Travelling the World on Wheels.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Excitement Begins...

A week ago we were just having lunch at the Queen Mary Curve Café, discussing our plans about the weekend. Maria said I am going to Berlin tomorrow and all of us were like wow, lucky you? I wish I could go to Berlin…I love travelling (honestly, I love travelling and would go anywhere). Anyways Maria invited me, at first I thought she was just kidding. But the next day I received an email from her asking if I’d like to join her in Berlin, also assuring me that I’d love it there!

I quickly did a online surf for cheap flights to Berlin. The cheapest was Easy Jet from Gatwick London to Berlin, £62. I got excited and emailed her back yes I am coming but please can you look for accessible and affordable accommodation in Berlin, and yes she found a Hostel 45 Euros per nignt and wheelchair accessible The Odyssee Hostel In Berlin (http://www.globetrotterhostel.de/index.php?Land%20Ho!&page=0 its near Frankfurter Tor U-Bahn station. By the way the metro, over-ground trains, the buses and trams all public transport is fully accessible and why not ‘Hitler was famous for getting rid of the disabled and elderly’!

I booked my flight for the 18^th of April 6 o’clock in the morning (from Gatwick) till the 20^th (7 o’clock in the morning from Berlin. I emailed Maria my flight detail and shortly received a very comforting and welcoming reply that ‘Nadia you’ll love Berlin, the food is awesome, people are lovely and accommodation is all sorted. 'Nadia Ahmed, Berlin is waiting for you.' quote Maria Fernanda (2012)

Now it was time to get excited and yes I was although I had heaps of work but a few day off work is good ad sure it was.

Aufregung beginnt!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Orchestra Experience.

Yesterday, that is the 24^th of March; I attended the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank. What an experience it was…in fact what a peculiar experience? One can only love it or hate it, and I say why it was a strange experience because I thought I hated it (that was the first part) but then I fell in love with it. Oh my God, when they played Edward Elgar’s first symphony that was simply incredible, Wow!

Back to the story now, so my friends and me decided to book tickets for the up-coming event at ‘Noise’ at South Bank (‘Noise’ has been specially organised for students by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where students can get discounted tickets http://www.lpo.co.uk/education/students.html). So we booked 4 tickets which cost £12, very cheap that mean £3 per person, very good we all approved of ourselves. All happy and contented we then waited for the weekend earnestly, or I think it was only I because it was my first time to an orchestra ad I was particularly excited.

Finally the day came, Gosh and the day was beautiful so warm and sunny in March, that was a surprise, a pleasant surprise! The entire day I just wasted in the sun, soon it was 5:30pm time to go! We all met up at Waterloo Station and walked to Southbank, it was 6:45pm by the time we reached. Soon we made our way to the orchestra. I am on a wheelchair therefore we were designated special seating area and the view was superb as we had the full view of the orchestra. It was magnificent!

The orchestra started with Julian Anderson’s music ‘The Discovery of Heaven (and it was a world première), and then the ‘Sea Drift’ created by Delius. The second half was music created by Elgar Symphony No. 1, what a lavishing experience it was. He created this symphony at the turn of the twentieth century during the times of the economic recession. “In his Symphony he seized on a flicker of optimism, describing it as ‘a massive hope for the future.’ A moving, noble melody appears at first fragile and tender. But when it returns at the Symphony’s end, it’s revived and encouraged with gestures of support from the strings and woodwind, who throw themselves at the orchestral procession with a spirit of inextinguishable optimism.” And yes this is how it exactly felt like.

And now it was me, my despicable performace! Very careless Nadia! Unbelievable I made the orchestra stop. ‘I am so sorry about that, from the deepest pits of my heart!’ well the story of my atrocious behaviour now begins: I was chewing chewing gum, yes chewing gum Wrigley’s spearmint. And I chocked on it, oh my God am I chocking, and this was the time when everyone was clapping, a welcome to the orchestra, hence luckily my coughing sounds disappeared in the clapping noise, that was close I thought. Now everyone was silent and the orchestra was about to begin and yes they did begin but the coughs started again and when I tried to stop them a really funny noise started to come out of my mouth and then I don’t know why but the whole situation reminded me of ‘Bugs Bunny conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra’ (its on youtube, do check it out) and that is when I couldn’t stop laughing, that is when the orchestra stopped and I had to leave the hall, how embarrassing. Well two of my friends left with me, I am so sorry but they kept on saying no problem. We could only go in after the pause. Hence we waited for a while for the orchestra to pause.

Soon we were all back in, my friends are awesome. ‘Honestly, what will I do without you guys, X.’ The next performance was ‘Sea Drift’ by Delius, well I was very quiet thank God for that but I did not particularly enjoy it but I patiently waited for it to finished. Then we had a 15 minutes interval. All of us went out for drinks. Soon the interval was over and we all wet back in. It was all Eldgar now, his work it simply amazing. The contrast between the high a low notes, the swift but smooth and calming melody that goes from aggressive to passionate. Although I don’t know much about music but Eldgar’s first symphony was tremendously splendid!

Thank you my friends for your patience, kindness and thoughtfulness all 4 of you. An experience I’ll never forget with my awesome friends.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

I am Ok, I am Ok....'but we need u to come to the hospital with us', says the paramedics!

Day trip to the Hospital.

Hi folks,

Its been ages since I have written a blog. Well, that is because haven’t got any money for travelling abroad, plus I was also busy getting back to university. Yey, I am a student again, love the freedom of academia. But this time I am doing a PhD! To many people it’s a wow! But trust me it’s a huge commitment, its like getting married to education for a good 5 years. And gosh! It is hard work, making compromises between finance and research, just like a husband and wife. Might as well get married!

Anyway, enough about my education, more about my day trip to the hospital.

Saturday, 21/1/2012 at 10:00 am my carer came to help me with my morning shower and dressing-up routine. I got up from my bed my carer helped me put on my pink rubber slippers. I then dragged and transferred myself to the wheelchair. Went to the bathroom, then my girl (I call my carer my girl as I don’t know I just like her a lot and she’s very young) helped me sit on the lu. Well after I was done my girl took off my slippers and asked me if I’d be ok in transferring from the lu to the shower seat. I said yes and that was not the correct answer! I am really short you see, without slippers its very difficult for me to reach the lu floor or I think the lu is too high. Anyway so I made the transfer, an unsuccessful one. Instead of seating myself on the shower chair I slipped and landed on my bum, on the floor.

Don’t worry I didn’t get hurt. My girl and me tried very hard to get me up. Well I realised haven’t being using the gym so no strength in me plus I have gained weight. So please my folks its very important to keep yourself fit and strong and oh yeh light weight. Anyway we didn’t know what to do so my girl called her office and they recommended her to call the ambulance. She asked me well I wasn’t in favour of it but I had no choice, so my girl called 999. They asked her a million questions like is she conscious, is she bleeding, did she have a fit and so on. Finally the address was confirmed by me (that is the patient) and we just had to wait and all this time I was on the floor. In the mean time my girl asked me if we ask the neighbours, well give it a shot.

My neighbours are a lovely couple, oh they are so sweet. They girl came in and was very positive and eager to help. She held me from one shoulder and my girl from the other. Then they pulled me up and soon I was sitting on the shower seat. I could not stop thanking my neighbour.

After a few minutes the ambulance also arrived. Oh no now what we thought. Anyway my girl called them in, they saw me and asked many question. The trouble was that I did not look injured. Well they wanted to take my blood pressure, temperature and blood sugars. I was fine with everything except the blood sugar part as they had to prick my finger tip. Anyway but it was all done and all was normal but the paramedics were still not satisfied. They wanted to take me to hospital, ok then I said. Please give me 45 minutes as I wanted to take a shower, well they agreed. I though why not pamper myself today by going to the hospital. It was an unusual experience though when nothing was wrong with me.

I was all ready to go now, they suggested we’ll take you in our wheelchair and leave you motorised wheelchair home. I agreed with them although felt weird as my motorised wheelchair are my legs. I was completely dependent on them and felt so handicapped. But I just let myself loose and they gently lifted me and transferred me on to their wheelchair and took me into the ambulance soon we were on our way to Royal London Hospital. The hospital is very old and by old I mean ancient. But they took me from the back entrance which was all newly built. Wow I thought it looked really impressive. Anyways they took me in, the doctors were puzzled, when nothing’s wrong with her why is she here? Wish I could say I was here just for fun! Once again I was questions, but I have just slipped that’s all. But the good thing was they did many tests which I would not even think of getting done, like a blood test and ECG. I found out that I need to see a cardiologist, neurologist, physiotherapist and an orthopaedic surgeon. Maybe being ignorant of my condition was a better idea!

The whole investigation took 45 minutes, then for two hours I had to wait in the waiting room as they had to arrange for my transport back home.

What a palaver!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

'Made in Pakistan' handbag collection at nadiahmedcollections.com

New 'Made in Pakistan' collection by Mahin Hussain has been launched at www.nadiahmedcollections.com. Please do check, buy and enjoy!

The magic of youth - The pride in belonging - The power of change.
We are a part of the new Pakistan movement.
Support it. Wear it. Love it.

Pakistan Zindabad!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Ultra-trendy designer fashion wear.

Ultra-trendy designer fashion wear.

All rights reserved. nadiahmed@excite.com +44 (0)789 6250265Please do join my facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120688481285587

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Merci Beaucoup Papa! Part II

The next day...well woke-up at half eight got dressed, had no plans what am I going to do but still excited! That’s weird, what a odd sensation. Anyways, Arc de Triomphe and then Champs Elysees is not far away from Le Meridien the hotel where I was staying. Therefore I decided to go there on my wheelchair. By the way the streets and pavements in Paris are all wheelchair accessible but most of the roads are cobbled hence the journey on a wheelchair is not very pleasant, its very bumpy.

There, turned left from the Le Meridien Hotel, passed the huge convention centre named Palais de Congress (this is where the cardiac PCR congress was held, so my Father was there during the day and I just gallivanted the streets of Paris), then comes a huge and by huge I mean reality huge roundabout called Place de le Porte Maillot. After crossing many roads I took the second turning Avenue de la Grande Armee, then straight till the Arc de Triomphe can be seen this is on a roundabout called Avenue des Champs Elysees. Unfortunately there is no wheelchair access, only a subway (steps that go down and then up again on to the Arc de Triomphe). So once again I had to round that huge roundabout and go straight on Avenue des Champs Elysees and I was on Champs Elysees now.

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees (that is what they call those square shaped-up trees that run along Champs Elysees), it is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as €1.1 million (US$1.5 million) annually per 1,100 square feet (92.9 square metres) of space, it remains the second most expensive strip of real estate in Europe, having recently (as of 2010) been overtaken by London's Bond Street. The name is French for Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology. The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is known as "The most beautiful avenue of the world", La plus belle avenue du monde in French.

I visited the Dior shop and got a free make-over done, went into the famous Louis Vuitton shop, Oh my God! Even a teny-tiny purse was for 200 Euros...! but how ironic, on the other side of Champs Elysees they were all these fake Louis Vuitton bags being sold on the pavement, hehehe...how very comical. One more thing I observed was that they were so many beggars on the rich and posh Champs Elesees and sadly enough all were Muslims, one could tell as they were all wearing head scarves. I have taken loads of pictures, which I shall be uploading along with my blog.

For dinner we went to this awesome seafood restaurant called ‘Café Procope’ it, is called the oldest restaurant of Paris in continuous operation. It was opened in 1686 by the Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, the address is 13 Rue de Lancienne Comédie75006, Paris they also have they own website at http://www.procope.com/ (but its in French). The food was awesome, I had onion soup (it sounds a bit weird) but it was delicious, then I ordered a chilled sea food platter, had a very peculiar taste as it had a variety of sea food prawns, cockles, different types of shell fish, etc) but I enjoyed it all. Then dessert which was something chocolaty which was really scrumptious and I loved it all J.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Merci Beaucoup Papa! Part I

Merci beaucoup means thank you very much in French and soon in this blog-post I shall tell why I titled this post as merci beaucoup. I made a four day trip at random and it was all worth it, enjoyed it a lot, although met up with my Dad in Paris (who convinced me to come) as he was invited at a cardiac convention in Paris, and I just tagged along from UK. However it was an awesome break which I think I needed so much and it was so worth it ... Bless him. And that is why I have named my blog-post merci beaucoup...a big ‘thank you very much to my Father’.

The weather was great and by great I mean awesome and warm and sunny. Food was the best had lovely authentic French food at ‘Chez Georges’ on the first day. It was a lovely road side restaurant in 273 Boulevard Pereire, 75017 Paris, France, +33 1 45 74 31 00 ‎chez-georges.com, right opposite the Palais de Congres (that is the convention centre where the cardiac congress PCR was held). It was also very close to our hotel, Le Meridien Etoile (which was awesome, thank you, merci beaucoup Dad!) Please do go there its lovely, the food is delicious and the decor is breath taking. I had lamb shoulder, and oh my word the meat was so, so tender! I had escargots (snails) as an appetizer and the desert was creamy, chocolaty and scrumptious. And our host that Mr. Suleman our host from Ferozsons Laboratories Limited, what a fine young man he is, well mannered and also tall and handsome but married...sad!

Anyways, my evening was the best. I have also taken many pictures and shall be also uploading them along with my blog-post. We left the restaurant at about midnight, I know it sounds very late but life starts in Paris after dark. The shops at the famous Champs Elysees close at half eleven and the road side cafes and bistros seem as they never close, as the French say ‘L'enjeu est magnifique et la nuit est jeune’ meaning the challenge is great and the night is young.

So it all began, the idea to visit Paris was my Father’s, it would be nice short break for you he’d say and yes he was right it was a fantastic break. He had to be there as he was invited to attend the Euro PCR 2011 for four days. Well he flew by plane from Karachi, Pakistan all the way to Paris whereas I came by train (Euro Star) from Ashford, UK; it takes just two hours to reach Paris by train, sweet! The best part is that going with my Father means free accommodation, plus I get to go out for all these awesome dinners and night-outs for free. I know it sounds kind of ... not interesting maybe but it’s worth it all as it’s said ‘sometimes to lose something, in-order to get something’, and even I found out (I really don't know if this is going to interest you but it sure does interest me as I am the daughter of a Cardiologist) apparently a pacemaker has been invented which is the size of a capsule and it has a seven year battery. It shall be out in the market on sale in a year’s time; this innovation has been done by Medtronics.

The Euro Star was as good as always, the ticket was for £65 return, fully wheelchairs accessible, (for further details or ticket booking please go on website http://www.eurostar.com). For me I was travelling from Maidstone, therefore I had to get the train to Ashford from Maidstone East Station, the ticket was for £5.40 (for inquiries please do check out the South Eastern Trains website at http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/)