around, the water...

It was very tired but fun, ended up hurting my arms and legs.

That day we were in the hotel pool, swimming on the beach, suddenly it started to rain very hard. We ate very "mexican" in a Jhonny Rockets

Viernes Furry

As many of you know, I am one of the 3 hosts of a weekly furry themed podcast called "Viernes Furry" (a correct translation would be Furry Friday), broadcast only in Spanish. Sometimes we have guests in the shows, which had always been people who spoke Spanish (or Portuguese, once), but this time there was an exception, it was the first time we had an English speaker: Majira Strawberry.

That at the beginning of the broadcast was also Fox Amoore, but he went to sleep early and only left us Majira and me in the microphone that we transmitted from Cancun, although much of the program was also Kurtt with us. And of course with Koidel from Guadalajara and Apolo from Mexico city.

It was a particular difficult show, because at the beginning I didn't feel that Majira felt completely comfortable, although he had gladly accepted to participate in the show (thanks, Majira, I appreciate it a lot), the good thing is that the longer the time passed, the better he would let himself talk more (I still think that he was very tired that lasted 2 hours, we are already used to being in a microphone for 2 hours in a row talking). But the most difficult thing was to have been translating everything we said both in English (so Majira understood) and in Spanish (so that our audience could understand what Majira was saying and what we were saying to Majira). I think it could have been better, but we are not professionals in translations in real time. If you want to see the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBNli7hxtA4

ROADTRIP IN MEXICO

Trip to Chetumal

We had a great plan, the idea was to go very early from Cancun to Bacalar (from the north of the state of Quintana Roo to the south) and stay the night in Chetumal to continue our journey the next day.

But we never have the great delay we would have with the car rental, because the car we used the previous two days we had to return and rent a new one that we could take to Mexico City and deliver it there, but the time they made us wait for was until 3 o'clock in the afternoon in Cancun. While we waited, I was advancing work from the ipad, and Majira was taking videos.

Already on the way to Chetumal, we stopped to eat in Playa del Carmen, a very express stop where we tried to decide a plan B to stay better there and leave aside the Chetumal plan, because we would not have time to get to Bacalar . The plan B couldn't be made because the Chetumal hotel couldn't be canceled, as the hotel in Playa del Carmen couldn't be reserved. So we went to Chetumal, where I helped in driving, just to spend the night.

It was not bad, because the Chetumal hotel was very nice, it had a pool on the terrace and a bar. I liked that evening a lot, the 6 we played the tag game in the pool, running around like children all over the pool. And then Kurtt, Ed, Majira and I sat at the bar, both to talk with the waiter (who had some flirtations, because he had beautiful eyes and a cute smile) and of course talking among us. According to Majira, that was his favorite dinner in Mexico. It's funny that it's the second time I have a friend from another country in Mexico, I take them to eat all kinds of Mexican food, and in the end they say that their favorite food was nachos, which is not even so Mexican altogether.

Trip to Coatzacoalcos

Much of the next day was driving, and not even for a very fun road. It is nice to know that we are on a road in the middle of the jungle, but the landscape is very repetitive, and it is a very long straight where you don't go through any interesting place, and where there are no gas stations or any place to eat. It was me who drove all that way, from Chetumal, Quintana Roo to Escarcega, Campeche, which was where we stopped to eat at a Burger King. Yeah, Burger King, hehe, there were not many options in that small town either.

During the trip there were many check points, because we were very close to the borders with Guatemala and Belize, and there were many military checking the cars, something funny is that there were always street vendors who took advantage of the small traffic of the check points to sell anything: fruits, giant tortillas, cell phone chargers, windshield wipers, etc. And everyone chased us with their products in hand. Majira took pictures of them, some of them were gold pics.

From there we stopped to Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, where the Ed Puma's family hosted with an incredible kindness, which was much appreciated. That evening we had dinner in La Parroquia, and we walked by the pier of Coatzacoalcos, funny thing is pier in spanish is "Malecón", I laughed a lot when they said that was the Male-Con, the convention of male. In the Malecon there were many people, because there were some clowns doing a show, one of those clowns offered us to take a picture in a pyramid that was by the sea, and then we all took a picture with that clown. We were watching the waves on the seashore in the dark, and we also saw the cargo ships in the distance. As Coatzacoalcos is a port, mainly oil ships. I wet my feet with shoes on, and then I chased Majira threatening that I was going to get him wet too. It was a fun evening. At Ed's parents' house, we watched the Over the Hedge movie and then we slept.

Trip to Mexico City

We left early from Coatzacoalcos, not before having breakfast at the house of Ed's parents, who very kindly cooked for us.

We made a very express stop in Orizaba to eat, what a pity that we didn't stop there longer, because in January 2017 I went to Orizaba with Roni and it's a really beautiful place.

Before entering the state of Puebla, we passed through the summits of Maltrata, curves on the road that were very scary, and that there was also foggy. However Kurtt was driving at a speed as if the fog didn't exist, so we were very afraid, but at the same time a lot of laughter.

In Puebla it was my turn to drive to Mexico City, but there was an accident on the Puebla highway (don't worry, didn't affect us directly) that made us stay stucked in a traffic jam for more than an hour. But at last we reached Mexico City, and with it our hotel, in the Zona Rosa.

Mexico City

We had many plans in Mexico City in mind to take them, since it's the city that both Kurtt and I know as the back of our hand, we had many places in mind. But the traffic in Puebla, and other extra traffic in the summits of Maltrata made us arrive later than expected to the city, so we couldn't do much.

That night we made a spontaneous furmeet with some furries from the city, Apolo (great friend and fellow host of the podcast Viernes Friday), Alf (whom I had the pleasure to meet for the first time, after chatting with him on the internet for some months) arrived behind, Metalpuppy (whom we would later see in Toronto, for Furnal Equinox), and several others, whom some of them I completely didn't know them.

We went to dinner at "Casa de Toño", a place of pozole and verious Mexican food, quite delicious and excessively cheap. We were about 15 people at a large shared table, and when the bill came, Fox Amoore was very impressed how cheap it was (and we all really ate a lot) who offered to invite us all. (Thank you very much, Fox!)

We went for a walk along Reforma Avenue, one of the main avenues in Mexico, until we reached the Angel of Independence, a symbol of the city. And after we returned to the Zona Rosa, we stopped at a 7 eleven, where we bought many candies that only exist in Mexico. We went back to the hotel, and after an argument with the hotel managers to let everyone into the room, only to record a video, they allowed us to do it. We recorded a video for the Majira's channel, where we tried Mexican candies, both typical sweets and commercial candies that are only sold on this side. It was very funny, but also very tired, because we were arriving from a very long roadtrip, it was already late night, and we had to wake up early the next day, as Majira, Fox and Dixie had their flight at 1 pm. So immediately all the guests left, we fell asleep. The next day we still went to the Mexico City downtown, where we saw the facade of the palace of fine arts, we entered the postal palace, and we walked down the street of Madero to reach the zocalo. Everything was very fast, because in a few hours their flight departed. We said goodbye to Fox, Majira, Dixie and Ed Puma at the airport, I went to my sister's house to leave my bags, only to have a place to leave them, because in a few hours I was also departing to Toronto. While I was waiting, I went to a mall to see the Winchester movie. A horror movie which I liked and didn't like at the same time, because the story went well until it turned out that the ghosts had super powers, and that they used all the time the screamers resource to make the audience jump from their seats, instead actual situations that really provoke terror.

FURNAL EQUINOX Snowy day in Toronto

I departed from Mexico City to Toronto from very early in the morning, however I arrived in Toronto as it was getting dark, since the stopover in Dallas lasted longer than it should, the flight was delayed.

In Toronto, it was Dumpling who picked me up to the airport. Dumpling is a great person, a great friend, someone completely adorable and who has done a lot for me, I love him very much.

That night I stayed with him at his house.

The next day he took me to a frozen lake. It was the first time I walked on a lake made completely ice. At first I was very afraid that in some false step it would break, but apparently the ice sheet was thick enough. We saw traces that looked like from a canine, probably from a coyote. And that's where I made a snowman for the first time, which was more like a snow bear. I had a lot of Fun.

After those great little adventures with my mouse friend, we went to the Furnal Equinox hotel, in Toronto downtown.

My roomies this year were Buckley, Gauge and Stage Lion. Great friends, great people, I loved sharing the room with them 3.

Artists Alley

I won't much of my first moments in Furnal Equinox because it did not really happen much, I was tired and I slept early. And the next day I woke up to setting up the artists alley table.

It's funny that in all the times I've put artists alley table, the only time I had not been so successful was in Furnal Equinox last year, because the place of artists alley had been very hidden.

I thought that this time would be repeated that bad luck, because although now we were accommodated in a more visible place than last year, 30 minutes passed after they had opened the doors and no one went through the artists alley. It was not until I posted a post on Twitter and Telegram indicating exactly where artists were, that people started to arrive and, as usual, my commission slots were filled immediately. But it was strange to be more than 30 minutes at the table without doing anything or receiving anyone. Actually, I did something, I made two very quick birthday drawings for Bacon Coyote and Yipee Coyote, who were celebrating their birthday that day and a day later respectively.

Majira came to my table (for the first time in life he stopped in my table!!), and he bought me some merch, paying me in Mexican pesos. Hehe, of course they were welcome, because I need them back home.

Finishing the artists alley, I went to eat something and then to the concert of Fox Amoore, who supposedly would be with Pepper Coyote, but Pepper was not in that concert. Instead of him were the members of the Xephyr band, and personally I didn't like how they sounded with Foxes and Peppers, they are great playing their own songs, very rock/alternative, but Pepper was very missed at that show, fortunately in the AD show, Pepper was there and it was very funny as always.

Fursuit Games, Fursuit Festival and Toronto walking

For the second year in a row, I participated in the Furnal Equinox fursuit games. And for the first time my streak of first places in fursuit games was stained, and not with a decent second place, but in a last place. X_X

But still I must say that it has been the fursuit games that I have enjoyed most of all the times I have participated, the contests were fun, the mood of the audience was very special this time, and I really had a very pleasant time.

Almost immediately afterwards the Fursuit Festival started, something that replaced the fursuit parade, as almost all the conventions are already doing. Personally I like these festivals more than the fursuit parades, they give rise to the fursuiters play more with people, and that not only we pass marching and having very little opportunity to interact with the cameras and with people.

Among the photoshoots, there was one of bears, and curiously we were only 3 bears that we wanted to be in that photoshoot: a grizzly, a polar, and me. So we wanted to take a photo making a pile, to make the reference of the We bare bears show, however the photographer didn't understand that reference and insisted on accommodating that pile that we wanted so much according to our size, and not to the position of: polar, panda and grizzly as it should have been. And when we insisted on accommodating ourselves in that order, the photographer ignored us and didn't take any pictures of us doing the correct pile.

After the fursuit festival, it was organized an alternative walking to the Roundhouse park, where we took many photographs on the railways and trains.

As you can read, I had already been in fursuit for several hours, around 8, so I was already running out, after returning to the hotel and taking off the fursuit, I went to lunch, I was starving.

However, I went back to put on the fursuit to dance, that evening of dancing was very fun, dancing until I got tired, and then watching the show After Dark by Pepper and Fox.

Cutthroat Artist

The next morning, the long-awaited artist Cutthroat was there. And although I had almost no hope of winning, I went with the plan to have fun, not so much to be competitive.

In this edition we participated Anyare, Cat-Monk Shiro, Underbite dragon and me. Three Canadians and one Mexican.

What is the Cutthroat artist about?

They are 4 rounds, each round lasts 10 minutes and in each there is a challenge. The interesting thing is that during each round, there are 1 or 2 sabotages that are up for auctions. Each artist starts with a certain amount of money (fake money, only for the contest) and this money can be used to buy and buy the sabotage for one or more of the competitors.

In the first round, we had to make a badge for a fursuit in the audience, called Barkley, a blue and yellow dog. While we were doing it, the first one to buy a sabotage was me, and I maliciously applied it to CatMonk Shiro. The sabotage was about not to take off the pencil of the paper during the rest of the round.

So he bought the second sabotage to apply to me as revenge, I had to draw holding the pencil with the two closed fists of my hand, it was very difficult.

At the end of each round, a judge eliminates a competitor. The one that had the least beautiful drawing. The first one that was eliminated was Catmonk, who because of me couldn't make a nice drawing in time. U///U Sorry!!

In the second round we had to draw someone's random character in the audience, and represent it with the theme of the convention: livin 'large (BTW were the only drawings we couldn't take them pictures, the owner immediately take them with them and left the place). In that round I didn't worry about the sabotages, between Anyare and Underbite the punishments were thrown, ignoring me completely. Anyare had to draw for the rest of the round with a silver sharpie, and Underbite with his left hand.

The challenge of Underbite was really difficult, it is very complicated to do something decent with the hand that we are not used to draw, however his drawing was very decent, and even so he was the participant that was eliminated. So the final was between Anyare and me.

For the last challenge, we took two random fursonas from the audience, a black dragon and a tiger, and we had to combine them to make a hybrid.

Very difficult, because Anyare is a great artist. In this last round there was only one sabotage, which was very abusive, was to stop drawing and to play blackjack against Huscoon, and beat him 3 times to be able to continue. I bought that sabotage, taking advantage of the fact that I still had a high amount of false money with me. She took 4 minutes to beat Huscoon, so she lost a lot of time. Even so, her drawing was incredible, I was more than sure that she was going to be the winner.

However, I was chosen as the winner, to my surprise. Being that at the beginning I didn't even want to participate, but Bcbreakaway had already insisted on me for two previous cutthroat artists, and I didn't want to tell him no. Also, I was sure it would be fun, and it was, I really wouldn't have minded in the least losing even from the first round, I went to have fun.

Another thing is that I thought the cash prize of up to $ 25 was a joke, but it was not, in the end I won 15 Canadian dollars in cash, haha.

Thank you, Bc, for inviting me, it was really hilarious!!! Sorry for saying no previous times.

The end of the adventure

There was not much else to do the rest of the convention, I saw the end of the fursuit dance competition, someone who I didn't even see his performance because he was one of the first and I got to see the last 6 participants. I saw the closing ceremonies. I was not much in the dead dog party because the truth is that this year was a very boring party, literally dead. I was in the lobby chatting with friends, I packed my stuff and I was in the room talking with my roomies.My return flight didn't leave until the next day at dawn, so I spent an extra day in Toronto, went shopping in art stores, and bought some plushies in a mall.

Then Dumpling invited me to go out for dinner with the Asian group, it was very fun, I met new people, including Arco Shep, who I liked very much.

My flight ended up getting late until 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning, so Dumpling did me the great favor of hosting me one more night in his house, which I thank you infinitely for all the kindness.And all day Tuesday was of flights and buses, until arriving home, very tired and very sleepy, but full of experiences that became unforgettable.

I really feel very grateful to the furry fandom for giving me so many things, so many friends, so many good times, and for letting me be myself.

Thanks to you for reading this until the end, sure were very few who read absolutely everything, I don't blame them, I think I wrote this more for me, and for those who wanted to take a time to know how it was in the latter Two weeks I was a little absent from uploading artistic content to my networks.

This panda loves you!!!

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identybeautynet · 3 years ago

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best 10 Tips for Women Traveling on a Trip

10 Tips for Women Traveling on a Trip Top 10 Travel Safety Tips for Women Is it possible for a woman to travel the world and stay safe? Absolutely. Even if you steer clear of resorts. Even if you go to developing countries. Even if you don’t speak the local language. Even if you’re traveling alone. I’ve got travel safety tips to help you travel anywhere. I created this site so I could help women travel safely and independently around the world. And after a decade (!) as a full-time travel blogger, it’s working — I get daily emails from women who have gone on their first backpacking trips, their first non-resort trips, their first solo trips, all because sites like mine gave them the confidence to do so. They survived, they thrived, and they had the time of their lives. But the women who took these trips did so well in part because they prioritized their safety while traveling. What does that mean? Well, this list of travel safety tips for women will give you an idea! This post was last updated in January 2020. Table of Contents Travel Safety Tips The biggest part of traveling safely is using common sense. None of these travel safety tips are going to be revolutionary, but you can use them everywhere around the world. Many of my own travel mistakes have been because I didn’t follow these simple tips. Adventurous Kate's Top 10 Travel Safety Tips for Women Play Video I got pickpocketed in Buenos Aires (on my first day of solo travel EVER!) because I was using a large, open purse that didn’t close. I had the worst train ride of my life in Bulgaria because I hadn’t done my research beforehand. All the guides said to take buses along that route, that they were faster and a million times nicer. BUT sometimes you’re in a better position to travel safely if you follow these tips: I survived having my wallet stolen in Sri Lanka because I had a backup ATM card in my main luggage that I used to get by financially before getting home. I’ve never had my passport stolen while traveling because I always keep it locked up. And sometimes it’s the opposite — it happens in spite of you taking precautions. I was shipwrecked in Indonesia after booking an overnight cruise that Lonely Planet called “one of the safer options.” (Later, they referred to a “well-documented March 2011 sinking.” That was me! I documented!) Research Your Destination Thoroughly Before Your Trip For many travelers, planning and researching is almost as fun as actually traveling! In between scoping out the most beautiful beaches and coolest cities, take some time to look up safety information for where you are headed. What are the best neighborhoods and the ones you should avoid? Are there only certain kinds of taxis you should take? Is there a medical center in the city, just in case? When it comes to your lodging, how are its ratings for safety? What are former guests saying about their experiences? Are there any patterns emerging in the reviews you should be concerned about? How are you going to get around? What is public transportation like in your destination? Do you need to rent a car? Is it possible to travel safely at night? Visit a travel clinic beforehand and talk to a doctor or nurse where you’re going. Do you need any vaccinations or prescriptions? Are there local health issues for which you should prepare? When it comes to activities, especially adventure sports, what are the risks? If you injure yourself, will you be covered by your travel insurance? I know a lot of people — I estimate upwards of 95% of them are male — who like to rock up to a destination with no preparation at all, just learning as they go. I disagree with this enormously. This is a good way to endanger yourself. You need to do your research in advance, well before your trip begins. Keep Your Valuables On You While in Transit But you shouldn’t bring valuables in the first place! True. You shouldn’t bring anything you would be despondent to lose: family heirlooms, expensive jewelry, your birth certificate, and the like. Today people travel safely with an amount of technology that was unfathomable a decade ago. Most travelers bring a smartphone at the very least; many bring laptops, tablets, Kindles or other e-readers, DSLR cameras with pricey lenses, and more. When you consider the costs to replace any one of those items, they definitely count as valuables. You should have a day bag into which you can fit all of your important items: your passport, your camera, your medication, your jewelry, your credit cards, your smartphone, and any other technology, photography or otherwise valuable equipment. Spend good money on this — this is one of my top travel safety tips. Never put these items into your general backpack. Never put these items into the luggage hold on a bus. Never put any of those items into your checked luggage on a plane. If you let them out of your sight, there’s a fair chance that they could be taken away from you forever. Only Take What You Need and Leave the Rest Locked Up There’s no need to go out for a walk in the city with all of your credit cards, your passport, and the equivalent of $500 in cash. Take what you need for the day: maybe around $50, tops, and a backup debit card (don’t have one? Get one with Transferwise), and keep the rest locked up in your accommodation. Almost every reputable hostel has lockers available for guests. Use them if they have them. In guesthouses, hotel rooms, or other places that don’t have a locker or safe for you, use a portable safe instead: a slashproof bag you fill with your valuables and lock to a pipe or something else sturdy in the room. Here’s a full review on the one I use and love. It’s an essential item to travel safely. While it doesn’t eliminate the risk 100% (if a professional criminal is determined to rob you, he will rob you), most criminals are opportunistic. If you remove the opportunity, they’ll go after someone else who left his or her valuables out in the open, much more easily accessible to them. Don’t Trust People Too Quickly When you’re traveling in a new destination, and especially when you’re traveling on your own, it can be tempting to join up and find a tribe. Sometimes these tribes turn into lifelong friendships. But they don’t always. Some con artists have mastered the art of befriending travelers, getting them to leave their valuables unattended, and robbing them before taking off. When it comes to romance, you might want to crank up the speed when you meet someone outrageously sexy, but that’s not always the best idea. Sex is prevalent on the road, but be sure to protect yourself as much as possible. Sometimes, we want to be part of a group so badly that we start trusting people before we should. Instead, err on the side of caution. If you’re just getting to know someone, don’t trust him or her to guard your expensive electronics while you’re in the bathroom. It’s not rude to be cautious. Take things slowly, and if someone earns your trust, that’s when you depend on them. Watch Your Drinking This is a travel safety tip that doesn’t get said often enough. It’s applicable whether you’re at home or on the road. When you drink alcohol, you dull your senses and slow your reaction time, which in turn makes you vulnerable to others. That doesn’t mean that you should avoid drinking altogether. Instead, drink slowly. Pace yourself. Eat beforehand or during. Have a glass of water in between each drink (your body will thank you in the morning). Be cognizant of what you are actually drinking, and always take drinks directly from the bartender. Constantly ask yourself, “Do I want to be less in control than I am right now?” and stop if the answer is no. Most importantly, resist the pressure, gentle or otherwise, to keep up with others who might be able to drink more than you, especially in countries where it’s common to “shout” drinks for a group, like Britain and Ireland. If people are taking turns buying rounds for the whole table, say up front that you don’t plan on drinking as much as everyone else and they’ll understand. Don’t think you need to go drink for drink with your companions, especially if they happen to be beefy rugby players from New Zealand. Or beefy frat boys from Oklahoma. Or Russians. Blend in as Much as You Can Want to have the attention of every pickpocket in Paris? Show up in shorts and a t-shirt. For extra credit, wear Birkenstocks. Or a sweatshirt with a university on it. As normal as shorts and a t-shirt would be in North America, you would never see that style in most of Europe. Shorts are rare and Europeans in general dress much more neatly than North Americans, especially in France and Italy. The more you stand out, the more you brand yourself as someone who is unfamiliar with the location, which makes you more vulnerable to criminal attention. Instead, research your destination in advance, observe how people dress, and try to pass as a local – or, if that’s impossible (like if you’re in Thailand or Mexico and look neither Thai nor Mexican), try to pass as a longtime resident. That means eschewing the backpacker trail uniform of drop-crotch hippie pants and souvenir beer t-shirts in favor of casual but neat and tidy clothing. That means covering your arms, legs, and cleavage in Muslim countries, wearing loose clothing in India, and wearing long pants in Europe and Latin America. In tandem with blending in, it’s important to maintain confidence at all times, and even if you’re not confident, at least maintain the appearance of confidence. When you’re walking down the street, hold your head up and your shoulders back. Look straight ahead and walk with a purpose. Pretend that you have somewhere important to be, and if you fall prey to street harassment, ignore it and keep moving. If you become lost and you need to find your way, slip into a shop or café to consult your map privately before continuing on. Spend Extra Money on Staying Safe If you’re traveling long-term on a shoestring budget, it can be hard to justify spending extra cash when it could go toward so many more fun activities. But it’s a smart idea to financially invest in your own safety. What does that mean? It means that if your flight is scheduled to land in a rough city late at night, you should spend more money on a hotel that will pick you up right from the airport instead of taking a bus into town and trying to navigate your way there on foot. It means you should pay extra money to take a taxi home at night if you don’t feel comfortable walking through the neighborhood on your own. It means paying more to stay in a central neighborhood with lots of lively activity instead of a cheaper, quiet residential area where you feel isolated. It means you should choose the dive school with the stellar safety reputation and hundreds of positive TripAdvisor reviews instead of the rough-around-the-edges dive school that will do it for much cheaper. Build an extra financial cushion into your trip and use it for situations like these: ones where you could travel safely if you spent a little more. Prepare for the Worst with Documents and Secret Cash In the event that the worst happens – your purse is stolen, your credit cards are suddenly maxed out, you get sick and need to go to the hospital – it’s good to have a backup plan. For documents, keep front-and-back copies of your credit cards saved to cloud storage like Google Docs or Dropbox, as well as a copy of your passport. It’s a good idea to keep your bank and credit card phone numbers stored in a document as well. In addition to the documents, keep a backup cash stash. Keep at least $50 in US dollars hidden in a secret spot deep inside your luggage, like inside a tampon applicator or hidden in a sock. In a separate spot, keep a backup credit card. If your purse or day bag is stolen off your body and literally everything is taken away from you, this will provide you with a temporary financial cushion. If you’re traveling somewhere with less-than-ideal ATM and internet access, you’ll want to be even more prepared. One of my top travel safety tips for Americans traveling to Cuba is to keep an extra stash of secret money, enough for transportation to Havana Airport and a flight to Cancun, hidden in your underwear at all times. It may sound a bit extreme, but in a country where you can’t use credit cards or ATMs, you need to be even more prepared than usual in order to travel safely. Get Travel Insurance Do you really need travel insurance? Absolutely. It could save your life, and in this day and age, with so many online providers, there’s no reason not to get it. Whether your luggage is lost, you end up in a political coup or natural disaster, or you need to go to the hospital while on the road, travel insurance will reimburse your expenses. If you’re robbed, travel insurance will provide you with the security you need. If the very worst happens and you end up losing your life, good travel insurance will allow your family to bring your body home without paying tens of thousands of dollars and getting wrapped up in mountains of red tape. In short, if you can’t afford travel insurance, you shouldn’t be traveling in the first place. Be sure to examine prospective travel insurance policies in depth, because they might not cover your personal situation. Many insurance plans won’t cover certain adventure sports or particular countries or regions. Most plans will only cover a fraction of the value of your electronics. What’s a good company? I personally use and recommend World Nomads. Check in Regularly It’s a good idea for at least one designated friend or family member to have a copy of your itinerary in advance: your flight numbers, your accommodation, and a general schedule of where you’ll be on which dates, as well as information on your travel insurance, credit cards, and a bank account number Plan ahead of time how you’ll check in and how often, whether it’s through daily emails, texts, social media updates, or regular Skype chats. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you keep a consistent schedule. When I left for my first long-term solo trip to Southeast Asia in 2010, my parents insisted I email them every day. At first, I thought this was way too much — but I was surprised how much I enjoyed checking in with them each day and telling them what I was up to! These days, we’re more relaxed and I email them every few days when on the road, but I send them a daily update when I’m somewhere they’re a bit more nervous about, like Lebanon or Colombia. Staying in touch is a way to assuage the fears of your loved ones, but if you find yourself in trouble, they would be able to locate you much more easily than if you had been vague about your whereabouts. 10 Tips for Women Traveling on a Trip ,Top 10 Travel Safety Tips for Women Read the full article

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countrygrlswrld · 6 years ago

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Ballin’ on a Family Budget in Bora Bora

I scanned the menu. The average entrée was $25, and that ended up being the norm on all four of the islands we visited in French Polynesia. Our conservative $10,000 budget for three people for two weeks quickly flew out with the birds. Back to the drawing board—except we were already there, ass in the water, feet in the sand.

I know, I know. Bora Bora just comes with an enormous price tag, one created by American honeymooners who come with pockets stuffed full of cash from rich parents and yacht club kin. Turns out, it’s an island so nice (and dear—that’s Brit for freaking expensive!), they named it twice. The thing is, Spanky and I did as much research as possible prior to booking this trip, but there’s just not a whole lot of information out there, especially for families (in our case, my husband, his 15-year-old brother and me). The only family blogs on French Polynesia I found were those couples who had gone there on their honeymoon some 15 years ago and were still rich as ever, this time staying at the Meridien and Four Seasons with their kids in tow. Not this makeshift family of three!

Without further adieu, this is how you do French Polynesia on the cheapish (aka ballin’ on a budget):

1. Stay at a fare or pension.

Resorts are pushed heavily on French Polynesia and they are plentiful, so much so that it seems like those are the only options, but if you dig deeper, you’ll find a network of fares and pensions, which lie somewhere between a hostel and a bed and breakfast. On average, we spent $80 a night by lodging at fares. To us, it’s just a place to sleep at night, though I will admit that the hotel we stayed at in Bora Bora was our favorite and upped the ante of our experience there, as it was an on-the-water bungalow that we could jump from and set off on snorkeling adventures. But, even that was a budget accommodation at $150 per night (resort overwater bungalows typically START at $1,500 per night!) Oh, and if you do end up staying at one of those fancy resorts, know that they will hold you hostage. We talked to a family that had to pay $300 to take the water taxi from the outer ring of posh Bora Bora resorts to a restaurant on the mainland. Ouch!

2. Make your own meals and prepare to carb load!

Going in, we knew we had free breakfast at a few of our accommodations, so our plan was to load up on our morning meal, try to snack for lunch and go out for dinner. That quickly backfired when we remembered we were in a French culture country, and breakfast was made up of an all-you-can-eat baguette buffet. I love bread, but that much bread does not love me back. Still, we were good sports and ate our bread, picking up yogurt as an addition and loading on the peanut butter where we could. Having a kitchenette at one of our beachfront bungalows was priceless, not only because we could make meals, but also because the closest restaurant was a two-mile walk (we’ll get to the transportation woes next). There were some days where we ate sandwiches for lunch and dinner (and also some days where we starved the teenager and ate Pringles for lunch), but of course eating local is all part of the experience so we made sure to go out and sample the local fare, as well. Plus, we were on vacation! Who wants to cook?! Not this girl.

3. Rent a car or scooter.

Because we had three people, renting a scooter was not as financially sound, but renting a car was also fairly expensive. (Note to self: Always book fares that are within walking distance of a good restaurant!) Even steeper were the taxi fees around the islands; a one-way trip could cost anywhere from $30 to $100! On Huahine, the most remote of the islands we visited on our four-island hopper, we tried to make the most of our travels by booking an island tour for $60 each then asking the guide to drop us off in town where we could get dinner. After dinner, we grabbed groceries and had our guide/host pick us up ($30 one-way instead $60 for the tour and $60 for a roundtrip ride to town—you gotta work the system!) After all was said and done, we figured it would have made more sense to just rent a car on each island instead of trying to piece trips together, but all-in-all we made it work the best we could with the knowledge we had at the time.

4. Ferry over or book an island hopper plane ticket

We opted for the island hopper plane ticket, but going by ferry probably would have been cheaper. Still, it was neat to see the islands and bluest of blue lagoons from above. The way I look at it, it was like getting transportation AND a flight tour of the islands for $500 each (that was the cost to go to up to five islands).

When it was all said and done, we went over our budget by approximately $4,000. I know, it sounds outrageous, but I still feel pretty good about it considering the average couple (and we had three people, including a TEENAGE BOY) spends $11,000 for a week on Bora Bora, according to travel extrordinaire, Chris Guillbeau (we spent two weeks in French Polynesia and visited not only Bora Bora, but also Tahiti, Moorea and Huahine). Those two weeks included surfing lessons with a former longboard champion of the world (x3 at $40 per person); an all-day jet ski and four-wheeler tour for two on Moorea ($365); an island tour of Huahine (x3 at $60 per person); entrance to the lagoonarium on Moorea (x3 at $50 per person) and lots of free snorkeling and hiking adventures.

#family travel #dylandoesfrenchpolynesia #french polynesia #borabora #budgettravel #island life

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shystoryrebel · 3 years ago

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How Blue is my Sapphire

I am a true Indian and a Harijan. So are all my relatives, friends and contacts. One happy day I gave good news to all, “I am going to Varansi.” All were happy but worried too. With congratulations, I was showered with advices.

“Varanasi-Holy Ganga! ….how lucky you are! Great?

“No, no, you would have tried to America.”

“It’s the same thing. Varansi or America…Makes no difference. Success is more important…This time Varansi…next …America! Who knows?”

Really, a big name! A big city, a lonely planet and a glamorous playground of dark-superstitious-Hindu world.

“But beware of Pundas, Brahman, Sadhus and cheats.”

“Don’t go out alone on banks of river Ganga. It is full of rowdy Sadhus, pundas and cheats. ”

I was surprised that why everybody was so scared of Hindu Sadhus and pundits but love Muslim mazars and dargahas.

In India too, I have been hearing this since I was a child. Indian model of secularism has made Muslims as the most important species. That is talking about them has become fashionable, intellectualism, humanism and above all a powerful vote bank.

Long, whitish donning skull cap, some in lungis and most of the women in burquas and in hijabs. We have all possible shades of Islam among us.

“Crazy people. They love everything Islam and Islamic. Good or bad makes no difference”

“Ha-ha, hee-hee, hoo-hoo,” everybody laughed.

Mr Dior of France has created a perfume called Poison. A black bottle in the shape of half cut apple. So is Brut. Similarly Rape jeans.

All are so popular here and there too.

Whatever the trend there, it is to be followed here.

“Varansi is very expensive city. Where will you stay?”

“Take my niece’s address. She lives in the safe township Malviya Nagar. You can stay with her. You can go to Knowledge Village in the morning and come back in the evening.” Shall I ask if the niece is Hindu or Muslim? What a funny question! A Hindu niece will be a Hindu.

Whatever she is, my lodging has been prearranged. Happy! Spoke to the niece, “Enquire at the Varansi Railway Station and a cab to Malviya Nagar. Call me from there. I will come and pick you up. Telephones in Varansi are out of order most of the time.”

When everything was ready my mother gave me a golden rings studded with blue Sapphire. She said, “It will protect me from inauspicious waves and looks.

All of us live with our past. All of us allow it to shape our future. But some of us know how to shrug the past. I think that is who I am.....

Good. Tension free.

My train reached Varansi. Big railway station. Everything was big. Big longue. Big luggage. Big sadhus and big pundits. Big women. Big enquiry board. Visible clearly from far. But station itself was very dirty.

First thing I did after coming out of the coach, I kissed the blue sapphire and the soil of the oldest city and oldest civilization of the world.

Carrying the big luggage on a big trolley, I crossed the big longue, reached the big enquiry counter and stood in front of a blue eyed, healthy, black glass wearing woman. I was surprised why she was wearing black glasses inside a room. She was blind.

“When does the local train leave for Malviya Nagar?

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have a timetable? Information booklet?”

“I don’t know.”

I was shocked to see their hostile behavior towards visitors.

I was almost in tears. Muttered- Malviya Nagar. I was advised by my host,” Take a taxi and come. It will cost you Rs.40/= Ask a policeman and get the fare fixed, otherwise you will be cheated.”

I had this choice only. At least my hotel expenses have been saved. I moved towards the taxi stand. There were so many taxis. All the drivers were in grey and whites.

I reached one of the taxis. “Malviya Nagar.”

“Meter or without meter?”

I was taken aback. It was Varansi or Chennai?

He has his name plate written ‘Saddam Husain.’ on his shirt.

I remembered, I had been advised to ask the policeman to get the fare fixed. I saw one there sitting in the booth….Shukla …! Written on his name plate.

“Beware of Brahmans. Stay away from the Brahmans.”

Hey Krishna! Protect. He was advancing towards me like Genghis Khan, the brute and inexhaustible rapist.

“May I help you?” He asked. Tall, strong, tilak on his broad forehead. I was scared and dumbstruck. My tongue trapped. I managed to murmur, “The fare to Malviya Nagar.”

“Switch on the meter,” he ordered in a firm voice to the driver and me. “It will come around Rs.40/= . Okay?”

“Okay.” I was happy to be released from his clutches.

He walked away. He was very decent and soft spoken. I felt like stopping him and talking…But ….beware of Brahmans.

All of us live with our past. All of us allow it to shape our future. But some of us know how to shrug the past. I think that is who I am.....

The driver was on his seat. He opened the boot of the car by pulling a knob. I put my luggage in it. As soon as I entered the taxi, it moved. Speed was very high like the arrow of Arjun’s Gandiv. I was on the cloud nine although a little nervous. Outside it was hot, but inside the taxi it was cool. The temperature was comfortable. I closed my eyes to take a small nap. I heard the driver’s voice.

“Where do you have to go Madam?”

“Malviya Nagar.”

“Any idea, where’s that?”

“I don’t know. Wait; Let me see it in the map.” As I was seeing the map, the meter clicked Rs.50/=.

“I Shouted, we have crossed Malviya Nagar. Meter is indicating Rs.50/=.”

“Stupid policeman. Forty! He does not know anything. Wanted to ruin my business as I don’t bribe him”

“So? Miser Indian. Get down here.”

“How can I get down here in a remote forest?”

“I have to go to Malviya Nagar.”

“It will cost you near about 70 to 80 rupees.”

“Whatever. I have to go there. Move. Signboards may give us some clue. I also tried to find out in the map.”

I kissed my blue sapphire.

“Malviya Nagar. Malviya Nagar. ” I jumped with joy.

“Street? Block, building, number?” “Raja Harish Chandra Road, Amrapali Towers, B-Blok, Flat No.101.

Oh God, Jai Hanuman, Here Krishna Here Ram, Om Namoh Shivay, please bless me and help me.

The driver got down in front of a tall building.

“This is your address.”

“This one?” Totally abandoned type. Few mazars near by. On the other side was forest. Totally dark.

I went into the building campus. There was a temple near the entrance. Some sadhus and pundits were busy in some puja and chanting holy mantras.

Taxi driver muttered something.

I heard, “Hindu bitch.”

Who? Where? Or me? There was no one. So am I a bitch? Oh Krishna! Protect me.

In a split second rapes of Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria etc., danced in my mind.

I shouted, “The policeman has the number of your car. Take me to the proper address.”

He laughed at me.

“Listen, listen. The policeman is our brother and a local. He will not help you against us.”

I was taken aback. In India Muslims are treated like VIPs. But here they are naming me as bitch. What a great bond? Actually nobody cares for Hindus and Indians.

A whistle thud and a guard was standing in front of me.

He was like a demon. Tall, strong, tilak on his broad forehead, moustache, and blue eyed. He laughed at me.

“Yes madam. Why are you disturbing us here?”

I was shocked at his behavior. I was just enquiring about the right address only and he was blaming me of disturbing him.

“Please help me. I have to go to Raja Harish Chandra Road, Amrapali Towers.

Asking a Brahman for help!... What is this?

He appeared more dangerous.

Here Krishna, Here Ram.

I kissed my blue sapphire ring.

The demon opened the door of the car and sat next to me. I minimized myself into the corner. He roared, “Driver.”

The driver came running and puffing.

“Raja Harish Chandra Road, Amrapali Towers. No ifs and buts”

My blood froze. The driver became pale. He was hurling abuses some time in English, some time in their local dialects.

“Donkey, bastard, pig…!

On his name plate was written Ram Kumar Mishra.

We reached “Raja Harish Chandra Road, Amrapali Towers.

The taxi stopped. I got down.

“Open the boot.” I shouted.

The driver also got down. He was middle aged man.

“Open the boot.”

“Give me the money first.”

“I will give you the fare but first give my luggage.”

“No first give the money. Educated Hindu women run away without paying.”

I was shocked and surprised. How poorly they think of educated Hindu women?

“I was told that taxi drivers like you ran away with luggage as well as money. Open the boot take out my luggage and take your money.”

Ultimately again Ram Kumar Mishra roared ,”Give her luggage. Don’t talk much. I am here.”

Blue sapphire – strong skull capped man and women passed by. All were staring at me.

At last both I and my luggage were safe.

I called the niece and she took me to her small flat. I told her about my experience. “These taxi driver scoundrels are all cheat and consider we educated Hindu girls as second grade citizens.”

Luckily I have got a shelter so easily. I enjoyed my first night with this unknown niece of my neighbor. Next day I strolled in the campus of the building. All very imposing, huge and luxurious houses. Long, bright foreign made cars.

The niece said,”This is very good, posh and safe colony. No local or non-Hindu live here. All are outsiders. Some are Europeans. So no tension, no crime. Women are very safe here.

I spent the next night with her. The next morning I took a train to Knowledge Village where I was appointed as an academic executive in a university. My job would take the full day. I would have to find out a room near my workplace.

The flat of the niece was near the ghetto of Muslims where majority of the people were in silk and cloth business.

The train arrived. The gate of the coach was quite wide. I was feeling clumsy and uncomfortable…

Large number of locals entered the coach in like rowdies.

I saw four empty seats. I tried to occupy one. The table cum board which had been locked with the seat suddenly opened and hit my hips.

“We are playing chess here,” a well built, fair complexioned man said. He had opened the table without any warning. On two other seats were big sized men. One seat was empty. People in the coach were laughing on me. They were all rich people wearing expensive clothes and carrying briefcases. They all must be going to markets, every morning and returning together in the evening. They must be playing chess every day. But the same thing could have been said politely. They were all local weavers except me. “Are all locals as uncivilized?”

I cursed myself. Coward! Coward Hindu woman. I felt like crying. Humiliation, anger, frustration, shame, self-condemnation and what not. They cannot defeat me in arguments. Academically I was much higher. Hindus are treated so badly everywhere.

I took the cheapest room near the Knowledge Park. The hotel has strange rules. They made me first deposit entire amount. If I leave the hotel earlier,

“Take back your money when you leave,” came a terse reply. I have no reply. We are third class citizen.

I kissed my blue sapphire to get some solace.

Leaving my suitcase in the room, I went out for a walk. It was very hot outside. But I wanted to see the city. I also ate a tasteless burger and drank coffee.

Fast and furious winds started blowing. I rushed towards the hotel. I put an overcoat to protect my sari. The winds did not stop. They became more furious. The shade by the road side was crowded with the people waiting for the taxis. Taxi drivers were giving preference to locals and people from ghettos. This was another shock. In India there is racism in everything. After an hour I got a cab and reached the hotel.

Everybody was surprised. How could I reach on time in this weather otherwise,”Indians are never on time.”

Next day again weather was very bad and taxis were asking four times the amount. Very difficult situation. Almost impossible to reach the office. It was raining very heavily now. My umbrella turned inside out. I was very badly tired. “Taxi” I yelled.

Nobody stopped. I was running to reach on time. I requested a policeman. But he was also of no help. I reached a tourist office. The attendant told me,” You cannot sit here. Office time is over, so I have to lock the office.” On his name plate was written Amar Paswan.

The weather was very cruel.

My skin was burning and my head was spinning. Only I remained there in the storm like King Lear, plunging, drowning, and floating in the storm.

I could not reach my office nor to my hotel.

I saw a temple nearby. I rushed inside. I saw a small cabin type shelter. I sat there on the ground. There I got respite from rain and storm.

I have just lain down…I removed my wet sari…went off to sleep.

“Wake up, get up!”

“Let me sleep.”

“It is morning. Wake up.”

I opened my eyes. A very smart, fair skinned and sharp featured young man was shaking me.

I screamed loudly.

He moved back, shocked and scared.

I got up.

He came near me with a glass of hot milk.

“Thank Baba Vishvanath, you are alive.”

Tears dripped down my cheeks.

“Why did you come here?”

“I could not get any taxi and there was heavy rain and storm outside.”

“Where do you have to go?”

“Raja Harish Chandra Road, Amrapali Towers, B-Blok, Flat No.101.”

I tried to get up. I faltered. He lifted me by holding my hand. Again I stumbled. He put his hand around my waist and lifted me. I did not resist, rather I liked his touch.

“Are you drunk or drug addict?”

“No. I am tired and hungry.”

He touched my forehead and hand.

“You have fear.”

“May be! I am feeling very weak and exhausted.”

“Do you have disprin or paracetamol with you?”

“No.”

He gave a call to someone and told that Pundit Vishnu Prasad Bhardwaj was speaking. He ordered to bring disprin or paracetamol tablets.

He took me to his room. I lied down on his bed. A boy brought the medicines. He gave the money. He gave me biscuits to eat before medicines. He dissolved the disprin in water and gave me. I took the paracetamol with the milk. I was feeling much better.

After some time he brought two plates of aaloo-puris. We both ate breakfast

together and took tea.

“What is the time?” I asked.

“Eleven…morning.”

“Now I have to leave.”

“I won’t let you go alone.”

He gripped my hand firmly.

“Why?”

“Taxi and auto drivers, rickshaw pullers, beggars, drug addicts, juggi and ghetto dwellers, etc., may cheat you or rob you.”

“I feel scared.”

“Of Pundit Vishnu Prasad Bhardwaj? Then run away.”

He removed his hand. This time I gripped it more tightly.

I was amazed but happy that a Brahman priest is so kind and caring for a Harijan woman.

He took me to the taxi stand and asked the driver to drop me at my hotel and not to charge any money. I was surprised the respect he had in the mind of the people.

I came back to my hotel room and removed my dirty clothes…lay down on the bed crying…and slept.

I was wrong.

Yes. Brahman. Male. And me?

Female. Hindu.. Harijan. Alone

I took Disprin. Hotel was full of people. But all were tired. Some were Sheikhs, some foreigners, a few lean and thin Indians. But all of them were tired and exhausted.

On the next morning, I got up. Absolutely happy and tension free. I kissed my blue sapphire. I checked out the room, collected my luggage, handed over the keys, and took my money back.

I finished my coffee. Ate the pizza, swallowed the dissprin again and called the cab.

Pundit Vishnu Prasad Bhardwaj cured a sick worm. I failed but Pundit Vishnu Prasad Bhardwaj had won.

I reached the temple. Pundit Vishnu Prasad Bhardwaj received me and alighted my luggage.

“I will live here permanently.”

Pundit Vishnu Prasad Bhardwaj smiled, gripped my hand and took me to his room.

I kissed my blue sapphire.

DR. YOGESH SHARMA

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lindoig1 · 6 years ago

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Another Day in the Country Day 18

We had a wonderful day today. Our driver arrived a bit earlier than planned so we were on our way by 9:50 for our drive to Bukhara, via Shakhrisabz, total distance between 4 and 5 hundred kilometres, I think. Our hotel had been really great too - a family homestay as much as a hotel. All very informal, people couldn’t do enough to help us, beautiful setting with big shade trees, just lovely. And I loved the tapchans where we had breakfast. I think I may have tried to describe them before I found a name for them. They are raised carpeted platforms, often with a shady canopy, with cushions and often a table on which is spread an endless variety of food. Not as comfortable as our recliners at home, but when in Samarkand, do as the Samarkandans do! Or Bukhara or anywhere else in the East .

It was a truly spectacular trip: the best day of our trip so far we think. The first part was very mountainous with parts very steep and rocky and others less so put painted in a hundred shades of rich greens. There were little valleys running at all angles, all with small streams rushing to lower ground. Often there were quaint old farm houses, squeezed in between the trees, almost hidden from the road, secluded and often isolated from any visible neighbours. In the flatter areas there were large areas of land under cultivation, all being tilled, raked, planted, weeded, tended and harvested by hand. Many times we saw what appeared to be a family group of 6 or 8 out in the middle of a huge paddock, ‘ploughing’ it with hoes and spades, sometimes weeding by hand - a truly daunting job by our standards. Absolutely no mechanical assistance until we were well over halfway to Bukhara and then every second or third farm seemed to have a small tractor. Even then though, we only saw one small plough. The tractors seemed to be used exclusively for transport, hauling small wagons laden to the sky with fodder, firewood, produce for market and so on.

Along the road were many fake police cars. They looked somewhat real as you approached them, often with a cop standing beside them, but they are only a couple of inches thick. They are often illuminated at night and as a warning to motorists that the boys in blue are on the lookout for bad driving. Which brings me to roads. There are a variety of roads starting with the (sort of, maybe, possibly, moderately) good ones. Obviously, the best part of these roads is the crown so everyone hogs that part of the road, irrespective of which direction they are travelling. At 100kph, you are still bouncing around a bit and you have a stream of cars approaching at similar speeds, honking and flashing their lights in an endeavour not to have to yield their bit of the crown to you. Very scary and it beats me how they don’t have 1000 road kills every day. Then there are the not-so-good roads of which there are 3 types: the roads with potholes in the pavement, those with pavement between the potholes and those with potholes between the potholes. Interesting that most of the roads are really wide - 8-10 cars wide, so there are lots of choices as to where to drive. Everyone drives on the right side of the road in Asia except for the 90% that use the extreme left side until they have to move back to allow oncoming vehicles to pass. It is certainly an adventure, but our driver was excellent - none of us got killed yesterday. Fnigres coressed for tomorrow.

We had a couple of stops along the way to take photos at the most spectacular spots, including one with a bit of a market where we bought some dried apricots and dates as nibbles. It is of course Ramadan so our driver didn’t participate. We arrived at Shakhrisabz about 11:30 and our driver dropped us near the gate of the old partly-restored Citadel and told us he would wait for us at the other end of the complex. It was another huge area of gardens, slightly discreet fun parks and sideshows, a couple of mosques, a string of fancy hotels and of course the ruins of Timur’s Citadel and a really big statue of the big man himself. It was well over a kilometre to walk through the gardens, but it was pleasant with a few birds to try to see and some pleasant plantings - and a scattering of people all wanting to say hello and have their photos taken with the foreigners. Maybe we should start charging for all the photos? It is not an issue, but it seems odd to us that anyone would want to be photographed with us.

Everyone has a job here. I saw three women ‘mowing’ quite a large patch of lawn with hand shears. Every square inch of the towns seems to be under the head of a besom at least daily, wielded mainly by older women. There are quite a lot of litter pickers and everything is spotless - even the railings, plant- pots, and street furniture is scrubbed or wiped down regularly. I can’t imagine any need for the dole here. A lesson for Oz?

At the end of our walk, our driver pointed us to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

He said it was 5-star and we were the only ones there for a while and we thought it might cost us a bomb, but we had an excellent meal with all the extras for under $A12! A big tourist group arrived halfway through our meal so it was good that we got our orders in before them. Talking about food, I meant to mention our breakfasts at the hotel in the last 2 days. You arrive to find 16 dishes of various goodies waiting on the table and a little old lady cook buzzing around taking orders for cooked meals and drinks. There are several different salads, fruits, pastries, breads, yoghurt, you name it and the offer of more if you are dissatisfied with the variety. Amazing, and amazingly scrumptious.

After lunch, it was off to Bukhara, much of the afternoon through Aussie-looking desert - we felt quite at home. We passed some massive natural gas plants and our driver told us that it all gets piped to Russia where some is used, but most is exported to bolster the rouble with precious little coming back to Uzbekistan.

It was a wonderful day, quite relaxing, lots of interesting and very beautiful things to see and being so much closer to the ordinary country folk, we saw a lot more about how they lived. For example, I was fascinated by the thatched rooves and others made of corrugated iron or asbestos all held in place by big rocks instead of nails. We saw both cultivation and pastoral pursuits up close - cattle, sheep, goats, horses and camel farms (both types) - even stopped for photos. A lot of Uzbeks simply stand on the side of the road with their bundles waiting for some kind person to stop and offer them a ride to town or the market - the Uzbek version of hitchhiking and apparently very normal. (I later found out that anyone with a vehicle can provide a taxi service – and we have used this ourselves too – you just hold your hand out until someone stops, negotiate an absurdly low fare and jump in. If the price is not right or your destination conflicts with the objectives of the other passengers, the driver simply drives off and you wait a couple of minutes until someone else stops who is happier with your offer.) It is apparently entirely safe and is the main way people get around – and it provides a good supplementary income for many of the drivers who may take 3 or 4 passengers to different destinations in one trip. Another common thing in rural areas is the practice of mainly women and children standing beside their gates gossiping and watching the world go by. I’m sure it is a hard life for most people, but a much slower pace and from all indications pretty safe.

Bukhara seems quite a big city, but my guide the next day said it has a population of only 350,000. Our hotel is in the very centre of the old city and is quite comfortable, but it was a loooong walk with all our baggage from the nearest place the car could get to the hotel Reception area up an alley. But we are settled in and comfortable. One interesting thing is that there are no tea/coffee making facilities or minibars in Central Asia - although they are pretty good at providing them if you ask. But there are always two bottles of water and it is quite cheap to buy more.

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