Lifestyle – Mohsin Khalid

Everyone has dreams, not all come true but those who chase after their dreams often wonder till when do you chase them? what time should one give up? what if its just not going to happen? First of all know this that every successful person who has achieved his or her dream and made the impossible possible has had these thoughts many times over during their journey and what led them to success was ignoring these thoughts and never giving up.

Never stop trying, you might be this close.

The picture above says it all. The dream dies when we want it to die. Worked too hard, take a break but don’t quit and get back on it with a fresh mind and will to achieve it this time around. Perfecting something takes time and so does achieving something big or doing something different. Normal is not what you want to be, do you ever refer to a billionaire as normal or the top athlete normal; think for a moment would you ever call Mr. Usain Bolt normal? the answer in your mind is probably no because people like that are extra ordinary! they are not even close to the average Joe. To be successful, to be an achiever and to be ahead of the game; you have to be not normal; you gotta do what others don’t; think what others don’t so you can achieve what others don’t. Now go out there and never quit! Be consistent and show persistence towards your goals so you may one day achieve them.

O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other; and fear Allah.that ye may prosper (Surah Al-Imran, 200)

So you have gotten your visa and tickets, everything seems to be in order and you are ready to pack for your Europe trip, besides clothes and the stuff you will want to take with you, I want to mention the things you should not forget. So whether you are going in the summer or winter here is what you must have with you.

An empty bottle of water.
Good shoes, its best to have long backs mostly called work boots cause bare in mind you need to walk a lot. I got myself these:
Your own toiletries.
Dry snacks.
A phone that has a good battery, none have a good battery these days so I kept two phones.
Two pin socket adapter, like the ones below (all hotels/hostels have sockets that fit only these) if you dont have one you might have to buy one for as much as 4 euros.
Good quality padlocks, keep at least one extra padlock with you.
A Diary or notebook that contains your hotel addresses(write down the route you plan to take from airport to hotel and from hotel to airport); flight, bus and train details along with the activities you plan to do each day or in each city. This helped me a lot as there is so much to see and so much to do that you might miss out on something you should have included in your trip. Keep this diary with you at all times.
Medicines, pain killers, muscle relaxants and others if you need any.
Plastic bags, lots of them to keep any wet or dirty clothes.
Tissue roll.

Bonus: Earplugs and a sleep mask.

Try to stay as light as possible, keep a 20 – 25 kg suitcase and one backpack that you will carry everywhere. Remember if you are on a budget, even if you are not its always good to take the metro, bus or tram to where ever you want to go, public transport system is really good in Europe specially in Turkey; taxi’s are to be avoided as much as possible; therefore pack keeping in mind that it should be easy for you to travel with all of your stuff. If you plan to take domestic flights then you will have to pay a good amount of money (30-40 euros) just for that suitcase. They allow hand carries that are not more than 10kg. However you can take your suitcase without any extra charge for baggage while travelling through train or bus. Lastly to save space remember to roll and not to fold. Hope this help, stay tuned for more in this series!