Family trip to UK

Salam semua....

Ya, I know I have gone for too long. It is all because of my stupid laptop need to be repaired and actually I was away for one month in August to visit my brother and his family and we went to Wales and Scotland.

So, as we are waiting for my laptop to be repaired (I'm using my office laptop now) let enjoy some of the photos. Yes, I will definitely try to complete my NZ first before updating my Paris +UK trip....

I will never bored with Eiffel Tower

Versailles Palace

My father in front of Wollaton Hall aka Batman Manor, Nottingham

First time seeing deer face to face...

Conwy Castle....

The smallest house in Great Britain

I love Wales!

Great Orme Cable Car (Llandudno)

Caernafon Castle, Wales

                                    The Pontycysyllte Aqueduct

Tu Hwnt I'r Bont

Yap, visit Liverpool Stadium

No point going Liverpool if you are not going to see the Beatles, right?

Took MU Stadium Tour

The Falkirk Wheel, Scotland

Dean Village, Edimburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

Portree, Isle of Skye

Kilt Rock Waterfall, Isle of Skye

It is confirmed, there is no Loch Ness monster.....

 

Picking fruits and vegetable at the farm

Gigih panjat nak tengor Hogwarts Express!

Ok guys, see you soon!

British Isles Road Trip: Preparation 2

I hope it is not too late to say Happy Ramadan and it is not too early to say Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin. 

So, how is your Raya preparation? For me, I just wear some old clothes that I rarely wear, I mean seriously, Raya is just for newlyweds, children and parents. For single like me, I will go pray in the morning and have nap in the afternoon. Seriously.

I quite pumped up about my road trip even though I just found out that my brother's car has met accident. Nothing serious, just a dent and he needs to pay 50 pound for it while he get more than 500 pound  claimed from the insurance company. Sweet.

So, I just Google and do a lot of digging especially on Tumblr on which places we should go. So here is my top 5 places we should visit while vacationing in British Isles. They ae not in particular order.

1. The Dark Hedges

Seriously, I knew The Dark Hedges, pre Game of Thrones, I always fascinated with the mysterious around it. The Dark Hedges is a unique stretch of the Bregagh Road near Armoy, in Northern Ireland. Hope I can have a picture of me walking from the back. It would be so cool.

2. Tu Hwnt I’r Bont Tearoom, Llanrwst

 

Tu Hwnt i’r Bont is a traditional Welsh Tea Rooms situated in delightful market town of Llanrwst and the gateway to the beauty of Snowdonia, Wales. The cafe’s roof is covered in Virginia creeper which is quickly changing from green to red as the autumnal colours start to show. I doubt I can see the tearoom as in the picture but it would be thrill to have some traditional tea with with my brother and his family here. My treat!

3. Loch Ness 

Ok seriously, who went to Scotland without going to Loch Ness? Who knew, I might having a selfie with the monster itself?

4. Stanage Edge, Peak District

Large gritstone edges that overlook Hathersage in Peak District, Stanage Edge found fame as the scenic spot where Elizabeth Bennet, played by Keira Knightley, daydreamed of dashing Mr Darcy, , in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice. Me and my sister in law want to re-create this scene...yeah waiting for my own Mr. Darcy....

5. Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

Fairy Pools, seriously beautifully crystal clear blue pools on the River Brittle. One look and you just feel want to dive in and stay they forever. Seriously, I can't wait to swim in the pool.

So, here are the top 5 places that I wanted to go and hopefully, it will come true!

Let the adventure begins...

Well, just finish packing and ready to go...all my hopes and my dreams are about to come true. I just can't believe I'm about to have one of greatest journey of all time and I just can't stop smiling. All the research, the pain of seeing others realizing their dreams the hope that I will be there someday are going to go away in three weeks.

I'm nervous, especially thinking about the immigration, I don't want to forget how to speak in English. I'm nervous because I will be alone there and I'm excited but try not to bring my hope high because I don't want to be easily disappointed  I need to expect the unexpected and don't let my guard down regarding my security. May Allah bless me during the journey....

After I come back, I will read back all my posts regarding this journey and try to remember that desperate feeling of wanting something so bad, so I can apply them to my next goal. Of course, I will also upload some photos and blogging about the journey.

So, wish me luck and wish me safely home. Keep calm and vote and just remember, we only have one country. All the best!

Final preparation....I can't stop smiling....

I'm supposed to do some works instead of blogging. Yeah I know. I hope my boss doesn't read my this post. I'm going to continue my work after this, I promise.

Next Monday will be the last day of work before going off to my dream vacation and that is why I need to finish off my work. If not, I can't enjoy my vacation. So, far 2 reports and not to mention my study assignments to finish off in 3 days. I also need to do some laundry and to buy small towel and blankets for the camping.

As for money, I need to change around 300 pound and that's all. Now, I need to figure out how to stash the money safely, like should I put them in the luggage or bring it over the plane? I just find out that my flight from Doha to KL has been cancelled and I have two choices whether to take the same flight from Heathrow to Doha and wait for 8 hours before continuing to KL or take night flight from Heathrow and arrived KL at 9 at night? So, of course I took the later one, give the time to shop but I need to take leave the next day.

Now, I still need to photocopy my passports and all the itineraries as well to to get train information in London. Other than that I might need to finalize the trips in London where I can't figure out if Tower of London is worth for visit or not.

I haven't pack yet, maybe tonight so tomorrow I can't still do last minute shopping for things that I need (why I need a lot of stuff?). When I'm thinking about the adventure and realizing my dreams in few days, I just can't stop smiling and I jus can't believe it is going to happen, with Allah permission of course. I just can't believe that I'm that type of person, when I want it, I make it happen, if only I can stick to my diet!

So, I will write again before going off and hopefully I don't forget to pack all the things I need.

P/s: Visitor from Doncaster, England...are you Louis Tomlinson?

Project Europe: Transportation and Accommodation

Well, it is time again to updat about my dream trip. I can't believe it just around the corner already and I've been planning for it since September last year and now about 70% finalized. Here are some finalized items for reference:

Transportation

Yap, finalized all already from flights to trains to bus. So I already bought from Qatar Airways for KL-Munich-London-KL. Another flight is Easyjet (http://www.easyjet.com/en) from Munich to Gatswick which cost me 70 euro and which is above budget but the only flight that according to my plan. I will travel from Fussen to Munich and has a little time to spend in Munich before boarding the flight. A little time will be a mad dash to Hard Rock Cafe for t-shirts of course and hopefully can spend time at Marienplatz. Trains are quite expensive, I mean seriously for 2 hours journey it was almost RM 200 but what to do, still need to buy it right? So, bought return train from Munich to Fussen for 44 euro and return train from Moreton-in-Marsh for 37 pounds (http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search). The DB Bahn train ticket or fahrkarte is in Deutsche so luckily got numbers so I know the time. You can book the train from this site http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml The cheapest transportation would be transfer bus (http://www.easybus.co.uk/) from Gatswick to London (West Brompton/Earl Courts) for 4.49 pound. So, just left for Oyster card which I will buy in London itself and budgeted around 30 pound. So overall, I have spend around RM 1500 for transportation.

Accommodation

Ok, this is the major budget, remember, my brother can't make it so I can't stay with him and I'm alone and I don't like to share bathroom. So, of course finding hotel rooms with ensuite bathroom and wifi is the major pain not to mentioned so expensive. My criteria from accommodation would be the hotel must be near to public transport, ensuite bathroom and luggage storage. For London, I would I choose Paddington area as my base as the are close to major tube and railways to outside London and not to mentioned has connected train to Heathrow Airport. At first I thought wanted to book Tune Hotel Paddington as I read good reviews from Trip Advisor and within my budget but somehow I just feel it just not right, so I keep searching until recently I found this Hyde Park Rooms Hotel (http://www.hydeparkrooms.com/) which is what I want, near Sussex Garden and near to Paddington station. Read good reviews also and cheaper than Tune Hotel. So, still e-mailing the owner as the respond is quite slow. I book 5 nights for this hotel.












Another hotel that I've book is Palm Tree Cottage, a b&b at Moreton-in-Marsh, Cotswold. (http://www.abodesofoxford.com/bed-and-breakfast-oxford-50495) It is very near to train and bus station and have a very high review from Trip Advisor and other booking side such as Agoda and Booking.com. Actually, this is the first accommodation that I booked because I saw only left one room and although above my budget, I just booked it. Other b&b although cheaper but far from public transportation.

So for Fussen, I booked rated no 2 hotel in Fussen which is Hotel Fantasia (http://www.hotelfantasia.de/en/). It is near to Fussen train station and walkaway to the castles. High reviews and look like fantasy.

So, yeah as I need single rooms ensuite with bathroom, so it was quite hefty prices for all the rooms. Most rooms in London, only got room and shared bathroom. I know, I should get the cheaper one, but for me I bathroom is quite important. I mean, for Kelana Convoy, I do need to share bathroom as we are camping so  I guess I get my experience from there. I'm nervous thinking about it. I like to go bathroom whenever I like and doesn't like to wait. Yeah, I'm frugal like that. But last time when I'm travel to Korea with other colleagues I shared bathroom with them but because I know who they are. I guess I don't like to share with strangers.

So that is the update so far and will update more soon! 

Project Europe: Camera

Agh, it is almost the end of the first month of 2013. Time moves so fast and even though I can't wait for my trip in May and it also means that it will be almost half of the year gone by.

So far, I still can't wrap up my mind on my work yet, seriously. Lot of public holidays for this month and next  month are not helping either. Yep, I'm still in cloud nine regarding my dream trip. I can't stop thinking about it. Now, I'm going to finalize camera that I'm going to buy for the trip. Of course you need a great camera to capture beautiful moments during the trip. So I've been browsing the internet as well as camera shops to find out what is the best camera. I want a compact camera with DSLR quality. I mean DSLR is great but it is quite bulky and expensive. My budget would be RM 1400 and below.

Canon SX40 HS -RM 1295-1500

Canon S100 -RM 1100-1300

So far above are the camera that I've been interested and the prices are around my budget. Both look stylish. So below is the the comparison and it looks like S100 is winning but Canon SX40 looks "professional". Haha, I don't know. Anything I will update later.

Project Europe: Flight Ticket + Hotel bookings

I can't believe I did it but I did it. I bought the flight ticket already. I can't believe I bought it, but I did it. Ok, I've been studying Europe diligently, spend more time looking for flight tickets and hotels than studying for my final exam papers which I just completed today by the way wohooo...I bought from Qatar Airways and have been trying to buy the ticket since last week but no avail. At first, the price is RM 3459 for KL-Munich-London-KL which not bad especially involving multicity and I've check KL-London returns around RM 3200. Then, last week Thursday, the price gone-up to RM 3600 and I admit I was a little bit panic, because it is way up from my budget. I googled it and the expect said perhaps the price will do down again maybe on Monday, so fair enough. I guess somebody want me to stop obsess with the ticket and study for my finals instead. However, since I'm obsess and can't study, I looked again and the price has go down to RM 3345 which is for me worth it and I tried to buy it and somehow my credit card cannot go through. Ok, I get the sign, study first then buy ticket. So, today after completing the last paper, I manage to buy the ticket easily, talking about coincident, right? Syukur, the price is still the same.

So, what happen so far is that the first thing I did for Europe project is to confirm the date which is 1 May to 18 May. Second thing I did was of course to apply for leave. I tried to fool like applying the first half week, first and then 3 days later applied another one week. I just don;t want to make it look obvious. Yeah, brilliant, plan right? Not, of course they will found out hehe. The third thing I have done was booking a room in Moreton-in-Marsh, Cotswold. It is above my budget, but I have to because the place is near to train station and bus station. As I mentioned in previous post, I will go around Cotswold by bus and I already got bus schedule from internet and from TripAdvisor's Phil-the-bus. He event draft itinerary for me to cover the places I want to go in two days. Such a sweet guy. (I think he is a guy).

So, I already booked a hotel in Fussen and again, it was above my budget but again, it is near to train station and around 5 minutes from the castles. Yeah, I done a lot of booking without the flight ticket and so far, I've been charges with deposit for the hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh.

So, now I need to get accommodation in London, perhaps I will book Tune Hotel in Paddington after coming back from Munich and hotel in Bayswater before and after Cotswold. I also still need to buy ticket from Munich to London and return train tickets from Munich to Fussen as well as Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh.

As some part of my journey, I will be alone, so  I need to find hotel with good location and good security so that is why I went for hotel that is near to train stations or any public transports. I use Tripadvisor reviews for my reference. I also need to fork up some money as I can' split the bills with anyone but I think I will manage it. I think.


So, that is update so far and will continue to plan for Fussen, Cotswold and London itinerary. I might need to cut back some shopping budget. Hmmm

Update on Project Europe

I'm in research mode for my Europe Trip next year. In fact, that is all I can think about for the last two weeks. So, I already made up my mind that I'm going with Kelana Convoy Highlight of Europe from 4 May to 12 May. I might be going as early as 29@30 April and coming back on 17@18 May. 

So, my draft plan would be to go to Fussen, to visit my dream castle and back to London for the tour. Then after tour will be staying back in London for sight seeing and shopping of course. Ok, so I got draft plan right but I'm so nervous and quite frighten right now, why? well, I found out that there is big possibility that I might be travel London by myself. Well, it seems that my brother maybe will not be there during my trips because until now his doesn't graduate yet. Yeah, talking about all the bureaucracy in his university that he might not be flying to UK soon. So, I need to increase my accommodation budget and face possibility to go by myself.

On top of that, I also will be going to the countryside, yeah Cotswold. I fell in love with this place when one of the senior traveler in Forum Cari told be about this place. Cotswold has the most beautiful English cottages villages in England and one of them is Bibury Village. I want to visit the place such as Stow-in-the Wold, Bourton-in-the-Water and Broadway. I even got the photos of the villages as my wallpaper.

Bourton -on-the Water

My dream castle, Neuschwanstein castle

Stow-on-the Wold (I guess)

Combe Castle

Broadway (My current Wallpaper)

At first, I wanted to go a day tour as the place is only 90 minutes from London by train. Then, I was thinking,  why not I just stay, I mean to wake up to the beautiful English village and having scorn and English Tea would be lovely. I love to walk in the village and see how people live. Then, of course thanks to Mr. Google, I manage to get some tours and it is expensive, like 169 pound for 2 days (~RM900) and for day tour is around 79 pound which is around RM 400. I should take tour guide package as I don't know how and where to go and how to take the public transportation. However, there is something in my heart feeling that I should do this on my own. I love to wondering around and take time as much as I want to without any restrictions. I love to soak the environment and take pretty pictures of the village and scenery surrounding the area. 

For some reason, I found to go around Cotswold might be more difficult than to go to Fussen on my own even though there will be language barrier in Fussen compared to Cotswold. That is why I keep researching for Cotswold rather than Fussen. Another dilemma would be should my arrival destination to be Munich or London? If I arrived Munich, then I can go Fussen immediately and travel back to Munich, then London by train. If not, I should arrive in London, then take train to Munich, Fussen then back to London again. What I'm worried the most is about the luggage, you know to go around with big luggage and if I left in the storage in London train station it would be around RM 50 per day. I'm not sure about the low budget flight because of the strict baggage requirements.

So now, I have rough idea where I want to go and now I need to plan the budget part, which is quite stressful. I just wish I save something this year but now at all. I really hope that I can afford this trip and I don't want to postpone as I already told everyone and I really really want to make it happen. 

Europe; Project Update

Well, it has been quite long since I updated my plan to Europe. According to my plan, I'm supposed to buy flight ticket tomorrow at Matta Fair but it ain't going to happen yet. No, not because I cancelled or postponed the project simply because I still made up my mind where should I enter the Europe continent.

You see, my little brother who just got engaged last week will go to UK to pursue his Phd with his fiance later wife next year. No, I'm not crashing their honeymoon but since they will be there anywhere, so why don't I took this opportunity to visit them. The problem is, my bro doesn't know when he will be able to get there and where. He got unofficial offer from 3 universities, Leeds, Birmingham and perhaps Edinburgh. Secretly, I wish he choose Scotland then I can visit him there and see the vast landscape and to visit Lochness Monster hehe. The other problem is, he doesn't know when he can get there, I mean it depends on his university and budget from government. But he plan to get there in March 2013.

In addition, as I didn't manage to get travel buddy so I have no choice but to go with Kelana Convoy. Since I will be alone and this is my first time to Europe, I will be more safe and comfortable to travel in group and it is around my budget. Perhaps, it is a good way to know more people who has passion to travel as you do
 ;-). They only just come up with the 2013 tour dates this week and at first I plan to go on March or April but my brother and I has talked it would be better for me to go in May since we are going to have his wedding reception between Feb - Apr 2013 (because of unsure dates to fly).

I choose spring dates as I wanted to visit Keukonhof ( I love Tulips) and choose the tour 'Highlights of Europe' with 9 days to visit 5 countries. The other tour, "Conquest of Europe' is quite exciting, visiting 9 countries in 16 days. However, as I have limited annual leave, I budgeted to travel in 16 days, 9 days with Kelana Convoy and the rest is for me to visit my dream Neuchwanstein castle in Fussen, go to Bath, visiting my brother and shopping till I drop in London. So, I know where is the point I want to get out from Europe, which is London.

I just thinking whether I should enter from Munich and visit the castle then back to London for the tour or I should get in from London, visit my brother and go the Fussen come back and join the tour? To enter from Munich is much more cheaper from London as London airport tax quite expensive but London is the mother of transportation where you can get anywhere from there. I f I enter from London and get out from Europe from Munich, I have to bring a lot of bags to travel with me as I said before I want to shop a lot in London. It will be hassle for me to take train or flight with all shopping items.

I also wanted to stay in London for more days as I plan to visit the usual attractions such as London Eye, Westminister Abbey and also set aside one day to visit a countryside. In my mind it would be whether Bath (I saw Samantha Brown visit here) which is 90 minutes from London, or Oxford or Canterbury which I always dream about, you know seeing their drama such as Downtown Abbey or film such as Pride and Prejudice. I also wanted to see medieval castles so as for now I still do some researching. I wanted to feel the breeze of countryside while sipping English Tea and eat some scorns while looking at the vast greenery lush and white cotton sheep running in the background. Hmmmm

Still I got around 8 months to plan for my dream trip and I hope everything will be real soon. Can't wait!

I wish to see the sunset here

How wonderful is this?