Updated on August 20, 2017
Flight Log of Ryanair Flight 7752 from Madrid to Marrakech on February 4th, 2017
Originally, when I was planning this trip to Europe, I was fascinated by photos showing majesty of imposing Sahara sand dunes and intricacy of century-old ancient city streets, that the North Africa country of Morocco presented to the world, which also recently exempted visas for Chinese visitors. But with Morocco being in North Africa, which was a totally different fare zone in the airline charts than Europe, I hadn’t been able to find a satisfying price. Luckily, when I was searching connection opportunities through Europe, I bumped into the poorly-rated budget carrier Ryanair, which offered quite competitive rates for flights to/from the Moroccan cities of Marrakech and Fez.
So with Qatar Airways’ offer of cheap flights to Spain, my friend and I decided to spend three days each in the two major Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona as “transitions” between home and Morocco.
And now that we had visited the city of Madrid and its neighboring towns of Toledo and Segovia, we headed for the airport for our flight to Africa.
Madrid Airport Terminal 1 InteriorWith Ryanair check-in Counters in the background.
Updated on October 19, 2017
Day 3 of Spanish Vacation: Madrid on February 4th, 2017
Last day of our three-day stay in Madrid before heading off for Marrakech. The plan of the day was to visit the attractions in the city, the two most important were Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena and Royal Palace of Madrid.
Similar to the day before, we woke up to a rainy morning in Madrid.
Plaza del Callao on Rainy Morning
Updated on October 12, 2017
Day 2 of Spanish Vacation: Segovia on February 3rd, 2017
The second day of our three-day stay in Madrid, and we chose to visit the historic city of Segovia, with its well-preserved Roman Aqueduct.
Snow-Capped Mountains South of Segovia
Updated on October 6, 2017
Day 1 of Spanish Vacation: Toledo on February 2nd, 2017
The first of our three-day stay at Madrid, and we picked the historic city of Toledo for our visit.
Historically, the city of Toledo has been the capital of the Spanish empire for nearly five centuries, and had housed the seat of the Spanish Church until the last century.
Train Arriving at Madrid Metro Legazpi Station
Updated on October 4, 2017
Day 0 of Spanish Vacation: Madrid on February 1st, 2017
This post follows the previous ones about flights on Qatar Airways from Hangzhou to Madrid, and is about the rest of our first day in Madrid.
After getting off the plane, the city of Madrid welcomed us with its modern and spacious passenger terminal (T4S). The only thing not so nice about that bamboo design was that my camera seemed not so sure about its white balance.
Lines at Madrid-Barajas Airport T4S Immigration
Updated on August 17, 2017
Flight Log of Qatar Airways Flight 891 / 149 from Hangzhou to Madrid via Doha on January 31st, 2017
With a luxurious 5-week winter holiday that could probably be my last, and with round-trip flights to Europe as low as 39XX CNY (It seemed that Qatar Airway’s year-round sale had never ended, and I was quite amazed to find such fares departing only three days from the Chinese New Year, and from my hometown Hangzhou), I planned another trip to Europe, with some good friend back to ninth grade.
Previously, I had 16 flights in and out of my home town’s airport, all of which were domestic. Now, I could add its “international departure” to my achievements list.
Shops at Hangzhou Airport International Departure Hall
Updated on August 17, 2017
Flight Log of Xiamen Air Flight 878 from Kuala Lumpur to Hangzhou (via Fuzhou)
Chinese New Year Day morning.
After a not-so-merry new year “celebration” under the KLCC Towers, followed by a two-hour nap, I was walking past benches filled by homeless people at Pudu Bus Station, and boarded a early-morning airport bus to Kuala Lumpur Airport.
Updated on August 17, 2017
Flight Log of Malaysia Airlines Flight 765 and 1450 from Siem Reap to Langkawi with Transfer at Kuala Lumpur
Time to leave Cambodia as I picked up my luggage from the hostel and was immediately greeted by the waiting Tuk-Tuk driver on the street, who gave me a mystical smile (as God knows how many times in the previous days I had turned him down), who agreed to take me to the airport at a price of 4USD.
So 15 minutes after my first and last dusty Tuk-Tuk ride at Siem Reap, I was by the entrance of Siem Reap International Airport. No, I did walked like 50 meters from the main road, as there was sort of 1 USD Tuk-Tuk entrance fee imposed by the airport.
Siem Reap Airport Internatioanl Terminal Exterior
Updated on May 11, 2019
Flight Log of Xiamen Air Flight 877 from Hangzhou to Kuala Lumpur (via Fuzhou), and Connection of Airaisa Flight 536 from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh
Winter of 2016.
As an escape to the grueling task of grad school application, I searched online for destinations (and air tickets) that could be my winter getaway. It’s a luxurious 5-week holiday that could possibly be my last.
And I bumped into Xiamen Airline’s offer of round trip to Kuala Lumpur from Hangzhou at a little bit more than CNY1300, with a stop at Fuzhou(福州). The only restriction was that I needed make the return trip on the morning of Chinese New Year’s Day, which wasn’t that much problem for me since I’m reluctant to identify myself as Chinese.
Then, since my last and only exam of the semester was on Jan 12th, and 2 weeks of Malaysia seemed too much for me, I decided to arrange the visit of another country in Southeast Asia during that time. The decision was easy, as Kuala Lumpur is the headquarter of Asia’s budget airlines, and Cambodia, the bureaucracy and corruption in which resulted in unusually high air fares and fees compared with its neighboring countries, is just a short strait away from Malaysia. So my plan of the day was to take Xiamen Airlines flight MF877 to Kuala Lumpur on January 14th, spend the night in Kuala Lumpur Airport trying to get some sleep, and take Air Asia Flight AK536 on the next morning to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
Updated on May 11, 2019
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