UK & Italy trip 2012 (part 1)

Early last month my whole family (mummy, hubby, baby and myself) went to send my younger brother (abg) to Bristol for his 3rd year degree in UWE. It was a hectic, hectic, most tiring trip ever. Tiring mostly because we had to carry Batrisyia and her bag during the whole trip but it was a conscious collective decision not to bring a stroller considering the amount of travelling we had to do so I don't know whether I can regret that decision.

 

8 September 2012: 11.40pm - Boarded our A380 flight to London. Hubby was so impressed with the size of the fleet. Take off was really smooth that my sleeping baby couldn't even feel it. She slept for a whole 9 hours. The balance 3 hours we fed her, changed her diapers, twice and had to play with her to keep her entertained. Above all, we were really thankful that she was such a good baby!

 

9 September 2012: 5.50am - Arrived in London Heathrow. Abg had to filled in forms at immigration. Went straight to our 1st accommodation, Hyde Park Executive Apartment (cost us 248pounds for 2 nights). Left our luggage there and off we went to London Marlyborne to take a train to Bichester Village via Bichester North. I think that trip was so not worth it. Paid 73pounds for the whole family train tickets and all we got was one pair of shoes for me. Met Azmir and Mimi there but we didn't stay long. Wanted to have dinner at Holiday Villa but opening time was 5pm so we went to Malaysian Student Department (MSD) canteen instead. Checked in, freshen up, prayed... Thought of going down to Tesco Express to buy some drinks and fruits but everyone just got hit by jetlag and off we went to sleep.

 

10 September 2012: The whole family woke up pretty early (considering we were still on Malaysia's timezone. It's Harry Potter Studio's day! Mimi joined us for breakfast at MSD (again!) and off we went to Paddington Station. From there we took London Overground to Watford Junction and took a shuttle bus to the studio. It was a very cool experience to see the real set where they shot the movies. After that, we (my family and I) were supposed to catch our 3.45pm session for Queen's royal jewel exhibition at Buckingham Palace. I initially thought of going back first but decided against it and decided to be early for the session. Turned out there was an closing Olympic Parade going on! The entrance to Buckingham Palace were closed so we had to make a VERY BIG round to the other side of the palace, running! Batrisyia was happily sleeping on my shoulder and mummy had to fast walk to catch up with me. Poor mummy. After Buckingham Palace, we went back to send mummy. Hubby, Abg and I went back out to Holiday Villa to buy her favourite Lobster Noodle.

11 September 2012: Checked out. Had breakfast at London Paddington and took train (First Great Western) to Bristol. Arrived early at our accommodation to store our luggages at Bristol Serviced Lettings (300pounds for 3 nights), but they let us in early because the place was ready. Very nice place and service! They not only provided a baby cot for us, they also installed a baby gate before the stairs. Took bus #13 (UWE3) to go to Glenside campus to pick up Abg's hostel keys but we missed the stop so we went to Frenchey campus instead. Since we were caught in after hours traffic, it was quite late already. Couldn't do any official stuff so we went to Cabot Circus instead. Bought abg's UK sim card (we chose 3), had light dinner, bought stuff from Sainsbury and back to rest.