EuroTrippin'2012: London (Week 1)

Day 1: 14th May 2012

Twinkle came over to spend the day with me before my flight at night which was super sweet of her cuz she still had another exam to study for. I did most of my packing the night before so I had to make some final packing. I brought about 2 sets of clothes, a dress and a romper (for 45 days) LOLOL. Wanted to bring jeans but decided I'd buy over there. When I had finally packed everything my luggage was completely full. That's great. I panicked but Dad just said it's cuz I didn't pack properly and since he's a seasoned traveler I decided to trust him.


Later on I found out that I had been scammed by him cuz his trips are always 4 days long and for the rest of my 45 days, every day I was just questioning my luggage choice while Ida sat near by laughing and shouting "Bring a smaller bag la why! Smaller la!!!" or making sarcastic remarks at how my bag is "seriously too big". -_-


We picked up my bro and my dad before going to the airport and my brother laughed like shit when he found out Twinkle was coming to 'send me off' and I didn't really know how to tell him I had like 6 other friends coming HAHAHA.

We ate KFC for dinner and I was feeling damn nervous because it's my first trip ALONE and I didn't know the boarding procedure or anything at all cuz usually my dad does everything. And I was damn worried I'd go to the wrong gate or miss my flight or die somewhere in Europe and my friends were all telling me not to die which was seriously making me damn scared because I also thought I was going to die. True story.

Went to the departure hall and said bye to all my sweet friends who came. (Thanks Nadia, Charlotte, Charis, Twinkle, Par, Ashes, Jane, Sharan) The last time I went to the departure hall was when i said bye to Ida in Sept and could naht stop crying. Anyway I was seriously SO close to having panic attacks at the thought of being without my family for 45 days in a foreign place. My mom still can tell me "It's not too late to turn back now" HAHAHAHAAH DAMN. TOO. MUCH. And she was completely serious.


Anyway hugged everyone goodbye and went straight to my gate C24 cuz it was opened. Was BBMing korkor that I'm damn scared and he told me C in C24 stands for China. That's great also. I took Thai Airways so I flew from SG to BKK and then from BKK to London. My dad booked biznez class for me and I didn't know how freaaaaaking shiok it was until I got on the plane and they served me CHAMPAGNE and my seat was super huge.

I have a light right next to me and they give you comforters as blankets and the seat can recline all the way to become a bed and there's a 'massage' function. I'm not sure if you understand how totally friggin awesome I think this is but let's just say that if typing in CAPS wan't so annoying this whole paragraph would be in caps. Also, the seat next to me was empty on both flights so I had two pillows and 2 fluffy comforters. So I made a fortress.

From SG to BKK, they served dinner and i watched 40 year old virgin. I had foie gras and kahlua and then I was too full to eat anything else (That's just the appetizer). They also kept giving us hot towels and the service was seriously damn good like my own personal butler. The flight was too short so I couldn't finish my show hahaha.

Then from BKK to LONDON, I had my 3rd dinner (tuna ravioli) then seriously wanted to vomit. I think I was also started to get too high from the alcohol so I watched 3 half an hr episodes of some lame show (Suburgatory) and took a nap. (My plan was to watch as many movies as possible) WELL GUESS WHAT. I woke up when they served breakfast and after breakfast the pilot said we're reaching in half an hour. Srsly I was like wad........da................ and the flight was 12 hours by the way. So i basically slept about 9 hrs straight and didn't watch a single mowie.

In total it felt like I was on the plane for 20 minutes, I really wished it could have been longer. Sobs.

Mandatory flying in the sky photo.

Day 2:

Reached London and went by the 'Fast Track' Lane. Turns out Fast Track was slower than Normal Track and I waited from 6:40am till 8am (London Time). I had to wait till 12pm to meet Ida cuz that's when she finished her exam (her exams were postponed to a week later than we had previously planned). I sat at the airport for a couple of hours reading my Europe book that Mr Imran got for me. I went outside the airport to look around and that was when I knew SHIT WAS ABOUT TO GET REAL because it was so cold that my breath became visible. Now, I had never been to London and I was told it's summer in London so i packed two VERY thin jackets, no, not even jackets. Like cardigans. And sleeveless shirts and short dresses and I DIDNT EVEN HAVE JEANS.

Anyway I followed the directions Ida mailed me and found my way to Whitechapel pretty easily. Waited for Ida at the station and she came AND I CRIED. I joked about crying but didn't think I would really cry cuz that's just lame. Anyway the area Ida lives in is kind of low-income with a lot of Pakistanis and African-Americans. Ironically there were very few angmohs. I saw about 1 for every 10 Pakistanis. Was weird being in Ida's room cuz I had been seeing it over skype the past 6 months and now I was actually in it. haahaha.

You can see my jacket on the floor next to ida's feet. And the floor was also my bed for the next two weeks.

We went to Sainsburys which is like SG's NTUC except a billion times bigger and cheaper. We went wild and bought a shitload of food. Ate leftover pizza for lunch and Ida cooked noodles w pork for dinner. I wanted to stay up til Ida slept cuz she was studying but I think I had jetlag so I wanted to pass out from 3pm onwards but really basically fainted at about 11pm.

Day 3:

Had breakfast with Ida then I went with her to the school building where she was having her exam. I walked around the area alone while she had her exam.

Part of Ida's School & the first picture I took with my camera

Cute vine covered houses

Tesco! Kinda like petrol kiosk shops in SG.

Walked and found a place called Watney Market

 Watney Market (Reminded me of Khaosan in Bangkok, minus the bars)

 RAINBOWWW

 Gigantic Cokes at Iceland

Lololol. Everything is gigantic.

 Cute houses

 Postman delivering mail. I think this is my favourite photo of the trip.

Cool Toilets

Met Ida back at Floyer House

Took a bus to St Paul's

Went to the mall next to St Paul's to shop!!! Didn't buy anything tho cuz it was quite expensive.

Pretty building on the way home.

Slept at 11:30pm cuz I was dead tired from jetlag.

Day 4:

Woke up at 6+ am again with a massive headache. Talked to Ida before she went for her exam then I slept till 11am when we went to Tesco to buy coconut milk to make Greeeeeeeen Curryyyyyyy!!!!



Best green curry ever.

We talked about school after lunch and Ida took a nap.

Chinese Food @ Canary Wharf

In the evening we took the overground tube to Canary Wharf and shopped a bit. Then we RAN from the shopping centre all the way to the river side (like 10minute walk) cuz we were late for our dinner appointment. It was damn funny because we kept laughing while running. We were seriously super tired after.

 Ate Char Siew, Wanton soup, Jellyfish, Dumplings & Hor fun.

 Riverside



The Gherkin

Cabbed home at 9:45pm and slept at 12:45pm. Felt less tired, think my jetlag got bettur.

Day 5:

Shopping @ Westfield Mall at Stratford

Woke up at 11am when Ida got back from her last exam YEY!!!! And we went shopping DOUBLE YEYYY!!!!!!



Took the tube to Stratford station.

Westfield Shopping Mall!!! (It's huge and has F21, Topshop, River Island and PRIMARKKK)

Ida (on the left in the brown coat) walking to Westfield

They have a gigantic F21. I think it's two storeys but probably same size as SG's F21 in 313. Lurve the neon pink bag.

Our feet were dying after F21 so we went for a lunch break at Marks & Spencer's

Fresh Pasta!

We went to Primark next, which is officially my favourite store in London. It's huge and their clothes damn hip & trendy (I did naht just say that) and SUPER CHEAP. Like I think generally 5-10 pounds. and the quality isn't compromised (that much).  Really Craysee. But ofc queues for the changing room are damn long and it's v crowded because shit is really damn cheap. Another downside is that the fitting is damn weird sometimes so you HAVE to try the clothes. They sell everything from clothes to shoes to luggages. My second fave shop is Boots and Superdrugs which is London's drugstores like our Watsons and Guardian. They sell a shitload of mekkup and they always have awesome promos so it's v cheap :)

Another break. This time for teaaa~~~ Ida posing w my Primark bag. As you can see I tore the bag within seconds of holding it. Le sigh.



 The soap HAD GLITTER. Sooooo preeeeeetteeeeeeeee.

Checked out a few more shops then went home cuz we were damn tired.

 7 hrs of shopping later...

Bought Moscato at M&S on the way home in preparation of our first night in da club^^

I didn't like the moscato since I was still paying for my night at Filter in SG when I got so smashed I came home w/o my shoes and didn't even know and my parents came into my room at 3am to watch me vomit (Gr8 memories). So i mixed 5ml of sherry with 500ml of OJ. We decided to just have a chill night so we went to Mother Bar at Shoreditch High Street which had free entry. It was more like a house party than a club (probably because of the wooden floors). We had a great time dancing to hip-hop/old school music w the occasional dubstep. Went opposite to the cab office. It's a special cab system that calls the cab for u. It's basically just normal cars with Indian drivers and they don't go by meter so you agree on a price beforehand. Came home at 3:30am.





Day 6:

We basically spent the whole day eating and sleeping. Went grocery shopping at Sainsburys again and Korkor told me about the game between Chelsea and Bayern in the UEFA Champion's League. So we figured it'd be a good experience to watch it with the locals. Headed to The Good Samaritan Pub which is about 5 minutes away from Floyer.

 Generally not a fan of watching sports. But if it's big games/interesting I dont mind.

Unfortunately, it was boring as hell so we went to Tesco to get alcohol. Went into some other club/bar we found while on the way to Mother Bar. The club was very cosy and old school. The DJ spun on a wooden table. They played Outkast/Craig David remixes and alot of "Black but not Ghetto" music. Went to the cab office and Raheel from the office got us a cab again. Cabs are pretty expensive. Like, these cabs that we take after clubbing (not London cabs) are already 10 pounds for like a ten minute drive.

 

Day 7:

Sunday Roast @ Good Samaritan Pub

It's Sunday!!!~ We headed to the pub again for Sunday Roast!!! It's a traditional British meal served on Sundays for Brunch or Lunch.

 

 

The packaging is so cute.

 



 It wasn't fantastic but I guess it's the same as going to any random hawker centre 5 minutes from your house and eating chicken rice.

Ida says I look like a dog.

 

 

 

Mass @ St Paul's Cathedral

Took a bus to St Paul's Cathedral for mass.

 Had to run home to get jackets before coming here cuz it was way too cold. Ida lent me her Marshmellow

 

 

 I don't think they allow photos inside but we took some quick shots with Da's iphone lolol. The photos DON'T do the Cathedral justice at all.

 

 It's gigantic inside and the ceiling is mega high. So beautiful.

Walked to PAUL afterwards which is a yummy high end bakery. They have a shop in SG also in Takashimaya. I know their stuff is a little overpriced. Like a strawberry tart is SGD $8.

Apple Turnover

London Bus

 

Went to the mall to shop abit again. Then Ida wanted to bring me to do some 'touristy stuff' and wanted to show me the London Tower. We took a bus there. Ida pointed at it while we were on the bus. Then we tried to walk to it but got lost. Used Google Maps but Ida doesn't know how to use it. I confidently told her to STEP ASIDE and let the master (me) lead us there. We walked for about 15 minutes and I told her we were getting closer. Turns out I was following the pin that points to where we currently were. So we gave up and went home.

 

Indian Food @ Tayyabs 

Then we went home to rest for awhile because we had a dinner appointment at Tayyabs.

Story of Dinner at Tayyabs:

 One day earlier, Raheel from the cab office told us that he works at Tayyabs. Since he was very nice and helpful with getting our cabs we told him we'd drop by to say hi to him and have dinner because Tayyabs is apparently a famous Michelin star restaurant in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel so it's also 3 minutes from Floyer. 30 minutes before dinner, Raheel asked if he should SEND A CAR to pick us. It's a 3 min walk so we said no. We made it to the restaurant and turns out, Raheel's family OWNS THE RESTAURANT. Which is great for him. BUT THEN, he wasn't working (we thought he was the waiter) so he sat beside us and talked about the food. We thought he was gonna go away so we excitedly decided what to order. Then he said "Oh, my cousin is coming to join us for dinner" WTF is "JOIN US"??? WHO INVITED YOU? At first Ida thought he was joking. Then she realised he was not. Then her face immediately became a dark ass thunder cloud. So that's the story of how we got scammed into dinner with two men.

 

Raheel's cousin Billard, thankfully, was pretty funny and I also think he is gay but Ida doesn't think so. He makes inappropriate jokes and points out the awkwardness which I found hilarious and so enjoyed his company. But the whole time i just really wanted to pluck his unibrow.

 

 The food was mega fantastic. We sat in the VIP room. Then Raheel took me on a tour of the restaurant LOLOLOL and made me meet his brother while Ida and Billard continued eating.

 

 Then he wanted to go out so I reluctantly agreed and we stood outside and I took pictures and he told me all about Tayyabs history. It's 3 shops and 3 storeys. Has been around for 35 years, has a seating capacity of 600 and has 65 staff.

Went to show me his brother's Matte BMW w the 'Tayyabs' plate. -_-

 

Needless to say, dinner was preeeeedy dayum awkward since we were surprise attacked.

Ida and I finally made a run for it when she said she'd finish her ice cream later and Billard was like... It'll melt. Then she was like... Yea..... Then Billard was like. Ok guess you need to go home now. HAHAHAHAHAHA. and he was making it soooooo awkward and so funny.

 

In the end they were gentlemen and paid for the bill and walked us home. They kept telling us they wanted to bring us shopping/club/dinner but we were like B.I.T.C.H. PLS.

 

Watched Sweeney Todd with Da at home. It's a story filmed in London of some guy's wife who was kidnapped and he had to go into hiding. Then he met a new woman and killed people with her and she made pies with their bodies. Nasty.

 

Great first week!

 BTW, this was the most boring week of the trip so it only gets better! :)

EuroTrippin' 2012: How It Started

Summer 2011: My best friend Ida went to London to study so before she left, of course I said I'd be going to visit her but it was kind of half-jokingly. I knew I would eventually visit but I was thinking maybe in 3 or 4 years' time. Anyway, the more we talked about it the more excited we got and before I knew what had happened we were going to tour Europe as well. At that point I decided to see how my parents would react so one day when we were walking from the car park I was just like... "Oh yea btw, I'm going to visit Da in London." And they said No. LOLOLOL. Then they tried to compromise and said we'll all go together. And I said No.

Da and I eventually decided we'd go in May-June because we both end our exams then and she had to come back to SG for at least a month to spend time with her family before going back to London. So we got our dates sort of fixed. Every now and then I would just tell my parents "I'm going to London. Then we're going to Europe" and they'd be like OHMAIGADDDNUUU and freak out again. But I'd give a speech on how this is my life and I must make my own decisions and travel on my own to gain independence etc etc etc. My Dad was more supportive but his condition was that they had to come too (right until the week before I left he kept trying to tag along) and my mom was just saying no because it's too dangerous etc etc etc. Then my mom threatened me and said I can't go because they won't pay for me AND THEN I REALISED I had money because I worked after my A' Levels so I just told them that I'm going and they can't stop me and they said ok. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. My parents are damn funny. I think in their hearts they trust me enough to know I will look after myself.

December 2011: Ida and I made more plans. I went to the Library and borrowed a couple of books on Europe. Talked to Raied about Europe because he's been there. My dad also talked to his friends to help me get info. Narrowed down to the couple of countries- Amsterdam, France, Spain, Italy. We were deciding one more from Switz, Germany and Greece. Greece was pretty out of the way and given all the instability we decided not to go there (which was a good decision because we found out later that the Eurail Pass stopped its services there). I FB-msged Marion who is my brother's godsis and a dear family friend. Thought if she was in Switz we'd def go there so I can visit her because I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. Turns out she was in Switz so we chose that as our final country.

I had a lot of research to do because my world map/general knowledge skills are pretty much zero and I didn't even know where Europe was and what country was in Europe (very good i know). My books helped alot and I wrote down what tourist attractions I wanted to visit, what we had to see, what the culture was like and what food to eat there (lolol).

In 2012:
We decided I would fly in on 14th May because I end exams on 6th which would give me time to pack and get whatever I needed for the trip. Ida also ended around that time so it was perfect. The plan was to chill out for 2 weeks in London and she could bring me around and I could help her pack and move out of her student accom. We also FINALLY decided on which order of countries we'd visit first. Had to plan with my other friends who were meeting us in Spain! I think we only finally agreed in April or something because there were alot of other things to consider.
So we agreed on London- Amsterdam- Switzerland- France- Spain- Italy. And I'd fly back from Milan on 28th while Ida flew back to London.

Up next was deciding which cities we wanted to visit in each country and how to allocate our days to which countries and how to get from country to country.

We decided to visit Amsterdam and Zurich. For France we were trying to go to at least two cities, think we narrowed it down to Nice and Paris. We had to check the Eurail route and map to see how long it'd take and if it was on the way or not. Then for Spain we decided Barc and Madrid, those two were pretty easy but deciding which one first was a pain in the ass. For Italy we wanted to go to Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and maybe a day trip to Pisa.

We basically had a month for everything except London. So we roughly decided on 3 days in Ams, 4 in Switz, 5 in Paris, 3 Barc, 2 Madrid, 3 Rome, 3 Florence, 1 Venice, 2 Milan.

As for which mode of transport, we were deciding between plane and train. Many people who've travelled in Europe go by train through Eurail and Eurorail and Interrail. It was all very confusing but I found out Eurail and Eurorail is the same thing and Interrail is for EU citizens. So Ida had to get an Interrail Pass because she's of UK citizenship and I had to get a Eurail Pass but we could still travel together and everything. The Eurail pass was especially frustrating because we had to buy the pass in advance since it's delievered to your house and there are many different types of passes you can buy- based on the number of countries you're travelling and the travel days needed. Travel days were especially annoying because if you buy too many you're wasting your money and if you buy too few you're basically screwed cuz without the pass a ticket can cost 200 Euros. We also wanted some flexibility and it was damn difficult to see how long you'll take to train from one country to the next because different train timings have different routes, etc and it's hard to plan for something 2 months earlier.

My dad booked my plane ticket and I wld fly Thai Airways cuz he works there. Apparently Eurail pass doesn't have routes from Amsterdam to Switzerland (I don't know how come, I'm still convinced Ida checked incorrectly hahahahaha) so we decided to fly from London to Amsterdam (because Interrail doesn't allow you to train from your home country- in Ida's case) and Amsterdam to Switz. The plane tickets were quite cheap, we booked in Feb. About 30 Euros per flight. Which is about 50 SGD.

We decided to train the rest of the way since everyone trains and we wanted to get the 'real experience' hahahaha. From Spain to Italy the trip was pretty long, like 27 hours (because we have to pass through France again) and I wanted to fly but Ida didn't because her Interrail pass is unlimited so it didnt make sense to pay for the pass and for the air ticket which I understood, so we just decided to train. Finally bought my Pass sometime in April!- 4 countries, 8 travel days 315 Euros.

In the week before I left, I borrowed a backpack from Kiron. Not that I was going to backpack. Ida and I planned to drag luggages the whole time in Europe. We had experience in HK/China when we went in July 2011 and Ida's mom basically ran around the whole of China and HK so Ida and I had to chase after her dragging our suitcases EVERYYYWHERE. But my luggage was tiny. It was the same as what I use for my 4 day trips. And this was 45 days. So my plan was to use both luggage and towards the end if I wanted to buy stuff I could put it in my backpack.
The day before leaving, I did a final calendar outline of our trip, mainly for my dad. But it turned out to be sooooooooooooooo useful for us. Seriously if I didn't do that we definitely wouldn't know where to go and for how long. LOL. I don't know how come I didnt think about doing the calendar for myself. Luckily I printed two copies so I brought one along.

Just realised it's too small for you to see but basically it's a calendar of which country I'd be in and when I leave for the next country and what time I take the train and arrive. (You can get all this info on the Eurail website). When I came back I found out my parents had been crossing the days in anticipation of my return LOLLLLLLLLLLL so cute. Got my dad to photocopy my passport and Jiejie Lydia bought me a travel wallet (the kind you wear beneath your clothes) and I compiled a list of all the Singapore Embassies in the various countries (in case I lose my passport). So basically waz all set to go!

An Introduction.

Welcome to my travel blog!

I am Sarah and I'm turning 20 this year. In my recent travels I have found that when I return, many people ask me how the trip was and I can't really choose which aspect of the trip (culture, people, scenery) to talk about in the 5 minutes of conversing. So I just reply "good" and all my experiences can't be shared. So the main point of starting this blog is, hopefully, to take friends through my travels and show them the highlights of my trips.

Also, I think that blogging about it will help me take note of the places I go to and pay more attention when I travel. If you ask me about what I did in Taiwan in ...2010 (I can't even remember when I went), honestly speaking I only remember the night market, sitting in the bus and going to some amusement park. And having to pee ALL THE TIME cuz it was cold.

This will be an ongoing blog and I will post sporadically. I travel about once or twice a year but I hope to travel more now. It'll be lame if I only post here annually. Haha. Meanwhile, you can read about my daily life at http://sarahngwow.blogspot.com.

Love,
Sarah