My Dream Travel

My parents just came back from Japan. Telling me and my sister about their trip, my dad was saying that there were a lot of things my mother was unadventurous to try, had me and my sister been there we'd have more fun eating and playing. WIth that he sort of said that perhaps next year we could go there as a family. Next year after my sister's A levels. By then I'd be working already, I should be able to earn my keep and spend quite a bit on myself and have less financial constraints when buying stuff.

Then my sister brought up that she wanted to go Shanghai. She was planning to work for a couple of months after A levels before uni and earn some money to go Shanghai. She has a friend there so she can stay over with her. Shanghai has always been a place I wanted to go. I no longer trust another other part of China, at least I know I don't dare to eat anything in China. But Shanghai being more modern, and with more discerning people around, I think it should be quite safe. Besides, I want to have the xiaolongbaos there. And also to see the colonial architecture.

But those are not my dream travel plans. I was telling Someone the other day about it, then I told my dad about it, now I'm telling everyone here.

I want to go on a month long road trip around Germany. Just me and one or two other friends, we can rent a car and drive around Germany, totally free and easy. Usually when people talk about road trips it seems like it's usually America or Australia because of their inefficient rail system and vast expanse of land. But Germany's also a really interesting place to go on a road trip. Because of one major important reason. Autobahns. No speed limits. A must try for all roadies.

Okay, I don't have a driving licence now, but it's always nice to dream. My dad says it's dangerous to drive in a no speed limits environment where any little mistake can cost lives. But how can I not try it out in the birthplace of the auto?! It's also one reason why a small group of friends might be good. Too big a group can get too rowdy, but I don't think I can do it alone as an inexperienced driver. erm... Assuming that I can get a licence somehow or another...

One month would be long enough to fit in as many places as I can. I can travel around the big cities, small towns and little villages. For the big cities, I can park the car at the outskirts and take a train in and stay there for a couple of days. For the little towns and small villages I can town hop and village sightsee. A lot of the beauty of a European town is the traditional and quaint little suburbs, very pretty, very delightful.

A road trip with a nice car also settles the headachey logistics problem of travelling which I hate. I was thinking of getting an SUV, a Mercedes-Benz one no less, then can just dump all the luggage into the car and go around. I'm a very lazy traveller, I don't like to lug heavy things around, and taking trains with heavy articles for a weak girl is quite jialat.

I was calculating the cost of one such trip. If I go alone it would probably set me back by $10k, maybe sharing costs with friends will reduce the amount quite significantly to $6-8k depending on how many people are in the trip too. Think the main costs for the trip is the air ticket and the petrol needed. Car rental shouldn't be too expensive since cars are selling real cheap in Germany, as compared to Singapore. Food and lodgings shouldn't be too bad. We can eat currywursts every day and/or Nordsee, and once in a while in a proper restaurant. We can sleep in the car or a little motel along the autobahn. I noticed that where there're motels and/or factory outlets, warehouses, or huge hypermakets in Germany, there'd always be a McDonald's nearby. So when I miss home, I can pop by a Mackies and get some junk food.

Guess I need to slog it out to be able to experience such a dream. grr... And I don't even have any proper savings at the moment.