I'm Back!!

i've been writing less and less now.. i've definitely abandon this blog for too long.. the last published post is back in 2015 about our New Zealand trip, and although i've written drafts post subsequent to that, i haven't been able to bring myself to post them.. so here i am, attempting to post one about our recent family trip.. do bear in mind that a lot has happened since my last post (i mean, it was almost 3 years) and i might just publish some drafts i've had written in due time.. but for the time being, let's just enjoy this moment of reliving our family vacation to Switzerland!! p.s. you'll see some new faces =b

i'll keep this brief for this first post, mainly perhaps just the build up to the actual trip.. so why Switzerland? well my family really enjoy sightseeing so we'd choose somewhere beautiful.. and after NZ, we'd thought let's go to Switzerland.. ok, so i guess my family loves mountain view.. they're just amazing and breathtaking.. oh yea and it was mama's wishlist to go to the Swiss Alps.. and since we don't know when else we'd be able to go to Europe, we thought going to another one of mama's wishlist which was Austria.. long story short, we had to scratch that, and since we only had a week, we settled for Switzerland.. a footnote however, we did continue on to UK later, but yaya and papa didn't come with so it didn't feel like a complete family vacation.. so when i talk about our family trip, i mainly refer it to this Swiss trip hehehe..

as usual, our organizer is my baby sister Izad.. i'd say she did 100% of the work really.. we did have laptop clubs where we sat down to brainstorm, but at the end of the day, she did all the planning and just run them through me for any suggestions.. (can u believe it took us roughly about a year to plan this whole trip).. so big shout out and thanks to her.. if u remember (i mean they're literally the previous post) our NZ trip involves a lot of driving.. we basically check in, stayed the night and was on the road the next day.. we enjoyed the country by looking out the car window (and not really complaining cuz it was lovely).. with this in mind, we wanted to enjoy the town and more of the country by exploring it rather than just driving around.. we had activities and specific places to go to so we hoped it feels more chill.. TLDR on the timing too, we opted to go in June (early summer and literally on 1st day raya of raya itself) after successfully convincing papa..

one thing we planned to do for this trip was to do a vlog-like video.. hmm we failed!! boohoo hahaha we did take pictures and did manage to film a bit here and there, but looking back, i wish i made more effort to record more.. i told izad that we were too busy living in the moment, rather than capturing it on our phone or camera.. maybe that's just so i could feel better hahahah so yea, the actual trip will start in my next post, and just to give you a heads up (who reads this blog anyway), we started of in Munich because car rental in Swiss are fucking expensive.. i do not recommend it... unless u're rich.. then good for you..

p.s. please be patient cuz i'm taking my own sweet time here..

Quality Hotel, Parnell

Beds: 3 queens

Price: $432 for 2 nights (6 adults)

The last hotel for the vacation.. located in Parnell, the hotel is considered in the town. We didn’t do any major grocery shopping if I’m not mistaken cause we were going back soon and we didn’t want to have excess stuff.. but there are plenty of places to buy groceries from.. we even stopped by a halal butchery on the way to the hotel so we did managed to have sausages for breakfast (tp xsedap sgt huhuhu) the hotel was easy to find and checking in was not a problem.. we chose a 2-bedroom unit so everyone could sleep comfortably.. one bedroom had 2 queen size bed while the other had 1 queen..

there’s a bathroom with a big tub and shower.. the kitchen area was comfortable enough to cook in even with our bags scattered on the floor.. the dining area sits 4 person but with a nice big table, this time around we didn’t care much bout the seats cause we didn’t have a family meal there.. the only thing I wasn’t really fond of was the living room.. although it had a good space to it, but the couches was placed in such a way that we can’t sit down and watch tv comfortably cuz it wasn’t facing the tv.. so instead, we had to pull the small couch to the middle of the room to face the tv.. can’t recall if there was a balcony or not cuz we didn’t open the sliding door that much..

overall, I give the place 8/10 because of the bath tub and I managed to use a bath bomb heheheh.. so that sums up the hotel reviews yg cincai2 je.. dah basi la citer ni but it’ll all be captured here for future reading & reminiscence hehehe planning for our next vacation now.. toodles..

Coromandel Colonial Cottages Motel

Beds: 1 queen, 2 single, 2 pull-out couch

Price: $210 per night (6 adults)

2 more left then we’re done.. it feels like I keep repeating myself over and over again.. by the time we reached the motel, it was already dark, what with the long drive and winding road again.. we didn’t really get to see the pretty surrounding till the next morning.. Coromandel is a small town and finding the motel was easy.. didn’t go around town that much but if I recall properly, there’s only a mini market at that area.. Thames which is about 50 minutes’ drive will be a bigger town that has a supermarket (if I’m not mistaken)..

The front door opens up to a hall with two bedrooms on either side... one bedroom has a queen size bed, on the other had 2 single beds.. the hall leads up to the kitchen and dining area as well as the living room.. 6-seat dining table, and a nice kitchen to cook in.. the living room has 2 pull-out couch and another sofa to relax on.. very spacious living room, but we didn’t hang out there long.. we watched a short movie after dinner and planned the activity for the next day.. the lady at the office told us about a ‘garden’ and a pottery place where we can ride a mini train..

Although it’s a small town, there are a couple of things to do there which is ok if you’re just passing by.. overall, I give the place 7.5/10 also because of the pretty exterior of the place hehehe extra pics here for you...

Palmerston North Motel

Beds: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 single

Price: $218 per night (6 adults)

This was basically a touch n go motel.. not sure how many hours we spent between checking in and checking out but is definitely the shortest out of all (not sure it’s true but that’s what it felt like anyway).. it was dark when we reached there, around 9pm, but we did managed to find the hotel easily thanks to Samantha.. don’t really know if it’s near a supermarket cuz we didn’t go shopping for groceries.. 2-bedroom unit with a little weird bedding.. one room had a king size bed so izad n fiq got that room.. the other had a queen bed and a single bed so my parents and yaya took that room.. I got the single bed at the living room.. was a bit scary sleeping outside alone but we switched on some night light so I was fine.. plus it was quite tiring with the long drive hehehe

 

Nice kitchen area but we didn’t cook much.. we were tired for dinner so we only had light dinner but next morning we did make breakfast.. the dining table however wasn’t placed well so if we did have a full meal, we couldn’t even comfortably sit 4 people there.. it was compensated though with the 2 sofas at the living room, which is mostly where we sat and watched tv..

 
didn't managed to hang out much here as we needed to head out early the next day, as usual.. i rate the place 7/10, mostly cuz they have a nice living room.. but minus points for the dining table..

Gable Motor Lodge

Beds: 1 queen, 2 single, 1 pull-out sofa

Price: $245 per night (6 adults)

As time goes by, I’m starting to get confuse about the motels that we’ve stayed in.. I know this motel is near the supermarket, about 5 minutes’ drive as well.. I can’t really recall how easy it was to find it, but I remember us passing by the motel when we were on the way to Punaikaki.. a simple place, super friendly service.. 2-bedroom, 1 queen in one, 2 single in the other, and a pull-out couch (semakin lame mcm semakin malas nk tulis.. rs mcm repeat je byk kali)..i like the little small chair we had the moment we opened the door.. gives the place a nice touch..

nice kitchen area where we made dinner and had a good time eating.. mkn byk sgt nasi huhuhu plus salmon n cili hijau utk pedas nyum2.. 4-seater dining table so Izad n I sat on the floor.. 1 bathroom with no lock hehehe kinda got used to it as we come towards the end of our journey.. just give a heads up or do a head count before you enter =b

comfy place to stay in, I’d give it a 8/10 cuz there’s not much of a down point here.. 3 left then we’re done *wink*