Wednesday, 8 May 2024
The bus was already full when I came out of the airport
at 00:35. It took about 22 minutes to reach Bologna Centrale and I quickly made
my way to the bus station. I went to the waiting room, not many seats were
provided but I managed to get one and tried to sleep but of course I couldn’t.
My 04:05 Flix Bus left more or less on time and as soon
as I boarded, I went to the WC to perform ablutions and perform morning
prayers. We reached Milan Lampugnano just before 07:00 and I waited in the
waiting room for my next Flix Bus. It came later than scheduled and the driver
carefully checked our ticket against our identification documents before we
were allowed to load our bags and board the bus. We left around 09:00 and
headed north, passing Lake Como, Mendrisio, stopping at Lugano to drop off
passengers… and the view was fantastic throughout. The sun hid itself after we
had entered Switzerland though. We then had a thirty-minute break at Chur
before continuing on.
We crossed over into Liechtenstein and I went down at
Vaduz Rheinpark Stadion. This is not an easy country to get to hence why I only
reached it then. I then walked into the city and walked around the compact
capital. There were a lot of Chinese tourists around. After a couple of hours,
I made my way to Jugendherberge Schaan-Vaduz, a youth hostel (but many guests
are not exactly young! There were also motorbikers staying at the hostel).
Check-in started only at 17:00 hence why I didn’t go to the hostel earlier.
I checked in and having paid for my bed beforehand as I
didn’t want to bring too much CHF on the trip, paid CHF1.50 city tax before
going to my room. Oh, and the amount I paid for my bed in a dorm could get me a
decent hotel room in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. I only found out that I
had mistakenly booked a mixed dorm and went down to change rooms, this after
having made my bed and putting on the duvet and pillow cases! Luckily there was
another vacant bed in a female dorm so I quickly moved my things. Having done
that, I went for a short walk before returning to the hostel to rest. There was
a German girl who was on a solo bike tour and a Moroccan girl from Rabat
University staying in the same dorm.
Thursday, 9 May 2024
I woke up for morning prayers and tried to sleep again.
The German girl woke up and she sure wasn’t quiet! I couldn’t help wondering if
that explained why she was on a solo bike tour, because no one could stand her
noise. I mean, you’re staying in a dorm so try to keep your noise low. I wasn’t
asleep but I was annoyed. Finally I got up and checked my social media.
I freshened up, finished packing and went down for
breakfast. At least the hostel provided breakfast and as it would be another
day of travelling, I ate my fill. After breakfast, I went to the basement to
store my bag before setting off to explore Schaan. Today was better, the sun
was out. It was a public holiday today so as the day progressed, I saw a lot of
families biking together. A lot of shops were also closed except for two
supermarkets and one coffee shop.
I came back at 12:30 and rested. I collected my suitcase and then performed ablutions. I left after performing prayers and walked to the bus stop for the free bus no. 44 to the city. It was five minutes late but I was thankful that I didn’t have to walk to Vaduz. I still had to walk to Rheinpark Stadion though. The bus arrived on time and what do you know, it’s the same driver as yesterday! He must be on his return trip. We stopped at Chur again for thirty minutes before continuing on to Milan Lampugnano. We reached Milan Lampugnano just before 20:00 and I sat down to wait for my 22:50 bus to Saronno.
I decided to go to the platform at 22:40 and the bus was
already there! We left before ETD and arrived at Saronno station around 23:00.
I then walked to the nearby train station for the Milan Malpensa train. I had
bought ticket for a later train but ticket holders could board earlier trains.
No one came to check the tickets though. We reached Milan Malpensa T1 and I
made my way to the airport and up to the departure level. I spent some time
scouting before settling down for the night.
Friday, 10 May 2024
Well, of course I could hardly sleep with all the noise
and bright lights. Sigh. Finally got up at 04:00 to perform prayers then walked
over to the seats near where Qatar Airway counters were and sat down. After
freshening up, I went to check in. I then had some pastries and buns that I
bought at Milan Lampugnano bus station café before going in to clear security
and passport control. The officer said I could have water in my water bottle
(and I had drank quite a bit by then too). After passport control, I went to
browse the shops and my, there are Loro Piana, Hermès, Gucci, Venchi, Furla…
After browsing, I made my way to the gate and pretty
soon, we were boarding. Strange thing was there wasn’t any more security check
before boarding.
We landed at Doha Airport on time but the doors took a
while to open and we had to board a bus to the terminal building. I performed
prayers before walking to my gate and was happy to note there was another
female prayer room across from my gate. Browsed the nearby shops (it was a new
area of the airport for me) before heading for the prayer room. There was some
problem with the plane so we boarded and finally took off about half an hour
later than scheduled.
Saturday, 11 May 2024
I managed some kip before getting up just as the plane
was flying over the Andaman to perform morning prayers. We landed earlier than
scheduled, how about that, but my bag came out too late for me to make the
08:22 train. Le sigh.
So that was my spring vacation, my revenge travel, my first long holiday after the pandemic and after dad left us.
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