London

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My Trip to London, UK

October 29, 2011

I have been scanning my travel blog for my previous trips to the UK  and found some posts about my trip to London. It just brought a lot of fond memories.

When Air Asia launched its first flights to London, UK… I was one of the first to get the promo airfare.  That time, my husband had a meeting to attend in Bogota, Colombia. The flight was enroute UK. I was so excited at the thought, to be able to transit in the UK on the way to Colombia.

I checked my blog earnings and it was enough to buy my tickets from Kuala Lumpur to London via Air Asia and London to Colombia via Air France.

It was autumn in London and I was thrilled that finally, I could experience different seasons too. I live in a tropical country so I was ecstatic to know I could experience other seasons too.

  • Top 10 Things to do in London:
Before coming to London, I searched on the internet on the things one must do or see in London. I knew there were like thousands of things to do in London, but I also knew that I wouldn’t have enough time and budget to do all those things in one go. So I searched on the top 10 things to do and see in London which I found on blog.cas1n0man.net:
London, England is one of the most famous cities in the world. Its history is as impressive as it is long. Founded by the Romans over 2000 years ago, London is both the capital of England and the UK, and with its medieval boundaries and core City of London, this metropolis offers something everyone can enjoy. London blends aspects of the Ancient Roman Empire with historic England and meets the modern world head-on.

Although there are literally thousands of things to do in London, a list of ten should get you started.

Read the rest of the  entry here: Top 10 Things to do in London.

  • First Night: Culture Shock!

My family members had already “cautioned” us what to expect when we come to London. My brother-in-law used to fly a lot to London. He was in MAS International Flight before (now he’s in Malaysia Airlines regional flight as a steward) and my parents-in-law visited London last year for 2 months. SO they gave us all different kinds of stories about London.

But I was always fascinated with London from the books I read and from the movies I watched. So… coming here was really a treat for me, although I had to go through a lot just to get my UK Visa application approved.

We reached London two hours after expected time because there was some kind of delay from Malaysia. Again, Air Asia was two hours delayed. It happened when we went to Brunei also… our flight was two hours delayed. I don’t have complains though. Air Asia airfare is sooo cheap. In fact, we only paid 1,098RM per person for return tickets from Malaysia to London. And the flight from Malaysia to London was not so bad at all.

Anyways, we booked our stay in one of the hostels in Bayswater, Central London. And it’s the cheapest one can find. When you’re in Bayswater, Westminster, you are actually in the hub of central London.

Read the rest of the entry here:  Culture Shock London
  • First Day: Kensington Gardens

On first day in London, we decided to take a walk around Bayswater just to get the feel of our place. We wanted to see Hyde Park at daytime. So went inside the Park and it took us to the Kensington Gardens. It was truly beautiful. I’m glad we’re staying in Bayswater where every important places to see and do is just walking distance away.

Read the rest of the entry here: Kensington Gardens

  • London Tour Part 1

Traveling around London is made easy by the tube, underground or overground. You can just hop in the tube to the major tourist sites and you can get there the moment you get off the tube. It was our first time in London but our friend Fiona was amazed that we could get around London without any friends going with us. But like I said, the Tube made it easier for us. One just need to buy an Oyster Card. Once you have an oyster card, you can go anywhere by bus and by tube.

Read the rest of the entry here:

London Free Tour Part 1

London Free Tour Part 2  here.

  • London Tour on our own:

On our second day in London, we did a London Tour on our own, with just a map and an oyster card. I wanted to see the famous London Bridge. But I was informed that the famous bridge is actually called the Tower bridge. The tower bridge connects the city that is divided by the River Thames.

Read the rest of the entry here: London Tour on our Own.

  • Travel Tip: How to Go To Heathrow Airport from Central London:

There are a few airports in London. Depending on which airlines or countries you fly, they have an airport specifically assigned for you to go. When we flew to London from Kuala Lumpur, we took Air Asia airline, so we landed at Stansted Airport. When we flew from London to Bogota, Colombia, we took Air France so we flew from Heathrow Airport. Heathrow is obviously better than Stansted.

Read the rest of the entry here: How to go to Heathrow Airport from Central London.

My trip to the UK was indeed amazing, seeing palaces, castles, meeting friends, eating some pub grubs with a dear friend, buying a pair of boots from a retro shop in Notting Hill and going to Bogota Colombia from there and back to tour some more. It was indeed a very fulfilling experience, totally satisfying my wanderlust.

Of course, it helped that before going to London, I read from Air Asia’s magazine about some budget places while in London. And so, we were able to stay in Central London and actually enjoyed the beautiful and historical places in a budget.

: Europe, London
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11

Travel Tips: How to go to Heathrow Airport from Central London

April 2, 2011

There are a few airports in London. Depending on which airlines or countries you fly, they have an airport specifically assigned for you to go. When we flew to London from Kuala Lumpur, we took Air Asia airline, so we landed at Stansted Airport. When we flew from London to Bogota, Colombia, we took Air France so we flew from Heathrow Airport. Heathrow is obviously better than Stansted. Our flight to Bogota was in the morning, at 6:30. We had to be at the airport terminal 2 hours earlier ( international airport standard). That would mean we had to leave our hostel at around 3 am. But there are no trains and tubes during that time. So what we did was… we left our hostel the night before our flight just to make sure we made it to the airport on time. From Bayswater station, we took the tube that would take us to Paddington Station. From Paddington, there would be a few types of transportation that go to Heathrow Airport. There are buses, Heathrow Express (express train), Heathrow Connect (it’s another rail service but slower than express train) and cabs. We took the… as you can guess… Heathrow Connect because it’s the cheapest mode of transportation going to the airport. We paid 7 GBP per person. It took us 20 minutes to reach Heathrow Airport from Paddington.

In the morning, we went inside again to check in. We met a lot of passengers that were also on the way to Bogota. And we went our first ever Colombian friend. She’s been in London for 4 years now and it was her first time to go back to Colombia and she was nervous. Talking to us helped her ease her nervousness, she said.

It was nice meeting a Colombian girl just before hitting Colombia. We had a bit of culture learning. Truly, Colombians are warm, happy and hospitable people… just like Filipinos. In fact, when our plane landed on Bogota Airport, everybody clapped their hands.
: Europe, London, travel tips
3

Get your UK Visa Approved

November 28, 2009
After posting about my UK visa rejection, a lot of people end up in my blog reading about UK visa. Since I got the UK visa approval after I reapplied, I thought of posting about it too. How do we get our UK visa approval?

UK Embassy has one legal agency that accepts the visa application. It is called the VFS Border Agency. Here, you will submit all the documents along with your application. They cannot guarantee or give advise on how to get approval because it all depends on the people from the embassy the decision to approve and reject.

First, you log in to the VFS Border Agency website (whichever country you are from) which you can find easily using search engines. Then you download the application form, fill it up and prepare the documents that support whatever you have written, i.e. if you’re married, you can attach your marriage certificate. If you follow the instructions, it’s pretty much straightforward.

All documents must have an original copy. There is also a requirement for photo and you need to submit one copy, attached to the application form.

Also, if you’re going through sponsorship, make sure your photocopied bank statement has a certificate of true copy stamp from the bank.

The burden of proof is on you… and they base the decision on whatever documents you submitted.

If you have any questions, feel free to post a commet.

And all the best on your application.

London is worth going to. If you ask me whether I intend to go back there, the answer would be a definite yes… if given another chance, of course.

: Europe, London, UK Visa, visa