Wednesday, December 30, 2015

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.


Saturday, December 26, 2015

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.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

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.


Saturday, December 19, 2015

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.