it’s my life

Germany Tax Refund

it's MY life - 9 months ago - Iswandi

I got a check from Germany. It is the tax refund from all the shopping that I did back in Europe.

The amount is US$76. I went to bank-in the check at my local bank, POSB Bank. I didn’t know how to cash-in the check as I’ve done it only once in my life. Therefore I asked the teller and she told me this.

There will be a S$10 Service Charge and a S$4 Postage Charge since my check is in US currency and it stated that it was from the Bank of New York. Therefore they had to send the check there for verification and after, they will use the current exchange rate and deliver it to my account. For that, they will charge me a US$5 Service Charge over there.

The whole procedure will take a minimum of 21 days. Now that made me wonder if it was worth it for a meager sum that I’ve received.

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Euro Trip ( Germany )

it's MY life - 10 months ago - Iswandi

First stop, Munich Airport ( Germany)
Restless flight as the excitement builds up plus seating beside a huge but nice old German dude makes the whole journey an interesting one.
First thought on arrival? I’m gonna die! Frozen!
Eventhough it was summer, the temperature was not what someone like me could handle… ( my body needs to absorb heat, it does not generate any on it’s own… I’ll be a reptile if I was an animal…)
Second thought on arrival? If I die here, at least it’s a beautiful place.
Yup. It really was a beautiful place. ( no other words to describe it, simply beautiful)
Next, we got our packs and head out to meet the other 2 groupies. Got on the train to the city and find our hostel which we booked way ahead at hostelworld.com. ( actually it was about 2 months before. Actually That was considered late…)

The hostel was not bad. The room was mostly occupied by us so, security on belongings (eventhough they provided lockers) and our own safety was quite assured. Like they say, safety in numbers!
We spent about 3 days there. Went around to the shopping district to find lunch and take some photos. There was the cathedral which was at the center of the town area. It played some kind of music at certain hours and had these statues that would move. Everyone would just stand there watching in amazement. ( I mean really, even the locals were mesmerized by it!)
Munich was totally different from the stressed atmosphere in Singapore. Everyone and everything (even the trees) were very calm and just chilling out, dude. It was dry and cold though so, remember to drink lots of water or use moisturizer, folks. ( my skin was peeling… Told ya I am a reptile. )

Next we went to the museum. It displayed all of the royalties funiture and stuff. Took us about 3 hours to complete the whole tour. You can take pictures but no flash is allowed. I had my wonderful Sony DSC50 camera, semi-pro so, no flash? No problem. Good quality pictures! ( most of us had either a pro or a semi, hehe)
Reason for the no flash pictures is because the items displayed had gold so, light from the flash would cause the gold to oxidize. It’s like drinking too much coke would cause your teeth to rot. Same thing.
The second day we went to visit the castle Neuschwanstein. Took the train there. The trip took the whole day. The train went by the countryside. There were beautiful cottages and houses and horses and cows and goats and green fields and gold colored fields full of flowers and mountains and trees and and ……. ( it was too much to take in, my mind is still trying to process the images)
The castle was near a town located at the final stop of the train ride. We had to take a bus from the train station to the foot of a mountain and walk up ( or you could take a bus or a coach there) to the castle.
It was quite high up but the road was a gentle and gradual slope. Even the elderly walked. It did start to drizzle but that only adds on to the serene and peaceful atmosphere.

It took us about 35 minutes to reach the top. There were 2 castle but we only choose one. ( the more beautiful one I’d say) Castle Neuschwanstein!
It was magnificent! Just like in the story books! But the castle wasn’t complete due to some complications in the king’s life which ended tragically. After the 1 hour guided tour, we went to the bridge behind the castle. It was freakingly high up. ( yes, I looked down…Don’t ask me what happened… It’s just that some of us didn’t make it to the center of the bridge )
Hungry and weary from all the sightseeing, we decided to have dinner in town near the train station. But before that, we got some postcards from the castle to send back home. The small little town was very serene. I loved it there but we had to move on!
Next stop, Amsterdam!

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Europe Trip ( The Beginning )

it's MY life - 10 months ago - Iswandi

We began our trip to Europe on 17 May 2009.
This trip was planned about a year ago. The idea for this trip was introduced by Arif ( a buddy of more than a decade). Reason for the trip was to visit his friend in Paris. From a trip to just one country became a 3 weeks vacation to 4 different places.
We went to Munich( Germany), Amsterdam( Netherlands), Paris( France) and Barcelona( Spain).
A group of 7 people on a journey of stress reducing fun!
Main things we did before moving off was book the hostels at hostelworld.com, plan the places of interest we wanna visit ( which got amended constantly), get the eurail pass (it’s free at some countries but others that you have to make reservations for, gets you discounted price ), change currency, pack our bags ( important stuff like passport, extra cash, reservation papers are to be kept somewhere safe).

We set off from Changi Airport 17 May 2009 at about 11pm.
A lot of family and relatives came to send us off. 2 members of the crew went a few days ahead as the tickets were not bought together due to last minute crewmate additions. ( Original plan was for only 4… I’m the only person who didn’t invite anyone along, hehe)
I had a little trouble with my ticket… I bought it online but when I got there they said that the system could not find my reservation even with the refrence number I provided… But all is well since there were not much people flying to Munich ( thank God! )
So we were off! 5 people, 4 destination , 3 weeks…
The flight took 14 hours…

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