Pre-trip planning tips: Greece & Italy

Hi all,

Daddy, baby Aedan and I have just came back from our 13 days & 12 nights Europe trip where we travelled from Israel to Athens, Santorini, Rome, Florence, Venice & Pisa before returning to Singapore. 
It was one of our best trips in our lives! Though it was exhausting to travel with a baby, the joy from travelling as a family made it all worth it. Glad we did it!
After this trip, we are more motivated to travel more before Aedan turns 2 when we will have to pay for his flight ticket. :p

Today I'll be sharing with you my pre-trip planning with useful travel tips!

1. Flight ticket

If you have not heard of Sky Scanner or have not used it to purchase your flight tickets, you may be paying hundred or even thousand dollars more for your flight tickets.

It's only after i started using sky scanner that I realised flight tickets can vary A LOT from booking via different platforms. It can be a few hundred or even thousand dollars difference! Moreover, sky scanner helps in filtering the best value travel period and airline. 

We travelled with our baby so we were not looking for the cheapest tickets but the best valued tickets which were not too expensive, direct flight (without multiple transits) with short flight hours and good departure/arrival times (avoid too early or too late flights). There were many considerations and sky scanner worked awesome in helping us find the best options! 

We flew from Tel Aviv to Athens to Santorini then to Rome before flying back to Singapore. 

Price stated below are for 2 adults plus one infant

✈️ Tel Aviv to Athens via Aegean, 2 hrs: SGD 704.01 

✈️ Athens to Santorini via Sky Express, 45mins: SGD 369.09

✈️ Santorini to Rome via Blue Express, 2hr 15 mins: SGD 800.37

✈️Rome to Singapore via Singapore Airline, 12 hrs: SGD 1414.42

We managed to fly to 4 destinations with only SGD 3288 for 2 adults and one baby. 

Link to Sky Scanner: https://www.skyscanner.com.sg

2. Accommodation

To save on staying in expensive hotel, we stayed at local apartments and booked via Airbnb. Besides saving money, another good thing about staying with locals was that we got to learn from them the best places to see and dine and to avoid tourist traps.

Moreover, we got to use the kitchen to prepare food for our baby. :)

🏠Athens (3 nights): SGD 188

🏠Santorini (3 nights): SGD 462

🏠Florence (4 nights): SGD 432

🏠Rome (3 nights): SGD 363 

We stayed for 2 nights in Rome but paid for 3 nights as I got the check-out date wrong. I thought we were departing Rome on 31st Aug but instead it was 30th Aug ("dunno what I was thinking"). Paid the price for my mistake :( 

It costed us total of only SGD 1445.28.

We booked our accommodation at Athens directly with the host so there's no Airbnb fee!

All our accommodations are very spacious, located at central area and near to public transports. 

Link to Airbnb:

Receive SGD 45 credit for your first Airbnb booking when you book from this link: https://abnb.me/e/scDPZuwsXI

3. Connectivity

To me, travel is easy when we have Internet access.  Everything will be within your reach and you will never get lost with Google Maps. However, while planning for the trip, I have problem deciding whether to purchase a pocket wifi or to get a SIM card. After much research, we realized that it's cheaper for us to get SIM card as there were only 2 of us using the Internet and we only need to purchase one SIM card as the other person could simply use personal hotspot teetering. It will be more worth it to purchase pocket wifi for large group of travellers as it can be tapped by up to 10 users. 

In Greece, we have purchased a SIM card from Cosmote mobile operator that costs only 15 Euro for 3 GB of mobile data. We got it from their outlet near to our accommodation.

In Italy, we purchased SIM card from Vodafone that costs 20 Euro for 2 GB of mobile data. We got it from a booth located at the train station at Fiumicino airport. 

Frankly 1 GB is more than enough. We never exceeded 1GB usage for each country. Moreover, it's convenient that we have a local number to make calls when necessary. 

Link to Cosmote: https://www.cosmote.gr

Link to Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.it

4. Transportation within country 

Throughout our whole Europe trip, we mostly travelled by local public transports. I personally love exploring a country via public transport as not only it's cheap, it's also a good way to "feel" a country. We avoided taking taxi unless it was late at night or we have to catch an early flight.

In Athens, we managed to explore the country via their metro and by walking a lot. It costs only 1.40 Euro /person/ride. 

In Santorini, we explored the country via their public bus which costs only around 1.8-2.0 Euro /person/ride. We managed to visit most of the attractions via their bus from Fira bus station. 

In Italy, we took their regional high speed train to Florence, Venice and Pisa and spent our time walking around the city. The ticket prices vary depending on destination, time and train. You can book cheaper tickets online (remember to print hard copy as it's required for checking) or purchase on the spot. As we were travelling with baby and it's harder to be on-time, we purchased our tickets 15 mins before departure at the train stations. You can check the train schedule online. 

Link to metro route at Athens: http://www.ametro.gr/page/default.asp?la=2&id=48

Link to Santorini public bus time table: http://ktel-santorini.gr/ktel/index.php/en/services-eng/timetable-summer-eng

Link to train booking in Italy: https://www.italiarail.com

I hope these tips will be useful to you. I'll blog down our travel memories in other post! :)
Going to stay in Singapore for a month.. there are so many food, people and places to visit in a month.
Also, we are having Aedan's one year + one month birthday party this coming Sunday. 
I can't wait to meet my friends this Sunday! 

Never stop exploring the world ... even with a baby!

- Mommy eve

Happy 51st Birthday Singapore!

Happy Birthday Singapore!! 🎂

I only truly realized the beauty of our country after living outside of Singapore.

So many things that I have taken for granted.

Our beautiful garden city,

Super accessible public transports (bus, mrt, taxi, etc),

Wide variety of 美食 (awesome food),

Clean and free public toilets,

Air conditioning almost everywhere,

Our peace and security,

The beauty of different races living in harmony.

I thank everyone who have played a part in making Singapore such a wonderful place. 

The people who defend our nation and keeping it a safe place to live in;

The people who sweat under hot sun to build our country;

The people who clean our country; 

The people who work to keep Singapore an attractive destination for investors; 

The people who continue to work so hard to maintain our prosperity; 

The people who impart knowledge to our future generations.

I love you Singapore. 

家还是最好的

I hope our country will continue to be clean, safe and beautiful for our future generations. ❤️

- Mommy eve  

An open letter to my baby: Happy one year!

Aedan, you have turned one year old!! 

Happy Birthday to you!! 🎂

It has been such a journey! I have to say my life has changed so much (for the better) because of you. 

I still remember the feeling of you living in me, especially when you kicked me so hard during the last trimester that it seemed like you couldn't wait to come out. I was so afraid that you were going to destroy your home (my womb).

I remember the day when you were born. When I waited 17 hours after my water bag broke and pushed for more than an hour to finally see your face. That day was miraculous. It was tiring but all worth it when I saw your face and hear your cry. You cried so loud. 

I remember the many moments we had when I breastfed you. The first time was indescribable. You looked into my eyes as you suckle like you were trying to tell me "thank you mommy for feeding me". I'll never forget the look. The feeling that I'm able to provide for you. No words can describe this feeling. Also the painful first month when we both were still learning. Now we are both good at it. It has been one year.. Every day and night, we have so many moments together.

Life is such an adventure with you. You've shown me your new tricks everyday and it's fascinating to see how you have grown so fast. Many times when I look at you (especially when you were sleeping peacefully at night), I thank God (or whoever is there watching) for giving me such an angel. Life is so much more complete with you. 

There were so much precious memories although it has only been one year. Many more years of adventures with you. I hope I can remember all the memories forever.. Even if not, I hope my blog will help me remember all these beautiful days and moments with you. 

I love you so much! 

Thank you for coming into my life. ❤️

Though you certainly will not understand this letter now.. But I hope you will read it many years later.

- Mommy eve

Travel with baby to Dado Zamir Beach at Haifa, Israel

Last weekend, we visited Dado Zamir Beach located at Haifa, Israel! 

Another of our little adventure. 

Dado Zamir beach is listed as one of the top 10 beaches in Israel on Israel21c.org website. 

It's clearly one of the best beaches we have been. 

Love the glare from the sun, 

The little pebbles on the sand, 

The breeze from the sea,

The waves gushing up the shore,

And the beautiful sunset.

Here's a summary of our visit :)

If you will like to visit. it is located along David Elazar Street at Haifa, Israel 

Bye bye,

Twentysixoctober 

#lifeinisrael 

Happy Racial Harmony 2016 Singapore!

Yesterday was racial harmony day in Singapore. 

Singapore is a country where there are many races (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian) living on a tiny island. There are many differences among the different races like skin colours, cultures, languages, religions, etc. But we are able to live in close proximity and celebrate our diversity. 

Many people travel across land and sea to see and understand other cultures. In Singapore, we can do that by just talking to our neighbours. 

When I was living in Singapore, I never appreciate this racial harmony day. It's like just another day (except when I was in Primary and Secondary school where students were asked to dress in traditional costumes to celebrate the event). But i never really care much about this day. 

Now living outside of Singapore, I feel really thankful to be born a Singaporean. 

Feel proud that we are able to embrace our differences and live in harmony. 

Feel lucky that we live in peace. 

This peace should never be taken for granted. 

Let's celebrate racial harmony everyday, educate and remind our younger generation that they are born lucky and they should never take racial harmony for granted.

#racialharmony #Singapore 

- Mommy eve

Travel with baby to Jerusalem

You may notice, I have not been active in updating my blog and Facebook as it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to use my mobile as Aedan will snatch it away from me whenever he sees it. I can only use my phone when he's sleeping. 

And lately, I have been spending my precious "Aedan's napping time" to research and plan for our upcoming Italy and Greece trip. I have finally booked all plane tickets! Hurray!!  
still trying to decide on the accommodations. Will share more on the pre-trip planning next time. 

Today I'm blogging about our day tour to Jerusalem!! This post is super belated. We had travelled to Jerusalem months ago and it took me this long to finally blog it down. 

This day, we woke up early and set off for our adventures to Jerusalem. The rough plan was to visit the Holocaust History Museum before we head for lunch at the Mahane Yehuda Market and then to the Old City where we will spend the rest of our day there till dinner. 

We took about 2 hrs to drive from Haifa to Jerusalem. 🚗. 

Holocaust History Museum (Yad Vasham)

The first stop of our trip - Holocaust History Museum also known as Yad Vasham. We reached before noon and were super excited

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.

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But just when we were happily driving into their car park, we were told by their security officer that 

BABY is not allowed into the museum! 

Who's to blame? Ourselves. For not doing enough research for this day trip. :(

#Babytraveltip: always check online whether baby is allowed. 

For those family who are planning a trip to Jerusalem, do note that baby is not allowed into the museum. 

We could only take pictures of the Holocust Memorial Museum from outside. 

"Tears 😢" Bye bye museum

#Babytraveltip: "Travelling with a baby, we have to be flexible with our plan and not be disheartened by unexpected obstacles" 

So we still looked forward to our next stop - Mahane Yehuda Market & Lunch! 

Mahane Yehuda Market 

Here we were at the market.

It was crowded!

Mahane Yehuda Market also known as "The Shuk" is a popular market amongst both tourists and locals. There are more than 250 stalls which sell a variety of items -  fresh fruits, vegetable, meat, egg, nuts, spices, wine, souvenir, pastries, textiles, hardware, etc.

It's a market bustling with vendors marketing their products.

#Traveltip: In Israel, you can always ask to taste the food before purchasing. Moreover, it's a common practice to bargain. In a market like this, do not settle for the first price! 

We had our lunch at a food stall within the sheltered part of the market. This stall specialises in making fish & chips, the only thing on the menu. It's a small stall (as you can see from photo.) They cook their food at the 2nd level and sent them down to be served. 

There were really many people patronising here and that's the main reason why we decided to try this place. 

After we waited for about 20-30 min. We were finally served! They provided mayonnaise, chill and ketchup sauces at the side. Sorry.. Can't remember how much this costs. 

It tasted within expectations. A typical fish & chip you can expect. Fresh fish. Crispy. 

When we were eating, Aedan wanted to eat it too. He screamed and tried to reach for our food. He had never wanted to try our food so badly.. Maybe cause I was eating with him in the carrier :p 

Being #badparents, we digged out what's inside the unhealthy cripsy exterior and let him tried both the fish and fries..... And he LOVED it!! He smiled with his eyes wide opened ...the look like he has tasted the best thing in his life..the look was priceless. 

After we gained something priceless, we paid a price to another thing. :(

We went back to our car and saw a PARKING FINE! We saw many cars parked along the street and so we followed. The fine was 500 shekels. We had less budget for travelling that month.

Next stop - The Old City, Jerusalem 

The Old City in Jerusalem is one of the most popular tourist destination in the world for both the religious and non-religious. This place is filled with rich and layered histories. It contains stories from many religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam - which is no surprise why Israel is known as the Holy Land. It has been through several crusades, and cycles of destruction and reconstruction. 

We begin our tour at the Old City from Jaffa Gate. 

Like typical tourist, we visited the Tourist Information Centre to get a map before we entered into the maze. 

The Old City is huge.. It will take a few days to complete the whole place. We only had a few hours left for the day so we circled the main attractions where we wanted to hit first.

Our first stop at The Old City - Tower of David. 

This is our first stop as it's nearest to Jaffa Gate.

This place is not very baby-friendly. There are many steps and tunnels. Definitely not stroller-friendly. Luckily we were in baby carrier and we managed to visit most of the spots.

Tower of David requires admission tickets. You can check the prices and opening hours from the link here: The Tower of David - visitor info

After spending some time at the Tower of David, we went to the Western wall - the most holy wall in world. Millions of people visit this wall to pray. It's a tradition that people will queue to touch the wall, make their payer and insert a little piece of paper with their wishes into the wall. 

The Western Wall is free for admission. 

After the Western Wall, we headed to The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

It is located at the Christian quarter and it's one of the holiest places for Christians as it's the place where Jesus was crucified. This place also contains the empty tomb which Jesus was buried and resurrected. 

This is the Stone of Anointing on which tradition believes to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. Many people prayed and touched it for blessing.

Many visitors gathering in front of the tomb of Jesus. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is free for admission. 

Within the Old City, there are Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters where there are stalls which sell food and souvenirs.

I got this pretty bracelet as a free gift from one of the stalls from which i had bought 4 bracelets. 

We were planning to visit the Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock after the Western Wall but it was closed. Sadly, we only managed to hit 3 attractions out of the many. I think we'll have to visit another time to cover more. 

After the super long walk, we were super hungry. We went back to the Jaffa Gate to find a place for dinner. 

There are many shops and restaurants at the Jaffa Gate area but most of the restaurants were very packed. We didn't read any reviews and just tried our luck at an Italian restaurant called Luciana located at the 2nd floor in the mall at Jaffa Gate area. 

The place has a nice ambience with a water fountain in the middle of the restaurant (forgot to take a picture). I have to say.. We were pleasantly surprised that the food tasted awesome. 

Their pasta tasted really good. (Considered that we were starving .. Maybe it added extra plus to this meal). 

I couldn't remember the price of the food but it's ranged between 70-100 shekels per dish (25-35 SGD for dish) excluding the service charge which is another 15% of the total bill.

Daddy was having fun with Aedan. Aedan was super good mood at the restaurant. Maybe he was glad that he  could finally come out of the carrier. :p

Ended the day with a family photo at Jaffa Gate.

Bye bye~~

Twentysixoctober

All photos are credited to Twentysixoctober
#Lifeinisrael

Mommy diary: Aedan against Roseola

It has been sometime since my last post on our day trip to Tel Aviv. Many things had happened over the past weeks. Both "Good" and "Bad". 

From the title of this post, the bad news - Aedan was down with fever and rashes. It had been a tough week. He was soooo uncomfortable that he couldn't sleep well at night and he woke up frequently for nursing and comfort. He was uncomfortable through the day too and we had to carry him almost all the time. Just when his fever subsided, he developed rashes all over his body. Luckily, it did not itch. 

We went to see the doctor twice and he was diagnosed with Roseola which is a viral illness that commonly infect children between 6 months to 3 years old. The symptoms include sudden high fever which typically lasts for 3 -7 days and rashes right after the fever. The only good thing about getting this virus is that he'll most probably develop a lifelong immunity to it. #tryingtobepositive

Roseola is a self-recovered illness and there is nothing much we could do except to wait for Aedan's immune system to fight the virus. “加油加油”

The only thing we could do was to reduce his discomfort by nursing him and carrying him.. 

Our hearts ached so much when we watched him suffer as he fought the illness. This was the FIRST time he had fever. He did not develop fever from all his previous vaccinations. I never knew that handling a baby with fever could be so hard both mentally and physically. 

Kudos to all parents who had dealed with it!

We brought Aedan to a hair cut during his rash episode... cause we were worried that his hair (which had touched his eyes) will irritate his rashes. So Aedan has a new look!

He still has a little rash on him when I took this photo. 

Okay.. now it's the good news .. Twentysixoctober is planning for a month visit back to Singapore in Sept during Daddy's school break! 

What's better?! 

Before flying to Singapore, we will be visiting Greece and Italy and will document the whole travel journey. I'm so looking forward to this trip! Will share more about our travel planning and other stuff in another post. 

That is it for today. 

Bye! 

Mommy eve

#Mommydiary