After leaving The British Museum, we headed over to the Theatre District. The ice cream shop caught my eye! We must have ice cream despite the cold.
There’s a conveyor belt for the cheeses at The Cheese Bar
The honeycomb biscoff choice was excellent. Fueled with a sudden sugar rush, everyone caught a second wind in energy, and we continued. It felt like dinner time because night has fallen. But it was only 5.00pm! What?! There’s still a long way to go before dinner time.
Covent Garden
So we went to Covent Garden first, then to Chinatown for dessert to enjoy a hot Matcha Green Tea with cheese and Mochi. The drink was very yummy! Somehow a hot drink made us feel colder instead of ice cream. We decided then it was time for dinner.
Chinatown
The Fish & Chips portions were huge but delicious, nonetheless. Sated but tired, everyone agreed it was time to make our way back to the hotel. By the time we reached our room. I registered 21,231 steps and clocked in 13.25km for the day! What a record. Oh, by the way, my Move and Stand streak in the Fitness app did not end during the flight. And with more walking ahead, these streaks will go on. Yay!
Our hotel room is small but sufficient. The beds are comfortable, and that first night, tiredness kicked in after a simple souvlaki dinner. We were all knocked out!
Greek beer and souvlaki for dinner
Refreshed after a good night’s sleep, we were ready to explore the next day. It was eight degrees Celsius when we stepped out of the building. In moments like this, the face masks were handy to keep our nose and cheeks warm!
The day started with a pastry and coffee breakfast. The cinnamon pretzel choice was the biggest we have seen. As big as the face, the pretzel alone could feed us all! We sat outside on the walkway of the pastry shop, and that was nice. The fat pigeon was watching us the whole time!
We took the Tube to the Bank of England to exchange some old currency notes, no longer accepted as legal tender, for new ones. It would be wise to do this unless you want to keep them as souvenirs.
But the line was very long, and the Security Officer suggested we do this at the Post Office around the corner if our amount was not in abundance. It was good advice, for we got this done in less than ten minutes instead of waiting an hour and a half.
After settling this, we headed to King’s Cross to see the iconic Platform 9 3/4. And what a crowd there was for the famous Harry Potter scene! We decided to skip the queue and still managed to snap a decent picture from the side.
The platform and queue, and the gift shop
It was a sunny day, so we kept our activities outdoors. The next stop was Coal Drops Yard before meeting an old friend for lunch. So good to see him after all these years!
We parted ways after the pleasant meal, and we continued with our adventure. At our friend’s suggestion, we thought getting on a Hop On Hop Off open-topped double-decker bus was excellent to take in all the sights. But it was already 2.00pm, and there may not be enough time. The sun sets around 4.30pm!
We decided to go indoors instead and headed over to The British Museum. We spent time in the museum until the closing hour, oohing and aahing over relics and artifacts. But if given a choice, I’d rather ooh and aah over paintings than headless and armless stone figurines and stone relics missing noses and head gears, you know?
I woke up at 3.44am, a minute before the alarm rang. The body knows when the situation calls for it. Our pick-up arrived on time, and the journey to the airport was long enough to nap a little for the loss of sleep.
Every step of the way, it was pleasant to start the trip well! And before we knew it, we were boarding! That’s when the hiccups started. Instead of departing as scheduled at 9.05am, the plane pushed off at 9.38am and took off only at 9.55am. A good solid 50 minutes late! Hmm.
Happy travelers!
I was so glad the first meal was served an hour after take-off because I was ravenous! The Airbus A350-900 seating configuration was a three-three-three in the economy section and comfortable enough for us small-sized people. But the comfort level may not be so for a larger built or bigger-sized passenger.
Breakfast on board
Anyway, I watched two movies and slept whenever I could; likewise, hubby and the girls too to pass the time. I lost track of time, and suddenly, the aircraft was descending! Oh yay! We are almost there.
We touched down at 3.22pm local time despite departing 50 minutes late. That’s good. Immigration clearance was smooth, but baggage claim took a little longer. So yay, here we are in London!
Today’s the day! We left in the wee hours of the morning. It’s been ages since I last woke up so early, and my usual 5.30 am wake-up for golf pales compared to this ungodly hour. I might as well not sleep and get ready for the airport straightaway.
It will be a long day ahead with our direct flight. I have forgotten what it’s like to be on a long-haul flight. And this journey will take 14 hours and 20 minutes, a little longer than the last time we flew to Amsterdam. Oh boy, my butt and body.
Separately, I’m a little bummed that my Move, Exercise, and Stand activities will be disrupted, thus ending my long record of 1,053 days in the Fitness app on my AppleWatch. Oh well, it is for a good reason; we are off to England, sadly not to see the Queen (God bless her soul) but the new King!
The first thing I earmarked for the impending trip was my Blundstone boots! It’s been three years since they last saw some serious action, having gone to the US for M1’s graduation. But as I was unboxing my boots from the shoe cabinet, I found another pair of boots!
Uh-huh, my Blunnies have a rival in the calf-high boots. I have forgotten about this pair because it’s an impractical pair of boots for hot and humid holidays that I mostly do pre-pandemic time. However, for this upcoming trip, calf-high boots might be suitable. Hmm.
I like wearing the Blundstones to travel because they are super comfortable for walking (even after re-soled), but calf-high boots may be good to ward off the cold! There’s still space in the luggage, and I can always do the last-minute packing. We’ll see how it goes.
After months of planning, we will be traveling soon! I have mixed feelings about the journey because of the traveling hours but not so much of the destination. Despite the relaxation of Covid precautions for travel in most countries, I’m not sure I want to be on a plane without a mask. We shall see. After all, it is for our safety and to start the holiday on a healthy note.
So it’s time to pack and get the mindset ready for the impending trip! Stay tuned to follow our adventures.
Over the weekend, we visited hubby’s parents for a quick escape. The trip also became a discovery for new food along the way. Typically, we would stop over in Ipoh for lunch, but this time, we opted to stop in Taiping instead.
We went to a new restaurant as the one we had in mind was closed. It was a pleasant discovery – the lunch was very yummy even though they were simple choices!
Fried mullet and seafood porridge. Yummy
As for the drive, it was tedious because there were a lot of cars on the road. It’s strange, considering the weekend was just a normal one, not a long public holiday stretch.
Heavy traffic on the way up North!
And it was the same tedious drive on the return journey the next day, albeit a little longer. It was akin to driving during the festive holiday, clocking in six hours towards North and eight hours on the return. Nonetheless, the visit was good.
Return journey was worse! Flavorful dinner at Tapah.
We stopped at Tapah for dinner and discovered new dishes at our regular stop. The choices were very satisfying for the palate and easy on the wallet too! Before we knew it, the weekend was over, and here we are, back to another busy work week ahead.
I have always flown into Singapore via Changi Airport. However, for this trip, I flew in via Seletar Airport. And what a pleasant surprise it was! There was no crowd, no queue, and no delays at all.
I chose to fly from Subang Airport instead of KLIA as it’s more convenient. Subang and Seletar airports are smaller compared to the two main big airports. And Changi is world renowned as a destination by itself. But being smaller, certain perks are missing, like buying duty-free things. Oh well, this is not critical.
The trip ended too soon, and the weather was not kind during our return flight. As the plane descended, we experienced turbulence going through the clouds. It has been quite a while since I flew, so the nauseous feeling was just ugh.
Leaving Seletar Airport
Thankfully, the journey was not too long, and we arrived safely. Rain greeted us, and traffic built up on the way home. Not the best welcome home situation, but it’s nice to be home after an enjoyable getaway.
The trip to Singapore has been a good one catching up with friends and family. We had simple and sumptuous meals and memorable gatherings.
We tried Peruvian food
The four of us enjoyed delivered food and homemade cocktails in the comforts of our condo, chatting and laughing away. Precious is such of our friendship since seven years old.
Delicious gin collection
There was hardly any time for shopping, but we didn’t mind. And although it rained daily, it did not bother us. Luckily I brought my umbrella, which came in handy when we went to Orchard Road in search of some local food.
We had fishballs and mee pok and dessert.
Time has gone by too soon. We depart for home late afternoon today. I’m so glad we made the trip for friendship.
It is exciting that I am traveling again by air! The last time I flew was in October 2019, going to Langkawi with all my high school girlfriends to celebrate our friendship. Three years have passed since that memorable trip. And as we all know, the pandemic struck in early 2020, and the whole world went into lockdown, my country included.
There were a lot of travel restrictions of varying degrees since then to manage the pandemic, and flying was the furthest thing from my mind. There was no need to fly anywhere, especially for the last two years. Also, it was a hassle with strict SOPs in place. But as the world is moving towards relaxing the travel restrictions, people are traveling again.
Two of my high school girlfriends and I spontaneously decided to go to Singapore for a short four-day getaway. We thought it would be great to catch up with friends and family whom we have not seen for so long due to the circumstances.
Besides visiting people, we will take this opportunity to enjoy the local food and play tourist in the city-island-nation. Exciting as it may be, we will be extra cautious for the four days in Singapore to avoid any unnecessary Covid-related situations. We fly off an hour past noon today! Whee.
Angieneering 
Remarks