24.1.10
Long Holiday
Went on my year end holiday from 18 Dec 2009 till 03 Jan 2010…
First went Barcelona from 18 Dec till 21 Dec 2009, nearly had a bad experience on our arrival into the city… but shall not elaborate lor, only we 4 will know… basically we turn VERY paranoid after the experience… LoL
Reach our hotel like 2hours past our estimated time of arrival and it is more like a service apartment… we had 2 bedrooms, 1 living (with balcony) / dining room, 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom… it cost euros 110 for quad shared, so basically it is quite cheap mah, works out to be less than S$60 per person / night…
It was quite comfortable during our stay there, and we did save a lot on food because we have kitchen and we can cook… Spaghetti, Maggie Noodles, Pizza (ready to cook kind)… and we have a supermarket just down the road, only thing was no internet connection, but there is a internet café just 5mins walk away… Haha
Spanish guys on the streets not really very handsome leh… Maybe not in Barcelona bah… LoL
Shopping was quite ok, but we walk a lot and got lost a lot of times because their streets are very hard to understand and navigate if you do not understand the concept… LoL
Remember the ‘Bruc’ street … Haha, we keep walking back to this street no matter how sure we are and in the end we got lost again !!!
The bad news was Big Freeze over Europe happened at this time of the year, we were worried that we couldn’t fly out of Barcelona to Paris … it was also at the same time we heard about the breakdown of Eurostar…
On the day prior to leaving Barcelona, weather seems ok except rainy… managed to leave Barcelona safety and was on time departure too… We were in Paris on 21 Dec night till 23 Dec evening…
Reach Paris, it was a lot COLDER than we expected !!! nevertheless, the hotel was kind of hard to locate… we got lost for awhile while dragging our heavy luggage…
Finally found our hotel, were allocated to the top floor, our quad room is like the attic… Haha, imperfection was some Caucasian asked “whether can we have 1 night together?” I sort of gave him a “What the crap are you talking about, I don’t understand” look… Moreover, he is fat and ugly… LoL
We save on our 1st night dinner by eating CUP NOODLES … hot soup is most desirable when you are feel cold, our room radiator doesn’t seems to work well but otherwise it is a nice and spacious room…
Next day was a busy day, because we need to squeeze in sightseeing plus shopping in 1 day… was quite happy to shopped in the LV flagship shop, but I’m buying on behalf, so I’m not spending my own money…
Saw Eiffel Tower which glitter for 15mins at every hour, it was a beautiful sight… so romantic but we were too cold to fully enjoyed it lah… haha
It was also at Paris where I bought a lot of Longchamps items, helping friends and the service at the shop was BAD !!
We were suppose to leave Paris via Eurostar but at the time it seems impossible, so we were following the news everyday to be updated in case we need to make changes etc…
In the end, we had to make arrangements to leave Paris via Budget Air, frantically search for cheapest flights, in the end Ryanair came to our help… but the airport is so far away… no choice lah, cheapest liao, Euros 99 each exclude luggage costs lah, total cost was Euros 511 for 4 of us… Ryanair is very inflexible on their baggage weight, each luggage cannot weight more than 15kg and cannot be accumulate together even though we 4 are travelling as a group… but whatever lah… the flight was very efficient because there were only 14 of us on the plane… it was almost like a premier Budget flight… LoL
I guess most people would rather wait for the Eurostar but for us if we were waited for another night, more losses even though can claim travel insurance but our plans on the 24th would all be wasted and cannot be refunded…
We could leave on Eurostar, but it had to be a day later and running on limited service, so there is no guarantee that even though you got tickets you can leave on-time… I guess it was a first time for such a major incident to Eurostar Management that they do not know how to handle the situation…
Already made claims to travel insurance for the change of plans, hope to get reimburse… haiz
We were at the budget terminal quite early and just sat there to wait for our boarding time lor… the airport has nothing much to see lah, bought a gossip magazine to read, napped for awhile then eat our packed sandwich (leftovers from breakfast) while waiting lor… and we realized that people all over the world are kiasus… Haha
Finally reached London, when our plane landed they broadcast a jingle that announced we arrived on time… so cute… saw snow on the ground while leaving the remote airport to City area, can’t wait to see Fiona too…
Although she was back in sg for 2 weeks, and I met her for about 3 days but I still missed her leh… with this BF I get to see her more and go out more often than last time… LoL
I feel so much better when we are in London, because we can understand the language and staying at Onn & Fiona’s place makes it like homecoming…
Well, I slept on the couch throughout the trip but no complains because it gets warm with my body heat although I used a thin blanket, I dun feel the coldness too badly except my feet lah, I get “cold feet” haha
Throughout the trip, I wake up the first… because I want to bathe in the morning before I go out.. and the 3 gals sure missed hearing the water running every morning… Haha, I missed the snores, the grinding of teeth etc
Btw, Christmas in London is like our CNY… every attraction is closed and it’s like a dead town … Haha
We had a steamboat dinner on Xmas day… and let me tell you, Fiona can cook le… and it taste not bad you know… well you just have to learn to cook when overseas bah… eating outside (especially in London) is too costly …
Hmmm, London would be a nice place to stay if not for the expensive-ness… it is cooling (or cold) throughout the year, friendly people and it is a city… Haha
Well, me and Huiquan loves soccer so that’s another plus point… this time around went to Chelsea FC for stadium tour (again), Old Trafford (Man Utd) outside + megastore, Anfield (Liverpool FC) for stadium tour and last time went to Arsenal (reluctantly) outside + megastore….
Chelsea dressing rooms + stadium is considered 5stars to Anfield wor… because Boss got money to renovate also lah… LoL… we saw people for all over the world there, and 2 Italians caught Gina’s eye, another Italian (Naples) caught my eye, his attire is so cute lor … awwwww, I fee like a paparazzi when I took their pictures secretly… LoL
Man Utd looks nice too, it is huge lah… I guess it should be 5stars too… Arsenal is more tricky, you have to walk towards the stadium before you can feel the impact of the new stadium… :)
Another point, shopping in London is superb… they have many shops plus they are having WINTER SALES !! where you can get things at 3pounds… Can SG followed that, like S$5 for a Mango tshirt… Haha
We shopped at least in 3 different H&M in London… can you imagine our craziness… :D
Went to Bicester Village (Factory Outlet) near Oxford (30mins by Bus) for shopping too, bought a Burberry Top at 70% discount… etc … spending spree there… Gawd should have bought more if not considering the weight of my luggage and pocket lah… LoL
Oh, we went to a New Year’s Eve party… Onn, Fiona, Me & Gina went… the 2 youngsters decided not to go because each tickets is about 50 pounds… RAH~ but it was not bad lah, it just not our kind of music but then it was still fun… seeing the Indian lady dance (with legs lifted high and moving around) beside us… girls dressed skimpily and running in the cold… guys that dressed up to party, dressed up as in like Halloween without the ghastly attire… there are people that dressed with Alfros wigs, Pirates Attire, “superman-like” outfits and animals like Alligator, Tiger etc… LoL
We took pictures with a few of them but we couldn’t locate the animals then… so sad !! Haha
We were at the O2 stadium (MOS Arena NYE party) … it is like our Indoor Stadium organizing a Rave party, their DJs are ok only but nevertheless it was FUN !!!
We also went for a Ghost Bus Tour, where they tell us details of gruesome events that happened before at different places, Demon of Fleet Street (Sweeny Todd), beheading of King / Queen etc… and they were role acting, a Bus Conductor and a Safety Inspector… It was a fun experience …
Time flies lah, soon it was time to pack up and prepare to go home… Onn and Fiona sent us to the crowded Underground station, it is sad to leave lah… controlled myself lor and Fiona looks like wanna cry, also dunno when will see her again, hopefully in 2010 bah… anyway she have to be back in Jan 2011 so maybe not…
Reach SG, do not feel relief to be back home… LoL, although sometimes on Holidays you wished to be home… but I miss London… till today, my soul hasn’t return to me, it is still floating around in London…
Haha, hope it come back soon !!! In the meantime, shall start planning ahead for another trip, this time round I wanna go Cambodia but have to find travelling Khakis first …
Anyone ??? :D ¶ 24.1.10
First went Barcelona from 18 Dec till 21 Dec 2009, nearly had a bad experience on our arrival into the city… but shall not elaborate lor, only we 4 will know… basically we turn VERY paranoid after the experience… LoL
Reach our hotel like 2hours past our estimated time of arrival and it is more like a service apartment… we had 2 bedrooms, 1 living (with balcony) / dining room, 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom… it cost euros 110 for quad shared, so basically it is quite cheap mah, works out to be less than S$60 per person / night…
It was quite comfortable during our stay there, and we did save a lot on food because we have kitchen and we can cook… Spaghetti, Maggie Noodles, Pizza (ready to cook kind)… and we have a supermarket just down the road, only thing was no internet connection, but there is a internet café just 5mins walk away… Haha
Spanish guys on the streets not really very handsome leh… Maybe not in Barcelona bah… LoL
Shopping was quite ok, but we walk a lot and got lost a lot of times because their streets are very hard to understand and navigate if you do not understand the concept… LoL
Remember the ‘Bruc’ street … Haha, we keep walking back to this street no matter how sure we are and in the end we got lost again !!!
The bad news was Big Freeze over Europe happened at this time of the year, we were worried that we couldn’t fly out of Barcelona to Paris … it was also at the same time we heard about the breakdown of Eurostar…
On the day prior to leaving Barcelona, weather seems ok except rainy… managed to leave Barcelona safety and was on time departure too… We were in Paris on 21 Dec night till 23 Dec evening…
Reach Paris, it was a lot COLDER than we expected !!! nevertheless, the hotel was kind of hard to locate… we got lost for awhile while dragging our heavy luggage…
Finally found our hotel, were allocated to the top floor, our quad room is like the attic… Haha, imperfection was some Caucasian asked “whether can we have 1 night together?” I sort of gave him a “What the crap are you talking about, I don’t understand” look… Moreover, he is fat and ugly… LoL
We save on our 1st night dinner by eating CUP NOODLES … hot soup is most desirable when you are feel cold, our room radiator doesn’t seems to work well but otherwise it is a nice and spacious room…
Next day was a busy day, because we need to squeeze in sightseeing plus shopping in 1 day… was quite happy to shopped in the LV flagship shop, but I’m buying on behalf, so I’m not spending my own money…
Saw Eiffel Tower which glitter for 15mins at every hour, it was a beautiful sight… so romantic but we were too cold to fully enjoyed it lah… haha
It was also at Paris where I bought a lot of Longchamps items, helping friends and the service at the shop was BAD !!
We were suppose to leave Paris via Eurostar but at the time it seems impossible, so we were following the news everyday to be updated in case we need to make changes etc…
In the end, we had to make arrangements to leave Paris via Budget Air, frantically search for cheapest flights, in the end Ryanair came to our help… but the airport is so far away… no choice lah, cheapest liao, Euros 99 each exclude luggage costs lah, total cost was Euros 511 for 4 of us… Ryanair is very inflexible on their baggage weight, each luggage cannot weight more than 15kg and cannot be accumulate together even though we 4 are travelling as a group… but whatever lah… the flight was very efficient because there were only 14 of us on the plane… it was almost like a premier Budget flight… LoL
I guess most people would rather wait for the Eurostar but for us if we were waited for another night, more losses even though can claim travel insurance but our plans on the 24th would all be wasted and cannot be refunded…
We could leave on Eurostar, but it had to be a day later and running on limited service, so there is no guarantee that even though you got tickets you can leave on-time… I guess it was a first time for such a major incident to Eurostar Management that they do not know how to handle the situation…
Already made claims to travel insurance for the change of plans, hope to get reimburse… haiz
We were at the budget terminal quite early and just sat there to wait for our boarding time lor… the airport has nothing much to see lah, bought a gossip magazine to read, napped for awhile then eat our packed sandwich (leftovers from breakfast) while waiting lor… and we realized that people all over the world are kiasus… Haha
Finally reached London, when our plane landed they broadcast a jingle that announced we arrived on time… so cute… saw snow on the ground while leaving the remote airport to City area, can’t wait to see Fiona too…
Although she was back in sg for 2 weeks, and I met her for about 3 days but I still missed her leh… with this BF I get to see her more and go out more often than last time… LoL
I feel so much better when we are in London, because we can understand the language and staying at Onn & Fiona’s place makes it like homecoming…
Well, I slept on the couch throughout the trip but no complains because it gets warm with my body heat although I used a thin blanket, I dun feel the coldness too badly except my feet lah, I get “cold feet” haha
Throughout the trip, I wake up the first… because I want to bathe in the morning before I go out.. and the 3 gals sure missed hearing the water running every morning… Haha, I missed the snores, the grinding of teeth etc
Btw, Christmas in London is like our CNY… every attraction is closed and it’s like a dead town … Haha
We had a steamboat dinner on Xmas day… and let me tell you, Fiona can cook le… and it taste not bad you know… well you just have to learn to cook when overseas bah… eating outside (especially in London) is too costly …
Hmmm, London would be a nice place to stay if not for the expensive-ness… it is cooling (or cold) throughout the year, friendly people and it is a city… Haha
Well, me and Huiquan loves soccer so that’s another plus point… this time around went to Chelsea FC for stadium tour (again), Old Trafford (Man Utd) outside + megastore, Anfield (Liverpool FC) for stadium tour and last time went to Arsenal (reluctantly) outside + megastore….
Chelsea dressing rooms + stadium is considered 5stars to Anfield wor… because Boss got money to renovate also lah… LoL… we saw people for all over the world there, and 2 Italians caught Gina’s eye, another Italian (Naples) caught my eye, his attire is so cute lor … awwwww, I fee like a paparazzi when I took their pictures secretly… LoL
Man Utd looks nice too, it is huge lah… I guess it should be 5stars too… Arsenal is more tricky, you have to walk towards the stadium before you can feel the impact of the new stadium… :)
Another point, shopping in London is superb… they have many shops plus they are having WINTER SALES !! where you can get things at 3pounds… Can SG followed that, like S$5 for a Mango tshirt… Haha
We shopped at least in 3 different H&M in London… can you imagine our craziness… :D
Went to Bicester Village (Factory Outlet) near Oxford (30mins by Bus) for shopping too, bought a Burberry Top at 70% discount… etc … spending spree there… Gawd should have bought more if not considering the weight of my luggage and pocket lah… LoL
Oh, we went to a New Year’s Eve party… Onn, Fiona, Me & Gina went… the 2 youngsters decided not to go because each tickets is about 50 pounds… RAH~ but it was not bad lah, it just not our kind of music but then it was still fun… seeing the Indian lady dance (with legs lifted high and moving around) beside us… girls dressed skimpily and running in the cold… guys that dressed up to party, dressed up as in like Halloween without the ghastly attire… there are people that dressed with Alfros wigs, Pirates Attire, “superman-like” outfits and animals like Alligator, Tiger etc… LoL
We took pictures with a few of them but we couldn’t locate the animals then… so sad !! Haha
We were at the O2 stadium (MOS Arena NYE party) … it is like our Indoor Stadium organizing a Rave party, their DJs are ok only but nevertheless it was FUN !!!
We also went for a Ghost Bus Tour, where they tell us details of gruesome events that happened before at different places, Demon of Fleet Street (Sweeny Todd), beheading of King / Queen etc… and they were role acting, a Bus Conductor and a Safety Inspector… It was a fun experience …
Time flies lah, soon it was time to pack up and prepare to go home… Onn and Fiona sent us to the crowded Underground station, it is sad to leave lah… controlled myself lor and Fiona looks like wanna cry, also dunno when will see her again, hopefully in 2010 bah… anyway she have to be back in Jan 2011 so maybe not…
Reach SG, do not feel relief to be back home… LoL, although sometimes on Holidays you wished to be home… but I miss London… till today, my soul hasn’t return to me, it is still floating around in London…
Haha, hope it come back soon !!! In the meantime, shall start planning ahead for another trip, this time round I wanna go Cambodia but have to find travelling Khakis first …
Anyone ??? :D ¶ 24.1.10
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