Our London Backpacking Trip (part 1)

Assalamualaikum and good morning to all...

Today is the day my 'little' sis going to Manchester and that reminds me of my trip to England/Scotland with my husband. Maybe some of you know that my family and I went to Europe a few months ago, and may I say it was the best trip ever, at least up until now. I know people say going to Makkah/Madinah is the best thing that could happen to a human being but I've never been there before so let me just enjoy my Europe trip for now, okay? TQ. 

My husband, my baby and I actually stayed in Ireland for about 1 month. The first few weeks, my husband and I went backpacking to London and Scotland. And that was the best part of our whole trip. Just the two of us, enjoying the nature, the journey, the excitement of travelling in a foreign country, experiencing the world. I truly love it and I'm gonna remember that for the rest of my life. 

On the first day of our backpacking trip (26 October 2015), we went on a train ride (Irish Rail aka Iarnrod Eireann) from Castlebar to Dublin Heuston, Ireland. As soon as we got out of the train (it was around 11am), we had to rush to Dublin Port as our ferry to Holyhead, Wales would depart at 2.30pm. It wasn't that far but we had to take public transports to reach the ferryport and only one bus going there at 1.30pm (Bus 53 at Busaras Bus Station). So, from the train station we had to take the tram and get off at Busaras stop (opposite the Busaras Bus Station). Alhamdulillah we reached there in time. But the problem is, we didn't know what to do when we were there. Do we have buy tickets from the counter, or what? One useful tip when travelling, TIP #1 ALWAYS ASK FOR HELP. So, I forced my husband to ask about bus 53 at the ticketing counter (haha I'm too shy). Apparently we had to wait outside as the bus would stop and pick up passengers there. It was way past 1.30pm and no bus 53 in sight. We were getting anxious cause our ferry would leave us if we're late. While waiting outside the bus station, I met a woman. She asked me if I was waiting for bus 53 because she, too, was waiting for it. And somehow we conversed about the apes. It was a weird conversation. -.-
[Castlebar --Irish Rail--> Dublin Heuston --Tram--> Busaras Bus Station]

So, we boarded bus 53 and got off at the Dublin Ferryport. Then we boarded the ferry and we immediately picked seats nearest to the toilets. Actually I packed lunch before the morning train ride and we're supposed to eat lunch while on the ferry as the food was expensive and xhalal. But the ferry was going so fast (Swift Ferry) it rocked to the left and right continuously. I got so seasick I had to sleep through the whole ride. Sangat xtahan goyang-goyang, rasa nak muntah. My husband had to spend the whole 2 hours 'alone'. So sorry~
[Busaras Bus Station --Bus 53--> Dublin Ferryport --Irish Ferries--> Holyhead Ferryport --transfer bus--> Holyhead Train Station]

We reached Holyhead, Wales at 4.30pm and it was almost dark like the night. There was really nothing there. From the ferry, there was a bus that transferred us to a train station. So we bought return tickets to London. But actually I made a huge mistake here because we were planning on going to Aberdeen from London. Meaning to say we didn't need the return tickets. Tried to change the tickets but couldn't. *sigh* Spent more than 200 pounds for them. Rasa macam budus gile time tu, nak ketuk2 diri sendiri. Sape suh lupa, padan muka. Maka kami pon tunggu la train untuk ke LONDON!
[Holyhead --Arriva Trains Wales--> Chester --Virgin Trains--> London Euston]

We were actually rushing to get to London as fast as we could because Malaysia Hall allows check-ins until 8pm only. Once we reached London Euston, we had to buy the Oyster Cards so that it's easier for us to go anywhere by tube. From the Euston London Train Station, we had to walk quite a distance to reach the tube station. It was all indoor so no problem there. Just follow the signs. I couldn't remember which route we took to get to Bayswater station (where Malaysia Hall is). TIP #2 DOWNLOAD TUBE MAP LONDON UNDERGROUND for smoother tube experience. I actually printed all the maps (susah nak dpt free internet). When in doubt, refer to map. We reached Malaysia Hall, Bayswater at about 10pm and immediate rang the bell. The receptionist was cranky. Maybe he was sleepy. Nevermind, as long as we got our rooms. They give separate rooms even if you are married. Since they usually rent rooms for students, so separate floors for girls and boys. I actually already booked the rooms months prior to that day but somehow no record found. Cis. So mase tu kne bayar 24 pounds per night for each room. Total 48 pounds la. Plus deposit, xingat berape. Susah sikit nak berbincang dgn husband since Wi-Fi die pon heh! And unfortunately for us, Malaysia Hall was under construction so we had to find a new place to stay for the next day. Masuk la activity mencari hotel/hostel/etc dalam itinerary di London.
[London Euston --walk--> Euston --Tube--> Bayswater --walk--> Malaysia Hall]

Ok, we'll continue next time for Part 2. I want to write in BM because writing in English is exhausting. Ahaha xcukup vocab nak bercerita panjang.

P/S: I lost all my London Adventure photos when my external hard drive decided to just die. Erghhh...and my phone also decided to just go haywire so I had to format it. Erghhhh....I'll try again, maybe ade rezeki HDD tu nak hidup balik ke. So no photos for now haa...

Gemok gemok gemok!

Berat saya naik dengan banyak. Sekian.

Kisah elevator

Assalamualaikum...

Alhamdulillah masih wujud blog ni. Entah kenapa saya terdetik untuk bukak blog (mungkin sebab laptop akhirnya dapat di-On setelah sekian lama). Bila terbaca post2 lama, terdetik pula rasa nak menulis. Zaman blog-memblog semakin lama semakin dilupakan tapi ada untungnya mereka yang setia menulis. In the future, dapat rewind balik ke tahun-tahun sebelum ini and relive the moment. Itu salah satu gunanya blog, semacam online journal (at least to me it is). Bukan menulis untuk dunia membaca, tapi untuk diri sendiri.

Oleh itu, saya nak relive moment semalam dan hari ini yang saya rasa terhibur bila diingat kembali. I've wrote this on Twitter tapi terlalu pendek untuk menceritakan the whole story. Sejak beberapa minggu lepas, kami selalu keluar untuk menguruskan hal-hal adik yang nak fly ke Manchester. So, ke shopping mall, ke bangunan Mara, ke Putrajaya, dan macam-macam tempat lagi. Dan persamaan tempat2 yang dituju ni adalah semua bangunan2 tinggi dan mempunyai elevator.

Sejak kami kecil, memang kegemaran sangat menekan butang elevator ni. Sampai berebut-rebut, terkejar-kejar nak menjadi orang pertama menekan butang elevator. And because of that, mommy and daddy dah xperlu tekan butang elevator. That goes on for years. Sampailah satu-satu anak meningkat dewasa and masing-masing meninggalkan sarang.

Ok, back to the moments I was talking about. The first moment was yesterday (actually this moment has occured numerous times before but I've forgotten about them) when mommy and I went to PKNS Shah Alam. Kami bertiga (including Adam) berjalan dan bershopping la sementara menunggu baba habis meeting di bangunan berdekatan. Then, masuk waktu Asar. Kami pun menuju ke elevator untuk naik ke surau. We went in once the elevator doors open. We waited and then the elevator doors open again. Tapi saye perasan, kenapa kami masih di tingkat yang sama? And this sudden realization came to me that both of us didn't push the button. I said to my mom, "Maaaa, mama xtekan button tu." And my mom said, "Kan kakteh yang slalu tekan." But I was on the left side of the elevator and the buttons are on the right side where my mom was standing. Plus, I was with my son's pushchair in front of me, agak susah la nak ke kiri and tekan butang tu. So automatically it's my mom's 'responsibility' to push the button. There was a guy who went into the elevator, and he laughed listening to our conversation (bygkan me and Adam on the left side, mommy on the right side and he was right in the middle). He heard our whole conversation about not pushing the button. It was so embarrassing we both (me and mommy) ended up laughing our heads off.

Now, the second moment. That happened just a few hours ago when we went to Mara. Selepas urusan Achik dh selesai di Mara, kami ke Mara Digital untuk cari a few things. After enough shopping for one day, we headed for the elevator. We (me, mommy, daddy, Achik and Adam) were actually talking about something so nobody really paid any attention to the elevator. We kept on talking and talking. It was when my legs started to feel tired that I wondered what's taking the elevator so long. So I looked at the buttons (up/down) and neither of them lit up. Meaning nobody pushed the button. So I said to them, "Kita nak turun cmne butang pon xtekan". Everybody assumed Achik would push the button because well, she's the youngest. But we forgot that she also is an adult now. Oleh itu, tanggungjawab menekan butang elevator automatically jatuh ke Adam. Ahahahaha...

These moments sounded funnier in my head. I guess I'm not a good storyteller. Huhu...nevermind.

P.s: Can't wait to see my baby daddy tomorrow. Sila balik cepat, Adam dah rindu (ehem). TQ