Kelana Convoy!

I wrote this post on my way back to Malaysian after 20 days in Europe. Overall this holiday was superb. It was totally worth it with all the hard work that I had been working on the past year.

I joined the Kelana Convoy trip after being introduced by a friend. The trip goes to 8 countries around Europe for 15 days. The countries include Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Paris and the UK. It was fun and I shall say it is the easy way to conquer Europe if you have a small budget. Here the list of reason why you should join the trip.

Conquest of Europe trip 2011

1) The price was reasonable.

- The trip that I just joined cost me about 599 GBP, or about 1000 USD. It was reasonable price as you get the accommodation (tent), food and transport. The visitor tax for some places also included in the price.

2) It Muslim-friendly.

- The food served was Halal, which mean you can get rid of the biggest worries while travelling abroad. There are certain days where lunch was not provided. However, the crew will tell you places where you can get Halal food, or at least seafood.

- The Qibla direction and Solat time was provided.

3) Tour guide and language lesson day

- When the group spends the in big city such as Venice, Rome or Paris, there are crews that will make a walking tour. So for those who do not want to read the map or subway directories, they can follow the crew visiting the places in the city. Mostly families and quite old people will join this walking tour.

The crews also teach language for the different countries. ‘Thank you’ and ‘Hi’ in the different language is a must if you are travelling in Europe.

4) Sleeping in tent!

- Sleeping in tent for 15 days was not as bad as I thought at first. It was fun instead. I booked a cabin at the Swiss campsite, but I ended up voluntarily sleeping in the tent. It was fun!

Maybe it was not for some people, especially for older people. There are cabin option available for those who do not want to camp.

5) Malaysian friends for all over the world.

In my trip, there are people come from US, Canada, Doha, UK, Ireland and even New Zealand. Not to forget, Malaysia! Here was the place to make new friend. Don’t afraid to join the trip alone as you will make new friends to accompany you around the Europe!

6) Spending time with family.

- I’m pretty sure that several families that joined the trip had a great time. I think Nadiah had. Some graduates in UK and their parent joined this trip before their graduation. Some even come from Malaysia. 

Of all the reasons above, bear in mind that this is budget trip. You are required to wash the dishes, setting up the tent by yourself, helping with the cooking and cleaning and also cleaning up the campsite. And some campsites do charge for hot shower, so don’t get mad, it was common. 

One of the campsite!

Oh wait I noticed that Air Asia X was not as bad as pictures by some friends. The legroom was the widest that I had so far. Even travelling with MAS, you can’t get the legroom as wide as this. I haven’t taste the food at the time I wrote this post. I hope it is nice.

I will published the each day diary from the first day until day 15. I could not post it live during the trip as the internet were limited. So bear with this blog for another 15 days. It's start now!