2011: The new chapter began; another big decision made [Part 2]

Hi Everyone!

        My last blog (which can be read here) was posted 5 months ago. I remember that I wrote at the end of my blog that I would write the second part the week after. That didn't happen until now. I'm sorry. I will probably never gonna promise anything like that again xD

          So back to the story, I finished my first blog that all packing was done and I was ready to go. It was my first time in Scandinavia. I actually wanted to travel there many years ago and it finally happened. I flew directly to Copenhagen, Denmark with SAS. The weather was a bit cold for me. It was spring at that time I think. I really enjoyed the fresh air I breathed. I spent first 4 days walking around CPH and catching up with old friends. At first, I only planned to go to visit some friends in Oslo, Norway for a few days. I didn't plan to visit Stockholm, Sweden as I didn't have much time but I made it at the end of my trip and stayed there for 72 hours. Thanks to Niels for getting me a plane ticket from Oslo to Stockholm as my birthday gift.

All packed and ready to go!

This is me at Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark

Me at Vigelandsparken in Oslo, Norway

I met up with some friends in Stockholm, Sweden. I love this photo of us! ♥

          What I didn't know was that this trip would change my life forever. I didn't even plan to meet and fall in love with someone but I did. I've known and talked this person online. We've talked for months. I planned my trip even before I met him but it turned out I'd be meeting him when I came to Oslo. He was a nice gentlemen who took care of me for the whole trip I was in Oslo. I couldn't imagine how difference it would be if i had met him in Bangkok when he was there as a tourist. 

        After I came back to Bangkok, we were still keeping in touch and talking to each other. I know it would be hard to have a long distance relationship. So all we did was having a faith in each other. We have still talked to each other everyday from the first day we started talking. Then, one day he asked, 'why shouldn't we try to live together and see how it goes'. It was definitely something like that. My heart raised so fast with a big smile on my face. Without hesitation, I said, 'Sure, why not', even though I didn't know whether it would work out for us or not. I just thought, 'What the hell, life is about taking risk to get what you want, and if you really want it, you go and get it no matter what. At the end of the day, you will always learn something from your decision'.

       During that time, I had done a lot of thinking, 'What would I be doing there? How am I gonna live without work for a few months?' etc. I mean this is huge for me. I'm gonna be moving to see if the love is real. I couldn't help being worried too but with his fully support, I felt so calm enough to believe that we would make it through. Without any knownledge of Norwegian language and culture, I was still in hope that there would be something for me, if I kept trying. 

         This time, I asked for a visiting 3 months schengen visa. Little did I know, I should've tried to apply for a work permit or other type of permit instead of this one so I could stay longer. I thought that I could extend my visa or apply for other type of visa while I was there. I was wrong. I had to fly back to Thailand after my visa expiration to apply for another type of visa. This is actually what they write on UDI website. I heard that some people could apply for another type of visa and not leave the country but still, it was not so legit. I didn't wanna break any rule before I actually moved there. 

         The reason why I mentioned about the visa is because our relationship had been blossomed beautifully. We'd been so in love and wanted to live together. However, there are so many rules concerning about the visas. I've never known that people have been going through a lot of process and waiting time until they can move to another country. We decided to apply for a fiance visa at the end of January and we finally got a 6-month temporary resident permit granted in March 2012. I have been living in Oslo, Norway for almost 4 months as we're speaking now. This is a story of how I made my decision to move from Thailand to another side of the world in Europe -- or the country we all know where the cold comes from ;)

Thanks again for reading until the end, I wish you another lovely wonderful summer!

ps. I'll try to post some photos from my trips but there are so many. I hope I could find some time to write more also! xD

2011: The new chapter began; another big decision made [Part 1]

Hi everyone!

It's already been half a year since I last updated my blog! I'm so glad to see that I haven't lost my followers, or perhaps you have already forgotten about me which I hope not! ;) hehe I had a busy 2011 with a lot of interesting stuff going on and somehow that led me to hopeful 2012 I'm looking forward to! :) It's such a shame I hadn't had a chance to write about what happened for past few years, I wish I had as my memory is getting worse - I really don't wanna admit it but I'm getting old but I am! >_< Anyway, I'm about to tell you now what happened to me in 2011.

Every New Year, I woke up with some hope wishing it'd be another awesome year of my life. It had been that way literally. I'm so thankful for people who have come into my life, even some of them didn't stay as long as I wish they did. But that's life. I started to admit that and move on with my life. I soon realized that "my life is mine and I shall live my life the way I want it to be". I kept in mind that in 2011 I would go travel to Scandinavia and I fortunately did.

It was a plan since 2008 but I had never made it until April, 2011. I remembered how life could totally change once you made a big decision. What I did back in 2008 was that I quit my job from one of the best companies in the world and become jobless. Actually, to become jobless wasn't in my plan but that's how life chanllenged me. The reason I quit my job at that time was to travel to Europe for 3 months. I was hoping I could find something I was looking for there; possible job or even real love. THAT didn't happen.....when my visa got rejected since I didn't had a job or anything in Thailand or someone in Europe to guarantee I'd come back. Ironic, wasn't it? I still remember that day I went to the Embassy of netherlands and argued with one of the staffs about my travelling plan; he said, "No matter how much money you have, one day it will be gone if you don't have a job." He is damn right! I guess I was too naive to admit that. Today, I realize money is not everything. You can always feel rich if you're happy with what you already have.

Anyway, I spent 5 months in 2008 doing but traveling and partying. It was fun for a while but then, I had to start looking for a job again. I got a job, moved to Koh Samui, Thailand, quit that job, came back to Bangkok, looked for another job, got a new job and quit that new job. I was in that circle for about 5-6 months and I just thought this was not what I wanted. They were not even the jobs I liked. There was a time I wish I couldn't have quit my old job but then come to think of it again, if I hadn't quit that job, I wouldn't become who I am today. Luckily for me, I found this new job at a Thai publishing company. It was October, 2009. I remember I applied for a "content editor" but somehow I got a job as a "reporter." It was an awesome job that I'd had for almost 2 years, before I quit it for a new charter of life.

So back to early 2011, before I decided to quit my awesome job as a journalist, I found this cheap ticket to Scandinavia on SAS. I couldn't remember what brought me to their website but at the time, the promotion ticket was on sales! I shouldn't hesitate to book it, should I? It was my dream destination and of course the answer was a def NO. At that time, I didn't even think if I would get a visa or not, I knew I just had to book the ticket and I booked it right away. It was the last one. How lucky was I?! 26,xxx THB for return ticket from Bangkok to Copenhagen was pretty a sweet deal. I decided to travel during the Thai New Year in April as it seemed to be the only good period for me to take a long holiday. I could take a week off together with public holiday, I'd be able to have a two-awesome week in Europe, yay! Initially, I didn't plan where I wanted to go but I knew I had to go to Copenhagen first, then maybe Oslo if I had time. I've got a lot of Danish and Norwegian friends. It'd be fun to catch up with them...finally in their home land!

However, just a few days before my trip to Scandinavia, I decided to go to Malaysia with my sister. Malaysia has never been in my plan of traveling but then I got this VIP invitation to "Johnny Black Label F1 Circuit party" in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia that changed my mind hahaha I'd like to thank to my good friend, Charles, who is a brand manager for JW malaysia and the one who got me these VIP tickets. At first, I had tried to ask few friends of mine if they wanted to come with me, but no one was available at the time of F1 party. Then, I asked my sister if she wanted to come, and she said yes, except "no" to the party. KL would be like a little paradise for a shopper like my sister. So now I had one more country added to my traveling list ^^

But... things aren't always as easy as it may seem. I had to prepare for my visa before I went to KL. I thought it would not take so long to get a visa to Denmark. Again, I was wrong! Seriously, when it comes to visa submission, I always got so nervous about its result. This time again, when I submitted my application at VFS global, the staff told me it might take one week to one month to get my visa approved. I was like, "what the hell? how am I going to get my visa in time of traveling and I already bought a ticket?!". My plan was to be in KL from 8-11 April, 2011 and then I'd have to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark on the 14th of April, 2011. All I could do was that I could get my passport back from VFS, so I could travel to KL then I had to return it to the VFS and kept on waiting for the visa result. I returned my passport on the 12th of April, hoping they could get my visa approved on the 13th or else my dream trip would have been crashed. Until today, I still couldn't believe how lucky I was! I had this sweet Danish friend who said he might be able to possibly help me with the visa. I was so upset about the procedure time but I wouldn't blame anyone but myself for not thinking of extra time. Anyway, I called him and asked if there's anything he could help. I was so desperate, as I bought the ticket and everything. He wrote an email to one of his friends who also worked at the Danish embassy and followed up with a phone call. Because of him, I got my visa in time of flying at the time. Thank you so much, sweet Johan! And with my super packing skill, it only took me a few hours to pack everything a girl needs to have for her two-week trip!

Now it's getting long....guess I'd have to stop writing about this for now, but you can for sure look forward to part 2 this week! I promise xD

Have a nice day, wherever you are!

xoxo,