Many people think that all that is needed for a holiday is cash and only cash. While this might be true for most people, this certainly was not the case for my trip. A lot of people may be envious that i am able to travel to places which they dream of going but are unable to fulfill due to commitments and especially during this period of global recession, which has caused many people to tighten their belts.

Before i started on planning this trip, i had been through some bad experiences in my life for the past five years. So listen to my story ...

The long and torturous five years of national service was finally over. Most will know what i mean by serving national service in Singapore. Back in 2003, after i first received my national service notification, I decided to serve my national service in the police as a regular due to many different reasons, and so i took the step to apply for the job and got in as a regular. There were many ups and downs along the way, many friends come and go, many enemies were made due to them resorting to unscrupulous means of climbing up the ranks within the force. People were backstabbing each other and pretending to be friends in front if one another. Malicious rumours were made up and everyone was trying their best to get rid of everyone else. And as if things weren't bad enough, i met someone right before my overseas trip, who toyed with my feelings and i ended completely broken. Things were so complicated and complex during that period, but that didn't stopped me from moving forward with my plans in life and not to mention, a major trip overseas to Europe that i have been planning to do so almost 2 years back. It's also during this period of my life that i met someone, who coincidentally became the person to travel with me for this trip, who weathered the storm in my life and helped me get over that person. We became soul mates who have an utterly deep understanding towards each other which is rather indescribable through mere words. The depth of understanding, tolerance for each other and also the many many coincidences that we encounter, as well as our strong sense of trust in each other's intuition is so amazing that this soul mate-ship seem destined. It's rather bizarre that when good or bad things happen, they all happen at the same time. I am fortunate that what is happening already has started to be good, I have even found my partner right before my trip. Things are starting to look up for me, and I am hopeful and optimistic about the future.

The major trip was always on my mind when i was serving my national service. It was only near the end of 2008 when i finally decided to go about planning it and making it a reality. A lot of people are or may be wondering what happened or why i go about with such a huge plan especially when i am resigning at the same time during a period of global recession. Shouldn't i be living frugally and continue working to maintain my lifestyle? Not necessary the case. I have found my direction in life and i know what i wanted all along. It's now or never, i have decided to move on out of my comfort zone. I sealed my fate and destiny when i resigned from the job that i once liked which was the reason joined in the first place, to one that i grew to hate so much in the end. I realized that life is so short to be just working on a job that gave me nothing but unhappiness and stress. I want to achieve my dreams, and resigning is the only option that will give me the time i need to do the things i want and also travel without restrictions on time or leave limits. After all the drama in my life, the planning for the trip took place and this was how the trip to the United Kingdoms and Italy finally began. It is not easy to plan this trip at all, lots of obstacles caused by external factors, lots of quarrels, lots of emotional turmoils. However, nothing could stop this long awaited trip from being canceled. I am finally enjoying my holidays now as I am writing this blog post. If you are interested to know more about my trip, stay tune for my blog posts on trip happenings when i am in London, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples.