After five weeks spent in Europe, I finally/sadly/happily returned home. As you can see, there’re so many mixed feelings right there. For one, I was happy to see my family and it’s so good to sleep in my own bed again. Didn’t welcome the heat so much though. I miss the colder weather. It’s easier to pile on the clothes to keep warm than to keep cool in hot and humid weather.

If you follow @life.revel on Instagram, you’ll know that I still am travelling. Yes, over four weeks have passed since I left home, which I will be returning to this coming week. My trip can be broken down into four main parts: Bonn & Cologne, Frankfurt Book Fair (FBM), Canton of Valais in Switzerland and Canton of Geneva in Switzerland. I’ll definitely be sharing about FBM here on the blog complete with photos. Everything else will be up on Life Revel, so be sure to subscribe if you’re interested in my travel updates.

The past week was filled with relatives and sightseeing. The highlight for me was visiting Königswinter and going up to the castle, Schloss Drachenburg. The view from the top of the hill is breathtaking with the village on one side and more hills on the other. Too bad it was raining. Nonetheless, I wagered a climb up the watchtower and despite the weather, it was completely worth it!

Yep, I’m recapping last week right in the middle of this one. When you’re travelling, time no longer remains an established absolute. Just on Monday I kept thinking the following day would be Wednesday. Yesterday I also kept thinking the next day would be Wednesday. There you have it — my mind was prepared for three Wednesdays this week.

The haze has been plaguing much of Southeast Asia the past weeks and it’s set to worsen. The air pollution is pushing extremely unhealthy ranges, so I’ve avoided going outdoors as much as possible. Some days it’s so bad, you can’t even see the other side of the street. At night the sky scrapers in the city look like pitiful shadows of themselves with lights just about flickering through the greyness.