I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 1: The behind story and the arrival

Salam, as promised here are the story of my amazing journey to New Zealand. It will be divided into many parts and I try to update as much as I can.

Believe it or not, this is unplanned journey. My travel mates, you may know them from my Turkey and Europe trip just whatsapping (it that a word?) around like saying hey where are we going this year and suddenly I just suggested New Zealand and everybody agreed. It was before Raya if I'm not mistaken and at first there are only three of us . Then one of my travel mates who are currently working in Jeddah as a nurse said that one of her friend also would like to join us and it is confirmed that there will be four of us.

Then we have not decided whether to go by tour or by ourselves. I'm all into ourselves but some of us still have doubt whether we have the confidence to navigate and drive by ourselves to a country that we have never been before. So we decided to check in MATTA FAIR in September to figure out tour package and to compare the cost if we do it ourselves. We already decided to do it in November as that is the time where everyone has free time.

So, two of us who are working in Malaysia went to MATTA FAIR to find out the cost and to buy flight ticket and boy we have been bamboozled, I meant we thought ticket would be cheaper and it was way beyond our budget. We also found out that of course if we do it by ourselves it would be much cheaper. Even one of the travel agent that we've met said it.  Now, we are confuse because it seems that the ticket price is out of our budget and whether we still want to continue with our plan or not.

At first, we thought to cancel it and perhaps just go to Japan instead however after more than 1,000 whatsapp messengers we just close our eyes and buy the ticket and I have to stay up till 2am to buy 4 tickets where the prices where difference and we agreed to average them. I will tally all our cost at the last updates, so be patience you guys!

So, I'm the 'unpaid' travel agent as I plan the itinerary and pay for all the cost that need to book first. My bank is quite thrill to see my credit card bill but don't worry, I have 100% confidence with travel mates and they pay me on time and no question asked and it makes may job a little bit easy. I'm using Booking.com for all our hotels booking and bookme.co.nz for all our activities such as Milford Sound cruise and Kawarau Zipride in Queenstown. As we plan to cook, so I try to book budget hotel/motel that have cooking facilities and shared bathroom as it is much cheaper compared to private room. As for car rental, we book from Go Rental as it was recommended by one of reference blog http://selekeh.com/blog/?p=55 and it is one of the cheapest I've found after some research. We did thought to rent caravan or motor home but I already told them that I'm not going to change/ dump the waste...seriously....geli...and none of them want to do to so we just settle to hire a car instead. For both North and South Island, we hired Toyota Corolla. It fit all of us but I have funny story about it so just wait for it.

As for the flights, we took return MAS Airlines to Auckland and from Auckland to Christchurch we took Jetstar. Then we will depart to Auckland from Queenstown by New Zealand Airlines.

Since we only book a sedan car so we have agreed to only bring one luggage per person and it was crazy hell to fit my clothes as I only bring the cabin size luggage. I didn't bring any food because it can't fit. My travel mates told me the bring a lot of food and I just wonder how the manage to pack it inside their bag. So, later at the airport I found out how they can fit all the food and clothes, one of them bring 2 luggage instead as one as agreed upon and the other two bring the biggest luggage they can find and it look like I'm the smallest one. I just kept thinking on the flight how on earth we can fit all the luggage inside the car boot.

Actually, I do have concern about this trip because I do the itinerary by myself and I just hope that we will not be lost and another thing is I really hope that the immigration didn't think that we are drug mules or went there to work as apple picker; then they will reject us and we have to go back but we have already paid a lot for the trip.  

So, the journey to Auckland took us 10 hours and it was a very comfortable flight. I really like MAS as the steward and stewardess are kind and somehow they though we are students so we manage to get extra food and goodies hehe.

Our flight supposed to be at 9.30pm from KLIA, however, it was delayed and we only arrived at Auckland Airport at 1.30pm. It was a full flight and we do expect a lot of people at immigration. So, before we line up for the passport checking, we went to the Vodafone store to get simcard. What we do is to buy a simcard and shared mobile hotspot with everyone. We choose 8GB data plan and the price is 99 NZD dollar. Until the end of the journey, the data plan is available. Not bad huh for 4 persons who likes to upload photos a lot.

The process of passport checking at immigration is quite smooth for us. The officer did ask a lot of question for the couple in front of us but when it comes to our turn, she just look at us and continue to stamp our passport without any hesitation. Maybe the student thing is work for us. We already know that at Arrival Card we need to declare everything, so we just declare everything, food, medicine and even sport shoes. There will check if there's dirt on it. Seriously! Two of my friends has to go through to another immigration process as they declare food and one of them has to see all the chicken rendang to be thrown into dust bin. NZ immigration is serious about the thing that we bring to their country so if you want to bring food, bring dried one and chicken is no no. We only manage to go to our hotel with airport shuttle after 3pm. I have book the coach at shuttle at https://www.supershuttle.co.nz/ for 59 NZD (one-way) for 4 person and it will send you in front of the hotel.

Guess which one is my luggage?

I think I have to end the first update now and I will tell you some story that makes be believe that there are good people in the world in my next update. I learnt my humble lesson from it. So stay tune!

I'm back baby.....for real!

Salam All,

Yeah it looks like that I abandoned this blog, which I did.....sorry. But I'm really-really back this time. I promise.

So as a teaser, here are some photos to prove you why I'm here and please guess where have I've been recently?

So, I just can't wait to update my journey and hope that you guys are still there.

See you soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Matta Fair 2015

So, i just come back from Matta Fair today and surprise suprise bought something...haha. But I have not bought my flight ticket to Europe yet although the ticket price is screamingly cheap....yes, it is because I didn't finalize the date yet. There have the discussion where my  brother suggest that we go in August instead of May because then hey can get entrance to heritage places for free as the have heritage passes or something. According to the passes, if they stay in UK more than 1 year, they can get into the heritage places such as castles in  England fro free, and if 2 years, they can enter the places in Scotland for free.

Then I was thinking if I go in August, then why not just go in October instead, then I can  watch Autumn leaves fall and who knows Aurora Borealis. Then again, the discussion when back to May. So, now I still try to finalize our itinerary and the budget that we have to fork out. So that s the update for my UK road trip.

So what about today's Matta Fair? There are still a lot of people, believe me especially in Domestic Hall compared to International Hall. But in the International Hall there too a lot of people and I was amazed with Apple's Booth, seriously nice.

So what do I bought from Matta Fair today?

1. Berjaya Redang Island Resort.

Well we manage to get 2 nights stay there for RM 588 for 2 person. It includes snorkeling trips as per attached in photo below.I hope we got a good deal.

Berjaya's Hotel Promotion

2. Dinner Buffet Voucher at Putrajaya International Convention Centre.

We got it for RM 29.95 instead of RM 40 and we were promised with beautiful view at night. They also has promotion of Buffet Lunch for RM 21.25. Cheap right?

So, we are planning to go to Redang in October and I will update you more about the trip. See you soon!

Apple's Booth

Kids playing snow sleigh courtesy of Korea Tourism

All things from Matta Fair!

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!

British Isles Road Trip: Preparation 1

Looks who is coming back? Yap, it's me again. I know some of you might fed-up with me appearing like chipsmore, "sekejap ada, sekejap takde" I'm so sorry. I just lost it. Sorry!

But now I pumped up already yeah...after some Skyping and televideo through Hangout, it is already set, I'm going to road trip together with my brother around British Isles. For your info, my brother and his family is in Nottingham since last year as he is continuing his study for Phd. I plan to visit them next year because I miss them and especially my niece so much. Then I told them I might want to visit Scotland (yeah because of Outlander) and they said they want to come to...so wohooo road trip!

So what is British Isles? It just covers England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. See, my brother would like to go Snowdonia, Wales so we include that and I really want to go to Isle of Skye, Cornwall and The Dark Hedges. So after some calculation, it looks like we will cover up to 2000km. Yep, I'm planning to cover for petrol expenses and try to find out how much is the petrol cost in UK.

So far we just try to plan which place we would like to cover and how much it will cost. I try to play with Google Map and find out what our journey will be like.

If we cover all British Isles

If we didn't cover Ireland, ten it will become UK road trip

So far everything is still under planning and I will try to find more info for the trip. We plan to to do it in the month of May next year as the day is longer and before fasting month.

So, if you have feedback and info regarding this trip, feel free to comment. I welcome any ideas and tips.

Ok, bye for now!. I promise I will be back soon!

I'm back, well sort of

Salam again to all. Ya, I guess you guys wondering what happen to me? To tell you the truth, nothing actually. It just I've been very lazy, besides I'm not going anywhere.

It's not that I'm quitting travelling but I just nothing to share actually. I can't just ramble about myself for my next posts, who want to read that?

For 2015, I'm not planning to go anywhere because I'm saving up for my next trip next year. Where to? I 'm planning to visit my brother and his family in Nottingham and from there perhaps we can go to Scotland. Scotland is one of country in my bucket list especially after obsessing with Outlander tv series. Seeing the highlanders with their sexy accent makes me want to go there so bad.

I'm still have not enough of England. Anglophile as myself would be content until I seeing cliff at Cornwall, theme park in Brighton and again London. I might throwing Cardiff or Dublin in my next visit. At first, I want to move on and go see The northern lights in Scandinavian country such ass Finland and Sweden, but every time I open my tumblr and see the green grass and old buildings of Cotswold, I just want to be there again. So I guess my quest to see the northern lights have to wait.

So far that is the update of myself. I will try to update my blog as much as I can but just be patient with me ok.