Traveling Throwback ~ Top 5 international cities I love!

It's no secret I love traveling. I love going places ever since I was very young. Of course, back then budget was limited so movement was limited too. Mainly domestic travel. However, I am fortunate, my dad used to work for MAS and one of the employees benefit was flight tickets to travel abroad FOC once a year. Thanks to this we get to visit many countries.

There are however 5 cities I have visited and fell in love instantly

#5 Barcelona

We went to Barcelona in 2012. It's part of Western Europe backpacking tour I experienced with my better half. We went there during spring and the weather was just amazing. We walked around the city and of course use the cheapest way to see any cities i.e. via Hop On Hop Off. We also get to enjoy the seaview and hillview. Being a football fan, of course we visited Barcelona Stadium Camp Nou

We also enjoyed walking along La Ramblas. We were looking for halal tapas, unfortunately could not find any. There, we get to experience many street entertainment. We get to experience great architecture portrayed from the buildings around Barcelona.

Halal food was not a problem in Barcelona. Almost every street we walk through, there will be at least one restaurant or cafe that offers halal dishes

#4 Lucerne

There's nothing not to like except for how expensive things are! We love Lucerne. It's just so beautiful. Again, we were blessed with such good weather. Waking up and get to see a beautiful lake and mountains making waking up is not so bad after all. Like many other cities in Europe, we walked a lot. The highlight of course taking a cruise to Mount Pilatus, then took a train up. We enjoyed the amazing view going up and down the mountain.

Walking across Chapel Bridge was another interesting experience. We get to enjoy sunset from the bridge and it was really beautiful. Some may say it's cheap to buy watches and chocolates there. However, based our experience, it's not really that cheap. Even food was super expensive. I guess we are also paying for the view hence why the price is super high

#3 Gold Coast

I may be bias in choosing this city simply because I love beaches. Beach holiday has always been my kind of holiday. And Gold Coast beaches are just to die for. I can just sit at the beach for hours accompanied by good books, I am happy already. Kids of course love Gold Coast because of the theme parks. You need to spend whole day for one park. We were fortunate we came during off peak hours. So the queue was not long and kids get to enjoy rides they love few times.

One experience I enjoyed was strolling through the Pasar Malam aka Night Market on the beach. The items sold there were unique and majority of this were home made. Food was accessible anywhere as many joints offer halal food.

#2 London

 Yes, London. How do I even begin to tell you about London. This is a city I feel most comfortable with. This is the city I feel right at home. I just know where to go, what to do, what to eat. It's just so simple. Changing from one tube or train to another visiting many interesting places. Walking along Hyde Park every morning after breakfast is never boring. There is nothing I don't enjoy in London. I can go to London every year and still don't get bored. Planning to go again this year Insyallah.

#1 Oxford

First time I came to Oxford, I fell in love immediately. I went there for work and it was not a long trip and yet I enjoyed it. I told myself I can imagine living here and raising my kids. I made promise to myself I will be back with my better half and kids. True enough, I came back with them and went there again. Since 2011, I managed to return to Oxford every year without fail.

I love the architecture. I love the buildings there. I love the parks. I love the morning market. I just love Oxford. I got inspired and planning to pursue my studies there soon Insyallah. And if everything goes well, I do hope both Mira and Ilham can also study there. Yes, Insyallah

Of course, there are many other amazing cities apart from this 5. We do hope we get to visit more cities soon. In our bucket lists we have Istanbul, cities in East Europe, Scandinavian cities among others. Insyallah...Soon....

And traveling don't have to be expensive. Plan well and go for cheaper options. Save money. Insyallah even you can travel!

Europe Adventure ~ Some UK tips

First and foremost, Selamat Berpuasa to all my friends no matter where you are. I personally love fasting month and amazed how I can discipline myself on that particular month but struggle on other months. Strange huh? And Ramadhan put me into yet another test in time management. Juggling with work, making sure I reach home on time to prepare iftar on top of many other ongoing tasks.

Anyhow, this entry is not about Ramadhan. Considering how slow I am in blogging, perhaps Ramadhan entry can only be made visible on Raya, and I'll be lucky if it's Raya Aidilfitri, otherwise, Raya Aidiladha.

Well, I'm no expert in traveling to UK, hence this tips are mainly based on my personal experience. Experiece of others may be different, just thought to share mine for those who wish to go to UK one day.

• Trust your friends, not the weather person  ~ this is true. we were in UK when it's supposed to be summer, however it was freaking cold. I am lucky I listened to friends in UK and brought some warm clothing, otherwise I would not be able to go out at all!
• Buy everything online ~ as per my earlier entries, we went to Liverpool, Oxford and Bicester. We were lucky to buy all the tickets online and got it cheaper. It will also gave us assurance we have seats, almost all the trains and coaches were full. Only the first day when we arrived London, the impromptu traveling to London from Oxford due to feeling super cold was the tickets we didn't buy online. It will also make it easier to plan for activities in between knowing what time you need to be at the stations
• Hotels/B&B locations ~ Choose hotels/B&B within walking distance to groceries stores or makan place. You can refer to zabiha.com to know the nearest halal makan place from your hotel. What we did was to book our accommodation after we refer to zabiha.com. If you plan your location well, you will save a lot of money on travelling.
• Pay by credit card instead of cash ~ Euro's economy is not that good and the exchange rates are declining. We were lucky we did not change that much money, most of our transactions were done via credit cards therefore it will lock the rates on transaction dates. We saved some money this way.
• And yes, it's all about PLAN PLAN PLAN. When you plan, you'll save more money cause you know where to go and what's the best rates for stuff. I don't have problems in this area, cause I love planning :)

Next entry, Insyallah, sharing our experience in Dublin. And I must say the best part of the Dublin excursion would be meeting my friends after many many years.

Signing off,

liza365.blogspot.com

Europe Adventure ~ London is a must!

From Liverpool we are now off to London. This time we choose to take the train, just to add the varieties of transportation we experience in Europe. The train ride took about 3 hours crossing awesome views, green all the way. Just amazing. We arrived at Euston Station and took another train to Bayswater where we will be staying for 2 nights.

Why Bayswater? Cause it's such a strategic place to be. Halal food is everywhere, it's overlooking Hyde Park, near train and bus station as well as convenience stores. The moment we arrived, we left our bags at the hotel and started our London journey. We went to many places, Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Harrods and of course Oxford Street. I always feel safe in London, I have no issue to be walking outside even after dark.

The next day was more exciting! At least to me lah. We went to BICESTER! It's a must to go to this place if you are in London. The prices of branded stuff are super cheap. Some say cause it's off season but I'm not a fashion concious person, so, don't really care about the seasons. As long as it looks nice and the price is right, I'll grab it. We took a train and got on the free shuttle bus to get to there. I got myself a Gucci bag, one pair of Tod's Shoes, many shirts for my better half and shoes for him and my dad, Clarks of course. I went crazy at Hackett, I think my better half looks hot in Hackett shirts and bought kids clothing. My better half kept on reminding me this is only our first country and we have 8 more countries to go but how can you resists shopping in Bicester. I was obviously prepared, I packed light so I can put more stuff in.

Our final day in London, we decided to just walk around our hotel area. We spent few hours in Hyde Park, walking around and enjoying the view. The weather was really awesome and you can see people jogging, taking their dogs walking and some were having picnic. Hyde Park has always been a place I love. This has be the place my family would go to everytime we go to London when I was much younger.

Yes, we will be back. And this time around we'll bring our kids with us. In fact, I have started my planning to bring them next year Insyallah...

Next stop, Dublin. But, next entry will not be that just yet. I'll share some tips and experience while we were in UK. Perhaps it can benefit those who wants to go there :)

Signing off,

liza365.blogspot.com

Europe Adventure ~ You'll Never Walk Alone!! Liverpool

I have always love football. I love football ever since I was very little. This was of course influenced by my Abah. Being the only daughter, I was in a way forced to enjoy football however develop the tendency to love it. I still remember when I was much younger, staying up late with my Abah to watch the matches live and end up being a sleepy head in school. All in the name of football. (In fact I used to play football for my school's team :) )

That is why it will not make sense if I come to UK and not visit my favourite team of all time, Liverpool. I am a pure Liverpool fan and a genuine football nut too. I don't watch football cause the guys are perceived to be hot or because of Beckham and Ronaldo. I watch football cause I love the game. *by the way ladies, Beckham no longer play for MU in case you are not aware of that*

Our journey to Liverpool from Oxford was an exciting one. We took a coach from Liverpool to Birmingham before taking another coach to Liverpool. The bus terminal in Birmingham was a comfortable one equipped with Wifi connection. Even our LCCT is not close to their standard. The journey was really good. We got to surf the net in the bus all the way as well as get all of our gadgets charge.

Once we arrived in Lime Street bus terminal, we took a cab to where we are staying, a B&B called Sheil Suites. I love this place! Not only it's cheap, the room is nice and they provide free wifi. We just left our luggage and went straight to where else, Anfield which was about 15 minutes walk

I have pre booked 2 tickets for the stadium tour. I was here before however did not get the chance to do the tour. It was more meaningful to have to do the tour with my better half. He was such a good sport, knowing he doesn't really like football and have been supportive of my interests.The stadium was not that big. Our Bukit Jalil Stadium is double this size and better equipped. Even the changing room is such a simple one, not to mention the press conference room which look so nice on TV but in actual life, is a box size room with a table and backdrop. We were told the press have been told which angle they can take.

The trip will not be complete if I don't do my Liverpool shopping. We were few days earlier than the release of the latest jersey kit so did not get to have any. However, I must admit, I went crazy buying other Liverpool merchandise including new bed sheet for Ilham. (Yes, he supports Liverpool too and it was his own choice, no force, really!)

We went back to our B&B with my face beaming with such joy and feeling so satisfied. My next wish list would be to come here again, this time with my kids to watch a game. Actually, the original plan was for us to watch the Liverpool vs Chelsea game which was scheduled a day after our trip but we decided to give it a pass and do that Insyallah, soon. For dinner, we just had Maggie Mee, which was the best maggie mee I have tasted! (power of exegeration when you are hungry)

Yes, Liverpool was awesome only if you are a Kop or love Beatles. Otherwise, it's just a quiet town (yes, I'm not kidding you, it's REALLY quiet).

Next stop, London (and Bicester Villagelah!)

Signing off,

liza365.blogspot.com

Europe Adventure ~ Welcome to UK and 1st stop, Oxford!

I must start this entry by sharing our so called adventure became too adventurous. Why do I say that?

Well, we departed from KLIA at 10am and we chose Qatar Airways. I have checked pricing for many airlines and Qatar was the cheapest. And the fact that I had pleasant experience when I used Qatar before as well as they served halal food gace us the level of comfort. Of course it had to transit in Doha which was a short transit for about an hour so no big issue there.

We arrived at Heathrow at 10pm and to be honest, one thing I hate about traveling abroad is the prejudiced especially to muslim women who are wearing tudung. So, I was quite nervous when we have to go through Immigration check. Alhamdulilah, the man who took care of our counter is a Muslim man who have been to Malaysia. We engaged into a very pleasant conversation and he shared with us how he have been trying to convince his wife to go for holiday, just the 2 of them. Seeing us doing just that motivated him to talk to his wife again.

By the time we got our luggage, it was already 11.30pm. I did not book any hotel cause it'll be waste of money as we will be making our way to Oxford the next morning. It was freezing cold, temperature was about 8 degrees and we were not prepared for it to be that cold. We planned to sleep for few hours at Heathrow bus station and planned to take the 4am bus to Oxford. However, we fast tracked our plan and took the 1.30am bus instead. Never did we think the bus station in Oxford is actually a normal bus stand until we arrived there around 3am.

Yes, it was an ordinary bus stop with no lights and just a roof over our head. We walked towards our hotel thinking to just wait at the lobby. There were few kebab places opened hence we asked for directions. The kebab man was kind enough to walk us to the hotel. And then we realised our hotel reception is closed and will only be open at 6am! It was kind of scary with lots of people who I think are students getting drunk and hanging out right where we were taking shelter. When we thought things could not get any worse, it started to rain! At that point of time, we know we need to get out of here and search for better shelter. We hardly can feel our fingers!

So, we did the best thing we know, we took another bus to London City, specifically Victoria Station. We arrived at Victoria at about 5am and bought coffee. I tell you, that was the best coffee I have tasted considering we were in desperate need of coffee. We stayed there for about 2 hours, freshen up at the toilet and then took another bus to Oxford. The bus fare was not to expensive but it was all worth it. FYI, almost all buses we boarded have Wifi and charging service which you don't get in many other cities in Europe.

We arrvied in Oxford (again!) around 8am and went straight to our hotel to drop our luggage. We stayed at this place called Victoria House and it costs us about 50 pound per night including breakfast and free wifi which is a good deal. However, we wouldn't recommend this hotel for people who need peace and quiet to sleep as the hotel is on top of a night club. Us? We just want cheap place :)

Oxford was as beautiful as how I remembered it. I have time and time again told people I know, Oxford is a place I can imagine myself settling down and raise my kids here. My better half did not get it at that time until he saw Oxford for himself. We walked and walked and walked everywhere. It was so beautiful and the air was so fresh. The buildings were so classic and just amazing. Enjoy the photos.

I still have this dream to stay in Oxford one day, Insyallah. Perhaps, my kids can study here or I can pursue my PhD if after I pass my Masters. Come to Oxford and you know what I mean....

Next stop ! Liverpool! YNWA!!!!

Signing off,

liza365.blogspot.com