Day 9 – The Lighthouse

Today was a relaxing day, we all awoke late from 10:30 to 12:30. Eduardo had to send in his university applications today so we were not able to go out until 5pmish. So until then we rested abit and researched some things for the rest of our trip.When we left we headed out to the icon of La Coruna: the lighthouse built by the Romans. It gave another great view of La Coruna which was again stunning. After this we all walked around La Coruna, about a 2 hour walk. During this we had something to drink at a café. We returned home around 8pm and got prepared for dinner, which we ate at around 10pm. After this we watched a movie and went off to sleep!

Day 8 – Exploring La Coruna

Today I woke up at around 8 but stayed in bed until 10. We had some breakfast at home, then Ash and I headed out to explore La Coruna. We walked for around 2 hours and stopped at a café so ash could drink a coffee. On our walk we saw the lighthouse which is a landmark of La Coruna, as well as the famous streets of the decorated terraces which was great. After our walk we returned for some lunch.

After lunch and a small rest Ash and I explored again, on the opposite side of La Coruna than we did this morning. It was great had another long 2 hour walk, saw some good sights. After returning from that walk, Jose, Maria and Alvaro took us to the park at the top of the city- which overlooks all of La Coruna, simply stunning views. We had a drink up there and looked over the city it was great. After this we all went walking to the older side of town and the docks, more great sights! It was a long day of about 6 hours walking!

We came back for dinner in time for the second football semi final, which Italy won. By the time the match finished shortly afterwards Eduardo returned! So we got to catch up by going out walking and sitting at a café with Eduardo, Ash and Alvaro which was really good. We returned around 1am to go sleep!

Day 7 – To La Coruna

Today we woke up at 9:30ish to get ready to check out by 12. We headed downstairs for some breakfast, some donuts. We had to pack up and we were checked out by 11:30. The hotel held pour bags for us while we waited around to head to the airport at around 1:30, as our flight was at 3:45. We had a snack in a café and sat there for a while, then had something bigger to eat from our favourite pizza place before going to the bus stop where we caught the airport shuttle bus. After a half an hour ride we checked in at the airport and waited for about an hour to board our flight to La Coruna. When boarding was called, everyone lined up and the first person in line had badly booked the tickets or something and held up the flight for 40 minutes before we could actually board, such a pain. But eventually we took off and after an hour flight we landed in La Coruna, where were were met by Jose and Maria.

They drove us back to the apartment, which is really great. Ash and I are taking Eduardo’s room whilst he gets a fold out! Eduardo flies in at 11pm tomorrow. After going out for a guided tour with Jose, Maria and Alvaro, we had some dinner consisting of some squid, ham, cheese, bread, pork amongst other things everyone (I mean everyone in spain, including us) went inside to watch the big Euro semi-final, Spain vs Portugal, which was a great game which Spain won on penalties. People were celebrating in the street it was great! That match finished at about midnight which straight afterwards we went to sleep. 

Day 6 – Bus Tour Again

Today we had some churros for breakfast at around 10am. Then we returned to the hotel and left for the second route of the tour bus trip. This route was more for sightseeing, which was good. The main attraction was the Royal Place which was very impressive, among other sites such as the Puerta del Sol. The bus also ran down the whole of the main street in Madrid, Gran Via, so we were able to see all of the older buildings and other attractions along that street. It was great and took some impressive photos. We investigated taking the airport bus tomorrow then returned to the hotel. After a small rest we went to stroll through the central park in Madrid, Park de Retiro which was really nice and surprisingly serene despite the fact it was in the middle of the city. There were some great photo opportunities that I took! After exploring the park we returned and got ready for dinner. At around 7:50pm we left for a restaurant called Gino’s on the gran via, which was great, had some pasta which I had been craving. After that wee walked home, which took around 20 minutes, and got to see some of Madrid at night. After returning we rested before going to bed.

Day 5 – Bus Tour

We woke up at about 7:30 today, but I did wake up as few times as I have half transferred to this time zone. We left at about 9am for some breakfast at a nearby café, which was really good. I ordered bacon and eggs with hot chocolate and orange juice. The hot chocolate was so strong! Very chocolaty! We then returned the room to pack up a bag for the day and head out for a sightseeing bus tour.

We walked to the Meseum Nacional Del Prado and took some photos before boarding the bus to tour around. There are twop roites for the buses, today we took route 2. here were some great sights around, old buildings and such but importantly I made it to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the stadium for Real Madrid. It was great I could not believe how great it was. It was 16 euros for a ticket and you could tour all the parts of the stadium at your own pace. We got to see the stadium from the stands, the trophy room with all of Madrids trophies, the pitch where you were able to sit in the seats, the dressing rooms, the presidents box, the press room and the players tunnel. It was just great. After leaving the stadium we continued the route on the bus before stopping for some lunch. After lunch our daily rest was taken, before going out for some coffee and donuts.

At around 7:30 we went out for dinner, searching for a decent place to eat. Madrid is not what I expected in terms of tourism, Paris and Rome I remember are much better for travellers, so Madrids restaurant/café scene isn’t really helpful, there’s not that many and not that many varieties. But we settled for a burger at a nearby café and ate that for dinner. We returned at around 8:45pm (its still around 35 and humid outside and very sunny). By 10pm it was still humid and bright! We headed off to bed at around 10:30 exhausted!

Day 4 – Madrid!

This is kind of day four, hard to determine really! Anyway we caught the plane at 5am Perth time from Doha to Madrid which was a decent flight, got some hours of needed sleep, I sort of planned my sleeping to Spanish time, to start to get used to it. So we landed in Madrid at around 8am. The airport was a ghost town at that time, and we had to catch a train to get to our baggage! It didn’t help that a group of over 30 American students were on the same flight as us either. Eventually we got out and an expensive taxi ride later we made it to the hotel, which is nice and similar to the Singapore hotel. Except this time, no English channels, but that doesn’t matter much!

After showering and lying down for the first time in over 16 hours Ash and I went out for a quick look around. It was around 10 in the morning and in Spain it is like a ghost town at that time, hardly anyone on the streets! We grabbed a snack from Burger King and explored a bit more before going back to the hotel for a rest, as it was technically like 6pm for us not 12. We watched some TV shows for a couple of hours then headed back out for a cold drink and explored some more, seeing some of the Royal Palace which was great and some parkland which was surprisingly quiet for something in the middle of Madrid. Ash and I also gathered some info on tourist bus tours for the coming days which is great and then rested a bit more in the apartment as it is technically 10pm Perth time for us, despite it being early for the Spanish. Not to mention it’s a painfully sunny 37 degrees out!

After more rest (we are very tired) we headed out to grab something to eat and got some nice gourmet pizza slices, which were quite nice. We walked around whilst eating for half an hour or so and returned to our hotel room to retire and get some good sleep for the first time in well over a day! 

Day 3 -  Leaving Simgapore

Today was to be our last day in Singapore, although our flight doesn't leave until 9:30pm so we had a full day to spend. I awoke at around 8-8:30am and then went and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. After that we packed up our room, checked we had everything and checked out by 10:30am. Our largest suitcases were left in the hotels storage, but we carried our hand luggage with us all day.

We caught the metro to VivoCity, one of the largest shopping centres in Singapore: which it certainly would be from my experience! We wandered around and had a few good photo opportunities of Sentosa island and the wharf. Ash wanted to do two things in Singapore mainly: Eat Ramen noodles from a Ramen restaurant and drink a weird green drink. He had already had a chocolate coated red bean ice tea frappé (which was terrible) and now we saw a Ramen restaurant, and even I had Japanese food! and used chopsticks (badly)! Ash and I's friend Devesh, who is living in Singapore was able to catch up with us so that was great! we met at yet another mall and then hung around for a few hours. Devesh left at around 5:30, leaving around an hour for Ash and I to kill. After wandering around we caught a taxi at 6:15 to Changi Airport to depart Singapore.

Our holiday in Singapore was over but it has been great! Ash and I boarded our flight after killing time in duty free. our flight was a 6 hour 45 minute flight to Doha, Qatar and was a decent flight, with great entertainment and I had the aisle seat in the emergency exit, so nothing in front of me which was also great! We landed at Doha 5am Perth time, and 12am Doha time, we were so exhausted. Next flight up was Doha to Madrid!

Day 2 – Zoo

We awoke at 8:30 and got ready and had some breakfast provided by the hotel, bacon, eggs, toast and juice, which was great. Then back in the hotel room, we then planned for the zoo and took a taxi to the zoo, getting there at around 10:30. It was $27 for entry fee and unlimited tram and ferry rides. Ash and I spent hours walking around the zoo seeing all they had to offer, which was great. We also grabbed some lunch at the zoo and then had a ferry and tram ride around and returned to our hotel.

We returned at around 3:30 to the hotel and bought some two minute noodles to eat, then rested for a while longer to wait to go out for dinner and a walk around. At around 7 we disembarked for the metro system which was great, took us about 4 minutes to get the mass shopping mall where Ash and I picked up some dinner. We walked around among mass amounts of people for a while and then headed back on the metro and returned to the hotel at just after 9, so ash could eat (no seats available anywhere in the centre) and relaxed before heading off to sleep, we’re going to need it to for an overnight flight for a total 14 hours!

Day 1 – Getting to Singapore

Our flight left at 12:05am on Thursday to the 21^st, so we were in for a long ride. Not much sleep was had at all, so arriving in Singapore at 5:30am was pretty draining, especially with the humidity. We collected our bags easily enough and caught a taxi straight to our hotel, the Strand Hotel. It is a nice little room. We checked in at about 6:30 and by 7am we were out walking around. Then we spent an hour and a half searching around our hotel before finally getting some McDonalds as it was the best thing around! After this Ash and I returned to the hotel and actually slept for around 3 hours, we were exhausted. It did not help that there is heavy construction going on outside our room so it was noisy. Waking up at 12:30, we headed out for lunch.

We walked down Orchard Road past many, many shops and found the shopping centre ‘Ion’ which went 4 levels below ground and a few levels above. We found a food court and ate some lunch. Next we explored the centre and it was huge, but shopping doesn’t interest us much so we continued back down orchard road and back to the hotel to rest, I am quite tired so a rest was great, just using the internet and watching the TV.

After relaxing we headed back out to a nearby shopping mall and got some dinner, and by the time we had searched around and finished it was about 7:30, so we headed back to the hotel and showered and went to bed at around 8:30, so tired! In all an exhausting day but good to see Singapore, and looking forward to doing more tomorrow on a good nights sleep.