Travel Series : Easter Holiday 2011 - London Day 0

We were hanging out, husband was on the PC (as usual) and I was reading my book. We had this conversation.. 

Husband : Next week Jumaat I cuti tau..
Me : Oh, ye ke? Nape?
Husband : I nak pergi Physio pagi..
Me : Kenapa appointment pagi?
Husband : saje je..... lagipun Jumaat depan kan birthday you..
Me : Haaaa???

Can you imagine? I forgot that my birthday is next week. I don't know if that's a good or bad sign.I didn't minta anything for my birthday cause my husband already paid for my London trip, which I will be blogging about it right now... hehehehe.. (kalau tangguh, sampai bila² pun takterblog.. like that Krabi trip.. the Paris trip.. and the Ireland trip.. and the Munich trip.. and that KL trip... PD and melaka trip.. (sigh banyaknya tertangguh)..

Ok ok.. My trip was from 21st April to 25th April.. Since 21 and 25 tu travelling day.. so that would mean, I had 3 full days to ronda London..

21st April 2011

Bertolak from home (Mannheim) pagi around 640am cause we took the Regional train. The journey to Frankfurt Airport was 1 hour and 15 mins (plus tukar seround). Usually we would take the ICE to Frankfurt Airport yang mengambil masa hanya 20 mins but twice the price. I checked in before 9am. Kebetulan depan I ada serombongan orang Korea maka kecohlah British Airways punya lane tu.. Since it was the Easter Holidays, orang kat Check in counter suruh pergi kat Gate awal cause takut security check lane lama sbb ramai orang. Pendek cerita, my flight was 1120am and I reached Heathrow London 1155am (local time). So sampai lah ke London sorang² for the first time. Buat muka confident la sbb travel sorang² kan. Ikut je mane ramai² pergi. Kat imigresen orang tu tanya mcm² la sbb Visa saya dari Frankfurt, alhamdulillah okay sume. Terus ke Luggage Claim. Kejap je dapat beg, maka geraklah ke Underground Tube. I didnt know that kat Underground takde line, maka panic lah tak dapat nak call husband ckp I dah naik train. And I was supposed to meet my friend at 2pm. And I thought I was running late. My jam dah 1345. I forgot about the time difference. Rupanya masih awal.
From Heathrow Terminal 5, I changed at Hammersmith. Masa ni ada sorang Pak Itam mcm follow I. I dunno if I was being paranoid ke apa. Tapi buat la muka confident naik turun tangga with my luggage. Finally I took the tube and sampai la ke Queensway. Keluar² je station, wah! London life! And tiba² ramai sangat orang Melayu. Excitednya! So I pun senyum lah sipu². Igt nak buat kawan, boleh sembang². Tapi dia pandang mcm saya ni orang gila and terus jalan je.. Sedihnya :( I tried several attempts nak menegur orang Melayu, macam tu la reaksi diorang. Tapi ada la brader² who saw me and I think they knew that I am a tourist (dengan camera sangkut kat badan), dia pun bagi la salam. 'Salamelekom kak'. I pun jawab lah salam, but takde la sembang dengan diorang. Then I met my friend, Mimah and her cousin, Ruzie. So we headed for makan at Tinseltown. It's an American steakhouse tapi ada cop Halal. Best la. And portion dia besar. So bungkus 2 ketul ayam, bawak balik hotel for dinner.

Then berpisahlah dengan Mimah and her cousin guided me to Hilton Tower Bridge. The hotel that we were staying. I was supposed to meet with Thierry, my friend's friend's brother in law (pjg ye) cause check in under nama dia (dapat discount). Rasa mcm apa je tunggu mat salleh stranger kat hotel. So settle check in and Thierry pun gave me the keys and I pun masuklah ke bilik. Wow bestnya. The rooms were very comfortable. At this time, it was almost 6pm. My friends from KL hanya akan touchdown kol 2140 at Stansted and reach the hotel at probably midnight. So I had the freedom and the room all to myself. Maka saya pun mandi lah bath tub, solat jama' and headed to town sorang². I dah reload my Oyster card. I had no idea where to go. Just jalan² mengikut mana kaki bawa. I pun ronda² lah nearby our hotel. Hotel kitorang dekat dengan London Tower Bridge (See Image above. This one orang slalu silapkan dengan London Bridge. This is London Tower Bridge. London Bridge sebenarnya very old and biasa je.) The view was magnificent. So I jalan² and amik gambar. Skali sedar² macam ada orang Paki sedang mengikuti saya. Dia jalan depan I tapi pandang² blkg towards me. Bila I berenti, dia pun berenti (konon² amek gmbar). I ke kiri, dia pun ke kiri. I ke kanan, dia pun ke kanan. Shit. Takut la ni. Dah la I sorang. What do I do?

To be continued................................

Ada apa dengan designers?

I have this habit of buying books and then simpan sampai one time I will read semua sekaligus. Or when the time is right, I will khatamkan one by one. As I mentioned before, I just came back from my London trip. Ye, takut nak kecoh² sebelum pergi. There are reasons why I did that. Takut orang pesan. Takut evil eyes, etc. Anyway, alhamdulillah dah selamat sampai Mannheim balik now. It was a 5 day trip. I found a really good book at Heathrow Airport. It's called, 'The Rules of Life' by Richard Templar. Usually I would choose not to read British writer's books but this one is a bit different. I like the ideas and messages conveyed and the 'rules' are very realistic and motivating. I would recommend you guys to read it. Ataupun kalau nak pinjam nanti pun boleh :)

Since I was on a break, I was also on internet-break. Hence social networking break. A FB-free time. I disabled my wall cause I wanted to minimize my notifications supaya tak serabut bila balik nanti and have to read everything. So, now menghadap FB la sikit². I read a friend's status saying something about overseas people wearing designers from top to bottom and how Malaysians are far behind because tak pakai barang² branded. I do feel like I want to comment but tak apa lah. I will just write here instead.

Firstly, in Malaysia, if you walk anywhere in the city, I would say 6 out of 10 people pakai handbag branded. Lately Longchamp is the in-thing. Previously, LV and Coach.  I would say Malaysians are quite lavish in spending by buying designers. I have nothing against them. In fact, I feel that memang best la kalau I ada sebijik handbag designer. Tapi I don't own one. Ada satu je Braun Büffel yg tak glamour sangat, tu pun hantaran masa kawin. Sekarang ni hantaran kawin LC, LV, coach. Tapi Malaysians are very brand concious. To be honest, kadang² rasa peer pressure juga kalau all your friends pakai designers. But luckily my close circle of friends yg jenis sempoi² :)

Secondly, since staying here in Mannheim, I notice that the Germans tak pakai sangat barang branded even though they can afford it. Money is channeled to other things. Frankly, I dunno where. Probably electronical gadgets or cars. Kalau pergi bandar, sehari, nampak la sorang dua je pakai handbag Coach or LV. Tu pun yang memang kaya gila ataupun tourists. The Mannheimers pakai handbag biasa je gi kerja. So, I would say that Malaysians lagi pakai barang branded. But perhaps I could be wrong.

Me personally, I dont own any. Pakai handbag H & M (dia macam ala-ala Metrojaya) and paling hebat pun Esprit. Jam pun masih lagi pakai jam AVON. hehehehe..


Just to share with you, Rule No. 1 : Keep it under your hat. -RT

back in Mannheim

back from London. and it was simply awesome :D

strike 2

rejected. again.

keep on moving.. just keep on moving..

Her story : Life so far

Decided to compile some of the selected pictures and turn it into a video clip.. Enjoy :D

So that you wont be bored waching all 100+ pictures.. sbb diiringi dengan lagu hehehe

right on the spot!

I couldnt agree more.. this word has always been with me since I learned its meaning..

Your Happy Word is "Hope"

You refuse to give up on anyone, including yourself. You see the best in others. You think happiness should be shared. You spread your message of optimism as much as possible. You will keep believing when everyone else has stopped. You think good will always prevail in the end. You believe if we trusted each other more, the world would be a better place. All we need is a little hope.

What's Your Happy Word?

Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

Ada apa dengan French

Love French and its accent :D

The Power of Words

This is beautiful...

Gonna watch this :)

History.. His story Her story..

Hi people.. I am right now compiling information with regards to the history of Germany.. I found it very interesting since I attended my Orientierungskurs.. and I thought of sharing it with you guys.. In the mean time, enjoy this post.. this song is called Wind of Change from Scorpion.. and after I understood more about the history, I felt very sad watching this video...

Coming soon...