[NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA] Budget and Itinerary

TUESDAY: 29 December 2015

German Embassy (Schengen Visa) - 60.00
Eurowings (SMART Fare Phuket - Cologne) - 245.00
S13/S12 (Bonn-Cologne International Airport - Hansaring - Rudolfplatz) - 2.80
Airbnb (1 Night) - 29.00
EUR336.80

[MÜNSTER] Cold in Muenster

I didn’t really have enough time to plan my German New Year trip because it just sort of happened. After that booboo at Phuket International Airport, I just lost consciousness several times on the plane and the next thing I knew we were already landing in Cologne. What I remember, though, is that I had two options: a) hop on an evening flight to Hamburg the same night, or; b) stop at Münster the next day because some friends of mine are from there and happened to be at home for the holidays.

[COLOGNE] Long-Haul, Low-Cost

Going back to Europe was not really part of the plan, well at least not this early. Already booked for LA this January, I decided to have my flight rescheduled when my Xiamen friends confirmed that most of them will spend New Year’s in Hamburg. One of them told me to check out Eurowings and that’s how I discovered that you can fly from Thailand to Germany for as low as PhP 10,000 one-way. And so I booked the flight anyway. I mean, how could you resist such a tempting offer, right?

[VISA] Germany (Multiple Entry)

This is my second time to apply for a Schengen visa so I was more confident that I had a higher chance of approval despite less documents submitted this time around. I had the backing of a university the last time. This time around I just wrote a cover letter explaining that I will be visiting friends in Hamburg for the New Year. The German embassy has had good feedback recently so I had high hopes. In the end, I got my visa after 8 working days, the same time it took for the Austrian embassy to release my visa the last time.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) heads to Jakku to retrieve some intel that will lead them to the location of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last Jedi who disappeared shortly after the destruction of the Death Star. His mission almost fails when First Order warrior Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) lands on the planet and captures him, but not before he entrusts the map to his droid, who flees to safety. Amidst the chaos, FN-2187 (John Boyega) suddenly grows a conscience and decides that he wants to be a Stormtrooper no more. Ending up in a wasteland, BB-8 ends up with scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley), who gets entangled in the whole Resistance versus First Order skirmish when she steals the Millennium Falcon. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca trace and intercept their ship and joins the fray. With the help of Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), now general of the Resistance, they band together to put a stop to the First Order’s atrocities. But their days are numbered and they must race against time before the enemy charges their weapon and blow them to smithereens.