Freezing London + Amsterdam Day 2

25/12/2015

Itinerary of today:

Breakfast @hotel 
Cycle hire 
Camden Town 
Lunch @Siham Lounge Bar 
St Regent’s Park 
Sherlock Holmes Statue
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Oxford Street
Seven Dials
15 Neal’s Yard 
Dinner @hotel

It's Christmas Day and supposed there was almost nothing opened in London. We woke up at 9-ish. Hubby made use of the kitchen and prepared our first meal of the day. Toasts with ham, cheese and jam and a few baked chicken drumsticks surely gave us enough energy for some intensive walk and exercise today.

Freezing London + Amsterdam Day 1

24/12/2015

Itinerary of today:

Heathrow Airport
Sainsbury’s
Studios2Let- North Gower
Breakfast @itsu
Emirates Stadium
Breakfast @Borough Market
The Shard
Greenwich Royal Observatory
Greenwich Market
Cutty Sark
Southbank Christmas Market
Dinner @Wagamama
London Eye
House of Parliament
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Paddington Station

It was such a long and scary itinerary after a long haul flight! Anyhow, we only have 4 days in London and that was the fact that we gotta make good use of our time.

We touched down at 4:30 early in the morning at London Heathrow Airport but by the time we collected our luggage and have our passport checked, it was already 5:30am. It wasn't actually a terribly long wait as we expected because we thought we might have to queue for a long time for the customs.

Freezing London + Amsterdam Day 0

23/12/2015
It's such a bless travelling to Europe during the festive season! Have heard about how big the festival can be since I was a kid and now I am able to feel it in person with my love! It's gonna be the coldest Christmas that we have ever spent! How amazing it is!

Again exchanged some Euro and British Pounds beforehand in Chungking Mansions in TST where offering better rate to CX cabin crews (even though I am not~ haha~). Guess it would be enough using GBP450 and EUR350. Probably using credit card is a better idea not carrying too much cash with us.

Flight schedule: (British Airways: HKD4455/ person)
2345- 0500 BA28 (Hong Kong to London)
1930- 1945 BA441 (Amsterdam to London)
2100- 1645 BA27 (London to Hong Kong)

Itinerary of today:

HK Airport
Dinner @Plaza Premium Lounge
London


Still remember it was a nightmare for Lawrence taking the long haul flight last time. Getting no sleep at all even on a comfy plane by Emirates was a disaster for the itinerary planned for the next day. Prepared neck pillows for the long haul flight this time in case it is fully booked and we gotta sleep with almost upright position.

Getting the boarding passes at the counter, I was told by the staff that my first name and surname of the booking were placed wrongly. It was really weird and I am quite sure that I typed my name appropriately since I did the same for Lawrence and his was correctly done. (I guess I am not that stupid and careless!) Ended up calling the Expedia customer service to fix the problem by giving the HKD400 handling fee at the airport and would get it refunded later on. That was a bit thrilling and wasn't a good start for me at all. 

Anyway, bad situation had gone and we did our usual practice at the airport - getting free magazines and eating at the lounge with our credit cards.

Freezing London + Amsterdam - preparation

Finally comes to the second part of the flight ticket promotion tier to London and Amsterdam. It's in such a great value taking direct flight by British Airways in HKD4455 /person only! (Please refer to Ad hoc Sabah Trip - preparation) As the trip will happen across Christmas time and there seems to be nothing going on with no public transport on the Christmas Day in London, it is quite hard planning the itinerary.

Impromptu Foshan Break Day 2

13/9/2015

Itinerary of today:

Marco Polo Lingnan Tiandi Foshan

Ancestral Temple

Lingnan New Tiande Place

Hello Kitty Cafe

Didn't set the alarm clock. Just woke up naturally and did our wash up. Went down for the buffet breakfast. There was a mix of Chinese and western dishes. The most surprising thing was having dimsum and instantly cooked noodles. No wonder the online reviews are mostly positive.

Impromptu Foshan Break Day 1

12/9/2015

Itinerary of today:

Marco Polo Lingnan Tiandi Foshan
Lingnan New Tiande Place
Suning
Walmart

Saw an attractive package promotion on E&E Tours website. Staying in Marco Polo Lingnan Tiandi Foshan with breakfast and transfer was only HKD560/ person. Wanna take a break at the beginning of the busy school term, so decided to spend a weekend there chilling out with Lawrence.

We got on the coach in Kwun Tong early in the morning. It took around 3 and a half hours to get there, so we bought some breakfast to eat on board and got some sleep.

Bali getaway - expenses summary

Bali getaway Day 10

18/8/2015

Itinerary of today:

Dolphins tour

Breakfast @Lilin Lovina Beach Hotel

Gitgit Waterfall

Pura Besakih

Lunch with friends

Denpasar Airport

Here comes the last bit of our 10 days Bali trip. The only reason for us to travel a long way to the northern part of the island was watching the dolphins. Someone may not think that it is worthy, but having a chance to live in a villa that I love (I planned to book it once I saw the reviews and pictures of it online!) and enjoy a quite night in a lovely cafe (was highly recommended on TripAdvisor), it made our long journey there worthwhile.

We woke up at 4-ish that morning. The villa was completely quite and I guess we were the only guess who planned to watch the dolphins that day. Our tour guide drove us to the pier by motorcycle. We were both thrilled getting there in quite a speedy move. 

Bali getaway Day 9

17/8/2015

Itinerary of today:

Breakfast @Cocoa Ubud Private Villa

Tegalalang Rice Terrace

Tirta Empul Holy Water Temple

Lunch @Sari

Lilin Lovina Beach Hotel

Dinner @Akar Cafe

Bali getaway Day 8

16/8/2015

Itinerary of today:

Breakfast @Mulawarman Guesthouse

Pura Taman Saraswati

Pasar Ubud

Drink @Tropical

Ubud Palace

Lunch @Nomad

Ice cream

Polo shirts @Polo

Taxi

Cocoa Ubud Private Villa

Dinner @Yanies Restaurant Fusion, Sushi & Grill Bali

We were able to meet the host early in the morning going down for breakfast. Surprisingly, she was also the chef cooking a special homemade pancakes for us! As Mulawarman Guesthouse is a family run business (I guess), the small scale brought us and the guests there together. We chit-chatted during breakfast time, sharing our travelling experience around Bali or even other places. Though we only stayed there for one night, we could feel the warm and welcoming atmosphere there.