I'm back!
So guys, I'm finally back from my trip to Europe (England and Ireland). It'd been eventful, fun, soul-healing, eye-opening. It's really great to meet up with friends far away from home. I don't know why, but I'm doing that more often than I should not. Meeting up with old friends thousand of miles away from home when there was opportunity to hang out more. It's true that I take things for granted too much for my good. Sorry guys. I try to care but well, maybe my heart is only that big.
So, this will be a post(maybe will be separated into several posts so that it won't be information overwhelming and all.) Maybe I'll split them by locations (most logical selection i guess).
It started on Feb 22nd. I left my room at 3.40pm. Shouldering my 9.2kg backpack (I got to know this when I checked in my luggage at the airport. I didn't dare to pack much because I don't want to pay for excess luggage charges while traveling in Europe.) So, my flight is not until 8pm at night, but because I had an exam at 4pm til 5.30pm, and then, I needed to rush to the airport to catch my flight, my best option was to carry my backpack with me, and to go straight to the airport right after the exam. So, it wasn't the smartest thing to do to schedule something of such extremes back to back. Jumping out of an exam room, and ran straight to the bus stop (I had 9 minutes time to do so), to catch the 'airBus' to the airport. The exam was a bad one. Must be the worst I had here at the University of Michigan. But well, who can care so much when there's a flight to catch, a trip to look forward to, and a lot to put behind?
So, I got to the airport at 6.15pm. I went to the counter to check-in and everything. I overheard that there was strong wind in Chicago, and damn, flights to Chicago were canceled. Damn. This will affect my flight too, since my original flight was from Detroit to Chicago, and then from Chicago to London. But, well, what can I do? Pray to the rain god? Wind god? weather god? God no! So, when it was my turn to check-in. I presented my confirmation number and well the usual. I was told that I was rebook on another flight, on British Airways, from Detroit to London DIRECT! Well, when booking for my flight in December last year, I opted for the non-direct flight because it will save me $50. Since this change was free of charge, why not. GOOD NEWS!
So, I checked in my luggage in British Airways, but, I had to wait til ~11pm for the flight. But, well, just a 4-hour wait. Much better than having your flights canceled and all. So, I started reading Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors: A Memoir. It was a painfully funny, too graphic, vulgar and i-can't-believe-he-wrote-that memoir. A fast read. On top of that, I killed my time by solving Sudoku puzzles I cut from the daily newspaper. I collected more than 20 of them for the trip. So, I was well prepared for all the waiting times. Also, for the trip, I went to exchange for 150 GB Pounds, and 150 Euro Dollars.
So, after an about 7+ hours flight. I arrived in London Heathrow International Airport at 11am. The flight was good. Well, free beer + wine (only had 1 Heineken and 1 red wine), FREE being the keyword in the sentence.
After collecting my luggage and through with the custom and immigration, it was 10 past noon. Then, I took the subway to Glouchester Road Station (On Piccadilly line) to meet up with Chee Han. It had been more than 2 years since we last see each other. As I was dead tired from the flight and also for not been sleeping much for the past 4 days (4 exams in 3 days, and needing to pack for the trip) and I can rarely sleep on planes, so I watched 2 movies (The Departed and Man of the Year). So, after meeting up with Chee Han, and went to his apartment(where I'll be bunking for 3 nights), after checking my emails and all (i'm really addicted to checking emails), I took a nap for about 2 hours while he went back to attend classes. For dinner, I joined the CNY dinner organized by the Imperial College Malaysian Student Society. It was a 10-course dinner. Cost me 17 pounds, and the food was bad. There, I met Chee Han's friends too(Dave, Andy, Logan, E-Pien...) After dinner, it started drizzling, WELCOME TO LONDON! Still, we met up with Zhi Hui at Starbucks for coffee. Starbucks in London = Starbucks in the States. The deco, the menu. Other than the price tag, everything is pretty much identical.
Later that night, I went to Chee Han friend's place for their CNY party. Well, I was just the observer there, watching others smoking sheesha (hookah) and play blackjack and poker.
Went back really late (about 5am), and went to bed soon after. So much for rest on holidays, I think I sleep less when I can afford to, see, I'm really taking things for granted.
Woke up late the next day. Chee Han brought me around London sightseeing. I'm really bad with names, so, other than the few really popular places, I can't really remember much.
Err... which park was this? (Corrections: Not Green Park as previously stated...) It's Hyde Park!!! Nice swans and seagulls and ducks...
The park closes at 6pm. So, in order to go to Bayswater for food (duck), we climbed through the fence, common thing, saw many people doing that too.
One thing in London, and also in Dublin, I noticed that they have signs telling you which direction to look out for traffic.
Imperial College London
Buckingham Palace... Too bad, there wasn't a change of guards session that day...
Big Ben(The Clock Tower), and the red double decker bus.
London Eye...
Proud to be Malaysian. In front of Trafalgar Square, there's an Tourism Malaysia office there... and the flag behind was actually a Malaysia Flag - Jalur Gemilang.
Fooling in front of Trafalgar Square. There was actually a rally there earlier in the day.
Still at Trafalgar Square.
Near Piccadilly Circus. I like the effect of the long exposure of the photo.
At Piccadilly Circus - "TimesSquare of London" :)
London in Panaromic.
At night in London, HMS Belfast, with Tower Bridge as background.
The next day, went to Camden Town with Zhi Hui and Chee Han.
Camden town is about 20 minutes bus ride away. It's a melting pot of walks of life, and also, like a Chow Kit road in KL kinda place.
Yumchaa.... in Camden Town
The ever-famous red telephone booth.
More photos of me in London, need more time to sort them out and everything. Woah, I spent about an hour writing this post. Well, need to go to work, and have lunch soon. Will try to post on Dublin, Ireland and also Manchester, and Southampton soon.
So, this will be a post(maybe will be separated into several posts so that it won't be information overwhelming and all.) Maybe I'll split them by locations (most logical selection i guess).
It started on Feb 22nd. I left my room at 3.40pm. Shouldering my 9.2kg backpack (I got to know this when I checked in my luggage at the airport. I didn't dare to pack much because I don't want to pay for excess luggage charges while traveling in Europe.) So, my flight is not until 8pm at night, but because I had an exam at 4pm til 5.30pm, and then, I needed to rush to the airport to catch my flight, my best option was to carry my backpack with me, and to go straight to the airport right after the exam. So, it wasn't the smartest thing to do to schedule something of such extremes back to back. Jumping out of an exam room, and ran straight to the bus stop (I had 9 minutes time to do so), to catch the 'airBus' to the airport. The exam was a bad one. Must be the worst I had here at the University of Michigan. But well, who can care so much when there's a flight to catch, a trip to look forward to, and a lot to put behind?
So, I got to the airport at 6.15pm. I went to the counter to check-in and everything. I overheard that there was strong wind in Chicago, and damn, flights to Chicago were canceled. Damn. This will affect my flight too, since my original flight was from Detroit to Chicago, and then from Chicago to London. But, well, what can I do? Pray to the rain god? Wind god? weather god? God no! So, when it was my turn to check-in. I presented my confirmation number and well the usual. I was told that I was rebook on another flight, on British Airways, from Detroit to London DIRECT! Well, when booking for my flight in December last year, I opted for the non-direct flight because it will save me $50. Since this change was free of charge, why not. GOOD NEWS!
So, I checked in my luggage in British Airways, but, I had to wait til ~11pm for the flight. But, well, just a 4-hour wait. Much better than having your flights canceled and all. So, I started reading Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors: A Memoir. It was a painfully funny, too graphic, vulgar and i-can't-believe-he-wrote-that memoir. A fast read. On top of that, I killed my time by solving Sudoku puzzles I cut from the daily newspaper. I collected more than 20 of them for the trip. So, I was well prepared for all the waiting times. Also, for the trip, I went to exchange for 150 GB Pounds, and 150 Euro Dollars.
So, after an about 7+ hours flight. I arrived in London Heathrow International Airport at 11am. The flight was good. Well, free beer + wine (only had 1 Heineken and 1 red wine), FREE being the keyword in the sentence.
After collecting my luggage and through with the custom and immigration, it was 10 past noon. Then, I took the subway to Glouchester Road Station (On Piccadilly line) to meet up with Chee Han. It had been more than 2 years since we last see each other. As I was dead tired from the flight and also for not been sleeping much for the past 4 days (4 exams in 3 days, and needing to pack for the trip) and I can rarely sleep on planes, so I watched 2 movies (The Departed and Man of the Year). So, after meeting up with Chee Han, and went to his apartment(where I'll be bunking for 3 nights), after checking my emails and all (i'm really addicted to checking emails), I took a nap for about 2 hours while he went back to attend classes. For dinner, I joined the CNY dinner organized by the Imperial College Malaysian Student Society. It was a 10-course dinner. Cost me 17 pounds, and the food was bad. There, I met Chee Han's friends too(Dave, Andy, Logan, E-Pien...) After dinner, it started drizzling, WELCOME TO LONDON! Still, we met up with Zhi Hui at Starbucks for coffee. Starbucks in London = Starbucks in the States. The deco, the menu. Other than the price tag, everything is pretty much identical.
Later that night, I went to Chee Han friend's place for their CNY party. Well, I was just the observer there, watching others smoking sheesha (hookah) and play blackjack and poker.
Went back really late (about 5am), and went to bed soon after. So much for rest on holidays, I think I sleep less when I can afford to, see, I'm really taking things for granted.
Woke up late the next day. Chee Han brought me around London sightseeing. I'm really bad with names, so, other than the few really popular places, I can't really remember much.
Err... which park was this? (Corrections: Not Green Park as previously stated...) It's Hyde Park!!! Nice swans and seagulls and ducks...
The park closes at 6pm. So, in order to go to Bayswater for food (duck), we climbed through the fence, common thing, saw many people doing that too.
One thing in London, and also in Dublin, I noticed that they have signs telling you which direction to look out for traffic.
Imperial College London
Buckingham Palace... Too bad, there wasn't a change of guards session that day...
Big Ben(The Clock Tower), and the red double decker bus.
London Eye...
Proud to be Malaysian. In front of Trafalgar Square, there's an Tourism Malaysia office there... and the flag behind was actually a Malaysia Flag - Jalur Gemilang.
Fooling in front of Trafalgar Square. There was actually a rally there earlier in the day.
Still at Trafalgar Square.
Near Piccadilly Circus. I like the effect of the long exposure of the photo.
At Piccadilly Circus - "TimesSquare of London" :)
London in Panaromic.
At night in London, HMS Belfast, with Tower Bridge as background.
The next day, went to Camden Town with Zhi Hui and Chee Han.
Camden town is about 20 minutes bus ride away. It's a melting pot of walks of life, and also, like a Chow Kit road in KL kinda place.
Yumchaa.... in Camden Town
The ever-famous red telephone booth.More photos of me in London, need more time to sort them out and everything. Woah, I spent about an hour writing this post. Well, need to go to work, and have lunch soon. Will try to post on Dublin, Ireland and also Manchester, and Southampton soon.
Labels: London, spring break, vacation
posted by Voon Seng at 10:42 AM
1 Comments:
eh, that's Hyde Park, not Green Park :P Green park is where near to Buckingham. Hyde Park is at least 3 times bigger.
Anyway, Happy 22nd Birthday!
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