Me Time!

[lee_yl]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2086149\" time=\"1666162513\" user_id=\"28674:

Many of us are watching and waiting to see how things develop in China. Maybe next year?

Best hope is next year March after their National Congress. After all, the lockdown is a political decision.

China’s COVID policy anytime can flip flop. Moreover China has their own internal economic issues and who knows by the time they reopen their economy, things/food there maybe more expensive than Japan, then might as well go Japan.

[zeit.033699]

Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2086205\" time=\"1666197571\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2086205 time=1666197571 user_id=58173]
Cardboard boxes are great! Easy for check ins and also protects the goods well as long as the vendor packs well.

I buy tons of fridge magnets too. Some of them are broken already, I hope I can visit these places again, before I get too old to travel.[/quote]

haha! :snuggles:

I mean the carboard boxes were for my snow globes, windmills, porcelain figurines, mini cuckoo clocks and musical boxes. In Europe and Japan, they use mini paper carriers to contain magnets, but some will wrap with paper or bubble sheets.

I put them in the inner side pocket where my luggage hinge is, so they will never be cracked! They are mostly resin or silicon magnets. I have knocked off and broken a few because I accidentally brushed against them when I walked past my fridge.

[Zeal mummy]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2086217\" time=\"1666224962\" user_id=\"28674:

Do you display all your magnets? Where? I put some on my fridge, but end up putting the less-favoured ones away. So I generally just buy 1 for each place visited.

You must be at least a decade or more younger than me, so you will have many years before you get \"too old to travel\". My parents travelled frequently till they were 80! Then Covid happened, and they are less likely to travel now.

We display the most recent ones on the fridge and occasionally swap them out with those we like better… The fridge is actually not such a safe place, as my kids would knock some off while taking food from the fridge, chipping the corners.

We always end up buying more than one as the kids like the designs that are more bold and I like the classic ones that showcase what the country/city represents.

There are so many countries and cities we haven’t been to, really hope that we stay healthy and active, so we can continue to travel yearly till 80!

[zeit.033699]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2086184\" time=\"1666182552\" user_id=\"28674:

Depends on what you like, I guess. Nothing on your shopping list is on mine! I think my backpack in 2012 was about 8kg - not too bad as we mainly carried it between train stations and hotels, no more than 15-20 mins at each city. I was 48 then. I'll only be doing the backpack thing for Naples this time, and I think my bag will be even lighter as it's only for 2 nights. We'll leave the suitcases in Rome.

you're so fit! :udawoman: OK, you still have the suitcases, so it ain't that bad if you wanna buy some fragile souvenirs.

yea, we're foodies and connoisseurs, so we buy Advent groceries sometimes to share with our family on Christmas Eves! You know those stollen, brunsli, panettone, marzipan cookies and gingerbread men all add to the weight.

Another difference is we would enter luxury stores in Milan, Rome and Florence to look at stuffs, so having a backpack makes us look... :rotflmao:

[zeit.033699]

Ytd, the Chinese Embassy here announced that SIN-PEK and SIN-CTU direct flights are now open for booking. But Chengdu rail station is closed for a 4-year upgrading...so I cannot take the train to Chongqing.


My main concern is foreigners might be locked down suddenly while shopping in some mall. As soon as they discover 1 case, they will lock down the whole place to swab every shopper or diner. And if we want to take the HSR or intercity buses to another city from Beijing or Chengdu, do we need to download some Chinese health tracking app? They have some kind of 健康二维码.

I don't think I would want to visit China even after their 两会 in March 2023. I've a few cities in Northeast China like Changchun that I badly wish to cover (since 2019!) :frustrated:

[sharonkhoo]

zeit.\" post_id=\"2086263\" time=\"1666251909\" user_id=\"194295:

My main concern is foreigners might be locked down suddenly while shopping in some mall. As soon as they discover 1 case, they will lock down the whole place to swab every shopper or diner.

That is my main concern too. We lived through the SARS restrictions which were nowhere as bad as Covid has been, and I don't want a repeat.

[starlight1968sg]

Looking forward to ME time as I had a hectic week at work

[Liew Nga Wing]

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2086320\" time=\"1666303869\" user_id=\"14025:

Looking forward to ME time as I had a hectic week at work

Are you going for swimming?

[sharonkhoo]

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2086320\" time=\"1666303869\" user_id=\"14025:

Looking forward to ME time as I had a hectic week at work

Long weekend coming up! My girls are happy, but it makes very little difference to my husband and me as we are now freelancers.

For me, I still have a few things to finish up by end of next week before abandoning work for 2 weeks, and also need to check that I have everything I need for the vacation. I've already taken all the cool-weather clothing out and washed them (after 3+ years in storage), and will need to replace some items like medications. And a colleague has asked me to read through the draft of her Master's thesis over the weekend.

[MrsKiasu]

Can master students do that?