It's always been my dream to jet off to anywhere in the world, besides Asia. This is basically a dream come true. I can't thank my parents enough for forking out the money for this trip PLUS my shopping which i can honestly say……imagine this. I spent 183 pounds alone at NikeTown. That wasn't even 30 minutes of shopping *guilty*.After my failed attempt to go to Germany for the school exchange programme last year, I finally got to go to UK this year! Uhm wtf, first time in a Western country? I could barely contain my excitement as I counted down the days to the trip. I haven't done this blogging thing in a long time so pardon me if i comment BEFORE every picture. I'm just too excited to show you what an amazing place UK is!
A crazy airplane enthusiast's dream is always to get the window seat. Out of the 4 plane rides i took on this trip, 3 of them were window seats ^^
Dude i don't care that i'm flying economy on Emirates because the menu was uh-mazing. Basically, according to our London guide, chicken tikka massala is currently the most popular dish in London? Don't know if it's true *shrugs*
As if the meal wasn't good enough, this brownie mousse dessert thingy was out of this world. I finished everything on my tray because UHM SMOKED SALMON ALSO WTF SO POSH PLS
How excited was i? This was basically what i stared at the entire trip to DXB. Firstly, i didn't want to spoil my eyes,(i turned off the monitor after awhile) and secondly i didn't want my brain to turn into mush. I read a couple of pages from the book i brought onboard (the Alchemist) and slept until i reached DXB.
Crossing the different time zones was a first for me so i was still full from the previous meal so i left the peach dessert thingy uneaten :( BUT UHM SMOKED SALMON AGAIN Y U DO THIS TO ME. I also finally caved and watched 1 movie. I watched Pocahontas.
When we reached BHX, i obviously wasn't prepared for the cold. It was the coldest place i've ever been to it reached 2-4 degrees in the night time O.O I thought i could brave the cold with no gloves and my fingers basically died.
It's like food after food after food. I was so stuffed the first day that i woke up at 3 am to bomb the toilet. We stayed at a pretty inexpensive lodging(Travelodge Birmingham) and i had this tomato-based pasta for dinner when i reached the hotel. Let me tell you guys, if this is budget hotel standard food, idk what the posh-er hotels serve. This was the best pasta i have ever eaten in my life.
This was basically breakfast for 7 days, no kidding. Haven't touched a piece of sandwich bread ever since i got back.
We left the next day for London. Our first stop was Warwick Castle! I was like, hmmm castle, hmmm in UK, hmmm Harry Potter. This is as close as it gets to the real thing la haha. The castle basically houses many artefacts that they managed to unearth on the site. I love medieval stuff like this ok! I discovered every nook and cranny of this gargantuan place and even went into a dungeon even though i'm self-diagnosed claustrophobic.
A wild meow appears.
After which, we had tea(lunch) at a cute little restaurant/cafe and what better way to celebrate being in UK than drinking tea? Zomg the tea was also so so good cos it was loose leaf. Loose leaf tea holds better flavour! And this cracker thingy was so cool. The lady at the restaurant told us that it's a tradition at every English Christmas dinner(meal?) to have this cracker thingy that contains a small toy, a joke and a paper crown! My fave from this meal was the turkey and raspberry preserve sandwich followed by the scone. The scone was HUGE BUT I FINISHED EVERY BIT COS YUMZ
EVEN THE NAME OF THE PLACE IS COOL. The cafe had a 1940's concept (think Keep Calm and Carry On), and it's called *drumrolls*, the FOURTEAS. The English, genius. We then visited a quaint, little town called Stratford-upon-Avon aka Shakespeare's birthplace. Learnt so much about Shakespeare and his contributions to English language and literature. I also saw a Pandora boutique there, so tempted but after finding out that Pandora is manufactured in Thailand…..just no. For a splurge item, it's really not that worth it.
After Shakespeare died, his friends collated all this work into one book. At that time, only 1000 copies were produced and sold. However, over time, many of it got destroyed and currently there are less than 200 copies worldwide. This is one of them!
That night, we reached our lodging in London, got to our rooms and then left straightaway for dinner! My first tube ticket so i had to haha. We settled for a greek restaurant AND THAT'S WHERE MY LOVE FOR HUMMUS BLOOMED. Can i also mention how much Vodafone sucks? Bought a sim card at SUA and it didn't work all the way until we personally went to a Vodafone outlet to check it out at the Westfield mall(Stratford) where we had our dinner.
Our lodging was in Stratford City which was pretty damn convenient because Stratford on the tube map ran along the Central line, one of the more well-connected lines(Oxford Circus is one of the stops).
We headed for a guided London tour the next day. Our tour covered the Tower of London and the Westminster Abbey. All the bling in the world couldn't be compared to the bling exhibition(The Crown Jewels) that was at the Tower of London.
The view of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London was breathtaking and yes, this is Tower Bridge not London Bridge! Common misconception hahaha.
Absolutely in love with the architecture of the Westminster Abbey. Where many royal weddings take place! It's quite creepy walking into the Abbey cos beneath the Abbey were tombs of influential people like Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens. We were basically walking over graves.
And have i not raved about my camera enough. I lahvvvvvv it so much. For a digital camera, it's pretty damn good.