Thursday 21 March 2013

ROME FIUMICINO AIRPORT

Rome Fiumicino Airport or also known as Leonardo da Vinci International Airport is the largest airport in Rome. We arrived at the airport right on time at about 1.30 pm local time. Cuaca di Rome was chiller than Istanbul. So, kena pakai jaket bululah nampaknyer...he..he..

X ramai yg cerita pasal airport ni, so i just thought of writing some info for those who plan to go to Rome via FCO, perhaps u can gain something from here. From the airport, u can get to Rome City Centre by cab, train or bus. There are plenty of airport buses which go to the city centre. Non Stop Train operated by Trenitalia will take about 30 minutes to reach Rome whilst the bus will take about an hour (depending on the traffic condition). Ada jugak local train yg berhenti2... We took the bus when we reached FCO. Bajet ciput...he..he... Yeah, express train is slightly more expensive but u'll get to the city in no time. Come, let's take a look at the airport... Rasanya airport ni x lah segah our KLIA...IMO lah..but different people different opinion.

Surau pon ada.... No worries!
This building is right in front of the main entrance. Building apa,
x tau plak...
There's a designated area for smokers.
Parking lot
We bought our tickets here.
Ada banyak kaunter tiket bas ke Rome. Kebanyakannya ke Termini Station. We chose Terravision. Paling murah rasanya. 8 Euro return. If u buy on the bus, it will cost u 5 Euro. One way pon 5 Euro. So, better buy return tix, save la sikit.. sikt je pon... You can also buy online. Same price, 8 euro return.

This is the plane that's responsible to fly us to Rome.
TQ Pegasus. I have no complain about your service. 
Heading to Rome

Inside Terravision. Comfortable, just like a normal express bus. 
We arrived at Termini Station in about an hour. The traffic was smooth. There were plenty of cars but no traffic congestion whatsoever.

The hustle & bustle of Termini Station.

To Be Cont... Click HERE for previous journey...

Monday 18 March 2013

From Istanbul to Rome...

Since I was small, I dreamt to be in Rome. Even when I stepped my feet at the Colleseo, I still felt like it was just a dream...he..he...

From Istanbul, we packed our bag and departed to Rome by Pegasus Airline. In case u do not know, Pegasus Airline is Turkey's budget, no frill carrier, just like our Air Asia. However,bear in mind that  the hub is in Sabiha Gokcen Airport and not Ataturk Airport, ya... Why Rome? I had two places in mine, either Rome or Berlin. But i can't afford to go both due to time constraint. Pikir punya pikir, i just chose Rome over Berlin. Even though the tix to Berlin was half the price than the tix to Rome, but i still picked Rome over Berlin. So, for the 3rd time, Berlin will still have to wait.... Tapikan...nasib baik x ke Berlin coz when I flew to Rome, Berlin was already -5 degree celcius dan ribut salji bagai.... Not good...not good.

Aktiviti semasa dalam van. Jam yg amat sangat, so kami pon
tangkap2la gmbar pemandu2 dalam kenderaan sebelah. Yang ni
pemandu bas airport.
Goodbye Istanbul. We'll be back in a few days.
Welcome to the Asian side of Istanbul.
So, berbelanjakan RM500++ for a return tix, bertolaklah kami ke Rome dari Istanbul. Sebenarnya, kalau book awal, boleh dpt dlm rm300++ for a return tix tp since kami beli tiket lambat, so mahallah sikit. Tp, I rasa still ok lg price tu.  Pagi tu, kami tunggu airport transfer after breakfast. If u wanna go to Sabiha Airport, there's no direct train to go there. Airport transfer is around 10 euro per pax and Havas Bus is 10 lira per pax. U have to take an airport transfer or a bus to go there. and the traffic is always bad... Sebenarnya, airport tu x la jauh mana, but the traffic congestion makes the journey an hour or so. Ada pernah tu sampai 3 jam pon ada coz traffic was standing still...Anyway, we arrived at the airport, exactly after an hour.

Google Map from Istanbul to Sabiha Airport. Courtesy of
Google Map.
Cube tengok gugusan bangunan ni. Kalu tngk betul2 mcm
kalimah Allah kan?
Sabiha Gokcen Airport

Check-in was smooth as we already did the online check-in. Better do your online check-in or u have to wait at the long Q...and when i say long, it is really lonngggg.....trust me! We didn't buy the seats as it cost us too much but luckily we still got the seating next to each other. Since we already had ample time before boarding, we checked out the duty free shops and bought some things.

The flight departed on time. Before purchasing the tix, I already read reviews about Pegasus Air and it seemed that most of the reviews were good ones. The journey to Rome Fiumicino from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen took us 2 1/2 hours.

Ciao Roma!

~To be Cont~

Monday 11 March 2013

Amazing Race to Bursa -Uludag (Part 2)


Sambungan from Amazing Race to Bursa Part 1

Lepas early lunch, kami jalan kaki p ke teksi stand nak ke uludag... mula2 ingat nak mintak teksi tu antar ke teleferik. rupanya teleferik dah setahun tutup..tngh upgrade katanya.. Frust, beb!!! People say the view from the teleferik is much much more magnificent than the dolmus ride. Naik teksi ke dolmus station 1 lira aja charge die per head. dekat aja... pas tu, naik dolmus plak ke uludag (10 lira one way). Perjalanan 1 jam paling lama.

This is where u wait for the hourly Dolmus

On the way up, we could already see the snow patches everywhere. 
Sampai atas mcm jakun main salji...ha..ha... sampai jatuh tergolek2... Al-maklumlah, 1st encounter with snow. Singgah sundry shop kat situ dan belik souvenir sikit. Hari yg kami naik tu, salji x turun coz semalamnya dah ribut salji (hari yg kami ke Miniaturk tu). Jom layan gambar...

Since it was a weekday, so holiday makers x ramai sangat.





Salji memutih
Excited sngt main salji sampai terjatuh2.. Gmbr jatuh x adalah..he..he..
One of the hotels available

Lepas penat2 main salji sampai sejuk bedi, naik dolmus balik, turun bawah... waktu tu dah pukul 4... pukul 6 cruise jalan...

On our way down
Bursa from Uludag (On our way down)
Sampai bursa balik, kami dah lupa tempat nak tunggu bas semula... kami lari keluar masuk bazar tp x jumpa jugak... tanya semua org, mika memang nk tlng tp x paham sebutir haram... tnya polis, polis pon x paham english..siap lukis peta dengan lenggang lenggok...kita dh la nk cepat ni... berpandukan peta polis tu, kami msuk semula ke dalam bazaar to get to the other entrance. Dalam bazaar, kami berhenti juga untuk Tanya pada locals there. People in Bursa do not speak English like people in Istanbul, itu yg buat payah tu. Time i lah rasa mcm masuk Amazing Race. Dngn bawak backpack dan x tahu arah tujuan... Setelah berlari2, akhirnya, sampaila kami ke metro... penatnya berlari..nasib baik sejuk... seb baik kami decide nak naik metro, kalu idak, memang x sampai kol 6..

Naik metro line emek, berhenti kat ujung sekalik (emek), ada bas tunggu untk ke port... masa tu dah pukul 5.. sempat ker aku nih...? Dalam hati, Allah aja yg tahu.. naik bas, jalan jam gila2... atok yg bwk bas tu pulak, memang slow n steady...30km sejam die bawak... last2 dh pukul 5.20, die suruh kami semua turun, “Korang semua kena turun, lalu jalan short cut yg berbukit-bukau dan berselut tu.  Lalu celah kedai2 tu untk  sampai ke port”..katanya (dlm turki la). “Kalu korang x lalu situ, memang kena tinggal kapal la...” dia sambung lagi.  Masa tu ada 8 org yg turun ikot short cut tu... kena langkah divider lagik...Kami kena berator nak langkah, coz jalannya kecik tp si tak sabar ni p potong Q. Konon nak tunjuk Rambo, gedebush, mcm nangka busok jatoh dalam selot...  punyalah nak jadik superman..kah..kah...hubby marah..die kata..”x yah la ko nak jadik superman plak.. tunggu ajala giliran nak turun selut tu...” ha..ha.. I x cakap apa. My bad! Lepas bukit selut..kami berlapan berlari2 ke port..mcm org x betul sumer berlari2...lawak betol..! Ada minah arab ni satu family punyalah kalut..kapal die 7.30 malam .. .pukul 5,30 die dah kecoh2 mengalahkan kami yg kapal kol 6... “Where’s the port, please where’s the port,” she said. I showed her.. “there!...” Lepas 2 minit die Tanya lagik soklan yang sama...Lepas tu Tanya lagik, lagik.. Sepak jugak minah arab ni..lari ajalah...kejap lagik sampailah.. pukul 5.45, kami sampai dngn tercungap2... kali ni dah cerdik, p amik nombor dulu..baru belik tiket...

In the ferry, at last...
Adoi... letih betol sampai dalam kapal..Kami berlari adalah dalam sekilometer. Alhamdulillah..semua selamat..w/pon terpaksa berlari2 kesana kemari tp sangat seronok dan kelakar... kalaulah terlepas cruise tu, alamat kena tido bursalah kami dan terlpsla flight ke rome esoknya...hu..hu...

Sampai Istanbul, pukul 7 lebih...happy! Makan dan balik ke hotel to rejuvenate our energy for tmorow...

We captured this photo while we were walking back  to the hotel that night... I was never so happy to see this mosque. That night, the blue mosque looked so different, perhaps because we were so relief to be back in Istanbul...:)



OVERNIGHT AT THE BERBER DESERT CAMP

Selepas lunch, kami teruskan lagi perjalanan yang panjang sampai lah petang.  Look at the view.. Magnificent!  We crossed the High Atlas Mou...

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