Hi guys!
Before we continue with my European adventure, i need to make a confession first. I'm an addict. I am addicted... to SHOPPING. I know i know, nothing new there, but seriously... Every couple of months now, a local online shop (that operates via BBM group, screw Blackberry!!!) would send me a bill and a huge package consisted of tons of clothes i've pre-ordered. It used to be every few weeks and the amount would not be too crazy (for my standard), but nowadays the owner's so comfortable with me, she'd wait until a substantial amount was collected before informing me.
I mean... the bills wouldn't be so bad-the worst was the latest one, it was around IDR 1.500.000 (around USD 150), and it's for a couple months (okay maybe two) worth of my orders, but the amount of clothes inside it... I counted 29 this time -____-. And that was just from ONE seller. I have two online shops that i do crazy POs like that FML. Not to mention my purchases from the malls (like today, went to TP to shop with my cousin L, ended up with two Mango tops and a Magnolia skirt. And TONS of Bling jewelries FML).
I was sorting through those latest addition to my wardrobe, and then forcefully pushed them into my bursting TWELVE doors wardrobe and it hits me. I NEED a REHAB. Haish. Anyone knows a rehab for shopping addicts? I think my craziness is getting out of control *cries*, and i dunno how *nor do i have any desire* to stop shopping. Especially for clothes. I really really should stop though, coz i HAVE NO MORE SPACE.
Or should i just create more space?
Anyway, enough about that *for now*, let's start our journey onto the 9th day in Europe. You're gonna see another haul of the stuffs i purchased in Milan! Here's a peek into the photos you'll see in this post!
That day the morning call was set at 5.30 WTF (usually it's 6 AM and that's super early already okay!) because the day before some of us didn't get breakfast, it was already swiped out by China tourists *LOLOL* (i know most of other travelers could relate, they are everywhere now FOL!), that's why the tour leader decided to make the morning call earlier than usual. We ended up queuing like MAD. The queue was SUPER DUPER long alright! L ended up not getting any breakfast because she went down a bit later and she'd have to line for... i dunno, 15 minutes to get some food? LOL. *Sigh* They seriously need to think of a way to solve this problem!
But first! OOTD of course...
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| Tribal Patterned Blazer : Matahari Department Store, Knitted Navy Blue and White Striped Tank Top : Raja FO (Jakarta), Tierred Hot Pants : Number 61, Thick Black Legging : Online, Striped Dark Grey Socks : Can't remember, just at some random shop somewhere :p |
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| Love this picture but hunny photo-bombed me from behind, decided to post it anyway coz i looked nice hahahaha |
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| I think i shared the bacon with hunny okay! |
After we finished eating, it was time to continue the journey! Another pretty long one, we're going to Italy! Yay! The land of hot people! (And yes, we spotted the most numbers of hot guys there *LOL*, of course L and i didn't pay any attention of the girls, i'm sure Eek and hunny did hahaha). Oh by the way, i lost my camera pouch in Europe Hotel zzzz... It disappeared somehow!!! OMG, it was such a creepy hotel, do you think a...non-human might've hidden it? *Shudder*. Fortunately my camera pouch was the cheapo ones we bought in local accessories chain stores, Bunga, and it was already super dirty so... That's okay lah.
During the journey, can you guess what we did? Of course, stopped by Auto Grills as usual hahaha... And cam-whore session can never be missed right, but this time.... We even took pictures in the toilet! No no, not cam-whoring pictures mind you, but because we spotted this...
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| Feminine stuffs vending machine |
And no, L wasn't purchasing a sanitary pad, tampon or even condom hahahaha, other than those stuffs they actually sold... err... Mini vibrators *ROFL*... I was very surprised when i spotted it and told L jokingly "Shall we buy one?", i forgot i was talking to my severely weird cousin... of course she insisted on buying it as a souvenir!!! (Or not. I wouldn't know if she actually use it, right? AHAHAHAHA, don't kill me L :p).
It was very expensive though (for a vending machine thingy LOL), EUR 5, and obviously we didn't have enough coins, L actually went out and confiscate coins for our hubbies to buy it hahahaha..
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| OMG, i didn't realize i made such a crazy expression hahahahaha |
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| No, i wasn't playing, whenever i saw blinking buttons i just had to press it though... Yeah, i did get some stares by some local kids... It was THEIR space after all... |
Because it's filled with liquid, whenever we purchase them in tropical countries (or not even tropical ones, but other Asian countries that we went to around summer) the contents sometimes would be dried out! Of course no such problem here in Europe...
Also bought more nougats *obsessed*, this time with the dried strawberries :
Also bought more nougats *obsessed*, this time with the dried strawberries :
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| Look at those huge chunks! *drool* |
And we continue on with the journey... It wasn't as far as the journey from Paris to Geneva, we arrived at the first city in Italy we're visiting : Milan around midday! Milan was... AWESOMEEEE! LOVE it!
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| Snap pictures as soon as we got off the bus! |
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| Kikie said it'll be hot in Italy, but it was collddd in Milan that day! |
We're going to Duomo di Milano! Snapped some pictures while Kikie gave out directions and time to meet up. We were given about, two hours maybe? I can't remember precisely. We were free to have lunch wherever we want *yay!*, take pictures and shop (there was this Mall called Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II just next to the Duomo or the Cathedral). Of course, we wouldn't be able to explore the mall really because of the very limited time, but we would be able to visit some designer (LV, Prada, Gucci, and the likes) stores on the ground level.
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| Duomo di Milano, sorry for the sign on the right, i didn't realize it was there :p |
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| This one taken by hunny using his Samsung |
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| Charming buildings across the street |
We passed by a charming little cafe while we were walking from the bus stop to the Duomo, while the other group members opted for McD, of course we wouldn't miss trying out local food in a local cafe! We backtracked to the little cafe, but on the way there we were stopped by a cute Asian waiter/chaser (i dunno what to call him, his duty was to call out and promote his cafe to the passerby, i guess he's should be called a marketer? I like the word "chaser" though, coz he chases customers? LOL), dunno if it was because he's so cute but we decided to try his place out LOLOLOL.
On the way to the cafe, we were approached by yet another chaser! This time the chaser was a cute Caucasian guy *LOLOLOL*, i believe one must be good looking to snatch this kind of job, yeah? They began arguing because the Caucasian chaser blatantly chased us and used the words "much better" "don't go there" LOLOLOL. How crazy was that? I dunno if it was their usual banter because later on i spotted them both chatting casually, so i guess they were actually friends? Haha. We decided to stick to the first chaser though, would be feel bad to abandon him for the other cute guy *LOLOLOL*.
I saw Benetton store just on the corner before the alley to the cafe, and since it'll be at least a little while for our orders to come out and we don't have all that much time, i dragged L back there to shop! I totally thought Benetton was an American brand (United Colors of.... Totally sounds like a USA tagline hahaha), stupid me, apparently it was Italian?
We used to have Benetton stores in Indonesia when i was younger, but it was a long time ago ahahaha, and they've since closed down. I remember Benetton sporting casual, jeans and tee back then, so i was pretty surprised that they now carries a lot more versatile style, reminds me a lot of the likes of Stradivarius, Pull&Bear, Bershka and other newer high street brands. LOVE them a LOT!
I'm not really into the clothes though, i was much more attracted to their bags collection, if i didn't stop myself i would've purchased every single one i saw there! I actually regretting not getting the black rattan with diamente clutch! ZZZ!
Other than clothes and bags (and shoes), they also have a perfume and make up corner. No, i don't think there's Benetton cosmetic line out there, but they teamed up with Model's Own, and since i've been reading British beauty blogs, i've been dying to try out Model's Own's nail polish. I wanted to snap up every single stuffs i could find (first time i saw a high street brand cosmetic in Europe that i could purchase! LOL! I was a bit hysterical :p), but they're so pricey i only allowed myself to buy one of their nail polish and one lip gloss. Was a bit torn between the lipstick and the lip gloss, but i do get a lot more wear out of my lip glosses than my lipstick, so i got the lipstick.
I also sniffed some of those Benetton perfumes (Benetton perfumes are available in Indonesia, but with a very limited selection, and while i am in a Benetton store, why not right???) and decided to get one :p.
Before i show you my mini Benetton haul, i just googled and found this AMAZING picture of Models Own's store!!!
OMGGGG isn't it AH-MAY-ZING-AH??? It's the cutest store i've ever seen! I need to fly to London, right NOW! LOL! Okay okay, freaking out curbed. Here's my mini haul :
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| Not much, but i spent almost IDR 1.000.000 for all those hahaha |
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| United Colors Of Benetton Weaved Pattern creme bag, it was on a sale, around EUR 40 after discount |
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| Yes, i've worn it plenty of times already, you might already saw it on hunny and i's Anniversary post |
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| Benetton Rosso Woman 100 ml, can't remember the price either, it was EUR 19.90 if i'm not mistaken |
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| Model's Own Madame Rose LG 104 Lip Gloss |
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| Model's Own Top Turquoise NP 054 Nail Polish |
Seriously, i cannot remember the price of each items. It was pretty expensive like i said, probably EUR 9.90 or something (lip gloss) and 7.90 (nail polish), don't take my word for it though, i totally just made them up. They were absolutely more than 5 EUR and less than 10. And the reason i chose those colors? Not because i was crazy about them, but because they had very little selections :(!!! They had a LOT more testers than actual items to sell, FML. I'd much rather buy their glittery nail polishes, looked pretty on the testers, too bad they had no stocks :(... Oh well, maybe next time... (i just looked at their color choices in their website, and the Pink Wink Lip Gloss' to die for...)
Went back later to buy a t-shirt for Baby Boy, L also bought clothes for her daughter. In the meantime, we spent more time than we originally meant so we rushed back to the cafe.
The guys already started eating! That's why all of the food pictures below were incomplete already *LOL*, those greedy guys!
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| Okay so it wasn't a cafe actually but a proper restaurant *LOL*, what's the difference anyway? |
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| Pizza for four of us, it was quite yummy! That's Eek's pasta peeking |
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| L was totally cray cray over Italian food, she finished her pasta and Eek's! LOL |
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| Eek, who didn't enjoy any of the European food other than the one in Holland *LOL* |
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| Hunny's risotto, he'd been wanting to try out an original, true-blue Italian risotto for the longest time, and this one in Milan was superb! |
I didn't order anything, just had the pizza and sampled the others' food *LOL*. I am not used to eat three times a day (but i do snack sometimes FML), and i had a big breakfast (i usually eat at around 11 PM, brunch! LOL. Breakfast and lunch should be together for me normally) so i was still quite full. I understand L must've been starving though, she only had a few mouthful of food from Eek's plate in the morning.
We finish our food in a flash hahaha, then we rush back to the Duomo to cam-whore! Also to soak in the atmosphere of course, we're in Italy, baby!
I remember seeing this place in an Indonesian travel and food show, and told myself "I will go there someday." And now i have! *Tears of happiness*. And now i'm telling myself "I will go back there and really explore someday." Again, hopefully sooner than later.
Being the responsible person that i was, i had to carry my duty, that is to enter every single Prada store i could find to check if they have stocks for the Prada bag my niece wanted. FYI, a week prior to my flight to Europe, my sis kept on BBM-ing me, changing the size and color of the bag (black! No, blue! No, red! Get the red if you can't get the black. The blue's the last choice. No wait, don't get the black one! Just get the red! No, better the blue one! WTF!!!!!), also she said the price was EUR 1,490. Went to the one here... (went to the one in Gallerie LaFayette too but they didn't have stock)
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| Sneakily took pictures inside Prada store |
They actually had stocks for the Cornflower blue one! Problem was... on the last e-mail we managed to receive from my sis *before we can no longer find free wifi hahahaha*, she said to get the RED one. Plus the price was higher than what she said *but later when i think about it, the one that she said was probably after the tax refund*. I don't want to purchase the wrong thing, what if i got it wrong and she refused to take the bag? And force me to pay it for myself??? I didn't even like the bag!!!
So, we frantically trying to call her (she and her husband was somewhere in Russia by then), she didn't pick up. Tried calling the niece, she also didn't pick up! Called my mum to ask her to call my niece or my sis to find out if i should buy the bag (because if i didn't and they wanted that one, i'm also gonna be scolded! FML!), by the time my mum texted me back to tell me it's okay to buy it... we were long gone LOLOLOL. Seriously, we're not gonna be in the same store forever, hello! We weren't even in the same city anymore when my mum texted me!
Went to LV store next to take a look, but i was overwhelmed with whole scene, and couldn't find anything i liked in a glance. Plus we were running out of time, and like i said before, i can never shop harriedly! So i gave it a pass. L went to Gucci store and began regretting her Long Champ purchase because the Gucci shopping bag she always wanted was actually cheaper than the Long Champ one, FHL! Notably, the classic one she wanted was actually not in production already, but the new one was a quite similar. She began sulking because she wanted the Gucci bag! LOL.
Anyway, we decided to go outside again, and L spotted an ice cream stall..
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| The ice cream was very small and quite expensive! EUR 3? I guess everything's more expensive in Milan? We found cheaper and much bigger ice creams later in Venice and Rome! |
L and Eek bickered a bit because of that ice cream *LOLOLOL*! L hates it that whenever offered, Eek would say no and refuse to get one, but as soon as L bought one he'd reach out and wanting to try it, in big bites! She actually really refused to give him any! LOLOLOL. Those two are cray cray. Everybody has their own relationship so i'm not going to comment, it was just puzzling to me because hunny and i's relationship is like the total opposite of theirs. And therefore, i find it puzzling whenever i was being my usual self towards my hunny and Eek would stare at me and then said "Thank God i wasn't married to you." What makes him think that he'd even a slight chance of that anyway???? LOLOLOL. I would never be attracted to him if he was the last person on earth WTF.
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| Coconut fountain! Water keeps on dripping into the coconuts! |
I saw those coconut fountain in the same travel and food show, i remember i was super puzzled when he had those coconuts. They looked pretty ripe to me, and in Asia you don't really eat ripe coconuts, we used them to cook instead. We'll only eat (and drink the water) the young ones, the younger the better. I was very attracted to the fountain, as in i wanted to take a pic!!! But the stall owner kept on offering us to buy them so i was a bit embarrassed to take pictures blatantly because i would never buy a slice of coconut for EUR 2 (or maybe it was EUR 1)!!! You'd get at least two whole coconut for that amount, maybe even three in Indonesia LOLOLOL. So i quickly snapped the picture while he was looking away!
It was time to meet up after that, we were quite early so we had to wait for a bit for the others to arrive. I also had to pee, we're continuing the journey to another city (Venice) next you know, it's going to be long! Tried to go to the Auto Grill in the mall, but it was crazy crowded and the line to the toilet was insane, wanted to go to McD across the street but one of the uncle (the male version of my mum one) told us the line was equally as crazy! So we ended up asking in Benetton if we could use their toilet, and thankfully they agreed! It wasn't exactly clean but... well, when you have to go you have to go, right? LOL.
Waited around Benetton while the others went to the toilet after, so we began cam-whoring again...
I'm very happy with my purchases, only maybe wasn't enough hahahaha! You know what? Apparently my memory's playing tricks on me LOLOL. The scamming incidents that i told you happened in Day 6 in Paris? Both actually happened here, in Milan, just in front of Duomo. I recorded little details of what happened in Europe on a daily basis in my BB's memo. LOLOLOL. Sorry!
Even though it's sad to leave Milan behind, it was time to move on! We're going to Venice next! I dunno what i learnt in Uni, apparently nothing at all, because i actually expected Venice to be like in the movies... Like... Completely surrounded by water and you can only go anywhere using water transportation (like the gondola...) *LOLOLOL*. It didn't occur to me in the slightest that those i saw in movies were actually the islands... Hahahaha, i actually never knew that they were islands! WTF, seriously i dunno what's wrong with me *slaps self*, did i expect to suddenly be welcomed with never ending canals out of nowhere?
I also didn't expect when they told us we're staying in Venice for the night, it was actually not at the islands (we're staying at the mainland, that was located in a normal land and not the natural or artificial islands that we saw on movies LOL), it's the small sleepy city that was errrr... the most modest city we've stayed in throughout our trip, we wouldn't even see any canals before the next day hahahaha... I seriously also didn't know they have that mainland... My geography seriously sucks... I wonder how did i get those As in my International Geography class..
Anyway, before we talk about Venice further, i want to show you more of my beauty haul! In one of the toilet stops in some random Auto Grill (or it might be called something else, i didn't pay attention, basically a random rest stop with mini market along the highway) i finally found one that sells cosmetics!!! *The joy!!! Admittedly they only sold one brand of cosmetics, but we didn't stumble into any other mini markets/drug stores with a complete selection of a cosmetic line!!!
The brand that was sold there : Prestige. I guess Prestige's from USA (i googled and i wasn't sure but it seems like it, please do correct me if i'm wrong), what the hell was i doing shopping for American cosmetics in Europe right, BUT I COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING ELSE! ZZZ. Tourists in a tour group never seems to be taken to where locals actually shops *LOL*, and this was the best (or the only...) i could find, so screw it lah, i'm buying!!!
I went a little crazy, especially looking at the quite nice selections of their nail polishes! I almost went beserk but *pats self in the back*, i held back with great will hahahaha... Only got a littttlleee bit :p, here they are :
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| Yes, only 5 items! Not so bad right *LOL* |
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| Wonder Gloss Nail Laquers in NLW-38 Intuition and NLW-02 Secret |
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| Yes, i do have too much purple and pink nail polishes already, but i doubt i have any shade left that i don't already own (come to think about it, i actually don't have too much of the more normal, neutral ones! I tend to choose the brightest and craziest colors nowadays so this is quite a change hahaha and somehow i was drawn to those two since the first time i set eyes on the counter!) |
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| A closer look to Intuition, it wasn't apparent in earlier pictures but it actually has a very gorgeous shimmer |
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| Secret |
The Wonder Gloss Nail Lacquers were normal sized, leaning towards a bit chunky. I don't remember the price however, it stated EUR 4.90 in the website so it's probably around that... The next two nail polishes were smaller.
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| Nail Bijoux in NLM-68 Bleu Flash |
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| Nail Bijoux in NLM-74 Vert Opaline |
The small ones were cheaper obvi, it was probably EUR 2.99 (or was it EUR 2.49?) and i went crazy at first seeing the price coz it seemed so cheap, but after i converted it, well it was actually just a normal price for a nail polish *LOLOL*, so i only got two. Already picked a sweet and demure colors for the first two so i decided to choose those two, they caught my eyes the most amongst the others.
And finally, i only picked up one lip gloss. I bought another lip gloss instead of lipstick probably because lipsticks were more expensive? LOL. I don't remember why. Remembering that i've already picked up a lip gloss in Benetton earlier, i only allowed myself one lip gloss.
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| Vinylwear Extreme in VWE-06 Plum Rush |
You might wonder why i picked up both darker colors lip glosses that day, i was naturally attracted to the lightest, glossiest, pinkiest ones, but i have sooooo many of them already. I'm trying to introduce more colors on my lip gloss family because i found out recently that i actually like how they look on me, so even though i wasn't naturally attracted to those colors, those were the ones i ended up picking up. I need more color choicest in my lippie department *LOL*, and i wanted to make sure i don't already buy a color that i already have 10-20 tubes of hahaha. I sure don't have much that's similar to Plum Rush!
So, that was my instant mini market make up haul! I chose the stuffs within 5 minutes only *LOLOLOL*, thankfully i am not the kind of girl who regrets their purchases once they got home with them, i am actually quite pleased with them, and happy that i at least got some make ups from Europe!
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| Random lollies that i had in Europe :p |
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| I'm a little obsessed with lollies... And it matched my nails!!! |
Now, back to Venice.
They took us to... shop. LOL. And with that tone you should already guess, it wasn't the kind of shopping i'm interested in *LOL*. They took us to this leather goods (that also sells some brands like Lacoste) shop. YAWN YAWN YAWN. It reminded me of Tanggulangin (local leather goods industry in Sidoarjo, just outside Surabaya) FML. I guess Italy is very well-known for its leather goods, so it was only fitting that they brought us there. I am extremely unenthusiastic though, just wandered around aimlessly around, not even one thing caught my eyes hahaha.
Eek bought some Lacoste bags for his mum and sister, somehow they put those bags in this huge Bally bag. We were finished a lot faster than the others so we cam-whored as usual :p.
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| I realized later (after i snapped this picture and moved on) that they had Indonesian flag also on top of the store haha |
They also sold branded luggage, one of the luggage that we brought to Europe was falling apart (the zipper was already broken when we reached Jakarta! Somehow we managed to whip it back to live-we had to, no choice! We didn't have any other luggage! And then sometime in Europe one of the wheel broke and was missing! LOL) so hunny was really contemplating on buying one.
Hunny's a very patient guy, but in some cases he's doesn't have an ounce of patience in him (sadly that's also the case with his little boy, dunno why he cannot be more patient to Baby Boy...). Packing and closing a super full luggage's definitely not one of his strongest suit, that's my expertise! He'd sigh and moan and curse whenever he tried to close our luggage in Europe, and i who never had any patience in the first place, listening to him being annoying like that made me exploded many times, i always shooed him away and manage to close the luggage by myself within a few seconds. He's just hopeless lah that guy.
Anyway, problem was... Lufthansa (the airline we're using to fly home) only allows one luggage per passenger, getting a new luggage means we'll have to pay EUR 150 for an extra luggage! Even though the luggage in that store was really cheap compared to any store in Asia, if you count the EUR 150, it wouldn't be THAT cheap anymore (unless you buy the REALLY expensive ones like IDR 8.000.000 one by Samsonite, then it'd be worth it because they wold it around IDR 4.000.000 there, even with the extra EUR 150 there's still more than IDR 2.000.000 difference. But can you imagine me buying luggage at that price???? ARE YOU INSANE???).
Sure, we can chuck the old luggage (because we don't actually need a new luggage to house our stuffs, i am extremely good when it comes to packing and estimating a maximum weight for our luggage even without scales, i've never had to pay for over weight luggage costs all my life) but then he'd have to face my parents wrath because one, it wasn't ours (so we didn't have any right to do so), and two-my dad is an extremely thrifty person, he'd kill hunny for throwing an almost perfectly fine luggage that would only need very minimal repairs!
I could tell he really wanted to buy one though, he even snapped a picture of the display *LOL*.
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| Yeah, i told him i would only allow him to buy brightly colored luggage, he can only dream of buying a black or grey luggage, no way so FUGLY! |
No, we didn't get any but don't worry, i think i've mentioned it before but we already purchased three different sized luggage (big, medium and small-cabin size) in purple and neon green :P. Bought all three of them for the total of IDR 2.034.000 (and we're paying in installments because they're having a promotion in Grand Palace, GC. Extra 10% off+6 months installments using Danamon credit card. Anyone in Surabaya looking for any luggage-pretty like mine or fugly and boring if you prefer so-hurry! Go to GC! They're having a huge promotion, up to 70% off! Totally value for money!), so hunny's totally appeased. Can't wait to use them to Malaysia and Singapore (12 more days!).
Anyway, here's a glimpse of how the city looked like, snapped on the way to the bus.
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| It was a quiet and sleepy town... |
Went to the hotel afterward, andddd... It turned out to be the BEST hotel we've stayed in on our entire trip! Move Hotel was new, sparkling clean, ultra sleek and modern, not to mention quite spacious. I really wanted to cry when we had to leave the super nice hotel on the next morning! But i'm getting ahead of myself again, let's see how the hotel room looked like.
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| Full glass door and a shower!!!! *Tears of joy* No more floody bathroom floor! How can i not love this hotel??? |
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| Only in Italy, one toilet and one ass-washing station in every bathroom hahahaha |
It was one of the fairly earlier nights that we got to the hotel, and definitely no complaints here! With such a nice hotel, nobody would have any problem of staying in longer! We tried watching TV, but like in every other countries that we went to in this trip, the show was dubbed. They were actually playing Jay Chou's Curse Of The Golden Flower (see #Undecided, not only they had Asian movies playing in their cinemas, they actually play Asian movies on TV too!), and it was really amusing seeing Jay Chou rattling on in Italian hehehehehehehehehe.
So, that was our first day in Italy, super fun and memorable... We're going to Venice (the islands) next!
Don't forget to check back for the next installment in this series hehe..
#Pink
So, that was our first day in Italy, super fun and memorable... We're going to Venice (the islands) next!
Don't forget to check back for the next installment in this series hehe..
#Pink
- 11:16:00 PM
- 6 Comments
