"I'm in a place where I don't know where I am." June.b's Profile

Thanks for dropping by my travel page. Most of the stuff that you'll find here are budget travel stuff based on my personal travel experience. A bitsy splurge here and there but mostly budget trips. I tried to put up as much budget tips that I could, so enjoy browsing...and enjoy your trips.



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JUST A PERSONAL THOUGHT..... The whole course of flying is one thing I don't really enjoy - from taking taxi to the airport, the airport hassles, and the worst part is the flight itself -- but I like the whole traveling idea. I don't like window seats. Looking down at plane windows makes me aware that there's more than 30,000 feet bet. me & the ground below, then goes the turbulence, big shakes, makes me shiver on the thought of crashing, morbid thoughts, I know. Then there's always at least one rude flight attendant, just as there are annoying passengers. There maybe people on board who shares my sentiments? Always wishing the plane would land immediately. Yet, right before the landing I would eventually feel fine, that's the joy of flying I guess, it scares you & then anticipating the thrill of your destination, you'll realize - the flight scare is indeed worth it after all.

I may hate flying... but I enjoy travelling... I don't know if that makes sense?
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Travel T00LZ:

For visa information anywhere, click here: VISA Information for all nationals
For all current Currency Exchange Rates, click here: X E
For International Dialing Codes (Country/Cities), click here: International Dialing Codes
For foreign affairs ministry of most countries, click here : MOFA
To convert anything (weight, length, area, even currency), click here: ConvertPlus
Want to know the weather for a day, a week or a month? click here: Weather
Europe Budget Airlines Guide and List, click here: Low Cost Airline Guide
Low-cost Airlines world-wide list, click here: Low Cost Airlines by country
Traveling by Train, click here: The Man in Seat 61
In an arabic-speaking place? Convert English to Arabic, here: English-Arabic

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All photographs on the pages are taken by me & no copyright infringement shall be imposed upon anyone who wish to utilize any of it for decent, moral, respectable, and legal purpose - w/in VT's rules and regs. of course. Exclude those that have me, friends or family on the photos. And, I would certainly appreciate your mentioning the source or quote VT or URL where you've taken the photo/s. Thanks.
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Handshake from a Syrian boy.

EAST ASIA
Hongkong |

SOUTH ASIA
Agra (The Taj Mahal) | Bangalore | Mumbai | New Delhi |

SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Bali | Bangkok | Chiang Mai | Laguna | Palawan | Singapore |

WEST ASIA
Abha | Amasra | Amasya | Ayvalik | Bergama (Pergamum)
| Bodrum | Bursa | Çanakkale (Troy) | Damascus | Dogubeyazit | Edirne | Ephesus (Selcuk) | Goreme (Cappadocia) | Hama | Istanbul | Istanbul in Winter | Izmir | Iznik | Jeddah | Kas | Konya | Ma'lula | Palmyra | Pamukkale | Qal'at Al Hisn | Riyadh | Safranbolu | Sanliurfa | Trabzon |

EUROPE
Amsterdam | Barcelona | Munich | Paris | Prague | Rome | Rothenburg | Salzburg | Schwangau | Tours |

NORTH AFRICA
Cairo | Aswan | Philae | Abu Simbel | Luxor |
Wadi Natrun |

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Dolphin show in Istanbul.

Did not care about the news about continuous street rallies in Cairo, I flew in end of March 2012. I'm focus on heading to Siwa which I was not able to do during my 2 previous trips. Siwa is a different place, time stood still there and it's an oasis of serenity and peace and like news of the chaos in Cairo do not affect this small peaceful town. There were rallies for presidential candidates in downtown Cairo but it wasn't a trouble, I was even took a video of it, and I saw two rallies on the window of my hotel which is right on the very center.

After 10 days I flew in to Istanbul, and this time is a different one from those several trips I made in Turkey. Different in that I spent about a week with a friend with 3 kids so I've to take them to children entertainment places. So for those asking for places to go in Istanbul for children, here it is.

Kids Stuff #1 : Turkuazoo huge aquariums and tunnel aquarium with sharks, stingrays, and all sorts of sea creatures.

Kids Stuff #2 : Sapphire Observation Deck 360 degreees of spectacular view of the whole Istanbul on 50th floor of Istanbul's tallest building, that also include a skyride/helicopter simulation ride over the city. Exhilirating fun for the whole family!

Kids Stuff #3 : Istanbul Dolphinarium dolphins, walruses, beluga whale shows.

From Istanbul I flew in to Antalya, stayed a couple of days since I landed there before heading to the laid back Olympos. Then onto the beautiful Fethiye and Oludeniz before flying out of Dalaman airport back to Istanbul.

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Solar-powered transport, Amsterdam

Paris + Tours + Barcelona + Amsterdam + Munich + Salzburg + Prague + Rome + Istanbul ... I made it, 8 countries in 20 days!

So, my long overdue eurotour have finally been realized. Long awaited dream and I woke up sweating.... a lot.

It was tiring - sleep deprivation, forgetting to eat, moving all the time, several airports, train stations, dozen of hotels - mess.

Started the trip from Paris, then a 2-hour train ride to Tours (Loire Valley) for the Chateaux. Got lost at the metro station in Barcelona upon arriving from the airport, crouched at the corner floor of the full-packed train going to Sitges (for the beach!).

Got stoned (oh no, not that! stoned by foul words from cyclists) in Amsterdam cuz I crossed their lane and I almost got hit, so be aware that there are pedestrian lanes and bicycle lanes-- and of course public transport lanes. I've lost EUR5 at the automatic washing machine which I didn't know how to use in Haarlem - damn't I thought the 5 is only for the suds, toured the Nueschwanstein Castle in Schwangau (where I've discovered that I have the lungs of a 60-y.o. while walking up the way to the castle for more than half an hour) and the enchanting fairytale-ish town of Rothenburg while staying in the Bavarian capital of Munich. Got lost in Salzburg - walking almost an hour away from the city centre instead of to the city centre -- the couple who owned the small roadside cafe and pizza told me that if I continue further, I'll be on the border of Germany - no kidding, really!

Second thoughts - cuz of some negative write-ups - but I finally took the cheapest train/bus combination to Prague - am so damn glad I did - Prague is beautiful, one of the surprise I had in my eurotrip. On the verge of crying trying (took me an hour) to figure out how to purchase a tram ticket at the vending machine (believe me, the choices are so confusing) - and the ticket booths at the main train station in Prague is not manned or closed.

Supposed to be Interlaken in Switzerland but was swayed by our guide in Rothenburg who is based in Munich but a local of Switzerland, who said that Interlaken was just "another" touristy city - go to Italy. Silly! ...me.

And Rome it is! I did like Rome despite those pesky mozkies at the (smallest room I ever had during the entire trip) hotel who feasted on my tired black&blue blood, cigarrette butts everywhere around Termini, a bit of dissappointment seeing the Colloseum which was my first-hour taste of the city, had this "so this is already it? kind of feeling". But when I started to see the Il Vittoriano onwards - that's where my fascination started to sink in. Then I saw the Vatican City (gasp!). Rome is an amazing city after all.

After an exhausting 20 days, flew in to my favorite city of all - Istanbul -- almost got hit by a car, a tram, and finally sprained my toe ..can you believe that?? after all those dozen or more previous trips to this city? -- anyhoo, twas good to recharge, did a lot of sleeping and flew back to home base. Wooosh! and still did a lot of sleeping ...

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Red Valley, Goreme, Cappadocia

Mid-September '09, flew to Istanbul directly connecting to Izmir with 2 friends to see Ephesus. I put a detail on how to get to Selcuk (for Ephesus) from Izmir airport by public transport (actually, taxi + minibus) at my Ephesus page (see transport tip ).

18Sep - Bodrum to see St. Peter's Castle, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Antik Tiyatro, and ...party?

20Sep - bus travel to Istanbul . I thought I've had enough of IST, but no. Old sights new to my eyes - Eyup and Pierre Loti, and Kadikoy @ the asian shore.

26Sep - friends left, I took a bus to Amasra .

A piece of serenity and intimate touchdown with nature.

With a population of only about 7,000 (swelling to 25T during the summer tourist season), this small pretty town is located in Bartin province along the blacksea coast.

Cold September morning, I found myself wandering around the town looking for a place to rest my sleepy head. The views, the streets, the people, the ocean, the breeze - Amasra is just captivating that I wanted to come back soon.

Went up the hill through Nobethane Cadessi to the summit and wait for the sunset or sunrise or just do it for the view of the whole town and get enthralled.

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Year-end 2006, I had one of the most wonderful getaway exploring the history-ridden country of Turkey with 2 of my best buddies.

We celebrated the New Year countdown party in Taksim, fun dancing on the streets with the locals.

January 1, 2007 - we flew to Cappadocia, stayed in Goreme , explored the one of a kind terrains of cappadocia, seen unusual than unusual huge rock formations, rock churches, rock hotels (cave hotels I should say), underground city, valley trekking, took a balloon ride, etc.. in just 2 nights and 3 days.

January 3 - about 13 hours bus ride from Goreme to Selcuk to see Ephesus - Cave of Seven Sleepers, House of Virgin Mary, all those temples and ruins at Ephesus & Basilica of St John.

January 4 - two hours bus ride to Pamukkale to see the cotton castle (that I only have seen on postcards), aphrodisias, necropolis.

January 5 - Passed by Izmir to visit a friend, took a cable car ride up the hill to see the whole town.

January 6 - ten hours bus ride back to Istanbul, check the sights and did some shopping. Great trip!

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Krak Des Chevalier

Last minute travel... I've lost hope of ever traveling this month - November 2010. First, my passport's left with 4 months validity, then, mixed opinion on Egypt passport regulations - some say 2 months is ok, others say - don't dare. Morocco ditched me - it has to be 6 months validity. Yemen consulate don't want to issue visa these days for security reasons(?). I gave up!!! .........until....a colleague passed by and I merely passed a joking remark, I said, what if I go to your country? He said, yeah why not, give me you passport and before I knew it, I'm already buying my ticket and the visa was delivered in a couple of hours, packed a couple of shirts and pants, my camera and off I flew the following day to ------ Syria!

Ten days spread to - Hama - Palmyra - Krak Des Chevalier - Ma'loula - and the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world - Damascus.

In a nutshell - Syria is a lovely country with lovely people - a taxi driver returned my sunglasses which I accidentally left at his car after half an hour of dropping me off at a bus station. People at the old Damascus are friendly and there's always a welcoming smile.

I started with Hama - in reality only as a base to see Palmyra, then off I went to Krak Des Chevalier, stayed at a hotel with a balcony overlooking the gorgeous castle. One or maybe the only place where people still speaks aramaic - the language of Jesus - Ma'lula is only an hour away from Damascus, small town amazing location with two orthodox christian convents - St. Tekla enclaved on the rock mountains and St. Serge on top of the hill. Old Damascus is enchanting in an ancient kind of way, getting lost in the mazes of old small streets and alleyways is fascinating, and the Umayyad mosque is a marvel.

Then I caught the flu...and the fun ended there. ARRgh!!

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Chateau of Chambord

I took the RER B train from CDG airport to Paris central. Last time I landed at the Orly airport so this one is new for me. The Paris By Train website is so helpful in this regard, it has detailed information on how to travel by train from CDG to the center with point-to-point pictures of how you’ll go to the RER B station and all the instructions.

Arrived at Carol’s house late afternoon already. I still remember her place where I’ve stayed for almost 2 weeks 5 years ago which I called ”Home” in Paris. It was really nice seeing Carol again, beautiful than ever – this time with Olivier – who prepared a nice dinner for us. (Thanks Olivier!)

I’ve seen Paris last time so I decided to travel to Tours the following morning to do some chateux excursion tour. I took a 2-hour train trip from Gare D’Austerlitz in Paris to Tours , fare was reasonable at EUR15 per way (SNCF online) . I’ve been wanting to see the Chateau of Chenonceau which looks really spectacular on pictures. But I was more impressed with the Chateau of Chambord which in my opinion is more grandiose. The excursion tour lasted for half a day from 1:00pm til 7:00pm. I booked it through the Tourist Bureau located just opposite – on the other end after the park/fountain – of the main train station of Tours.

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Gateway of Taj Mahal

A whole world of its own...........Incredible India

September of 2006, I started my India trip in New Delhi, the only reason is of course Agra where the Taj Mahal is. You can always go on your own to see the Taj Mahal, but if you're pressed for time and want more convenience, join a group tour available at all travel agents in New Delhi. There's a popular scam though when you're already inside the bus tour so don't tell me I didn't warn you bout those Strangers getting in the bus tour .

Then I flew in to Bangalore [seriously, I didn't even know the reason why I flew in there in the first place... I juz did!), spent some days before flying to Bangkok. Then back again to Bangalore and took a train to the chaotic but fascinating city of MUMBAI.
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