I should have guessed but being me, I was ambitious & task-oriented. Fred only had 10 days of leave, counting in precious weekends. I have listed 3 major Western European cities we (he) must visit from his London base: Venice, Rome & Paris. How does one accomplish an unhurried and reasonably thorough itinerary of 3 cities within 10 days? I researched on the Eurail... I ploughed over the Eurostar timetable, I studied tour companies' websites... finally, I thought the most sensible form of transport to fit in my itinerary was air travel. From point to point, the time needed on the flights would average just about an hour.
So we went on our way - from london to venice, then venus to rome (this leg was even FOC for airfare by Ryan Air, ok but we had to pay minimal for fuel surcharge, taxes etc.), then rome to paris, finally paris back to london!
We passed through Stansted airport (london), Treviso airport near Venice, hit Ciampino at Rome, then on to Paris Orly airport, finally from Charles De Gulle (oh yes, voted the dirtiest airport for a sleepover recently), we returned to london Luton airport. Unbelievable! We passed through 6 airports & took 4 flights. All in 10 days! Not to mention I have additional flying of 13 hours back & forth Sin-Lon.
The only conclusion I have drawn is I simply dislike air travel. I actually endure confining myself to that economy class seat, strapped down with hundred other strangers, browsing boring magazines and watching movies with uncomfortable earphones, on unbearably small screens (that's for international flights, budget flights, no entertainment - thank God the flight time is short!). I now know why people pay for business class and fly SQ for better (ahem! not always though) service.
I want a transporter device that can take me to the faraway continents! Just spare me the flights!
Fred, in best of form at the start of our journey from Stansted Airport, London.
No comments:
Post a Comment