Travelogue: The Journey Begins
The journey started a bit bumpy as I woke up at 730am which is a bit late, (I set the alarm at 700am). With foggy mind, I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and end up frying 4 eggs with half burned bread as well. Nevertheless, it was tasty! Went out from the hostel at 820am, as soon as I’m outside, I regretted wearing the wrong shoes and no glove, oh, I’m going to suffer for vanity’s sake! My feet nearly had frost bite and my hands were red by the time I’m at Recnoi Vokzal to find a mashrut to go to Sheremetevo Airport. Something outrageous happened there. I can’t find the mashrut to airport so I asked for some direction and possible buses to the airport as well. They told me that bus no 815 goes there but to no avail, I just can’t find that f***ing bus. Then, a dyadya (uncle, in russian) came to me and offer his taxi. Upon hearing the word taxi, my high alert alarm sounds off. I asked the price first, and he asked me back, how much do I want to offer. But, beforeI could even open my mouth, he said:”Dvesti Tisich”. Then, I was like WTH, 2000rubles to go to the airport, is he crazy? Or does he thinks that I am crazy? I said, nonono, I don’t have that much, 300 rubles is all that I can offer. Yeah, 300 rubles is not even a bad price, its higher than any public transport to the airport, but he rejected my offer. Then, another taxi car come at me and offer 500 rubles for a ride to the airport, I insisted on 300 rubles, and he refuses so I said:”Back off!” and went away back to the metro station. Actually, my purpose of going to Recnoi Vokzal was to find the 80 rubles mashrut to airport but my hand went red after being exposed to the freezing cold for too long thus, I can’t stand it anymore and went back into the metro station and head to aeroexpress station. In the end, I spent 276 rubles for the trip to airport, cheaper than my 300 rubles offer to the taxi guys.
Today, it is the day for melodramatic day! The ride in the aeroexpress train is very smooth and I even remembered one of the Russian short stories about the ticket stampler in train that yells:”ticket please! ticket please!”
I know someone know this story very well. Arriving at the airport at 1108am, I am nervous because my flight embarks on 1250pm. Theres no way that I am going to miss this flight. So, after having a quick look at the departure board, I went to the check in counter at the left wing. Then, to my revelation, it was the wrong counter as the flight was operated by aeroflot andstated Zurich as its destination. Yeah, I know I am going to Zurich, but forgot that I had to transit at Helsinki first! Its not that I forgot the transit thingy, its that I forgot that it should be my first destination. LoL So, the check in lady ask me to go to the right wing, so I did. There, I waited for like 4 complete advertisement runs and suddenly, the counter that I’m queing at announces that its time for Istanbul passenger to check in and its at 1305pm. In my mind, had I missed the check in time for Helsinki? I checked for Helsinki flight at the right wing departure board, but find none. So, I went to the central board and found out that the counter is at the left wing (again!). So, this time, I went to the left wing and pray hard that I would not make a fool of myself again. At last, I managed to check in. But funny, there is a registrar (guy) who find that my passport is interesting, and took picture of it?! LoL Am I that good looking? Okay,just joking. BTW, I bumped on Farhah and the gang in the airport. Such a small world, they were going to Paris+London (typical route this winter season), I couldn’t count how many peoples went there this holiday with all my fingers. No pun intended.
But, another drama ensues. This time, it involve the immigration official, they were such a skeptical being and never been lenient with me. I know that my picture in my passport, my visa and even my current face looks very different but couldn’t you just save my time and let me pass already? Instead, the immigration official sends me to the immigration office to get some paperwork done and reconfirm that I am Nick Grayson Lin Jone How, a student from Malaysia studying in MMA, Moscow and also interrogated me for what purpose I go to Zurich. Duh, what else, vacation and sight-seeing of course, or should I say terrorist activity? I think they would be more convinced if I say the latter as my objective of traveling. Nevertheless, technology saved me, phew! Thanks to the computer database, I passed the immigration check, now I wonder what will happen when I get back from Switzerland later….
Flight took off at 1250pm and I arrived at Helsinki International Airport at 1330pm. Helsinki International Airport is considered as one of the best in the world, but I didn’t get the chance to experience it as (1) I forgot to withdrew EURO bills (2) I simply don’t have the time as my next connecting flight will be at 1555pm, oh wait I do have the time, but I still can’t find the ATM machine so, no thanks!
The flight to Zurich was 2hour and 15 minutes and it is the smallest aircraft I ever board on. It had 2 seats on each side and 2 flight attendants. Nevertheless, its comfortable and the seats is better than of AirAsia which is rigid and not comfortable, for sleeping of course. They served a small evening tea which is quite bizarre for me.
\After arriving at Zurich Airport, I meet Aunt Elizabeth and we had a small meal at an asian restaurant before departing by train to Bern. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to arrive at Bern. Switzerland at a glance is a very fascinating country, now I am learning more and more about Switzerland and the peoples in Switzerland are very nice and friendly. Even the Malaysian hospitality runs a bit short from it, by that, I will never compare the it with the hospitality that I get from the place where I started my journey, ****** (Name were obscured for protection).
I reached my room at around 11 o’clock in the night. Here are some pictures of it.
And here’s the picture of the building where I am staying at.
And random pictures which I took while traveling down the road in the midnight.
Sorry for the untimely update, actually, I finished the draft for this post earlier, but due to me being over-exhausted yesterday, I only managed to type half of the draft into it while the rest was left unfinished as I felt too tired and decided to go to sleep. Well, I’ll try to update the next one soon, but I’m going to hit the sack now, so I hope I get up early enough tomorrow morning to post something before going to Emmental to visit a cheesery and look deeper into the heart of Switzerland by observing how does the doctors in Switzerland work, especially in the countryside. So long for now!
