Graduation trip

It’s official. I have gotten my air ticket and im making my way to Iran! Hope this is not too last minute and hopefully if any of u should reply me, I still have the time to read and reply u guys! Yup, im flying Gulf Air to Tehran, capital of Iran, on this coming Tues on the 525am flight. There’s a 3hr transition in Bahrain airport and then I will arrive in Iran at 315pm Iranian time. My flight back is on the 30th May and this time round, the transition takes 8hrs! Like when I went to Turkey… :p Well, will arrive back in Singapore on 31st May at 920am!

I know many of u are bound to ask, “Why Iran?� and “Is it safe to go there?� As some of u might know, I was supposed to go to Africa earlier in Feb and also stopped by Dubai! All my hopes were dashed when the organizer was too busy. And worse still, I had such high hopes for that trip, thinking I would be able to step onto the African soil earlier than I expected! Sigh. Hence, I did not tell anybody where I would be going this May. That is, until I got my air tic!

I had planned to go to Morocco for about 5 weeks but alas! I missed the NATAS travel fair for the $680 Emirates flight to Morocco! It was $1398 after that! More than double! I was logging onto MISA Travel website every single day just before the exam period to check out air tics and wondering where I should go. Something within my budget and yet also a place that is on my list of ‘to-go places’. I sent out so many enquiries to MISA Travel that they must have been so fed-up at seeing my name! *Chuckles*

Air tics to places that I had enquired about include Moscow, Sydney, Beijing, Cairo and Tehran. I also found out about a special fare for youths under 25 travelling to Tehran which enables a free stopover at Istanbul!!! How I wished im going back there! I actually booked a tic for that itinery, that is, I would be stopping by Istanbul on the way back from Tehran. But due to time constraint, I decided not to go to Istanbul (Do u hear my heart breaking??) and just spend my whole holiday in Iran. Sigh, sigh, sigh. If only my hols were 2 months, I would be spending time in Turkey, Iran and probably some other Middle Eastern countries. :( Nevermind, I keep telling myself, the chance will come one day.

Iran has been on my list of ‘to-go places’ since I don’t remember when. Coincidentally, I actually wrote something about the country after Bush passed some comments that pissed me off. That was last year, but I only posted this article recently on my blog. Yup, I did not expect myself to step onto Iranian soil so soon. But, I’m quite sure this is going to be one very memorable graduation trip for me.

Regarding whether it’s a safe place to go to, I can assure u that I have done my homework and it is definitely safe! Several travelers even said that it’s safer than the streets of London, where muggings take place under broad daylight! Of course, I will still play safe and watch out. I won’t give anything a chance!

I would be spending a total of 28 days there and it’s the longest trip I have taken ever since Turkey/Athens in 2003. It is also the same number of days as my very 1st backpack trip with Zhixian to Thailand/Laos in 2002. Looking forward to spending some time away from home, from my comfort zone, but yet also with worries of missing home after so much have happened recently. Since Turkey/Athens, I have not taken a trip of more than 20days. The longest was Vietnam last May (18days). Hope I can get suited to life on the road again.

Like Serena had said, this is probably going to be the last time I can take a long trip before I start work. Yeah, I will really treasure it and I know it’s going to be a trip to be remembered. If u r wondering if this is a solo trip, yes & no. I will be spending 3 weeks by myself first before 2 friends MIGHT fly over to join me on the 22nd. Geez. Im not betting on that. They’re working adults and their leave is not even approved yet!

Oh yeah, and one more ting, my parents know that I’m flying there alone and doing the trip solo for the 1st 3 weeks! Dad did not say much, guess he’s very confident of his own little girl. Mum just kept on nagging incessantly, and it’s very irritating. :p

So u guys and girls know the dates that I’m not going to be in Singapore already, don’t flood my mailbox! I will email/blog as much as I can!
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I’m going to lay off running in these 28 days, and I know im going to miss it. Actually ever since school closes, running took on a new meaning to me. I realized that to me, when there’s so many other things to keep me occupied, running becomes a form of monotony. It’s because I have to stick to it amidst all the events happening around me. I still got to find time to go run. However, when faced with the daily gruelling monotonous life of shuttling between school and home, running becomes a form of variety to me. It adds colours to my otherwise tedious and boring life. And it certainly helps relieve stress too! What an interesting revelation. In future, when work becomes a monotony, I know I can always count on my outdoor pursuits.

One way to stop viewing running as a monotony in an otherwise exciting life would be to entrust oneself to the sport and see it as a commitment. That was how I managed to pull myself out to run even on those kinds of days. Difficult, definitely and mentally tired too, after spending the whole day out. However, no regrets. Just like the run I did just now after the rain. The weather was the perfect type for running, and my favourite as well. Feeling so good now.


You're writing the story of your life one moment at a time.
--Doc Childre and Howard Martin, The HeartMath Solution