"By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before." - Edwin Elliot

Well, well well. Yesturday I could post and I could not read now I cant even post. However if I remember correctly I should be able to send this email and it will get posted on the blog!! Lets give it a try, although this does mean no pictures. A few minuts ago my keyboard changed into chinese characters so I couldnt write a single email but I think its now back to normal!!!

 

Yesturday I flew from Shanghai to Guilin, in Guanxi a 2hour flight. Thursday night excitment didnt let me sleep much, friday night festes de sants, saturday night flight so technically speaking I should have been able to sleep on sunday but that was imposible. Jet laged became my enemy and I spend 4h tumbing in bed. I had to wake up at 5 in the morning to go to the airport, which we had guessed might take 1h took me 20min :) Shanghai has various airports, this one was clearly super modern and nice, I felt so tiered but there was no way I fell asleep in the airport or the plane itself. When I arrived in Guilin, I went to find the family that was going to host me and that I had met thorugh couchsurfing. I took a taxi to their place and there was the little kid who is three ," hello sister, nice meet you" jejeje so cute. Qiong (the mom) welcomed me very warmly and I finally took a shower. She did say they had no hot water but that was clearly not an issue for me!!! So we had some delicious chinese food and then I decided what to do, she told me I could go to yao san, this mountain where you can see the view of all the little mountains surrounding Guilin. First (the kid) was very excited and wanted to join so we all went but by the time we got there he had gotten asleep. This region is full of small round looking mountains, a type of Halong Bay style in Vietnam. I took a chair lift up, and it was so long, at the end so high !!! So there I was getting burned. These places have quite a few chinese tourists but I have not found many westerners, james gave me a Learn Chinese booklet, I serioulsy cant pronunce shit... but well I will try. On the way back home we had to walk for 30 min which was nice as I saw some villagers playing what for me were extremly exotic cards :D

Then we fuxed up and had tot ake 3 busses, by then 5pm I was dead and even if I tried not to I fell asleep in every single bus there was, always being the only westener. Thanks to Qiong I got around. She has writen for me tons of chinese things in my notebook so I can ask for directions. We then had dinner and I played with First but by 8 o clock I was snoring... now finally think I have recovered all my tierenes..

the austrlian look outs or miradores in spanish have a more clear name in chinese " place of viewing the beauty"

Multiple ways in which someone can fall, you slip, you fall down or the floor starts trembling under you....

Doraimon is guarding the house where im staying at

National Hamburger Day..may 28th lets take all note of that!

Frankfurt never ending wait was long, the flight itslef went by quickly, only 10 hours!! i am so used to the 24hours flights to Sydney in which once you are in asia you still have 10 more to go that it felt like nothing. Nevertheless I bearly slept, also Air China literally suxs. it was already1 10 years ago since I took my first flight where every economy seat had its own little tv. So here i am on an air china flight in 2011 which litteral has 2 tvs for the entire middle section of the plane and to add to it they play a bad movie and i ask for another headphones and the repy is "yeah later..." whatever... food was OK but the woman gave fish to everyone who ordered meat and vice versa. I had a good laugh. Fat guy sitting by me, wierdo actually he had checked in a black luggage and when the black luggages were coming out of the convery belt he would take each one of them out and start checking if it was his. Dude put some tag that makes it clear its yours!!!! Also I LOVE watching the map in the plane knowing where we are,but since there was 1 tv I saw we were in Frankfurt but next thing I know we are in Shanghai...

So at border control in Shanghai you can actually rate the person that controls your passport. are u satisfied very satisfied unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. Loved this idea! The airport seemed extremly modern.

I then had to take a shuttle bus to HongKou...so I asked and people thoguht I wanted a flight to HongKong...damn... then I got send to the long distance busses which go to other provinces and eventually i made it to shuttle bus 4 that took me to HongKou..seriously it wasnt that hard, I just made it hard after 2h flight 6 h transfer 10h flight and 1h bus I made it and saw James again. Well so we bought some amazing water pears HUGE went for some delicious food.. I was starving!! And also booked our flights back to Shanghai after our trip... to my suprise 30 min later when I checked my mail again I had an email saying my flights would be canceled if before 9pm I didnt send photocopies of my ID, credit cards and a document signed. Of course to sign the document I first need it to print it...there started the hassle. Back on the streets looking for an internet cafe. We found one but couldnt print...what a mess. Suddenly I saw a tour agency, I asked James to stay outside as I had to put on my poor foreigner face. I went in and

I said "hi you speak english?? I need to print" yeah they didnt understand me so I pointed to the printer. THey said NO. I insited this was very important I really need it that sheet. And after a while I gave them the USB and they printed out the page! Phew saved by my poor foreigners i dnot speak chinese face. Back to James to sign the paper take a pic and send it to the reservation company. A few phone calls up and down and back on the streets for a 1h neck and foot massage 2,5euros. Wonderful. we then went for some tea with milk and beans, it was goooood!! Delicious...it just made me go to the toilet quite a few times in the night :(

China

a

At Martas 2h before the flight and running late... my Estrella Damn I love festes de Sants Hat is traveling with me to China

Current destination.... CHINA! Im back in China, 10 years after my last visit, the visit that I thought was OK but which clearly did not make it to my top rankings of best trip ever. So here I am, my second Berlin visit made me change my mind...so will this one do so too?? I will try and do some updates, I dont know how often this will happend but here we go... This trip is to Shanghai (modern china) and to the rural parts of Sichuan and Guanxi.

The night pre China was Festes de Sants, which were just AMAZING. Festes de sants are the street parties of the neighourhood Sants in Barcelona. It doesnt stop to amaze me how life is in Spain, pepople will be in the streets having dinners with all the neighbours, concerts for the elderly, story tellers for the young, traditional songs... its a blast!! I left my luggage at Martas place as she lives right by pl.catalunya place where the bus departs to the airport ...went out partying. At 4am when I got back at Martas I ended up calling a friend who works on TV in one of those shows that predicts your future, he put me live on TV and the woman answered all my doubts of my life. So it seems that my life will be fine ....phew!! So be it I forgot to put an alarm clock to go to the airport!! Luckily I woke up! marta had put the alarmclock anyways for double saftey. I was running I got to the airport and flight delayed, more delyas, due to a major storm in my transfering airport Frankfurt. It al lmade sense when the plane was tumbling in the air over germany, claps came along when we landed. People were freaking out as many lost their connections, I had a never ending long wait in Europes hub so I just waited waited and waited. Recharged my phone as im using it as MP3 in mcdonalds and waited seeing the 747-400 being prepared for the following departures.

Anecdote 1: my luggage is only 10kilos, how did I manage? I think experience made me smarter!! :)
Anecdote 2: The moment Im putting in my stuff in the security tray the kid infront of me takes every object I leave out of the tray, I put it back in he puts it back up. Mom doesnt even care to look at what son is doing.

"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

Epictetuts

Arrels Fundació ha presentat als partits polítics de Barcelona un document amb 18 propostes per millorar l'atenció a les persones sense llar. Es tracta de propostes realistes i concretes, adreçades als partits que participaran a les eleccions municipals del 22 de maig.

Les propostes de millora s'adrecen als partits i als polítics que lideraran l'Ajuntament de Barcelona durant el nou mandat municipal, per tal que ofereixin una millor atenció a les aproximadament 2000 persones sense llar de la ciutat.

Les 18 propostes de millora s'engloben en quatre grans temes:

• Serveis d'atenció a persones sense llar

Els serveis d'atenció a persones sense sostre estan configurats en forma d'itinerari. Arrels Fundació fa propostes concretes per als diferents serveis que intervenen en aquest procés.

En referència als centres de primera acollida, Arrels veu necessària una millor coordinació entre centres, de manera que s'aprofitin totes les places disponibles. A més, considera desitjable oferir un número suficient d'habitatges d'inclusió per tal de cobrir de forma àgil la continuïtat del procés cap a l'autonomia personal.

També proposa crear nous centres de convalescència i destaca la necessitat d'ampliar l'horari dels serveis de menjador i millorar la distribució en el territori.

• Mesures dirigides a persones en situació cronificada de carrer

Quant a les mesures adreçades a persones en situació cronificada de carrer, es proposa crear espais d'atenció diürns, senzills i accessibles que contribueixin a pal·liar la seva situació.

De la mateixa manera, es proposa oferir espais nocturns de molt baixa exigència (serviria perquè les persones que en fessin ús adquirissin major confiança en els agents socials) i la compra d'una pensió per part de l'ajuntament per posar-la a disposició de la xarxa per atendre situacions específiques a un cost més reduït, ja que el cost d’aquest tipus d’allotjament és cada vegada més elevat.

• L'atenció primària i especialitzada

Per evitar futures situacions d’exclusió severa, Arrels proposa dotar els serveis d'Atenció Primària de serveis i recursos que permeti fer front a les situacions de risc.

Per cobrir les necessitats i els drets de les persones amb baix nivell d'autonomia, Arrels considera necessari avançar en el desplegament previst de la Llei de la Dependència.

Hi ha situacions, com el cas de les persones en exclusió que necessiten suport a llarg termini, en què hi ha una indefinició sobre qui ha de garantir la cobertura social. Arrels demana dotar de competències el Consorci de Serveis Socials de Barcelona per fer front a aquest tipus de situacions.

• Relacions institucionals i gestió de l'acció social

Aquest apartat inclou propostes molt diverses, com ara, simplificar els mecanismes d'ajuts i subvencions a les entitats que ofereixen serveis adreçats a persones sense llar; la regularització de determinats casos de persones en situació irregular amb caràcter humanitari per poder fer una intervenció social integral; i establir procediments per garantir la impossibilitat d'embargaments a persones amb pensions o prestacions mínimes.

També s'incentiva l'aprovació en Ple Municipal del compromís "Imagina un 2015 sense ningú al carrer" i la creació d’una taxa turística social per a hotels, restaurants i creuers que fomenti el caràcter de ciutat turística i solidària de Barcelona.

Per anar més enllà de les conjuntures i canvis polítics, Arrels proposa que es mantingui l'Acord Ciutadà per una Barcelona Inclusiva i les xarxes que en formen part.

Per aprofundir en aquestes propostes pots consultar el document sencer: Per a una millor atenció a les persones sense llar. Propostes als partits polítics que es presenten a les eleccions a l’Ajuntament de Barcelona.

Jo marco la casella del 0,7 i tu també tens raons per fer-ho!

Xarxanet.org impulsa una campanya a través de les xarxes socials per a fomentar la casella del 0,7% de l’IRPF per a fins socials en la declaració de la rendaLa campanya “Jo també marco el 0,7% per a fins socials” vol convèncer de la importància de marcar la casella solidària a través d’una pàgina web on es recullen els projectes de diferents entitats catalanes referents del tercer sector que s’han beneficiat d’aquesta aportació. L’objectiu central de la iniciativa és donar raons a la ciutadania per a que marqui la casella del 0,7% per a fins socials.

L'any 2010 el 57% dels catalans va marcar la casella solidària del 0,7% de l’IRPF en la declaració de la renda. D'aquesta manera es van generar 66 milions d'euros que han anat a parar a entitats sense ànim de lucre. Amb aquests recursos econòmics s'ha donat energia a projectes dirigits a infants, joves, dones i gent gran, a col·lectius en risc d'exclusió social i a famílies que passen per mals moments.

Tothom qui ho vulgui pot contribuir a la difusió de la casella del 0,7% per a fins socials a través de les xarxes socials: seguint la pàgina de Facebook “Jo també marco la casella del 0,7 per a fins socials”, fent servir el hashtag #jomarco07 a Twitter o afegint una icona a la imatge dels perfils.

“el corazón tiene razones que la razón no entiende”

Blaise Pascal

Vida ciudadana: millones de seres viviendo juntos en soledad.

Henry David Thoreau

Tourists.... spain, the center of the universe.

What is this, sangria and frozen paella!!! This is shameful!!! And a bunch of restaurants have it. This city is flooded od spaniards who seem to believe spanish is the only language spoken in the entire peninsula. Its so embarassing, most are so disrespectful and loud!! So many people from the south of Spain!! Next time i come i want to see the portuguese lisbon and avoid the touristy part, but for now tourist area it is. This moring though i was able to hang aroung the alfama area and get lost in small streets with no tourists. Maybe it is because i left extremly early, but i really enjoyed it and tool some photos im looking forwards to see in my pc!!

Im not talking to any tourist has i dont feel the need to but im really getting irritated by a few catalan, spanish and french who talk believing no one understands them. Also, this italian guy wanted to stop a taxi but ended up stoping a police car.what a show, i couldnt stop laughing. Well neither could his family members!! Oh, these kids were singing in the train and the only reaction a spanish came up w was " loookkkk portueguese sevillanas" seriously...??!!!

Porto

The best way to end the day, a shower and porto wine! This hostel is great, very cozy,welcoming and clean. Time to relax after hours and hours of walking in belem, barrio alto and alfama

The commom area

Random lamp

Room 3

Room 2

Room

In portugal!!

The flight was smooth and short. I suppose after such a long flight down under this one just seemed short despite it being 1.5h long and us leaving with a delay . When i arrived i stoped at the tourist information for a map and once that was done i headed to catch the local bus that took me to rossio, the center of the city. With my map i kept following where we were and i quickly realized were to get off. I arrived at the hostel that joao had recommended and wow. It did have a lot of awards at hostel world and great rankings and indeed the thing is just great!! So each room is decorated completly different, mine has a very intresting design with a bird cage as a lamp, and a hanging chain in which ppl hang their cloths. Ill post up pictures tommorrow. Most important is how clean it is and how clean the toilets are. You have your own locker,wifi, you get free breakfast a lamp for your bed, free porto wine a place to leave little things by bed etc.. The atmosphere looks just great and the cleanness outstanding. I met one of the guys in my room who is from brazil but i really couldnt bother talk.... And then it was time ti go explore the city!

I went to barrio alto in the search of cervejeria
trinidade that both joao and the guide recommended but when i got there it was packed and in addittion had 40 ppl waiting. The place was nice with tiles all around it! I will try it tommorrow and if not at least take a few pics. I went through the streets in search of some food and the first place that i saw had bacalau and arroz dolce i walked in. Had it and then went around chaido and rossio to digest all that i had eaten! Took a few pics but really missed the company of my slr friend ms. Irumtje!! I started to feel some ppl were following me so since it was dark and i was tiered i headed back to the hostel!

So far i like what i have seen, some very modern shops, some rather old decadent streets, a lighted castle, a big cristo (reminds me of rio). What i really like is the amount of fish around the restaurants and how it is displayed, reminds me of galicia! The city seems to have small allys and its all on hills, the trams are old but glamorous. So far, i like the stlyle, just wish i could speak portuguese!

.wonderfull weekend ahead!!!

Time for departure.
I love electronic tickets and online checkin. The world is progressing!

I Miss you.

There is a strange feeling everytime i come to this terminal, terminal 2 of barcelona airport. I dont understand why it is called terminal 2 if it is the first one which was build!! The more i travel in terminal 1 the more i like it and start accepting that terminal 2 is part of the past. I have departed so many times from the now called terminal 2, many memories are linked to it, our first trip to argentina, the returns to spain after years abroad, the good byes and the hellos. There is a specific spot my dad would always stand when waiting for me to arrive from schipol... I used to love this terminal with all the shops. The airport seemed crowded but i knew my way around very well. Having so many early flights to go back to holland and paris i had learned which cafe was the one i liked the best for its location,atmosphere and which shops had the free food to taste. Its sad to walk in terminal 2 and see it completly empty with all the bars and shops closed. Only a few remain open for the easy jet and ryanair flights. Hopefully one day Barcelona airport will be given the right to operate long haul international flights and this terminal will have the life that was stolen from it in june 2009.

Aerobus

Something is clearly wrong when you get on this bus, the aerobus, and you recognize the driver. This bus is getting more expensive every day but its the only way to get from the airport home at a normal speed. If compared to other countries the price is at least quite acceptable! I still think that the best thing is to be droped and picked up in any airport but well...

Im already surrounded by portuguese people, 5 guys that are hitting the window every time a woman walks by.... Giving me a great image of portuguese people! I just love the language, the accent sounds great!! Too bad its not a brazilian accent!!

Excited, neighbour country here i come!!

El pájaro tiene su nido, la araña su tela, el hombre la amistad.

William Blake

Favorite Places on Earth 3

Sunshine Beach, Noosa, Australia

...favorite moment running on the beach at dawn. No camera when running.

Australia Day!

26th of January - AUSTRALIA DAY

Australia day, everybody goes out, barbeque, picnics, beach,concerts,flags flags and more flags. Dad and I went up to the Harbour Bridge to see the boats ferry race on the BAY and took a few pictures. We later headed through the Rocks as a few bands were playing, got some free water and later had a hot dog at Hyde Park. We even saw the Qantas A380 flying around!! My dad got all excited and bought a flag which we walked around with and I was given some small plastic flags and tatoos with the Australian flag that I put on my arms and face :) All this took us almost 6 hours. Exhausted we came home. Later at around 7pm we headed to Darling Harbour to see the night and fireworks show!! Now just have to wait for 26th of January 2012 for the next Australia Day!

STOP!! Kangaroo on the Road!

I had not taken the car in about 5 years.... I decided to drive around 150 Kilometers...and in 7 occasions I had Kangaroos jump infront of the car! Luckily I was alert and on the watch for animals, so I was able to stop on time. My dad taped this as I drove.

You have to be extra carefull around 6-8am and between 6-8pm when the sun rises and the sun sets as kangaroos jump onto the road. During the day they are resting under the trees. We found a lot of dead Kangaroos by the road. Kangaroos dont always follow a straight path, and therefore you are adviced to keep driving straight as most accidents caused by kangaroos crossing the road are car frontal crashes. When you rent a car, some companies do not insure your car if you are driving at dawn in areas in which it is known kangaroos tend to be.

Hurray!! I’m sitting in the airplane direction Adelaide with my dad’s work laptop and typing this! Whenever I get some proper internet connection I will post it.Unlike during some other trips like the Northern Australia in 2009, this time I’m trying to record what goes on. Let’s face it, having a laptop also facilitates the task; pen and paper are becoming at fast pace too old fashion. No way to go back and delete or reededit and the worst, not possible to write what I’m thinking at a proper speed.

We are flying with Jet Star a low cost Australian airline. Jetstar and Virgin Blue are the Australian “vuelings/easyjets”. Im not too happy about being in a plane AGAIN, this is also my dads fifth plane of the week as he has had to fly to Melbourne a couple times this week for work and he isn’t too excited either. My travel sox helped a lot in my Barcelona to Sydney flight, and I arrived with minimal leg pain, but now I just want to arrive to Adelaide!!!

Something that I like to do at airports, whether I’m leaving myself or going to pick someone up is stare at the list of departing flights. Obviously the list changes radically depending on where in the world you are. So these are the flights that were leaving this morning from the domestic terminal of Sydney Airport. Ironically, if you fly domestic you can be taking a flight that is up to 5 hours, this is way longer than a Barcelona-Moscow flight! This obviously implies various time changes. Now flying to Adelaide, a “short flight” of only 1h45 minutes…so in other words as long as my Barcelona-London flight! There is also a zone change of 30 minutes between Adelaide and Sydney.

A rather strange thing in the airport is that we did the check in, went to baggage drop, passed the security check, got on the plane and nobody checked our ids. This has happened to me every time I take a domestic flight in this country. They never check that you are the person whose name is on the boarding ticket, somehow surreal in particular after all the security alarms there have been in the past years.Another thing that I really like to do in a foreign country is go to a local supermarket and stare at their products. I went to one yesterday and took a couple pics of products that I have not seen in Barcelona. I’m able to point out products which I would clearly not find in a local supermarket in Spain, but it’s hard for me to list what there is in Spain that is not here. I suppose Jamon Serrano would be one of the things. Due to the amount of mixed cultures that there is in the city the supermarket had a wide variety of Asian (from Japanese to Pakistani) food . Something which is found in the USA but also hard to find in Spain was Salad Dressings. In Spain and Italy we are way too used to using oil, vinegar salt and pepper for our salads , while here you can find any kind of salad dressing imaginable

Finally in Sydney!

5 pounds went for a set of sushi. Clearly not worth 5 pounds, but the best way to spend exactly those 5 without getting back change. Sat down ate it, ate tons of mandarins and walked around. Sat down again and kept staring at the screen for my gate to be announced. There were 4 different flights to Sydney! Mine via Bangkok, a Qantas one also leaving same time also via Bangkok, one via Singapore and one via Hong Kong. Seriously it is hard for me to understand why so many people would be traveling to Australia. The flight was packed. So think about it 4 747 flying to Australia via south east asia. That is around 400 persons per plane = 1600 persons…and those were only the flights leaving from my terminal, there also Lufthansa, Emirates, and other airlines heading to Australia. Id like to know the story behind all these people moving up and down the globe. . .

The wait in Heathrow became long, and it included a kid spitting on me. At the end, fed up of the child, his dipper smell which was getting mixed with the smell of fried food his dad got and his attempt to spit on me again I stood up and finally the gate was announced, gate 42, the furthest possible gate in the terminal. I remembered it when I saw it, I had been there before. So we got on the plane. Had a girl next to me which was good, she was quite didn’t seem to want to talk too much and wasn’t taking up any of my space. I luckily had an aisle sit so I stood up and down quite a few times. Got offered some chicken with coconout and lime which was delicious and I ate quite a few mandarins. I dosed on and off during the entire flight, which made it go pretty quick. We went through Turkmenistan, Delhi, Varanasi, Myanmar and finally we made it to Bangkok. Spend my time watching a couple few films, start the book and got a bit drunk with some Bacardi coke. I ordered one and they gave me two…so yeah J I saw they had music so I tried to listen to it, but it was mainly crap. I saw they had “sleeping songs for adults and kids” so I put that on and this song started … “twinkle twinkle little star…” I couldn’t believe it! I stopped and moved on…in the search of some proper music. I did not find the entertainment system of BA particularly good, but it kept me bussy for a while. The BA crew gave us the welcome on board by letting us know that they would leave in Bangkok and a new crew would join then, but that crew was not at as good looking as the one flying to Bangkok. Haha.

The airport in Bangkok is very new but its so big that its very exhausting to have to do a stop over there. They made us get off the plane so they could clean it, but what we had to do, as always is walk for about 20 minutes, pass a security check, walk another 20 minutes pass another security check and finally show our passports again and board. Each security check of course with its own queues… just never ending. I saw that at least in this airport you could get free internet. Only 15 minutes and you had to register your passport number and nationality but that was good. Finally was able to connect my laptop to let people know where I was…and then I boarded again… the plane ran and ran and ran through the runway and up we were again. 9 more hours of flight ahead…

The girls sitting next to me got off at Bangkok and this fat, smelly guy sat next to me for this part of the flight I did everything possible not to talk to him. He kept trying to chat and I seriously stopped myself. He was or seemed drunk and kept ordering beers…and his smell.. bleh :S I watched a film and we were still over Indonesia… I read a book and we were still not in Australia… Finally we reached northern Australia…but we still had 4 hours to go to Sydney. It seemed never ending. They gave me chicken again but it wasn’t that great so I finished up all my mandarins and finished the other half of my jamon baguette, which gave another opportunity for the drunk fat guy to talk to me. He was jealous of my sandwich, who wouldn’t have ;-)

I filled in the immigration form…they sprayed the cabin to prevent any pest of entering Australia...

We approached…

Finally the 20 minute to landing announcement

Finally 44 kilometers away from Sydney “ Crew take your sits for landing”

And finally …. Touchdown!

Grabbed my luggage which seemed to never come out, went through quarantine check and took a taxi “home”. I didn’t really know where my parents live since they have changed apartment twice since I last came here.

Finally homeeeeeeeeeeeee, woman in black was home!!!

A bit exhausted…but it was time for a shower and to go for a walk J Australia, its sunny, its warm and it feels great. There is such tranquility. I don’t know the neighborhood around although my parents live very near the center…so we went for a short walk with my mom around the area…ah … I love it!! Sydney seems to me like an American city, but there is this relaxed atmosphere to it. It’s hard to describe it, but I’ll do my best in the coming up posts.

Im taking a plane tomorrow again…. To Adelaide!

In London with No Internet! :(

This is really annoying, at a Hub like Heathrow and without internet. In Singapore you walk out of the plane and you have free internet, even if its s standing stations its available. But no, in terminal 3 of Heathrow there are huge signs saying WIFI and when you turn on your computer you are directed to a website where you have to pay. Is this the future life we face? Is this modern? Is this user friendly? This is crap! This is a monopoly. So I guess you only get internet if you got to a VIP lounge, which I cant go because I’m no longer a silver member (was only for a few month back in the time…) and I’m not traveling with my dad either. So here I am, bored and pissed off. I have 5 hour wait and I would have much prefer chatting to someone than being stuck in this carpeted KFC smelling room, with people moving up and down and kids crying. I’m not happy, and I’m tiered.

I realized I left my bb charger at home. Last night I packed it but I took it out again this morning to reacharge my phone. Since I don’t have much battery left I decided to turn off my phone (so no music either L ) because I must call my mom upon arrival in Australia so she comes to pick me up at the door of the building to pay the cab (no aussie dollars with me…) .

The day has been hectic. I woke up at 9.30 (OH YEAH!) and the first thing that came to mind was “hahahaha everyone is in the office…I imagine my department and ppl shouting around… and thought this was just wonderful I was under my covers with no need to go to the office”.I stood up and I literality didn’t stop running until 13.15 time at which me, woman in black, left the house. I had to sort out quite some stuff, had long chats with Lufthansa and Singapore to try and book with miles my flights to attend Dina’s Wedding, but was unsuccessful at it, called a few friends, made sure I said bye to grandma!! (done!) and then I went for a walk in town to finalize some things that I never have time to do. I’m so not used to walking in Sant Cugat during normal walking hours Monday to Friday. Oh man, how snobbish that place is. At a point I found myself staring at a woman with a discuss face. I was simply thinking “Seriously?” I mean, are there really so many snobbish people in this planet?

Once all was sorted I also stopped at the supermarket to buy a bunch of mandarins, jamon, bread and tomato to make a good huge pa amb tomaquet sandwich for my lunch. I knew id be getting no proper food until my departure from London. Indeed, I got some crap crackers on my flight from BCN- London, at least managed to have two orange juices! J I have a bunch of mandarins with me which I must eat between now and arrival time in Sydney as it is forbidden to take out of the plane and enter into the country any type of fruit or vegetable, among other things. You are thinking ”whatever?” Well controls are strict and they would catch me anyways. Gona eat them all within the next 28 hours.

So one of the random things about Barcelona Airport, is and I would have put my hand on fire that before at El Prat they used to announced the departure of flights. However now, there is simply a sign that says “proceed to gate that has been announced by your airline, you will not be called” and indeed there were no announcements. As I was flying outside of the “EU” I had to pass passport control and it clearly said “this is a point of no return”. The policemen said “are you sure you want to go through, there is no going back, there is no shopping in here only a McDonalds and 1 duty free shop”. I looked at him and said “SURE”… point of no return, there were signs everywhere NO RETURN BEYOND THIS POINT. The situation was just funny. Headed to McDonalds got myself a McFlurry, atehalf of my sandwich (which is huge…) ate a few mandarins, checked the duty free , ordered a cortado and headed to boarding gate. Here is a positive point about El Prat you can have a croissant and a coffee for a normal price. It’s a bit more expensive than in the city but not much more, and that I very much appreciate, that is why I had a cortado while enjoying a British woman try and order a “British tea” “we have early grey” “No! That isn’t British” “we have..” “No, that isn’t British””we have” “argh, whatever just give me that tea”. Hilarious.

Where I sat for more than 20 hours...

Again, no internet in El Prat either!! At least the area where I was (the D gates) I saw no WIFI signs. This is seriously crap. So much for the amazing rating of certain airlines and airports online…internet services at Heathrow and El Prat sux! And you better not be thinking I’m exaggerating because I’m sure quite a few people would enjoy talking to me right now as I would do myself! Ahhh!

Moving on… as we approached London the first thing that came to mind was “Oh Rigutto is here…” by the touchdown time it was pitch dark, I saw the cars on the other side of the road, everything is carpeted and there are Harrods signs. Im in the UK. I love the fact that there is a WHS Bookshop. Got myself two books as they had a get 1 get second half price. I didn’t take a book with me and really wanted to buy a specific one but….they didn’t have it L So now I have some reading for the plane. This is something I like about airports like Changi,Heathrow or Schipol… a wide range of English books available!! Although according to my opinion Schipol tends to have the best selection of books! I bought the books with Euros, so I got change in Pounds. I decided to go spend the 1 pound 63 pennies and as I was at the shop I saw another guy looking at prices of coke fanta and counting coins, looking at price of water and counting coins. It should have been taped, both of us trying to get rid of our pounds and optimize the best usage of them. I got myself a waterbotle which said 1.60 and then as I went to buy it the woman said “if you get the paper with it its only 1 pound” I thought she meant I had to pay 1 pound for the paper and I said “no thanks” but she insisted. The water was only 1 pound plus I got a free paper. Just strange!

Miquel before leaving gave me 5 pounds he had! J So in the coming hours I will decide on what I spend them. He said I should go for a starbucks which I have in front of me, I most probably will. I feel tiered, which makes me hope that I will get some sleep in the plane. If I fall asleep by the time we are flying over India ill be happy!! (I never truly fall asleep before that… if I do). However my legs are already hurting, and generally the pain is a major reason why I don’t fall asleep. Exhaustion kills me eventually and I fall asleep a few hours before touch down.

I’m sitting in a terminal in Heathrow I’ve never truly been to. Actually the security area I am quite convinced I have been to, it rang a bell, but this waiting area really doesn’t. I’m a bit deceived, I thought all BA flights would be leaving from the new terminal 5, and I had been hoping to go there. However departure is from this old terminal 3. Not truly sure why I’m here, there is a PIA flight leaving for Islamabad, one from Emirates, a couple to Barcelona, Hong Kong and others. Not sure why my BA flight is also leaving from this terminal. Here I am, and I truly feel in a hub, people don’t stop running up and down. People watching is interesting, quite a few pakis, which makes me think someday ill have to fly there and makes me really think Irum should be here L. Its clear this are long haul flights, most of the people are dressed properly for flying. I mean sneakers, loose clothing, etc. . . when I was in BCN it was so full of business men flying to London , when we landed, I was the only one walking to “Connecting Flights” the rest all went to “Baggage Claim”. I suppose that the business men that are gona be on my flght are all in the VIP lounge.. darn!

Multiple flights to Sydney!!

Gona go spend my 5 pounds!

(im in transit in Thailand currently, i have applied for 15 minutes of free internet and its taken me 20 minutes to log in, finally its working! gona send this and get on my plane again!! im in ASIAAAAAAA :):):) still half way to get home! :(

My beautiful 747-400!!