Junkgirl™

Travel packing

Deciding whether to use trolley bags

or backpacks. Trolley bags aren’t necessary the best option. It depends on the type of travelling that you will be doing. If you are planning to remain in one or two locations throughout the trip, trolley bags are the best option. You just need to get from the airport to your accommodation and back. However, if you will be doing lots of moving around from one location to another, then backpacks might be more suitable. This is especially so if you will be travelling on trains in Japan. Elevators, if any, are difficult to locate. And it isn’t easy trying to get the trolley bag down or up a flight of stairs. I read that this is also the case in Europe.

Backpacks should always be kept inside a dufflebag when checking-in as baggage. Otherwise, the throwing around is most definitely going to ruin the bag. If even one of the straps breaks, the bag will be practically useless. Backpacks, when worn correctly, distributes the weight around the body. Every strap has a function and none of the strap should be left unfastened. My fit is 55 and DT is a 65. From memory, it should end around the neck area.

This time, two trolley bags may be a problem because we will be moving around to different locations and there will be some travelling on trains. It probably was a little safer in Japan. I don’t have strength to get the bag down or up the stairs. DT would take one bag up or down the stairs and I would stay with the other trolley bag. Then when he comes back for the bag, I would go to get the first bag. It was probably amusing watching this task of ours. One time, a station master walked past and saw me standing there with the bag at the beginning of a flight of stairs. He asked ‘daijoubu‘ which means ‘are you alright’. I replied ‘daijoubu‘. However, Paris is notorious for petty crime and it is definitely not a good idea to leave your luggage unattended, even for just one second. So we are considering this combination – a trolley bag and a duffelbag. The duffelbag will be folded and stored in the trolley bag until the return trip, when there are bound to be purchases.

And the little packs as carry-on luggage, as usual.

And the toiletries bag. Got this from Muji during the initial Japan trip.

It may seem large but there really isn’t a lot of space in the bag. Travelling light is one of the most important rule for travellers. Our rule of travelling light is not not to bring anything. Necessities such as cameras and equipment, laptop and equipment, and universal adaptor should never be left out. A small bag of medicinal supplies containing panadol, band-aid, antiseptic cream and nailclipper. What can be minimal is…clothing. We will most certainly do some shopping so we always cater for that by bringing minimal clothing.

A handy tool to bring along

Travel packing was published on September 19th, 2010 under the ETCetera category. There are currently no comments on this article.

Numbers in French

This is what i’ve learnt (with my own interpretation fo the pronunciation) after weeks of numbers in French..
Un-male (an) / Une-female (ewn) – One
Deux (duh) – Two
Trois (trwah) – Three
Quatre (cat-r) -Four
Cinq (sank) – Five
Six (sees) – Six
Sept (set) – Seven
Huit (weet) – Eight
Neuf (nef) – Nine
Dix (dis) – Ten

Eleven to Sixteen has words of their own whilst Seventeen to Nineteen is just ten plus seven, eight and nine respectively.
Onze (onz) – Eleven
Douze (doohz) -Twelve
Treize (treiz) – Thirteen

I find the following two a little harder to remember but the pronunciation sounded like ‘cattles’ and ‘cows’ to me so i used that to help me remember
Quatorze (cat-tohrz) – Fourteen
Quinze (kehnz) – Fifteen

Seize (sez) – Sixteen
Dix-sept (dis-set) – Seventeen
Dix-huit (di-zweet) – Eighteen
Dix-neuf (diz-nuf) – Nineteen

Twenty to Sixty isn’t that hard but Seventy to Ninety can be rather confusing
Vingt (vah) – Twenty
Trente (trengt) – Thirty
Quarante (keh-ranght) – Fourty
Cinquante (senk-kont) – Fifty
Soixante (sueh-sawn) – Sixty

Trente et un (trent-e-an) – Thirty-One

This is where is gets a little confusing but once you get the idea, it isn’t too hard to understand…
Soixante-dix (sueh-sawn-dis) – Seventy (is actually sixty-ten)
Quatre-vingt (cat-r-vah) – Eighty (is actually four-twenty)
Quatre-vingt-dis (cat-r-vah-dis) – Ninety (is actually four-twenty-ten)

And this is where is gets even more confusing, at first…
Soixante-douze (sueh-sawn-doohz) – Seventy-two (is actually sixty-twelve)
Soixante-dix-neuf (sueh-sawn-dis-nef) – Seventy nine (is actually sixty-nineteen)
Quatre-vingt-quatre (cat-r-vah-cat-r) – Eighty-four (is actually four-twenty-four)
Quatre-vingt-treize (cat-r-vah-treze) – Ninety-three (is actually four-twenty-thirteen)
Quatre-vingt-dix-sept (cat-r-vah-dis-set) – Ninety-seven (is actually four-twenty-seventeen)

and
Cent (sank) – Hundred

On a side note, if someone as dumb as me can learn the above, everyone who belittles me shouldn’t have the slightest problem, correct? Yes, I can’t drive, I don’t how to check car fluids and tyre pressure, I can’t prepare soup, I don’t know how to park a car, I can’t cook rice, I can’t make decent dishes, I am technology illiterate, I don’t know anything, I can’t do anything. That is what the world sees and tt’s great to be underestimated. Just like the Chinese saying ‘The silent dog is the one that bites the human to death’.

Numbers in French was published on September 12th, 2010 under the Français category. There are currently no comments on this article.

Selecting Flight Seats

Selecting seats on flights form part of the planning and preparation for travelling as well. And with the amazing internet, it isn’t difficult at all to know which exact seats are preferred, which exact seats to request, if one has the initiative. Some may have the attitude of ‘I’ll take whatever seats is given to me”…the whatever attitude. No. You paid a good price for your seats and so should make the effort to select your preferred seats. Or at least try to request for your preferred seats. We should have a certain level of requirement. People with the ‘Anything will do’ attitude just doesn’t take much interest in things or their lives.

I prefer to have information in front of me when discussing, negotiating or requesting. A reference. For the 4 legs of the trip, which are rather long-haul, I tried to request for seats in the 57-59 rows. I was offered seats in row 61 for one of the legs. If i didn’t have the above reference in front of me, I wouldn’t know that those were not so ideal seats. Seats 70-73 are rather good too but just too far back. I never quite fancy the last rows on transportation. I find myself more prone to motion sickness sitting that far back. My preferred choice is the window seat, of course. But DT prefers the aisle seat. So if it is 3 seater, it has to be one or the other. Otherwise, we will end up with a stranger sitting in between.

Selecting Flight Seats was published on September 7th, 2010 under the France, FYI category. There are currently no comments on this article.

1 to 20 in French

1 is un(masculine) or une(feminine) pronounced uhn or ewn
2 is deux pronounced duh
3 is trois pronounced twah
4 is quatre pronounced kahtr
5 is cinq pronounced sank
6 is six pronounced sees
7 is sept pronounced seht
8 is huit pronounced weet
9 is neuf pronounced nuhf
10 is dix pronounced dees
11 is onze pronounced ohz
12 is douze pronounced dooz
13 is treize pronounced trehz
14 is quatorze pronounced kwah-tohrz
15 is quinze pronounced kaz
(a personal tip to help myself remember the pronunciation for the above two – cattle and cows as quatorze sounds a little like cattle and kaz sounds a little like cows)
16 is seize pronounced sehz
17 is dix-sept pronounced dee-seht
18 is dix-huit pronounced dees-zweet
19 is dix-neuf pronounced dee-znuhf
20 is vingt pronounced va

1 to 20 audio

1 to 20 in French was published on August 29th, 2010 under the Français category. There are currently no comments on this article.

Languages

Having a foundation in Malay, it isn’t difficult to learn to pronounce Japanese and probably Italian and Spanish words. I realised that I have no problems pronouncing Sharifah or Muhammad or Yutaka Takenouchi compared to someone from Hong Kong or someone whose only spoken language is the English Language, where they are normally hesitant with the pronunciation. But the pronunciation of a French word can be very different from the written word.

for example, je ne comprends pas is pronounced…
Flashcards

using cards to help memorise some useful phrases
Flashcards

like most Chinese Malaysian, I grew up with the ability to speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay, English, Hokkien and a little bit of Teochew, and I am proud of it. I remember when I was working part time in a Malaysian restaurant years ago, a group of Chinese Malaysian customers were placing their orders in a mixture of Cantonese and English. And they had an older lady with them who asked, in Hokkien, if one of the dish is spicy. One of the middle-aged customer was about to translate her question for me when I replied, in Hokkien “It isn’t spicy at all”. It is a loss for those who feel ashamed of speaking languages other than English. They don’t see that it is an advantage to be able to converse in several languages. To be armed.

Languages was published on August 29th, 2010 under the ETCetera, Français category. There are currently no comments on this article.

Creperie Beaubourg

there will probably be lots of creperie consumption during the upcoming trip since it is a quick and relatively inexpensive option

Creperie Beaubourg is located near Centre Pompidou at 2 rue Brisemiche, not far from where we are staying

View Larger Map

just like getting by with soba and ramen in Japan.

Creperie Beaubourg was published on August 29th, 2010 under the France category. There are currently no comments on this article.

Stohrer

Added to the itinerary

location…

View Larger Map

on Rue Montorgueil

near L’Escargot Montorgueil

Stohrer was published on August 28th, 2010 under the France, Itadakimasu category. There are currently no comments on this article.

How to ride the Paris Metro

It helps to be prepared and informed when travelling to a foreign country, especially if it is the initial visit.

Points to note:
- Use Seine River as a guide to divide Paris into the left bank and the right bank
- RER is pronounced as FEF in France
- Use roller to navigate the ticket machine
- Doors on the train doesn’t open automatically. Use the handle or sometimes, buttons.
- Sortie means exit

How to ride the Paris Metro was published on August 28th, 2010 under the France category. There are currently no comments on this article.

Travellers

After a month of researching, planning, enquiring and making reservations, the itinerary is close to being finalised and the trip is pretty much organised. Stress level is much lower now. Just awaiting a couple of confirmations, and printing out copies of bookings and my itinerary. Then all there is left to do is to read about what and where to eat, where to shop, the markets in Paris, the architecture styles such as Gothic, Baroque and etc., and the most important of all, learning the survival phrases. Parlez vous anglais. I guess that is what makes us travelers, not tourists. We don’t participate in tour groups with tour guides, unless absolutely necessary. And it’s usually for day trips to DIY-impossible areas. Not from the home country to the destination and back.

The last time I had to create a full-on itinerary like this one was our China trip and our Japan trip. Both the trips went smoothly, mainly as a result of the amount of pre-travel preparation but also partly due to luck. One fortunate example I can think of, is our visit to Mt Fuji. The skies were blue and clear and Mt Fuji was clearly visible on the day we chose to travel from Tokyo to Kawaguchi to see this icon of Japan. This time is going to be a little different though. In China and Japan, we blend in and could pass for locals. But it is Europe this time and we will stand out.

Ordered the Paris Museum Pass last week. Got back home from work today, to find it left on the doorstep. That was quick, DHL. From my research, if planning to visit several museums, it is more economical to get the pass than purchasing the individual tickets at each museum. And bypass the queue at the ticket counter too.
P1020229

P1020231

Travellers was published on August 17th, 2010 under the ETCetera, France category. There are currently 1 comment on this article.

Planning a trip

is exciting yet a little stressful. There are a lot of researching, reading, comparison and homework to do and inquiries to make. From selecting the best value airfares to compiling the places to go on each day of the trip and ensuring that the places are open on the day of visit, to selecting and arranging accommodation, to planning how to get to the places by public transport or on foot. The more difficult ones are the places that are outside the city boundaries and may require train schedule planning and seat reservations. Then there is the deal seeking such as whether the Paris Museum Pass works out to be of better value than purchasing the individual entrance tickets.
Compiling
After all the above is arranged, there are the survival phrases to learn, architecture, tourist traps, what to eat and general information to read about to make the trip more enjoyable and to avoid dramas. To be prepared and know what to expect. And by the end of it, you know the place better. Worth the stress, i guess.

Planning a trip was published on August 11th, 2010 under the ETCetera, France category. There are currently no comments on this article.





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