Travelodge - 2D1N in London

I was on a business trip in Poland this June, and decided to visit London over the weekend, which is a two-hour flight away. I packed my 2 days with the best things to do in London as well as shopping and must eat.

This trip's hippus started early. We booked Ryan's Air for a flight from Wroclaw to London, and we planned to check in at the airport when we arrived. We arrived at the airport two hours before the flight time, and waited in the queue for 30min. To our surprise, they don't do counter check-in, and online check in is closed 2hrs before take off. As a result, we have to pay SGD$80 for late check-in. On our return, we did online check-in, but they don't recognize our Asia passport and we had to go to the counter to collect our boarding pass. So if you're flying to Europe, make sure you do ONLINE CHECK IN, ONLINE CHECK IN, ONLINE CHECK IN.

On the flight, the crew sold lottery tickets at a price of two euros, and the first prize was a $500 Ryan's airline voucher.

"Lucky for us", we bumped into a Rail Strike. Initially, the plan was to take a train from the airport to Hype Park, and we needed to change the route to suit the Airport Express Bus. Looking back, Airport Express Bus £29(two-way) might have been a better choice than Air Train £24(one way), cheaper too.

Here's our itinerary for our 2D1N Weekend Getaway

Day 1: London's must-sees

During our first day in London, we aim to see all the classic London attractions everyone visiting for the first time should not miss.

2. South Bank & the London Eye - The views are stunning and we can see some of London's most iconic buildings and cityscapes. London Eye is the highest observation point in Europe, giving you a bird's eye view of central London.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. Upon crossing the Westminster Bridge, you will find HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, also known as the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben, the iconic bell tower.
   
   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   

4. Visit WESTMINSTER ABBEY, a popular location for Royal Weddings and Coronations. The most recent event was the coronation of King Charles III. Tips: Book your timed-entry tickets in advance and don't forget to visit the souvenirs shop. i bought a ring which some princess inspired. 
   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   

5. Walk across St. James Park towards Buckingham Palace: Witness the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace and admire the grandeur of the official residence of the British monarch. Note: Takes place daily at 11am in June and July, the rest of the year only on selected days.
   

   • 11:10 St James's Palace relief leaves Buckingham Palace

   • 11:25 Relieved sentries leave St James's Palace

   • 11:40 Old Guard leaves Buckingham Palace

   • 11:45 St James's Palace Guard leaves Buckingham Palace

   

   
   

6. Walk over to Harrods - London's most famous and iconic luxury department store, You'll find luxury clothing labels, makeup and high-quality housewares and jewelry and is an excellent place to get souvenirs - luxury tin of tea, cookies and Harrod's bears.
   
   

   
   
   

7. Afternoon tea is a must in London and we had it at Harrod's Cafe.
   
   
   

   
   
   

8. Many stations were closed as we walked down the street due to the rail strike. We saw a train station open, and took it to Oxford Street and went shopping down the street.
   
   
   

   
   
   

9. Check-in at Citadines Holborn @ Covert Garden London

10. Dinner at Flat Iron @ Convert Garden
    
    
    

    

Day 2:

1. Enjoy an English breakfast @ Fabrique

2. Taking a tube to St Paul’s Cathedral - wanted to climb to the Whispering Gallery for an acoustic experience, and enjoy the panoramic view from the Golden Gallery. However, it was closed for service on Sunday. The only thing we are allowed to do in the Church is a prayer and to light a candle.
   
   
   

   
   
   

3. Walk to London Bridge. Since childhood, we sang the song "London bridge is Falling Down" so this is a must. But this bridge is not the original bridge as it was destroyed in 1831.
   
   
   

   
   
   

4. The Tower of London - another striking and iconic London landmark. This is where Britain's most infamous prisoners were held captive before being publicly executed.
   
   
   

   
   
   
   

5. Tower Bridge. If you’re lucky, you may even time your visit to watch the bridge lift, it does so 900 times a year!”
   
   

6. Duck and Waffle for an observation view of the City near Liverpool Station
   

   

7. Shopping at Westfield @ STRATFORD Bus Station. I went mainly to the local's brands like
   - Cath Kidston
   - Burberry
   - Marks & Spencer 
   - Superdry. Don't let the Japanese-inspired fool you, it's actually a UK-based Fashion label.
   - Jo Malone
   - River Island

Getting around..

You should have noticed that most of the time we were on our feet walking between the main attractions in London. If tube/subway is available, take it and save some leg energy. You may want to avoid Tube after 10pm as the homeless will starts to move into the station and you can find them at every corners. We used a contactless credit card for our train rides and it has a cap of £8 a day - don't bother about oyster card but remembered a pair of good walking shoe.

Due to rail disruption, we were unable to visit Harry Potter Platform 9 3/4. So we will be back. :)

TravelLodge - Batam

*Throw back to June 2016, Family Trip to Batam

Hus requested a family trip with Janelle, so planned a 3D2N short trip to Batam. It has always a No-No from me to Batam because of my motion sickness on the ferry, But my hus always wanted to go because of the cheap cheap grocery. 

I have to admit I'm not a good planner for trips... Lots of mistake i made.

1. There is a promotion from Batamfast of 50% off for NTUC members for tickets over the counter. We went to the counter and they shared that they are not able to book return ticket for us, it had to be done at Batam side or via email. My hus forget to bring his card, so we can't purchase on that day. Tried dropping email to Batam side, but no response at all, and bring an elder and special needs child i don't want to be in a situation where we don't have ferry ticket to return home, so i bought the return ticket online with full price. 

Who knows, when we purchasing ticket over to counter on the day itself, they told us we can't purchase one-way ticket with the discount. I'm like WHAT? you told me that you can't book return ticket for us cos your system are not connected, now you tell me that i can't get discount as it only eligible for 2-way tickets. ARGH..... Didnt give a good start of holidays.

2. Hotel. I was told that Harris is a good consideration of hotel to stay in. It's near the shopping mall and its clean. When i was reading the blog for family trip to Batam most of them booked HARRIS Resort Waterfront Batam and they took free shutter bus over the shopping mall. Blur me which i thought this is the HARRIS. This is a resort and is about 45min away from city area. the journey out to source for dinner tired us out le.

3. Brought my MIL along. I thought since she not been working and had been staying home. I thought it will be good to bring her out to enjoy a family trip with us and Janelle. Who knows i created a blow-up and made the son and mom volcano erupted.  Till now they are still at cold war. :(


Here's we go:

Taking the ferry

Janelle was enjoying the ferry, she was singing "row row row the boat and "Sailor see sea"

Check-in HARRIS Resort with free shutter bus picked up from the ferry terminate. After Janelle napped and we headed out to Nagoya Hill Shopping mall for dinner. This is the one of the most crowded and biggest shopping mall in batam.

I have booked a 7-seater taxi on day 2 at SGD$80 and it brings us around to visit the tourist attraction place. Batam is very small, so really nothing much to see. My MIL insist Janelle wear that dress she bought the day before in Batam supermarket as she says the material will keep her cool and this is the type of dress that she wore when she was young |||.

The two are trying on their batak clothes.

MIL was having motion sickness from the car journey, we decided to end their day in batam day tour after lunch and let them rest in hotel. 

After we dropped them back to hotel and took a short nap, me and hus went to town area again for shopping. The taxi driver took us Mega Mall Batam Centre Being a singaporean how can we not have root beer float from A&E, a drink we missed.

On Day 3, before heading back to Singapore, we brought janelle down for a swim.. Family bonding time.

Janelle enjoyed the window view looking out at the sea... 

Travelogue - Japan Osaka

Annual girls trip, and this year to Japan Osaka. My very first time to be in Japan, was way too excited. First time I'm away for 5D6N, the longest girls trip I have stretched.

We took a midnight flight out and touched down in Osaka in the morning. My luggage was 1/3 filled (10kg).

We bought an one way airport express train plus one day unlimited subway ticket, online package at 1500 Yen from http://www.howto-osaka.com/en/ticket/ticket/yokoso.html. 

The seat number is allocated to you, and there's train contractor to check the tickets. Even its empty, you are not allowed to take any other seats that's not allocated to you. This is Japan.

Dropped our luggage at hotel, no early check in was allowed. They go by book... 3pm means 3pm. So headed down to 黑门市场 for our lunch.

Other then food, we shopped for 2 hrs in one small drug store. Most of the duty free drug store would have a few chinese to assist you on any enquiry that you may have. They can help to do the translation. This is our loot from one store. Girls power. Hahaha.

After shopping, we are hungry again, so we went for our tea break of ramen. You have to choose your preference of how you want your noodle to be prepared. J says "you MUST try their hard boiled egg" so here we go. This is the best ramen I had in Osaka. *Must try* you can check up step by step guide on how to place order: https://gurunavi.com/en/japanfoodie/s/2016/06/ramen-shop.html?utm_source=JNTO&utm_medium=post&utm_term=ramen-shop&utm_campaign=JNTO_post_ramen-shop&__ngt__=TT0c0c71ca6001ac1e4a0e0fJzc6Y4DrMRPHUZqyIJQ4qQ

Another round of shopping starts, i didnt get anything as the clothes are too kawaii or too down to earth for me. There are many hello kitty and the girls was stuck in disney store for a good 2 hrs. 

Our dinner. Fish our own dinner. My very first time fishing, and yes managed to catch ONE. Yes, only one. We fished till the staff has no eye to see and help us to caught one sea brass 15min before they close. 

Day 2 - universal studio Japan. It's amazing... Their new rides are much more taller, longer and faster than Singapore. But those older rides wasn't that fantastic. However I love their interaction with the guests.. Every staff there make you feel like VIP. 

*side note* changed a hair style for me.. chopped of my long hair a few days before fly off to japan. :)

And we ended the day with 大阪烧 @ dotombori.

Day 3 - We bought a 2 day Osaka pass that gave us unlimited train rides for 2 days...
We decided to visited Nissen as it's further away,  There is a session that you can make your own noodles, but need to book early online, we missed it.. Nevertheless we can make our very own nissen favor cup noodle with 4 ingredients of your choice in self designed cup.

The cup noodles comes in all sizes. King, Big, standard and mini.

We even shopped at autobacs for car accessories. 

But nothing much for me, but i got this for my new ride for Janelle. 

Ended our day 3 with beef and puffer fish which are one of my wish list in Japan. When i was looking at the menu, J: just order the must expensive set of each as it will come with many different parts of beef and different cooking style of puffer fish. And she is right, that's the right move.

The puffer fish - grill, fried, sashimi, steamboat, marinated and porridge and this is serving for 2.

Day 4. I lost my 2 day pass :(, another trip that i lost my train card. no choice that i have to buy a 1 day pass.

To Osaka Castle. A place has to go.. Really nothing much there, but it's an tourist attractions that says if not been here, means you have not been to Osaka. 

So done our tourist job, time to be shopper again. J wanted to get her baby food from a baby department store at end of Shinsaibashi street. Things like pampers, food, pigeon's item etc are cheaper in singapore, but it's too heavy for me to bring back as janelle only use milk bottle detergent for baby, the rest she had outgrown. So while she shop for her baby food, me and A shop at Shinsaibashi. There is one kunbu specialty store they served you a kunbu soup as a tea, and it's so nice that i bought some back. 

Love their mochi 

Time for offload to hotel and dinner again. This is J wish list, the crab meal, they serve nothing but crab. I ordered a seasonal set, which means only available in Apr-June. Even the steamegg also come with crab.

Too full to go back hotel and sleep, so we ended in drug store again. We store for everything from shampoo, to pats to mask to drugs items.

Day 5 - last day of our trip. The agenda of this day is to get whatever items we want to bring back singapore. So early in the morning, A and me went 黑门市场 to get fruits.

My feet was too tired for shoes as there was blaster for the long walking journey, so i changed into slipper. In Japan, they dont wear slippers.

A want to get melon for her family. SGD$30+ for one melon... and there are more exp one too.

J meet us for lunch at 黑门市场 because we cant get enough of beef and fresh seafood.

Once done with lunch, we shop for snack and tidbits for souvenirs.

And since we havent had TakoYaki from our wish list, so while we are looking for one.. we found one store that can DIY. you must make 15balls, so just nice 5 for each of us. Dont know how 1 person can finish 15balls. The staff will prepare all the ingredient for us and using body language to explain to us how to make. In this store, they also sells a DIY sets that you can bring home (even include the cast iron tray for making the balls)

We rushed back to 黑门市场 again to buy raw beef to bring home... Promised hus that i will bring back kobe beef for him. During lunch we tried a few store of beef steak, and i love this store the most, so i went back to them and pack kobe beef and waygu beef back to Singapore for my hus. Their price is highly but they will do a vacuum pack, and filled with ice packs in ice bag for you. It's says not a problem for 10hrs, which was ok when i opened up 12 hrs later.

We cook the kobe the next day and it's very nice, the juicy feel, the melts in the mouth.. Love it to max. But hus preferred Australia beef.

Mummy is fair, daddy has beef, janelle also has strawberries. This tray cost me SGD$20. 

Deposited all the items in hotel, and we went for dinner. This is another wish list from J, grill seafood, and it's very nice too.. 

Once filled our tummy, went back to hotel and pack all the items into bags. Every one is 1 bag to japan and 2 bags back. I came back with 30kgs, not so bad isnt it.. And we know that we will be very tried after all the long walks and we will need more luggage space, we booked business class for the flight back. :)

First time having something soupy on flight other than instant noodles. It's a great way to end our trip.