My First Backpacking Experience!

I set off at 10+pm to Maastricht train station, the plan

was to head towards Eindhoven to catch a plane to London. 

This was probably my first time going anywhere foreign on my 

own and i was really looking forward to it. 

Backpacking is really exciting and i guess this is why pple love 

it so much. There's just too much uncertainty and i kept asking 

for directions and praying that some pple would point me the way. 

Thank God He sent quite a few "angels" to guide my way there =)

The first was actually the security guard at the train station

who told me where to get coins necessary to buy the train

tickets (cos the counters were closed) for that, i had to change

15 euros worth of coins at the nearby jackpot/casino place a short

walk from the station.

This is a shot of me in the train, doesnt show much except

the blue seats and you probably can see how happy i am

to skip the friday class (oops, but its allowed anyway so

yeah... dun worry mom)

I met a dutch guy named Pascal on the train to eindhoven,

it was pretty much a coincidence i ran into him cos we were 

the only two people on the platform. Btw, we missed the 11pm 

train so we waited for the 12am train and had lots of time

to chat. Here you can see Sudoku and a letter-search puzzle,

this is what he uses to kill time during the long train trips so

we took the opportunity to complete a few of these...

From chatting, i got directions and tips to get to Eindhoven

airport (because i had no idea how to get there, i only knew

i had to get to the airport, but how was a big question mark)

He also shared about his studies (he's doing tourism and marketing),

family and friends, plus he taught me a little bit of dutch too!
Its too bad we didnt take a photo, but hope our paths cross again one day.

Finally reached eindhoven at around 1 am, takes

1 hour from maastricht station. Here the wierdest thing

happened... I was totally caught off guard by the info that:

1. The buses to the airport had stopped operating

2. The train terminal closes at 2.30am

3. The airport closes at 3am

4. There is no way i'm going to make it to the airport before morning

5. The temperature outside is 0-3 degrees and freezing cold!

6. Buses only commence operating at 6+ in the morning

Faced with the option to either freeze (for 4-5 hours) or find some

shelther, i choose the logical one and managed to find a small hostel room.

It was really expensive and for a second there i comtemplated freezing

my ass off in the cold. (Note: from 1.30 to 2.30 i became a squatter at the

train station and just sat at a corner, folded my arms and went to sleep until

i was awoken by the airport staff and politely chased out of the station)

A tiny stairway leads up to the rooms... not much 

headroom, but no choice la its better than sitting

out in the cold for hours..

I can't believe i paid xx euros for this... its a tiny room with

a bed, but still thank God because this was the ONLY room

left in the vicinity (within walking distance) so its divine

providence!

Here's what eindhoven train station looks like from the

outside, there were no places for me to take shelther from

the cold, so i couldnt act "garang" and fight the cold.

Finally after a good 4hrs of sleep, i took the bus to

eindhoven airport and reached there well in advance for

checking-in.

My plane to London Stansted airport, i took ryanair

and paid around 100 euros for this, i'll be staying for a 

good 10 days so its plenty of time to roam around.

Finally reached London Stansted at 9.25 London time.

For your info, holland is 7 hours behind Singapore, whereas

london is 8 hours behind singapore...

Biggest takeaway:

When in doubt ask, someone probably knows the way!