oh hello there!

oh hello there!

*coughs*

*wipes dust*

HOLY COW! It has been almost two years since I last wrote on this blog. Do people still visit this site?

Well, I’ve definite not forgotten about this page, but I’ve just been more onto instagram and I haven’t been inspired to write for the longest time.  I guess I got distracted with my growing passion for food and occasionally travel.

Gonna try to pick up where I last wrote – achieving my ’30 by 30′ goal. Yup, I did it. Completed it with Egypt as my 30th country, just right before I turned 31 (no, that’s not cheating. I’m theoretically still 30). 😉

Updated my goal to ’50 by 50′, telling myself to slow down on the traveling but I did quite the opposite after. I’ve then traveled quite extensively ever since – Japan, Lebanon, Cyprus, Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Jordan, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Singapore and Georgia to name a few. According to my “Been” app, I’ve gone to 45 countries, five more to go to achieve my goal of 50, and it’s way ahead of turning 50 years old. Hooray!

Not bragging or have any intentions close to that, but I see this as a personal goal. I’ve seen so many elderly who told me, “Oh how I wish I could travel around the world” but then get held back by commitments or poor health. I do have (financial) commitments now, and I do have not perfect health (recently got “diagnosed” with slipped disc and am currently in the midst of doing my physiotherapy) but I am still able to walk and travel so why not now? Living in the Middle East gives me easier access to travel, although prices are two to three-folds more. Sure, it’s also tiring and financially draining, but I find these as excuses and there are always ways to be cost-friendly and smart about traveling.

However, shit does happen. I got robbed during my travel in Copenhagen at the airport upon my return from Reykjavik. Such a hassle and a big loss – especially on the cash. I was left with no cash, no documentations and my insurance is yet to be approved (yup, and it’s entering four months now!). It was very stressful. I felt so helpless but thank god I managed to pull myself up in less than one day and had help poured in from all over – even the morale support helped me gain my confidence and did what I had to, to sort things out. On the way to the airport, I got a phone call from the police station (kudos to the Danish police, really) and they manage to find just my passport and Malaysian IC and Driver’s License – no luck with my handbag that I dearly loved, mobile phone, other important documents, the large amount of cash I was carrying (lesson learnt to stop carrying so much cash around and placing them all in one bag – a very noob-ish mistake which I never did before but for some odd reason I made this mistake after years of traveling) and a lot of personal items I hold dear.

I try to be as positive whenever I can, because drowning yourself in sorrows will never have a good outcome – that’s how I see it. Getting robbed accidentally sent me to Stockholm, because that was the closest Malaysian embassy around and I was lucky to have Yen Ling and Yen Shin living there (who were like heavenly angels sent to me because of how much they have helped me). It was a pity I didn’t get to cover Copenhagen as much as I had wanted to – never got to saw “The Little Mermaid” statue that I have always wanted to see, but I guess I’ll have to pay the city a visit again, despite that unfortunate event along with some other unpleasant experiences.

That aside, shit happens everywhere – regardless of how careful you tend to be. Sure you can try very hard to prevent it but you can’t stop it if it was going to happen anyway. Unfortunate incidents should not stop you from traveling or hold you back from doing what you want to do. Being afraid about decisions are good, it means it may be risky, but for the right reasons. I hate having to live with a nagging thought in the future with “what ifs”. Nike was right, “Just (bloody) do it!”

My advice, always try to look at things positively even if it can be extremely discouraging. I’m glad incidents such as this has not hindered my love for traveling or to take risks in general.

Anyway, should you want to follow me on instagram, for personal/travels – beckyooi, for solely food – imbeccablebites.

Till I write again next, toodles! 🙂


Notice: compact(): Undefined variable: limits in /home/tickleme/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 853

Notice: compact(): Undefined variable: groupby in /home/tickleme/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 853

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/tickleme/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 405

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *