Europe Trip - Day 5: Paris - London - Bristol

Another hectic day in store for us today. Went out in the morning to LaFayette Gallery to buy hubby's Tag Heuer watch. Submitted form for VAT claims at lower ground floor and thought that was it. Didn't submit the form at the airport when we left UK later, which was a waste! Could have claimed nearly RM1K. Arghhh... Lesson learned.

And then, rushed back to the hotel, checked out and ran to a shop opposite The Louvre for some last minute souvenier shopping. Took a cab to Gare Du Nord from the hotel and arrived comfortably at the station. However, after filling in some forms and toilet break, we checked in less than half an hour before our departure time and was told we might not be able to catch our train. Oh No! Not again. So off we ran and ran and made it just on time. Phew. Strike two.

When we arrived back at St Pancras station, we had to look for lost and found station to find my bag. Got it but it took us about 20 minutes there. Rushed to Paddington station and again... nearly missed our 5pm train to Bristol... I thought my printed tickets were enough. When my brother asked me, I said I have printed my tickets already. Later, I found out the tickets I printed were only booking confirmation. So when we arrived at the station, I need to find a machine to print my tickets. We were counting by the seconds at the moment. I waited for the machine to print 3 tickets and off we ran again. We really thought we would have missed the train but we managed to board the train just on time!!! Strike three.

Arghhh. Even typing about it is making me stress. Hubby said next time could you please spaced the time in between further apart. I defended myself saying, if we hadn't left the bag, it was more than enough time... But still... I should have factored in all these unexpected events, right. Yeah, well. In the train, I realised I actually took only two tickets. The first one printed was the receipt. Lucky at the station, the man there just let us off.

Took a cab to Cabot Circus and settled down in our second accommodation. Premier Apartments Bristol Cabot Circus, booked through booking.com. When we entered the accommodation, everyone was so excited to see clean, spacious, bright environment. We were really glad we chose the apartment as it was near a grocery store i.e. Sainsbury and in the middle of Cabot Circus town. Had dinner at a buffet styled Halal restaurant in town and went back to relax. Had sahur before we went to bed and the next day was our first successful fasting through out the whole trip.