Italy trip : Venice |Part 1|

Assalamualaikum...

the long awaited break that I am waiting for after 1 year struggling in the lab that causes me to put on so much stress and broke me into tears once...huhu...just right after my conference in Montreal, Canada which I will post it later, I went to Italy as my short getaway from lab with the blessings from my supervisor :D

we have been planning the trip for months before the actual event...there were supposed to be 4 us but somehow in the very last minute, one of my friend drop out from the trip as her bestfriend is undergoing a major surgery...if it was me, I would do the same...we depart from London Gatwick airport which was my very first time there as I have been taking flights from Heathrow airport all this while...we took Easyjet to Venice at 9.30pm scheduled flight...we got the first seat on the flight which was just infront of the cockpit! wohooaa..

we landed in Marco Polo airport around midnight (add 1 hour from UK's time)...our accommodation is just few minutes away from the airport by water taxi but little that we know, the last departure of the water taxi was at 9.30pm...thankfully there was a shuttle bus that go to Venice for €8...we arrived at Piazzale Roma and get off the bus...we asked around and there are few water taxi services thats still operating that time but since we can't find the ticket booth stand nor the dock, I went to ask a taxi driver if he could get us to our accommodation...to my surprise, he said that we can just walk to our accommodation which will only be around 15 minutes and he even Google map it himself to show the route to us...so we decided to save our money and walk since it's just a straight line with few bridges that we need to cross...

using my other friend data plan, (if you are planning for a vacation in any European country, I would suggest to use Three) with the help of the gps to direct us, finally we manage to find our accommodation building...if you haven't been to Venice, no vehicles can fit into their narrow and small roads...its either you take water taxi or walk! I can't imagine if I was traveling alone and need to pass all those gloomy, dark and silence narrow roads in the middle of the night! you can't really tell what's infront of you since the building is stall and close to each other...if you are not familiar with the place, you might get lost as some of the road has no sign on it...I always make a joke to my bestie if I was destined to study there, I would get lost every single time for months before I can manage to memorise the roads...haha

 

this is how the road in Venice looks like...narrow and sandwiched with tall buildings

once reached our accommodation which my bestie found it thru air bnb, we unlock the front door using the instruction that the owner gave to her thru email...so we took the bags that consist of the key to our room and a Venice map and start searching for my bestie name on the door that has been assigned by the owner...to our surprised, we can't find her name on any door in the house...my other friend somehow realised that there is one door that has my bestie name on it but has been rubbed off and other name is on it, and that person name is on the other door in that house as well...in that moment I know that our room has been taken off by someone else without ours or the owner knowledge...I used the key that were in the bag and opened the door that was supposed to be us and it fits perfectly! there were 4 guys in that room and I try to negotiate with them...since we are too tired and he doesn't want to admit that they changed the room themselves without consulting the owner eventhough I told him that we have the matching key to our room and they have the key to their room which was on the other floor, I gave up and we switched the room anyway...since one of our friend drop out last minute, the room fits us all with 1 double bed and 1 single bed...I asked my bestie to contact the owner the next morning to inform him what happened...

put aside what happened the night before, we woke up bright and early and started our morning stroll around Venice the next day...check out my next update on Venice!

Ciao! ^_^v

Easter Break | Keukenhof Gardens

Assalamualaikum...

its a must if you come to Amsterdam during spring to come and visit Keukenhof for its Tulips! Tulips only bloom during the summer in certain part of the world and Holland is one of the well known country for its Tulip during spring...

our plan for the next morning was to Keukenhof

  

we woke up quite early and took some photos of the beautiful scenery at our accommodation area...Subhanallah...

then we continue our journey to Keukenhof which took only 30 minutes from our accommodation....we reached there around 9.30am

there were only one full row of cars and buses at the car park area...so thankful that there were not so many people when we arrived...haha

the first photo with Tulip ^_^v (my profile pix for the blog as well...hee~)

check out the scenery inside...

its so unfortunate for us because that was not the optimal time for the Tulip to bloom...most of the Tulips were still in budding form when we came -_-"

the optimal time where the tulips will reach full blossom is between late of April to middle of May

since the flowers at the park mostly still in the buddy form, there is one building called Willem-Alexander building where they showcase variety of flowers which of course Tulip were the most abundant :D

  

we then have a quick snack just outside this building with the windmill as the background

finish eating, we went up the windmill...its free!!!

  

the windmill was built on 4th April 1957...the year of Malaysia independence day :D

wefie picture is a must! we conquer the windmill...haha...

we then walk around the park...there is small boat cruise that you can try along the river that opens in May...since its so romantic, we took the picture on the boat! looks like in Venice...haha

and there is lots of decoration using the different kind of lowers...just amazing and so colourful~

and a small petting zoo with sheeps, goats, peacock, chicken and of course piglets!

the park is huge...since we don't have much time since we were rushing to go to another place, we didn't cover the whole park...maybe you need one whole day if you are not rushing and take your own sweet time to cover the whole park...

there are lots of souvenir shops here as well...as we were walking back to our car, we stop buy at a flower shop...they sell numerous different types of flowers either it be the full bloom flowers or the seeds...so me and my bestie go for 2 pots of Tulips seeds with each 5 seeds inside the pot...we bought 2 different colours; white and purple with Euro5...according to the owner of the shop, it will bloom next year during spring but, the flower already full bloom last May during my master graduation! haha...but I was so sad because I didn't take the full bloom Tulips since I was busy with my mom and my bestie family during their visits to London -_-" they were sooo beautiful~  

Bye~^_^v

My Mom was in London!!!

Assalamualaikum...

I should have posted this looong time ago but since the picture of the whole event were scattered between in my bestie handphone and her family handphones and cameras, so I need to wait until I have gathered all the photos to make it more interesting as most of the pictures were in other people possession >.<

so since my MASTER GRADUATION will be held on 6th May 2015, so my mom was so excited to come and witness the event as that will be my first graduation ceremony my whole life! huhu...she came with my bestie sister on the 28th of April 2015...they arrived around 5pm at London Heathrow airport...

tadaaa!!! the first appearance of my mom in my blog! ^_^v yes the one on the wheelchair is my mom...ya I know our feature is different...lolz! :p

since I have taken 2 weeks leave in January for my brother wedding, so I have to limit my day off but since my sv was so kind, she asks me to take few days off to bring my mom around and spend some time with her...so I have plan a few vacation with her together with my bestie family...

the first few days that she was in London I couldn't bring her anywhere since it was weekdays and I was busy in the lab...so on the weekend of the first week that she was here, I brought her around with the main aim was to buy her the winter jacket...eventhough it is spring, but since it was still very cold, I brought her to Shepherd Bush Market since thats where I could think of the best bargain that I can get :D

  

see the picture on the left? thats the winter jacket that I bought for her...only for GBP30 after a few times bargaining with the seller...fuuuhh~~ the best part is that since there are lootttsss of seller that can speak Urdu, so I ask my mom to speak with them in order to get cheaper price...hahahaha...

after that, I brought her to the must-visit-place in London ie London Eye and Big Ben

  

I am sooo satisfied that I manage to bring her to these places...thats my hope if in case I was too busy, at least, I can bring her here...Alhamdulillah He granted my wishes ^_^

next, we went to Southbank...I know beforehand that there will be an event called Malaysia Kitchen Spring Market and I laready aiming to bring my mom to this event so that she can experience going to an event here in London...so since she has knee problem and she is quite stubborn not to sit on the wheelchair, so we need to take buses to go to Southbank as tube station has lots of stairs and not all platform is step free

  

  

eventhough its easier for her to take buses than tube, I really do hope that she has the experience of taking tube in London and I manage to do that as well...ngeee ^_^v

Alhamdulillah she was happy when I brought her here...we ate Nasi Tomato while the weather was so crazily windy and she was so relax telling me that she is not cold! haha...but later, after a few minutes we sat in the cold windy weather, she cant stand it anymore and luckily that I brought her that jacket...pfftt~~

after that, I was sooo crazily busy in the lab because whenever my sv turns for night shift, (I work closely with a gynecology) the next morning I will have loads of sample to culture for my experiments...and unfortunately, when my mom was in London, the whole week was my sv's turn for night shift...huhu...but as I mentioned above that I have taken few leaves as to entertain her and bring her around UK, so on the 4th until 5th of May, we went to Liverpool and Manchester...the reason we went there was because thats where my bestie parents met and fall in love...cewaahhh~~ :-* 

since its an overnight vacation, so my bestie rent an apartment in Manchester as our tentative was Liverpool was the first destination and then we will have our overnight at Manchester with the plan for the next day was sightseeing in Manchester with the main destination was the stadiums!!! you know guys~~haha >.<

nothing much to say, lets enjoy the photos~~

  

I have did drove a car to Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield but this was the first time that we had to pay for a toll...this is when we want to enter Liverpool from London...when my bestie father told us that there will be a toll, I was skeptical about that since we never experienced that...I thought that would be like yearssss ago since he was there like 10 years (or more?) ago so might be that they have abolished the toll, but naahhh here we go...this is how the toll that we have to gone thru...I was so excited!!

  

this is how it works...there are counter just like in Malaysia with a staff that will collect money from you but however, that staff doesn't function here...I am not sure why, so what we need to do is just to throw the money in the basket as you can see on the left picture and the machine will print out the ticket for you...cool isn't??? this method have been told by my bestie father while we are on our way but I just can't imagine it until we reach here...wohoaaa!! my first toll experienced in UK!! :D oh btw, thats the only toll that we had to gone thru since on our way back, we were from Manchester...

  

I told you that our tour will be mostly about stadium, here it is!! Manchester United & Etihad Stadium :) since my mom was quite cold to come out from the car to join photoshoot in front of Etihad Stadium, so I took it as I am not a big fan of football and I am not sure whether I am coming back here for another trip...so just grab the opportunity and snap a photo as a proof that I have been to all these stadiums...haha  

   

  

it has been like 2 months since they come here but still I cant gather all the photos yet! so I dont have the photo on the accommodation :( but all I can say is the accommodation was superb...its an apartment with 3 rooms just enough for 11 people plus the house have sofa bed, so basically me and my bestie and the guys were sleeping on sofa bed...huhu...

after sightseeing Manchester, my bestie plan was actually want to go to Chestnut Wildlife Centre which I have been there but no posts on that!! haha...will do one day!! :p but since we took so much time at the Designer Outlet plus we were back on time since the park closes at 5pm, so we went to Peak District which I have been to as well but no posts! huhu

    

after that, I was busy with lab again until just before my moms flight on the 15th of May, I brought her to Wembley Designer Outlet to browse for her cooking set utensils...she wants me to bring her to Junction 32, Leeds where I brought tefal sets for my whole family...but unfortunately I can't bring her there, so I compensate that with Pro Cook brand! she just loves it as at least she brought something that she was yearning for when she is in London :D besides the outlet, since she was also looking for a handbag for her and for my sister, so I brought her to Baker Street which me and bestie just knew that there is a shop there that sell all the bags at only GBP30!! that shop was discovered by my bestie mom when she and her family was sightseeing London...so we went there and Alhamdulillah she grab 3 bags which she likes :D

  

  

  

brought her to park as well just so she experienced the differences of the park here and in Malaysia...first thought of having picnic here but then we keep changing our plan and keep moving around...the pic above was at Holland Park where you can see beautiful Tulips which they are lucky to see it since they came during early spring and after that we went to Speaker's Corner at Hyde Park

I am happy as I manage to fulfill all the plans that I have planned while my mom was here...I manage to bring her to variety of places in UK eventhough she has to stay a lot of her times in the house as she cant join my bestie family all the times since she cant bear to walk so much...on the 15th of May, I send her to Heathrow together with my bestie family...

  

please ignore my condition, I was just toooo tired! haha

she already in Malaysia (obviously! haha) when I post this! :p tq for coming and fill my fridge with lots of food stocks! hehe...take care of yourself ok mom! :-*

Bye~^_^v