Our SEP Family Adventures: soHO in LONDON 🇬🇧

My last day with my family was spent in London (of course). Xinyi went to Stockholm so it was just the 4 of us this time.
Honestly, I just want to cherish every moment of it and I can remember every event we went through. Waking up in the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. After which, we went to my hostel to bring back the luggage we left on Day 1. Staying there with my family for the last time was kinda hard haha, and I then brought them to the place where I usually do my grocery shopping – ASDA.
We combed the place section by section, row by row. At the start, it was really exciting to show them what I would buy and what they can bring back to Singapore, but as the number of rows decrease after time, my heart got heavier as I know the time to leave North Acton is getting near. We spent 60 pounds for this shopping though, omg!
Had lunch at the ASDA cafe before we head down to Westfield Shopping Center. Quite a nice place with a few high end shops here and there. However, there is nothing much to buy. We then walked to the police station to file a second report before we headed over to Marble Arch for our lobster dinner at Lobster and Steak.

The best dinner I ever had is in London. This Lobster and Steak meal is SO good! Every lobster or steak set is 20 pounds, which includes the main (Lobster or Steak) , salad and unlimited fries. The lobster and steak are SO DELICIOUS! We really enjoyed the meal and we chatted merrily hahaha!
After dinner, we then went back to the hotel for some last packing before we had our last night in London.

The day came and I solemnly brought them to the airport. Carrying the luggages down 3 levels of stairs and lugging them through the one hour tube to Heathrow were hard, but nothing was harder than sitting down at Costa Coffee with the family for our last breakfast. They began to remind me that I am gonna miss home and CNY, asking me to take care pf myself while I am in London and all. I remembered every word they said and I will keep them close in my heart to keep me warm through this lonely winter.
After the breakfast, we walked to the departure gates. I hugged them and we had a flurries of saying goodbyes, as if trying to compete who would bid the last goodbye. I won, and they finally went in. My heart sank. The airport staff was watching us and she was really nice to let me hang around there for awhile to pick myself up. “Was that your father, mother and sister?” She asked. I nodded and I turned back. Walking to the tube was really hard, I watched the number of devices connected to my personal hotspot drop to zero and I know that they are gone. I stopped to tear a little before continuing to walk.
As I was in the tube, I got a messenger call from my family. They showed me that they are already in the plane and told me how they were chasing for it until the airport staff gave them a ride on the airport cleaning vehicle. Hahaha! So funny! But yep, seeing them well and happy made me really satisfied. I did my best to give them a trip to remember and they did their best to warm me up for the next six months too. Thank you, family!

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After a week with the Lim family, I finally met my own family. The most look forward to trip is one that you can feel fully at home. When I saw my family, I was so excited that I began chatting non-stop to them about London! But I can feel them getting really tired from the jetlag on the first few days and it kind of made me 心痛 a little!

The london stretch spanned across four days and I brought them to Trifagar Square, London Eye, Tower Bridge and several touristic places cause they have not been there before. Pity that the weather was foggy but at least they managed to capture a view that they have wanted to see!

Brought my family to my hall in North Acton to show them my living conditions and also explain to them my lifestyle during exchange and was really happy that they are more 安心 cause I have been living really well:) I brought Xinyi’s family to birmingham too and as I explain to Xinyi’s mum about her life in Birm, I could see her smiling and feeling rather satisfied to have sent her daughter for this exchange. It’s a nice feeling and I am starting to know better on how a parent will be feeling haha!

Got to try a lot of food that I have never eaten before in London so far due to the cost. One of such is Spanish tapas at Jamon Jamon! I felt guilty for not being able to bring them to Spain so I decided to get the deal on Groupon:) Thankfully, they love the meal a lot and they asked me to bring them back again if we are out of food options😁

Thanks to Novia and Kenneth, I knew that Starbucks cards are free to take in Europe and I brought my sis around to collect the different designs! Turned out to become our favourite hobby in this trip as we go around hunting for the cards every time we walk past a starbucks. #shameless

Went to the platform 9&3/4 but I have to say that it was too touristy that the queue to take the photo was about 2 hours long?! Gave up queuing and went to Camden instead. Kind of happy to also meet Xinyi’s family for 2 meals – Duck Confit burger at Southbank Market and chinese meal at Goldmine. Glad that the meals turn out well and the two families are able to talk casually to each other! Marriage is a lot easier next time HAHAHA! On a side note, Goldmine is really overrated and I suggest people to pay a little more and eat at For Seasons instead. And the tip to eat at Four Seasons is to order white rice for one pax and ask for refill (it’s more worth the money as one pax of rice costs £3.20 but it comes with free refill)

We also tried out Duck & Waffles and I would say that the view up there is amazing but you have to book 2 months in advance to get a nice timing! We got a slot for 5 people at 7pm! The food are expensive but their sauce tasted really well. Xinyi and I have cooked something similar to the chicken dish before and it is definitely not easy to do so:) one restaurant off the bucket list yay! Now left with Burger and Lobs! Anyone coming over to London, jio pls!

Winter Wonderland is overpriced but it is still worth a visit in the night! The Christmas lightings are really nice and the festive mood is there when we were there jostling with the crowds:) Advise to not take the rides cause they are a waste of money but I heard the £5 churros are good, so it might be worth a try!

Now that we are reunited as a family, I am really looking forward to the next adventure with the family – to North of UK, SCOTLAND!

Our SEP Adventures: Iceland Blues 🇮🇸 PART I – Golden Circle

If there is a colour to describe Iceland, it has to be blue! Throughout this trip, I saw more shades of blue than I have ever seen in other places!

The travel impulse is mental and physical curiosity. It’s a passion. – Paul Theroux

Iceland has always been my dream to visit, and it is probably many people’s dream too. I am very blessed to be able to travel up this time! I first knew of it through a game of RISK, for it is a very important territory(bridge between Europe and America). Indeed, it is the case that Iceland is a common flight transfer station between European countries and the States!

Capital Reykjavik

So while we were prepping for our trip to Iceland, we heard that it is going to be a very expensive destination as the food prices rival that of Norway and the only way to travel between destinations is to drive! Hence, we stocked up as if we were going for war, buying packets of instant rice, biscuits and hotdogs from UK supermarket. We rented a car from Blue Rentals, it’s not the cheapest we can get but it is very reliable. We read a lot of stories where the car companies forfeited the excess deposit (about £1000) because of some minor hairline scratch on the vehicle that wasn’t caused by the drivers themselves.

Baby for 5 days:)

And there we go, driving on the highway of Iceland:) As we are still sinking in “OMG we are driving in Iceland”, we are already in Reykjavik checking in the hostel. The route to the capital was breathtaking as well. It felt like we were on Mars, en route to a camp – the landforms by the side of the roads were craters and barren!

The WOW thing we saw when we alighted from our WOW flight!

The hostel was quite conducive, we booked a 4 bed dorm and the 3 of us shared with a Hungarian Professor who was on her second Icelandic trip! She told us that she saw the Northern Lights the year before, amazing! We decided to have dinner and head to a secluded lighthouse west of the capital for the lights as well!

The backside of the ‘Bell Curve’ Cathedral

Panoramic view from the tip of the cathedral

We headed out at 11pm, it was freezing cold (-3) and we drove for 15 mins to the carpark. We thought that it was cold and there would not be people around, but we were wrong. There were a fair number of people camping for the lights as well! However, we went too late and the aurora activity was falling to almost zero:/ We also realised that the aurora was there and can only be seen on a long exposure photo! Xinyi managed to capture a nice starry night with some green glow at the corner!

Look up the stars, look how they shine for you. No, they weren’t YELLOW.

No luck with Northern Lights but the sky is really full of stars.

The second day, we became tourists and went on the usual Golden Circle! In this route, we would go to Þingvellir (Thing-vellir), Strokkur Geysir, Gulfoss and the crater Kerið (Ker-rid)! I suck at pronouncing and spelling the names too, so for memory sake and so I dont lao kui, I will put the Icelandic spelling followed by the pronunciations in the brackets so we can all practice hahaha!

Cause you’ve got that one… Þing

Starting with Þing, I have seen so many friends coming to this place and commenting on how colorful it was! To our pleasant surprise, it was all white! In fact, the snow has covered almost every surface of the fissure and the whole place is Vellir white (puns alert😂)! According to Rachel, there is a fissure at this park where the American and European plate meets! Btw, Rachel is a NUS Geography student exchanging in Birmingham as well! So if you like Geog, you have to come Iceland😁

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Spending about 2 hours in the park, we then had lunch in the car before driving down to the geyser. Upon reaching, we could smell the fart, i mean sulfur, floating in the air! We went to the big one and waited for the eruption. Trying to record slow-motion videos and making two iphones die in the cold (iphone sucks at low temperatures), we managed a cool video on our camera showing the transit between pre-eruption to eruption! The blue bubble that was formed and rose up as it break caused the geyser to hit more than 3 stories high!

Our lunch in the car!

The petite geyser

Strokkur Geyser

I wanted to clasify all the waterfalls we have seen (in all 5 days) so I will deviate a little from the golden circle tour! Gullfoss was the most majestic and to fully enjoy its beauty, you should go in summer and you will be able to climb out further! If you are lucky, you will probably spot a rainbow on some angles! Seljalandsfoss was special because we were supposed to walk behind the water curtains and see it from a different angle.

Gulfoss, within the Golden Circle

Unfortunately, the weather was too cold and the path to a good apot and the stairs to the back froze in ice. We could hardly walk up without slipping, let alone go behind the falls, HAHA!

Seljalandsfoss, the one you could supposedly go behind the veil, but it was too slippery!

Taken by Xinyi, amazing silkiness!

Next, we went over to the third waterfall, Skogafoss! Another massive one, but even more touristy! It was hard to take a nice landscape without any human trail😂 We climbed up to the top of the waterfalls to spot how did the water flow when it was upstream. And the view up there… leave you to judge!

Skogafoss

Checking out the top of the falls

Whee, I am at the top of the world!

Finally, we went to the last fall in Skaftafell National Park. Raining moderately, we fought the biting cold and slippery conditions to the falls and finally saw the falls after like an eternal time of walking!

Svartifoss

Had to remove my specs cause it is soaked from the rain. But hey, I do look quite okay without them:P

The waterfalls are all glam and majestic but they lack the uniqueness that some other nature sites would be able to give you! Do look out for my older posts, especially the one in Norway!

https://cinqeminte.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/our-sep-adventures-conquering-the-troll/

By the time we ended Gulfoss and headed for Kerið. The entrance to enter is about 3 pounds and it was snowing then. The snow added beauty to our video shots, somewhat like those you see in Kdrama hahaha! Gonna make a VLOG soon when I have the time:) Kerið is amazing, the crater is black and covered partly in snow and you can imagine seeing a monochrome scene! Loving Iceland more and more!

Calling out my lover Kerið

It looks damn amazing in summer too!

Because the post is gonna be too long and I am gonna be too naggy, here’s my first potato to you guys😁 I will post my second half in three days!

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Till next time!

Potato for you, just kidding! They are rare volcanic rocks I found at the crater:P

Our SEP Adventures: Czech us out 🇨🇿

After Poland, I crossed over to Czech Republic via Flixbus (For those who are new to Europe travels, do look out for buses as an alternate transport to train and car – they are cheap and convinient)! I visited Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Brno in 3 days.

Prague

Taken on a clear day at Charles Bridge @ 8am

The capital of Czech Republic, Prague is also well known for being a romantic city for honeymooners and tourists. The end results? 3 wedding couples having their Charles Bridge shoot at 8am, tons of people mobbing the town centre from 10am-8pm, restaurants packed and only reservations can be taken. Prague is a really beautiful city and it has a lot to see/offer but the tourists are really making the place too crowded… But i guess we don’t have a choice cause this part of Central Europe is where everyone stops by in their tour haha.

Romantic Prague

Anyway, abit of information about Czech Republic – Czech and Slovakia used to be a nation called Czechoslovakia. Before World War 2, they were one of the flourishing states in the world and they even invented beer. This explains the strong beer culture in Czech! This however, went on a decline when Czechoslovakia fell into German hands during World War 2 and became a communist state when Russia liberated them. In 1993 (the year I was born!), the country split into Czech Republic and Slovakia peacefully.

 

Fact: Prague consumes the highest amount of beer (38 gallons per person per year) in the world, not Munich nor Berlin!

These information above, I got them by joining the SANDEMANs/New Europe tour! The tour guide is really friendly and she helps to explain a lot of Czech history to us:) During the tour itself, I met this businessman from Moscow who told me that he didn’t really like staying there but instead he would love to migrate somewhere else. I recommended him our sunny island, for the food and never-changing season:P

Enthusiastic tour guide (She’s from Manchester, but she loves Prague so much, she moved!)

Also to mention that I got to stay in this cheap and cool hostel called Charles Bridge Economic Hostel. It is actually a tourist centre at the ground floor and it operates the hostel in the other floors of the building. This place is located just beside the bridge itself and they offer a lot of discounted tours. Ah and they have free flow of hot drinks and you can request at the reception, a pretty sweet deal:)

Cheeky car near Pachtovsky palac

One place to visit would be the Prague Castle. You don’t need to enter the castle, it’s overcrowded and quite expensive as well. But after going up the hill, you will get to see the panoramic view of the city:) There’s a balcony owned by Starbucks, but do feel free to enter, take some pictures or just admire the view. It’s the best of the city you can get:) Go around sunset time for the best view!

View I got on top

There is a few other places to visit but I was too tired to check them out! There is the jewish quarters, slightly north of the old town square. You will be able to find some pretty chill architecture and jewish graveyards as well. However, this place is closed on Saturday for their prayer sessions, so try and avoid going then.

Astronomical Clock

This shows the names and on the day where the name is on top, it will be the name day of that name.

In terms of food, Prague is famous for Trdelnik too (compared to Poland). However, the Trdelnik here is much more touristy priced and the quality of the cake is not as good as the counterpart in Krakow. Therefore, I feel that trying once is good enough:) Had the famous Pork Knee at Restaurace Mlejnice! Must say that it is the best Schweinshaxe I have ever eaten! The pork is so juicy and the skin is flamed till perfection with a hinge of beer taste. It is really big though and I would recommend two people to share one knuckle or you will probably not finish it! Other than that, Prague is also famous for its soups and I wanted to try at this place called Loxal but it was full house:/ Do remember to call in to reserve as most restaurants will be quite packed from 6pm onwards!

Trdelnik

HUGE ASS PORK KNEE

Cesky Krumlov

On Saturday, I met Xin Yi and we headed to this less known town called Cesky Krumlov, south Czech Republic. This place was recommended to us by this Hungarian girl we met at Montserrat. Known for its medieval beauty, this town is another replica of a fairytale town!

When we arrived at the town, it was snowing and it was really beautiful experiencing the snow falling gradually onto our jackets, body and the streets, lest cold! It made the place even more magical:) We would recommend to travel up to the castle (again) and head towards the viewing platform for the postcard view of the place!

The view of Cesky!

The town is not super touristy so the number of shops opened are quite minimal. We went to a cafe that sells only breakfast menu for lunch and it was quite cool that the cafe owner has a second job as a seamstress. In fact, she opened the cafe so she can use the place as her workshop to sew:) And she even made the cafe tailor-theme, having sewing machines as the tables! The lunch wasn’t super impressive but it is still worth it to have it there!

Grilled to perfection!

Walking down the town, we went into a chocolate speciality shop that sells all sorts of chocolates, hot wine and honey. It is also a Czech thing to drink hot wine and even though we did not try, I would recommend the experience to do so if you want to experience the local culture! We also entered a woodcraft shops that sell all sorts of woodcrafts, from decorations to children’s toys. It felt really christmasy and the shop lady was nice enough to demonstrate how some of the toys work:) We bought ourselves a couple woodcraft and they look so cute hehe!

She looks her gift! Sucessful!

Snacking on the Czech fried cheese (Smažený sýr), it tasted really normal too. Do not get it in Prague once again cause they are known to prepare it only at the street stands just for tourists and the sources of the cheese may be quite dubious! Having it at Cesky Krumlov was alright!

And for dinner, we went to Cafe Blue, a local pub that serves really nice grills. When I said grills, I meant that the meat are really grilled over a fire place, how cool was that? We came relatively early and they were just setting up the fire place – so we got to see our meat being grilled to perfection, YAY! The meat is really tender and juicy! Highly recommended to get the chicken one cause the sauce they used really complemented the chicken really well:)

Brno

And finally, I went solo on my last place in Brno, where I caught a flight in the afternoon back to London. This place has quite some places to explore if you are ever going there and have time to spare. Due to the lack of time, I have only been to the Freedom Square and bought my lunch there! You can check out Xinyi’s blog for more recommendations:)

And this marks the end of my solo trip in Prague and Brno, as well as a short day trip to Cesky Krumlov! It’s really a blessing to be given this opportunity to see the world while we are still young and willing to travel without comfort. Maximising this time around Europe makes me learn a lot and drawn me a step ahead to look forward to new travels in the upcoming weeks:) Hopefully, Spring Term won’t be so hectic and I can travel a bit more:)