On the road again

Not exactly but I do feel like it right now. I guess relocation issues are covered in most expat blog (or long dead expat blogs). For a person that has moved to and from three countries in the last 6 years, I still feel the same stress and emotions as when I first started packing my bags for London. All right let's not get emotional in this post. Let's just stick to packing for our relocation.

I guess there are always tons of things that I or we wish we could move easily across the miles. Containers are a good idea for many but for skint folks like me, I resort to packing my bags till it went over the luggage limit and pray that the airlines let me bring it on board!

With quite a lot of experiences packing my bags when we decided to spread my wings to another land, I'm able to make notes about what are important to carry and what can be left behind for picking up next time. For me, my tools of trade have first priority. Yeah, my knives and cake decorating tools. Not forgetting a couple of books. So all these easily come up to 20 kg. Trust me, when you are relocating to another place for a year or more, clothings are no longer essential items. They are just not worth it to take up the extra kilo or two that you could have spared for something else. Things of sentimental value? Do you bring them along? Most of the time I'll try not to. I can pack them in a parcel and send them over as I would bound not to use these stuff but they are more for display purposes.

So there you have it, my list in the luggage bag. What's yours? Any relocation experiences to share?

Travel and Living

This blog has been closed to access for quite a while and I sincerely apologise. I guess it was for the better as there was no new content for months. I'm just not inspired to blog!

With this new post, I'm opening up my blog again. I'm starting another chapter in my life in another country. Not a new one but my homeland. I've been living outside of Singapore for almost 6 years. Now my homeland is welcoming me back with open arms and new opportunities.

So I'm reviving this blog with a new injection .. a new theme.. Living in a Foreign Land, An Expatriate's experience. How it feels to live, study and work in another land. I hope my blog inspires those who are considering about the move to boldly step forward. Do feel free to share your experiences. Or I'll be most willing to share my part of the story.

All said and done, I guess we all know it's vastly different when you live or travel in a country. When you are on vacation, everything seems prettier. The flowers smell fresher. The local culture looks interesting. But when you live in it, you'll start to develop certain resentments which I think most people pick up overtime. It is an unhealthy obsession to nitpick your host country but I think this helps in a certain way to cope with the homesickness.

And looking forward to the next post, do come back or leave a comment.

To Travel or not to Travel?

With the number of Influenza A (H1N1) also known as the Mexican Flu or the Swine Flu hitting the 10,000th mark today, as an avid traveller, is that the question on your mind?

It was lucky for us that we made ou travel plans in April and by the time we stepped onto the Croatian soils again, the news of the above contagious Flu hit us. On our second day of our travel, the Flu begun to spread like wildfire but it hadn't left the country of origin (or not, no one is sure) Mexico when we completed our travels. Since then, the mood of fear is in the air. Every single traveller from Mexico is screened or in the Chinese case, the Mexicans were "contained" till the authorities were happy that the foreigners were not carriers.

Almost a month after the whole Pandemic (as WHO has raised the Pandemic to Level 4 worldwide) begun, we witnessed more than 5,000 cases in US alone with deaths in numerous countries. Countries such as the perfectly clean Japan are not spared. As of this hour, the number of cases are 200 and counting. My homeland Singapore seems to be the only one safe from all the hoo-ha at the moment. But we can never be too sure. As the standards of hygiene is not an influential factor in the spreading of this Flu.

Although global authorities have informed us that this Flu is not deadly, we are not exactly safe as vaccines are yet to be found. To the traveller, the thought of being stuck in a confined space (airplane or coach) for a few hours is a worry. You'll never know if the coughing man next to you is a carrier or simply ill.

For me, I will not take the risk. I have been through the horrifying episode of SARS in Singapore and I shall not attempt to be brave. They tell us that wearing a mask if we have a cold, washing our hands to ensure a high level of hygiene and taking lots of vitamins are the safest way to go? I tell you, the only way is NOT to travel. Yeah shoot me.

Are you still travelling?

Not for a while now. The trip of the year is our next trip to London, UK. Yeah. It seems like forever since we last had a break. So now, we are saving up for our upcoming 3-day holiday.

Entrecard has deleted my blog from its database. Yes, no new content for ages. Like I said, I'm not inspired if I can't travel yeah? Oh well, not like EC is bringing me any traffic.

In the meantime, everyone's waiting for summer. Everyone loves to travel during that time of the year. They'll pack their bikinis and lotions for the sunny beaches. However, with the bleak economic situation in most countries.. UK, US and Germany, I wonder if anyone is still travelling? Do you?