TRAVELITCH.

I didn’t come this far to only come this far

The countless time of waiting, praying and spent more than IDR 13 mio for 4 times IELTS exam and IELTS preparation class plus 2 times rejection from LPDP scholarship and Swedish Institute has finally paid off and brought me to Budapest, Hungary.

Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine since I was a kid. It’s hard to believe that this amazing opportunity has become reality. Looking back to…

Nepal is a small country, but you need a long trips to be able to get the most from this great country. We had only 12 days there, so we had to organize our time precisely, to be sure to enjoy the place as much as possible. And we did!

Here’s a link to my Nepal Itinerary

I hope it will inspire you to discover this fantastic country! Namaste.

Nepal Itineary

A glimps of Copenhagen.

This video pretty much sums up my trip to Scandinavia!!

I am traveling to Europe again after 4 years (specifically Germany and the Scandinavia!). I could not be more excited to be able to explore the countries, food, culture, and the people for an entire 15 Days! It’s a dream I have had for pretty much forever and I’m feeling so lucky and so blessed that It’s becoming a reality for me.

However, seeing as I have never traveled during autumn and to the North, this will be an entirely new experience for me! And in that I know there are so many things that I’m not going to realize that I should pack/not pack, expect to to experience, how to dress, etc.

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to go to Europe. It has always been a huge dream of mine, and definitely on my top 5 list of things to accomplish in my life. In my opinion, there is no greater blessing than to see the world, and experience everything Earth has to offer!. This is not my first time traveling to Europe. In 2011 I accomplished my dream to see Eifel Tower and visited another 6 countries. After that my life has been pretty empty, because I have no goal in my life anymore.

So, I made another goal of places I wanted to go and went to a lot of travel blog to seek some new information. Then, I decided to go to Scandinavian country to see Aurora. As usual, It was just a plan and dream. You never know when and how is it going to happen. I thought, "Okay, So, I have money (but not a lot), and I need to figure out how to get there!" I kept telling myself I was going FOR SURE, I just needed money for my plane ticket and I thought about to using my credit card for it, but I am not sure for some reasons.

A few month later, I met Randha (a new kid on the block in my team). Who love traveling and apparently has crazy dream to go to Europe as well. It started from a random conversation about a friend of mine who traveled to Greece. After I showed her picture to him, we decided to go to Europe, first destination was Greece, and changed to Iceland and keeps changing again and again ‘till we finally decided to go to Spain.

I found a good travel search engine that helps me to find a cheap ticket. Kayak's explore tool (kayak.com/explore) is useful for searching multiple airline fares at a time. You'll instantly see a map with all the destinations listed under a set budget. You might also see another tips in how to book cheap flight here : http://www.businessinsider.com/23-secrets-to-booking-cheap-flights-2012-7?IR=T&op=1. Another tip from me is always look a ticket from Kuala Lumpur instead Jakarta. It’s way cheaper.

So, I found return ticket KL-Frankfurt only for 468$. After a long discussion and comparison we decided to go Copenhagen-Abisko-Stockholm instead of Spain. In total for Kuala lumpur-Frankfurt Stockholm-Kuala lumpur we got approximately 700$.

We got caught by our former boss while we were planning our itinerary; instead she’s interested in joining us because she wanted to go to Scandinavia as well and was surprise by the price of the ticket we got. I can say that this is a spontaneous and crazy plan. Because we are not recommended to but the ticket before the visa is approved. We were afraid that the price will be increased by the time be got the visa, so we thought that better to buy the ticket first and let’s hope that everything would be OK as planned.

The Travel Bugs : Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia.

I was amazed with padang at the very first i landed in Padang Airport.

i knew that padang located in the very west of Sumatera. but I never knew that Padang has a lot of beaches and islands. 3 Days wandering Padang we spent most of our time sleeping in the Hotel because I was quite sick. But I managed to chill by the beach near our hotel and went to Kasiak Island in Pariaman.

The Travel Bugs : Tiger Island, Indonesia.

The Travel Bug : Medan, North of Sumatera.

This is my very first time set foot in Sumatera, and unlike any other of my trip this time is FREE and Well-planned + we got guides. Many people think that I look like Batak people (Batak is an ethnic group from north Sumatera) because I don’t really speak Sundanese (Sundanese is an ethnic group native of West Java) and I have a strong-square kind of face. 

Sundanese and Batak are two Indonesian ethnic groups that are often contrasted with each other due to different values that seem to oppose each other. In Indonesian society, be it in real-life situations or only in fictional movies and TV series, people often treat Sundanese and Batak as two opposite cultures based on the way the people from these ethnic groups interact with other people. The popular stereotype is that Batak people are loud, aggressive, and often viewed negatively as rude. On the other hand, Javanese people are often viewed as too calm, too polite, indecisive.

All those stereotype lead me to a strong curriousity to visit Medan, and my office coincidentally sent me to Medan for work. HAHAHA

because I only got 3 night 4 days, (minu one day work). I didn’t really have much time to explore Medan as i wanted to, however the people I worked with help me to arrange my itinerary.

Day 1, We explore Medan and it’s culinary. 

Day 2: we went to Danau Toba and Samosir Island. it was a long trip (aprox 4 hours trip) but worth it. It was relaxing, beautiful, and peaceful. This place is just what you need if you are looking for a quiet lazy holiday. Not much of excitement and adventure except you're looking for it.

I also wander around to know its rich Batak culture. While I was in Samosir island, I managed to drop by and visit the Batak houses and museum once lived by the tribe ancestor. And, there was a guide who explain to us about Batak culture.

Day 3: Dwi Warna Water Fall,  (Dua Warna Waterfall) is located in Durin Sirugun village, Sibolangit sub-district around 75 km from Medan. The waterfall was formed as a result of Mount Sibayak’s explosion hundred of years ago and the water originates also from Mount Sibayak. As the name implies, this waterfall has two colors, light blue water while it falls and greyish white below.

They way up to the waterfall was really tough, (aprox 9 KM up and 9 KM down) the waterfall itself is located inside a forest. it took 3 hours for us the get to the waterfall from the post/entrance. You would need a to hire a local guide to go through this forest to head to Dua Warna Waterfall. This cost us around IDR 200.000. When we got to the waterfall we were so fascinated by the waterfall. All the tired, hiked, and the pain were definitely paid off!!