WE'RE GOING EUROPE!!!

And the final picture for 2014 is hot off the oven!

The whole process was completed so quickly. I don't really like making decisions within a tight timeframe, but the offer was too attractive! So Celeste and I did much research and also hankered friends and relatives whom could provide insights of any kind to our raw travelling plan haha.

On Day 1 I glanced upon a Qatar newsletter in my gmail inbox, and I almost deleted it lol, thinking it was probably some spam or advertorial (too used to receiving all those nonsense). Until my eyes caught "30% fares to Europe" or something along the line!

Browsed Qatar airways website and did a quick simulation and couldn't believe my eyes - $953 for round trip to Zurich!?! However the promo will only be ongoing for 3 days... Was super excited and later that night, I spent like 2 hours just fiddling with and simulating different time periods and flight plans on Qatar airways website. I must say their website is very user friendly and the layout and appearance are easy on the eyes! So after 2 hours, we decided to do a multi-city i.e. land in Paris/London and depart from Zurich... many questions came up such as should we go Germany? Is 2 weeks enough? How is Florence different from Rome and Milan? Should we try to watch a football match in London? Both Celeste and I have never laid foot on Europe before and planning for such a major trip is such a risky headache!

On Day 2 the air tickets are booked! Honestly, there are too many 'beautiful' and 'nice' and 'majestic' cities and places to visit! Within Italy alone my friends recommend Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Milan, and plus must-go honeymoon places like Interlaken and Paris, omgosh 14 days seem barely enough. Finally, we decided to give UK a miss cos anyway we see it on tv for at least 4 hours a week on Mio TV Channel 102/Starhub Channel 227 lol. No la, but we are seriously spoilt for choices and given the tight timeframe, we needed to just proceed with and stick to a plan, don't we!

And SO WE DID IT!

So it's S$963.30 (all in!) for multi-city flight itinerary on Qatar airways, I think it's too attractive an offer to miss! So surreal!

One thing I learnt - there are really many awesome deals and offers out there! Think Groupon, all-deals-Asia, handed-out pamphlets on the streets, credit card partnership with merchant retailers, and big ticket items like flight tickets! Got a SQ deal to NZ for less than $1.1k recently, and now we're packing our bags to Europe for less than a grand! Hmm, I also just signed up as a Qatar privilege member for FREE and wonder if it'll entitle us to any freebies later on??? Really glad I signed up to be on the mailing list for Qatar airways newsletters - just about a month ago. To a tangibly sizeable extent, one can really steer towards opportunities... only if they put in the effort to.

And that's not all! Jx shared that a certain Amex card entitles the cardholder to free 2-night hotel stay under the Millenia hotel chain, anywhere in the world even Singapore! Gonna sign up for it really soon!

Think I can't sleep tonight ahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha :D

Walcott off the court

(Source: ESPN)

Extremely heartbreaking news for the Gunners.

Walcott has just returned from an injury layoff in December and his come-back has been impressive - scoring a few important goals and noting down a couple of assists. In his last game against Spurs, although Walcott’s name did not appear on the scoreboard, his overall contribution was telling and looked really like a matured, dangerous forward whom displayed the potential and class Wenger splashed so much cash on and devoted so much patience to.

I saw how much Arsenal’s game needed someone like Walcott in our recent loss to rivals Man U – pacy, direct running and skillful finishing. Man U was playing a tight midfield, crowding the final third and breaking up the flow of our midfield short passing. Man U’s formation resulted in a narrow midfield but alas, we missed the likes of Walcott, Alex Chamberlain and Poldoski who could provide natural width and whip in dangerous crosses.

When Walcott returned and was back to fitness, Arsenal’s game also improved, hitting quick on the counter and scoring good goals. Having a stealth forward in our line-up also led to opponent teams being more cautious at committing players to supporting attack, and overall the string of results proved Walcott’s importance – consecutive wins, a few clean sheets and the latest derby result further iterating ‘mind the gap’.

Never really thought Walcott was a good player (refer to hate post here), but in recent months he is really proving his worth. Six months out is an immensely long time for a professional soccer player, here’s wishing him quick recovery.

To Arsene, this piece of bad news is a sign from above. No doubt it is a wet blanket to our title hopes, but let’s be optimistic that the transfer window has just opened. Please strengthen the attack line!