Salamat. Thank You. Shukran. Grazie.

The last day in Italy was kind of bittersweet, it's pleasure blended with pain.  Tine and I would still love to stay longer but surely all good things come to an end.  We've finished packing in the evening so that morning we would be in no hurry to accomplish the things we need to do.  We were literally dragging our asses to the bathroom.  It wasn't so exciting waking up knowing that our vacation is over. 

The past 3 days have been incredible.  We've managed to explore 3 cities - Ahh, MILAN!, When in Rome, and I left my heart in Venice.  It has been a lot to do and see in a rather short period of time, but the adventure was extraordinary.  It was amazing to be surrounded by people with diverse culture, background and lifestyle.  We stepped outside our comfort zone and that made us learn so much about ourselves.  It was more like diving to unfamiliar waters, not knowing if it's shallow or deep.  It's always safe to swim in controlled areas but sometimes jumping into the unknown leads the path to self discovery.  We became versed in trusting ourselves with directions and even with the language barrier we've been able to make it through.   

After getting dressed, we went down to the basement for breakfast.  

Wifi Wifi =D

Trying to hide the sadness

Hotel lobby

As usual, Kuya Nick was there to ask us what we'd like to drink, and we requested for our best-loved cappuccino.  He asked us about our Venice trip and we told him about our little adventure.  He knew we were checking out that day and he was thoughtful enough to offer us "baon" on our trip back home.  Kuya Nick is such a doll and our stay in Hotel Pierre Milano couldn't have gone any better without him. 

Kuya Nick the best!

We heart Kuya Nick!

The scheduled pick up time was 9:30 am. An old lady whom we called "Lola Mary" and a driver fetched us from the hotel and drove us to the airport.  Lola Mary was so sweet, she was chatting with us all the time, asking us about our trip and the places we visited.  She recommended other "must see" destinations in Italy and ordered us to come back.  She also told us about her vacation in Dubai about a few years back in which she described "a lovely, lovely place".  Sadly, we weren't able to take a photo of her. 

Inside our service

A lot of small cars in Italy

Saldi = Sale (Sale galore)

Carrefour =D

Can I stay here?

:p

Sad si Madam =(

On our way to the departure gate

Customs - getting tax refund for the stuff we bought in Italy

Haunting us at the airport

This too!

Loads of happy memories

Insane

Bwahahahaahhaha!

Eccentric

Lunatics

Anyare Madam?

We have a lot of people to thank for supporting us and making this trip possible.  This page wouldn't be enough to mention everyone since that's about 2,000++ kindhearted souls who took time to vote for us to win this thing.  Here's what happened 5 months ago - Thank YOU! That explains how we ended up on that Italy bound plane.  Thank you Motorola Middle East - MME official PRIZE handover for this chance.  Thank you Mr. Tarik Marsokah for patiently attending to our needs most especially our last minute requests.  I know we gave you a hard time there but still you were accommodating enough to make sure everything about this trip is well polished.  

I will definitely come back to talk about our exploit over one lazy afternoon of cappuccino.  

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain

All photos were taken by me and Tine de Leon