Diary of A Jumper

ONE OF THE BEST CALLED UP WAS MILANO FLIGHT!

Well, i was on standby for one day and as per normal i expected to get called up for Jakarta turn, i didn't now why that i felt like checking my schedule again and again even the standby was on the next day. 

I checked frequently in order to make self ready for any early flight, i left my laptop in standby mode and brought my phone everywhere. BINGO, my phones was ringing and nervous feeling came along. I was supper hurry to check my schedule and yeaaah Milan flight for that night.

How was my reaction? EXCITED & PANIC. 

I packed all my clothes, stuff, everything in short time. I knew it was on summer, so basically nothing much to worry about bulky clothes. 

I kept thinking about Venice, i secretly wished that someone wanted to go to Venice with me. I was so lucky to see one of my friends was in my flight, it was gonna be a good flight for sure. 

I remember there was a not nice girl who treated me like fool, but i really didn't care, i was so busy to think about my summer holiday in Italy. After touched down, i felt all my body was aching, yeah another 12-13 hours flight and it was full load.

I asked all of them to go to Venice, non of them were excited to go with me since it wasn't their first time to be in Milan, one crew initiated to go to Cinque terre and i had no idea how it looked like. 

well, i said that i would join them wherever they planned to. Back to the story after touched down, going to Milan means to go to Duomo di Milano, but again there was no one wanted to go there just to enjoy the scenery. 

Duomo is one of iconic cathedral surrounded by one stop shopping area where you can buy anything there. I decided to go there by my self (again) by taking metro, it was quite distance to walk to metro station, i asked so many people to get there fortunately Italian were so helpful.

ge-ge-ge-lato

I was thinking it was gonna be super lame to take selfie everywhere using my selfie stick, i knew it would be tough to ask any tourist to take photo of me because most of them didn't speak English. I saw two guys were busy taking photo, i thought they must be Asian then i heard that they spoke language that i knew the most which was Indonesia language, such a relieve that i met Indonesian tourist here. 

I walked pass with no doubt to greet them, surprisingly both of them looked so happy to see other Indonesian abroad, we talked about how the journey was and of course we helped each other to take proper photos in front of Duomo hahaha.

After saying good bye i continued to walk inside the mall to see how it looked like, one of my purposes was to find starbucks tumbler, i asked most of people but they told me there were few starbucks somewhere which was quite far from Duomo, then the offered me to try Cappucino made in Italy and other coffee in coffee shop nearby.

I wasn't interested at all, i don't drink coffee at all, i have low tolerate of caffeine which make me stay awake all night just by drinking a cup of coffee. I really enjoyed my solo trip to Duomo without thinking about getting lost or won't be able to find my back to hotel. 

On the clear day, most of my friends intended to go Cinque Terre by joining any one day tour provided by hotel. The tour it self costs around 80 euro, they provided one mini van for 9 persons with driver who was ready to drive us to all places. I still had no idea about these places till i tried to google and found it was cool enough to visit.

WHAT IS CINQUE TERRE?
It is Named for the 5 towns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore, this portion of the Italian Riviera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g187817-Cinque_Terre_Italian_Riviera_Liguria-Vacations.html)

Tourist can go there buy train, it has limited access for can to get inside so all tourists were required to walk to reach destination, the journey to reach each destination took approximately 45 minutes, but from hotel to 1st place (monterosso) it took almost 2 hours driving.

Have you ever seen any houses in hill area where there is no access for any transportation? yeah it was really italian style of housing, i will show the picture for sure. All of the places were about beach, shore and unique society included the building.

Souvenir

The native & residents know exactly how to promote their places by using resources as souvenir & handycraft, Cinque terre is always be top tourism destination after venice. One simple thing, they sell swim wear in many sizes because no one cant resist temptation of swimming in summer time.

Manarola

I feel like this is also honeymoon destination for many couples around the world, i saw most of them were young couple brought big cargo bag everywhere or even back pack from one place to another place

wishing to stay longer

I was so lucky to be there during summer, romantic places that i never thought that i'd visited. Even i'm not a very beach person, but i always enjoy big waves, coral, big stones and sand in the beach.

right in front gelato store

shorts & shirt time

HOW WAS THE JOURNEY? It was amazing & sunny

We actually made a right decision to rent a car with driver because Nicola, the driver was super nice & really understood us as tourists, sometimes we got back to car 10 minutes late but he patiently waited without complain hehe, he could be a great guide at the same time, everything was super flexible, we really enjoyed our time there and had great lunch as recommended by him.

Everything was about Beach, those beautiful beaches in five different places with great view and shore around in summer time. Most of the tourists wore swimwear, bikini or even topless for the guys caused by 36 degree celsius with no wind at all. 

I thanked God i wore backless dress with cardigan, so at least i could protect my skin from the heat which made me felt like dehydration. 

Let's jump

How i love this place

Love this view

I Feel like swimming

I regreted one thing so far, i didn't bring any swimwear!! it was like big temptation for me, i almost cried and bought any swimwear to feel the joy of swimming in summer, all spots looked like perfect beach to swim or just get inside water. 

Actually i could buy any swimwear, but the biggest problem was the limited time for us to visit 5 places within one day.

Water taxi

blue water

 WHERE IS THE BEST SPOT & SHOT?

Colorful building

Random as always

There was one more thing, i flew with an ex-contemporary dancer from singapore, he studied contemporary for his major in university, he told me that he used to dance & perform anywhere before deciding to be a traveler. it's a sad truth cos he left his passion in dancing for maybe forever and he told that ballet was the basic technique for whole dances he learned.

So we randomly took any ballet shot but yeah i realized that wearing dress wasn't good idea at all, but whatever it be just posed!

I just can't stop eating Gelato & Pasta in Italy, everything was nice, i gained weight easily haha. 

Okay, i have to admit that all gelato there have a lot of fresh fruit flavor, it's made of fresh fruit like Raspberry, Peach, Nectarine, Lemon, Strawberry, Blueberry and many more, but they also offered any flavor like Chocolates or other sweets taste. 

I was craving for the cone, i prefer to eat more cone than gelato, if only i could share how tasty was the cone to all of you.

What to eat in Italy? P.A.S.T.A FOR SURE 
I always love pasta, but rice is always my number one meal, i missed rice a lot! okay i exaggerated, but having pasta three times a day was not in to me. I have to admit all pasta and cheese there were numero uno <3

I've ever thought to go to Incheon someday in Winter for holiday....

well said i thanked God that opportunity came even earlier than i what i expected! i got my schedule to go to incheon followed by San Francisco on February this year. 

My reaction was 'yeah i'll make it', well said my first long haul and US flight as starter would be amazing yet scary since i need to speed up in many aspects. 

One word for Winter, "no-snow" but to be honest 5 degree was quite challenging for the one who never experienced in any cold season, i found the way Korean dressed up as fashionable cute and look similiar for the girl, they looked bulky in thick coat.

8 Days journey started, i could feel excitement as good adrenaline right after landing. Yeeay INCHEON finally i've been there after so many times i saw many scene in any drama series in TV, i remember how dramatic was Korean actor every time they needed to farewell & bidding goodbye their loved one as hard time for real, LOL. 

The journey to hotel was like getting older in the bus, i mean it was not that far but however the traffic after office hour was not joke at all. 

Luckily we stayed in one of the best five stars hotels in Seoul with super duper great view from my room, the hotel lobby was somewhere in 40th floor with super friendly & helpful staff welcomed as. Being random is my middle name, i brought my ballet pointed shoes everywhere & captured random shot every time i feel like posing. 

Great view outside

Wishing for forever flexibility

i felt so lucky because there was another Indonesian crew on my flight, a super humble and pretty senior i have known so far. first sector which is SIN - ICN was quite smooth, i remember how nervous i was to do my first long flight. 

We decided not to go anywhere but having dinner nearby since it was winter with 5 degree Celsius followed by drizzled. 

One think i remember was actually valentine's day was happening, i saw most of the stores offered boxes of chocolate, flower bouquet, nice card, small and big size teddy bear and many things.

Basically i like spicy food, i expected to have a good meal there cos i know how great korean food is. Both of us ordered for normal bibimbap but surprisingly it was huge portion with bbq as well. 

The way the waiter served us was funny, we tried our best to understand menu in korean language cos no english menu at all. He tried to offered us any meal without pork due to food restriction for both of us and we vaguely ordered bibimbap as first trial. 

All meal was tasty, i found fresh kimchi from Korea as the best kimchi i have ever tried in my life. Cold weather outside trigger our appetite to finish all meal but unfortunately it was too much for us, then we just left and felt happy for our dinner.

************************LEFT FOR SAN FRANCISCO******************

 I just can't wait to go back to Incheon after coming back from san francisco. My friend and i were planning to go to N-Seoul tower without any information about how to get there, we decided to ask concierge to find the best way to get there in this cold season. 

She told us to take a cab since it was more efficient and cheaper, we also asked for the destination & hotel address in korean language to show it to driver.

It took 10 minutes driving to get there, it was actually quite nearby and the fare was actually cheap. We bought ticket to get in, it costs only few dollars and worth to go, but weekend was not a joke, we queued for quite sometimes to get inside cable car.

I could hear so many languages spoken by them, i guessed most of them were tourists from China who went for winter holiday.

I WAS AMAZED! 

Perfect scenery

hands were freezing

i saw phone chase

My name & his name

5 dollar pad lock

Ada satu hal yang akan selalu ada di benak saya disaat kata "Zurich" disebutkan yaitu Mount Tittlis, bagaimana tidak, Kota Zurich yang berada di Switzerland ini memang terkenal dengan pegunungannya, cokelat, perangkat pisau, rolex dan juga harga makanan yang cukup mahal. 

Saya melakukan perjalan ke Zurich pada bulan Juni disaat musim panas mulai menghampiri, seperti biasa semua penerbangan ke Eropa merupakan Red-Eye-Flight alias penerbangan tengah malam yang cukup menyita tenaga. Perjalanan menuju Zurich pada saat itu ditempuh sekitar 12 jam dari Singapore tanpa melalui transit di negara manapun.

Satu hal yang akan selalu saya ingat adalah untuk selalu mengecek mata uang suatu negara dengan tepat dan lebih spesifik, karena tidak semua mata uang di suatu negara berlaku di wilayah bagian negara tersebut. 

Saya menukar dolar Singapura dengan dolar Switzerland yang saya kira merupakan mata uang untuk wilayah swiss secara umum, namun ternyata mata uang tersebut tidak berlaku di wilayah zurich. 

Awalnya saya sedikit panik karena saya tidak membawa uang cash yang cukup banyak sementara saya sudah memesan tiket tur ke Mount Tittlit pada hari berikutnya. Untungnya concierge menyarankan saya untuk menukar uang di bank setempat yang ternyata keberadaannya tidak terlalu jauh dari hotel tempat saya bermalam.

Opera Haus

Hari Pertama setelah mendarat yang saya lakukan hanyalah tidur dan beristirahat karena sejujurnya saya belum terbiasa dengan penerbangan jarak jauh, Namun setelah itu  saya dan beberapa teman memutuskan untuk menelusuri area kota dan menikmati pemandangan yang luar biasa indahnya.

Saya melihat banyak sekali Danau, kapal, kursi taman dan pepohonan yang rindang yang melengkapi libur musim panas yang singkat ini. 

Transportasi umum yang berada di Zurich menyerupai transportasi umum di negara eropa lainnya, seperti kereta listrik dan harga tiket yang cukup bersahabat itu bisa mengantarkan kita menuju dan mengelilingi wilayah kota yang sangat indah ini. 

Seperti yang telah saya sebutkan sebelumnya, harga makanan di kota ini cenderung menguras kantong, harga seporsi burger dan kentang goreng bisa mencapai lebih dari 15 swiss franc atau setara dengan 250 ribu rupiah, sedangkan negara lain di Eropa seperti Amsterdam atau London, harga makanan cenderung lebih murah seperti yang diakui oleh penduduk setempat yang saya temui.

Setelah mencari kesana kemari untuk makan siang, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk makan disalah satu restoran yang cukup unik, dimana kita bisa memilih makanan apapun yang tersedia dan pembayaran dihitung melalui berapa gram makanan yang kita ambil. 

Pilihan makanan yang berbagai macam membuat saya cukup senang karena tersedia bermacam pilihan salad, buah dan sayuran. Kalau masalah rasa sepertinya cukup standar untuk cita rasa eropa yang cenderung tawar.

Lunch

Peach Sorbet

Sepanjang perjalanan saya melihat banyak sekali warga lokal yang memakai baju kerja yang formal sedang menelusuri wilayah kota untuk beristirahat sambil menikmati pemandangan sekitar.

Ada pula yang berenang di sungai dan duduk di sekitar bebatuan sembari menghabiskan minuman dingin dan juga satu cone ice cream yang menyegarkan, dan setiap toko yang menjual es krim rata-rata memiliki berbagai rasa buah yang jarang ditemukan di Asia, seperti peach, apricot, raspberry, blueberry dan lainnya.

Satu hal yang akan selalu saya lakukan saat berada diluar negeri adalah mengunjungi supermarket dan membeli buah yang jarang saya temui di Indonesia. 

Buah peach menjadi pilihan yang wajib saya beli setelah blueberry dan strawberry. Selain itu mencoba cokelat dan biskuit buatan dari setiap negara akan selalu saya lakukan disamping mencoba susu segar rasa cokelat dari setiap negara. 

Saya termasuk jarang membawa persediaan makanan dari rumah karena saya selalu menikmati belanja makanan untuk persediaan beberapa hari terutama buah-buahan yang segar. Beruntungnya hotel tempat saya tinggal lokasinya sangat dekat dengan supermarket, namun wilayah tersebut termasuk sepi dan tidak banyak pertokoan atau restoran disekitarnya.

Heaven for me

CHOCOLATE

Bisa dikatakan bahwa 99,99% pemandangan di Zurich itu indah!! kota ini dikelilingi pegunungan es yang indah, serta danau yang luar biasa menawan. 

Negara maju ini ternyata tidak memiliki bahasa ibu, warga negaranya berkomunikasi dalam 4 bahasa, yaitu bahasa Jerman, Italy, Spanyol dan Prancis. Saya sedikit mengalami kesulitan untuk berkomunikasi dengan warga setempat, karena keterbatasan penggunaan bahasa inggris yang memang jarang digunakan.

Saya mengunjungi Mount Tittlis pada hari kedua saya di Zurich. Awalnya saya sedikit bingung menentukan cara untuk menuju ke wilayah pegunungan tersebut, karena kita bisa mengikuti tur yang disediakan di hotel atau berangkat sendiri menggunakan kereta. 

Hal yang saya pertimbangkan adalah apabila kita mengikuti tur, waktu untuk mengunjungi suatu tempat akan di batasi, dan biasanya akan ada beberapa spot yang akan dikunjungi sebelum tiba di tujuan utama yaitu Mount Tittlis.

Ticket

River

view from restaurant

Perjalanan menuju Mount Tittlis ditempuh selama 3 jam, perjalanan dimulai pukul 8 pagi dimana kita dijemput menggunakan Bus oleh driver dan tour guide. 

Ada tiga tempat pemberhentian disana, masing-masing spot sekitar 45 menit hingga 1 jam. Menurut saya, terkadang mengikuti tur adalah pilihan yang baik, namun saya cenderung memilih untuk melakukan jalan sendiri apabila memungkinkan. 

Akhirnya saya dan rombongan tiba di Mount Tittlis, dan saya cukup terkejut karena mayoritas pengunjung adalah warga negara india hingga restoran di tempat pemberhentian hanyalah restoran India.

Tour guide dalam perjalan kali ini sangatlah ramah dan berpengalaman, wanita paruh baya ini sudah menjadi tour guide selama 15 tahun, dan beliau tidak hanya menguasai daerah mount tittlis melainkan wilayah pegunungan lainnya.

Saya selalu mengagumi tour guide di wilayah eropa, i difinetely can see their passion in working and they are really proud of what they are doing. As the one who was guided by her, i secretly adore her friendliness & the way she spoke. Awalnya saya pikir mereka akan memberikan waktu yang cukup panjang untuk mengelilingi pegunungan es tersebut.

Perjalan ke atas gunung ditempuh selama 30 menit, kita harus menaiki 3 cable car berbeda yang cukup curam. Jika dibandingkan dengan cable car di sentosa atau genting, cable car ini sangatlah panjang lebih terlihat menyeramkan. Bisa di bayangkan bahwa ketinggian mount tittlis mencapai 3029 meter dan pusat wisatanya terletak di puncaknya. Cuaca diatas bisa mencapai 0 derajat atau minus, tidak bisa di bayangkan apabila mengunjunginya pada musim dingin.

view from cable car

Last station before reaching the top

Saya dan rombongan sedikit kurang beruntung karena cuaca yang kurang baik di atas, selain mendung dan angin dingin yang sangat kencang, area terbuka dimana kita bisa berjalan-jalan dan bermain salju pun ditutup sementara waktu. 

Sedikit kecewa karena sejujurnya ini adalah pengalaman pertama saya melihat salju. Untungnya saya memakai baju berlapis - lapis untung mencegah udara dingin diatas. Saya menggunakan thermal, sweater, syal dan juga coat yang sangat tebal. Paling tidak saya masih bisa mengambil beberapa foto di puncak gunung.

It's freezing baby

Top of Mount Tittlis

Gloomy outside

Love the weather

River in front of parking area

Well said this is really my new experience for me personally and i am always grateful for every chance to go abroad frequently as my job, i work to travel and i am paid to travel, alhamdulillah what a life!