sugarloaf ♥ express

I can't believe that the year almost comes to an end!
Christmas is only a week away...

On Christmas day, my family and I will (hopefully -- if the visa is accepted) go to Italy & France ^^v

It was really a last minute decision. We applied for the visa only a week ago.

When I told dad that my friend's wedding was cancelled, he sms-ed me (yes, you read that right: SMS!) the next day, asking whether we could still go on Europe tour this Dec. We initially had wanted to join the pilgrimage tour to Italy, France, & Portugal. But naturally, by then all the tours were already closed to new participants, because it was only two weeks away from the tour's departure date. So we decided to go by ourselves. It's actually my vacation preference! I always love arranging my own holiday trips.

So within 2 days, my mom and I frantically booked plane tickets, prepared all the necessary documents for Schengen visa application, booked hotels (random hotels -- only for the visa purposes -- and will be cancelled very soon), etc. It took my mom 3 visits in 3 consecutive days to the Italian Embassy for them to accept all the documents & our passports! During the first 2 days, there were always something insufficient: this document, that document, etc. Gah, so annoying! x_X Thank God they finally accepted everything on the 3rd day and told mom to pick up the passports on Dec 23rd. They're not saying whether they will issue the visa or not. But supposedly they will, right? >_<

Now that the crucial parts of the preparation are done, I can relax a bit and focus on the next tasks, like booking hotels (in Milan, Paris, Lourdes), buying plane tickets (Milan - Paris, Paris - Lourdes), researching of what to do for New Year's eve & what to see in each city, etc.

This is the (simple) itinerary as of now:

Dec 25: fly to Rome via Singapore (by Singapore Airlines).
Dec 26: arrive Rome. Stay at Villa Maria Ines at Garampi, near Vatican.
Dec 27: day roundtrip to San Giovanni Rotondo. About 4 hours by car one way *gasps*
Dec 28: train to Milan (4 hours! @_@).
Dec 29: enjoy Milan & fly to Paris in the evening.
Dec 30: fly to Lourdes early in the morning. Stay at Lourdes.
Dec 31: fly to Paris early in the morning.
Jan 1: enjoy Paris. It's New Year, baby! xD
Jan 2: fly to Singapore in the evening. Bye bye Paris! ;_;
Jan 3: arrive Singapore in the evening.
Jan 4: Singapore
Jan 5: Singapore
Jan 6: fly to Jakarta at night. Bye bye vacation! ;_;

I've bought some winter clothes, but I can't find the white earmuff that I bought in Tokyo last January ~_~

Edited at 5.56 AM:

The white earmuff is found, YAY! It ended up in my mom's wardrobe somehow.
Now my gloves are gone missing >_<