Leila est en route

February 2018:  On a mild winter day in mid february, I start my journey to my favourite country in the world: England. My flight to Manchester is operated by Eurowings, my favourite airline when it comes to cheap, but still high quality and comfortable flights. From Manchester Airport, you can reach Manchester Piccadilly (one of the main train stations) within 20 minutes or less. When being the first time in Manchester, I would recommend Piccadilly station as it's directly in the city centre and you can reach everything in no minute basically. Coming out of the station, head left and follow Piccadilly Street until you reach Portland Street where almost every hotel seems to be located. I chose Britannia Hotel  for my first night and a youth hostel (YHA Manchester) in Castlefield which is about 15 minutes far from Albert Square and Manchester Town Hall and the city centre. For your first lunch in Manchester, the well-known British chain Pret-à-Manger seems to be a good optio...

August 2014 - I was in a crazy mood and participated in a coach ticket contest where you had a chance to win coach tickets for a "virgin" line (a line that would start for the very first time) to Milan, Italy. I had already forgot about it when an email popped up on my mobile phone stating I had won two tickets. A friend - I will call her C. here - was upbeat and ecstatic when I told her the good news. We packed our bags, booked our hostel (the Piero Rotta Youth Hostel), made plans what to see. The coach drove over the eminent Gotthard Pass, we had beautiful views over valleys, mountains, hills and mountains again. Here and there, you would discover a lake or an old Swiss farmhouse. We took a break at a petrol station in Lugano - where we actually finally felt we were hungry and sleepy. We arrived in precious Milano in the late evening, but that didn't bother us at all. While we gathered up our luggage, had a quick look on a city map, we decided it's not too fa...