First Trip out- Europe

May 1992,  It was my first holiday abroad. Tineke, my pen-friend for 7 years invited me to her house in Ridderkerk, Amsterdam for a 3 weeks holiday. Being a Kampung girl and had just graduated from USM I had never stepped out of Malaysia before. It was a dream comes true.  I had always wanted to visit Europe especially England after years of reading novels classic or otherwise of life in countryside or towns in Europe.  I could almost pgictured myself gazing at the Moors or mansion on the hills, horses running free. Travelling on gravel path under the streetlights. I did not have much money to spend so I had to choose the cheapest flight available and it turns out to be the Aeroflot. On 21st May, I was scheduled to fly at about 2 pm. My brother in law and sister were kind enough to send me to Subang Airport which was the only International Airport at that time. We made a mistake of starting late from Banvgi and arrived at the airport at about 1.30 pm. The checked in counter for the flight was already closed and the passengers were already called in. I had to appeal to the officers at the counter for assistance and  they were kind enough to help. An aeroflot flight security officer whizzed me trough, had my passport stamped and soon I was with the other passengers waiting to board the flight. I somehow had to carry my luggage into the plane. Luckily I travelled light it was not too big. Another problem was I did not have a seat number so I had to sit very far at the rear end of the plane. Fortunately for me I sat next to a very friendly male KUSZA lecturer who was going back to England after his term break. He's doing his PHD in England. He and an Indian girl from Ipoh  were to be my companion for our two hour walkabout in Dubai Airport and four out of seven hour transit in Moscow. He also was kind enough to share his donuts so that we could have something to eat in Moscow Airport.  I realy did learn an important lesson that day for my future travels and had never repeat the mistake. I made the point to reach the airport early whenever I'm taking a flight. Another important lesson that I learned was to make sure that the camera I take with me works because I borrowed my brother's camera which he had never used for sometime. When I tested it to see whether it is okay, it looks good and not willing to waste many films (there wasn't any digital camera back then) I was satisfied enough to rely on it for my photo snapping session and I regret not buying a new camera. As a result I did not have many photograps to remember the holiday by. ...... I'll post the second part of this and also some photographs (those few that I managed to have it taken)  later.