Don't travel if you can't travel well

It's the end of Fall Break and everyone is back in the city. Naturally, the first thing we would ask each other is "so how are your travels?' Both of my roommates are glad to be back to our cosy petite apartment, citing that they would not step into another museum or cathedral again.

"After awhile.. they just get boring. They're the same everywhere."

"I'm tired of traveling."

People back home must be scolding us right now for not appreciating the time we get here to see the world. But, it's true. Traveling does get tiring. As much as I am someone who loves to be out and about, sometimes nothing beats the comfort of the warmth that envelopes you when you snuggle under a blanket and watch 'Friends'. That's right, I'm finally onto it now ;) I guess the fatigue really sets in when you travel for the sake of 'making use of your time'. When you actually feel like you're obliged to travel just because you're in another continent of architectures of entirely different essence from the ones you see back home. (Ok. That does sound like a legitimate reason to keep traveling.)(Ok I should stop spoiling the moment.)

When we travel so that we do not 'waste our exchange', traveling becomes a routine. It doesn't excite you anymore. Not as much as it would when you're motivating yourself to make it through the semester because you gonna take a trip to some country for a week. I'm sure that's the attitude most Singaporeans have towards traveling. Traveling is always something to look forward to as a reward to themselves for surviving an arduous period of time. Books and dramas play a part by heightening our desire to see and experience the places that the characters went to in the story. We saw many Koreans around in Prague and apparently that's because of a Korean drama that was filmed in the Prague Castle.

So when traveling becomes a every-weekend-kinda-thing, the allure of it kinda slips away. Maybe because the mentality of traveling as rewarding is so ingrained in me, I don't think I deserve to spoil myself if I don't have a productive week. Ah, damn, being such a nerd again. But don't you feel the same? Don't you see traveling as a well-deserved break too? Besides seeing traveling as a reward, it's a very Singaporean thing to travel and make a big deal out of it because most of us think that there's nothing much to do in this tiny city. What can we do when we hang out or go on dates? Movies. Cafes. More food. Yawn. Boring. So we desperately make plans to travel so we can do more happening activities elsewhere such as skiing, bungee jumping, skydiving and binge-eating at the Taiwanese night markets. But I never feel that way in Paris. Paris itself has so much to offer and many interesting corners I have yet to explore that I don't feel the need to travel elsewhere. I travel in Paris.

After a discussion with one of my roommates, we figure that the most important reason behind our fatigue is that we do not travel well. Because of our unlucky timetables and the strict regulation of our school, we only get to travel over weekends. Two days are barely enough to explore and make our air ticket prices worthwhile! So our trips are always very rushed and tiring because we gotta wake up at wee hours to catch the earliest flight to our destination and back home on a monday aka school day. And at the end of a trip, you may wound up in a demential situation questioning yourself 'errr...so what have I done on the trip ah?' This brings me to another topic - the importance of registering moments, which I shall expand on next time. Traveling well does not mean you ought to live in a 5-star hotel and follow a itinerary that's well-prepared beforehand. Traveling well simply means giving yourself enough time to soak in the new environment and discover about the place you're at. You can wander around people-watching and do nothing productive and still be a good traveller!

So believe me, I do like to learn about cultures and visit historical sites that I learn in high school and being taken aback by pure wonders of life. I want people to see what I see from the world I capture in my photos. But I can only do so when I travel well. You may have seen me travel to places like Amsterdam, Dublin, Prague and more from my Instagram. Out of all,  I feel that I enjoyed myself the most in Cinque Terre!

Cinque Terre is located at the Southern part of Italy, in the La Spezia region close to Pisa. It's composed of 5 towns along the coast namely Riomaggiorie, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare! The buildings are really colourful and offer great spots for viewing sunsets :')

So so so surreal.

Riomaggorie, my first stop!

 Manarola, where we ate really yummy seafood at the restaurant called Dal's Billy! :D

  Vernazza!! Took this photo on my way of hiking from Monterosso!

 Really really beautiful waters *v*

super duper yummyyyyyy pasta 

I was wearing a snorkelling goggles at the back of my head LOL. Yep, even bought a singlet because...I LOVE THIS PLACE AND IT FITS ME SO WELL! What differentiates this place from the other places I have been to it probably because I felt so much closer to nature here :) away from the buzz of the cities. I should really plan more hiking, mountain trips!

As of this moment, I could hear my housemate telling his friend on Skype "I'm so done with castles." LOL. I guess not everyone experiences such travel fatigue. I see people on exchange going on traveling spree and are still pretty much excited about it. Probably because they can skip consecutive lessons and hence are not as rushed as we are haha. My deadlines are crazy btw.. have 8 assignments to complete in the remaining month. But anyhoo, am going to Milan World Expo tomorrow. Yea I'm traveling again but it's after a vigorous week of doing work so.. yes this will pick me up so much! AND THE THEME IS ABOUT MY TRUE LOVE.

None other than food :D

Hang in there my Singaporean friends!