Packing - Stansted Airport -> KLIA

It was quite tiring with 11 days on the road covering 3750 km, spending 320 GBP on diesel, 500 GBP on car rental and 500 GBP on accommodations.

Next was packing to go home. We stuffed the fragile ceramic plates loosely in between clothes in 3 suit cases. The rest 4 bags were stuffed with souvenoirs, chocolates, shoes and clothing.

All in 7 bags

London, Oxford, Carboot, Bicester Village - Day 11,12 of May 28,29

We left the hotel to London by 10am. Parked the car at Dollis Hill train station and bought a one day ticket for London Underground which includes services for the train & bus services. The ticket for the 4 of us cost 30 pound.

London transport services

Liskeard, Bristol, Oxford, Basingstoke - Day 10 of May 27

Hotel Trethew Manor is a countryside hotel with English old house and concept. Right after breakfast, we packed up and ready for the next trip to Oxford via Bristol. We had planned to meet an ustaz and his family. The wife from UIA is currently doing her sabbatical at Oxford University.

We arrived in Bristol at 12 pm and had jacket potatoes for lunch. Hazim bought a cap at one of the shop.

Bread and egg again for breakfast - were expecting a roti canai

Stoke onTrent, Liskeard, Cornwall, South England - Day 9 of May 26

After spending 2 nights at  Abbeyfield Hotel Bangor Wales, we packed up and drove to Liskeard, South England. We start early since the journey is expected to take 7 hours for 520 km trip.

We passed the town of Liverpool and Manchester.

Bangor Wales to Stoke on Trent

Bangor, Porthmadog, Snowdonia Mountains, Betws y Coed Day 7,8 of 24, 25 MayWales

In Wales, we had reservation at Abbeyfield Hotel in the town of Bangor north east of Wales.

Abbeyfield Hotel in Bangor Wales

Glenshee, Inverness, Fort William, Loch Lomond, Cheshire Oak Liverpool, Bangor - Day 6 of May 23

Spittal Glenshee room package does not come with breakfast, so we had breakfast with sandwich, sadin cap ayam, Milo tarik and susu Junjung that we had brought along. Next morning, we wandered around the hotel taking photos. Not able to stay outdoor for too long since the winds are cold and strong. The temperature hovers around 8 degree. It has been raining since the day we arrived yesterday. 

We packed up and drive northeast towards Inverness. The drive meandearing the mountain slope took us 3 hours although the distance is 150 km away. We took photos as we drove along but the cold wind of the mountain keep us taking photos mostly from inside the car.

Lochness of Scotland

Newcastle, Edinburgh, Perth, Glenshee - Day 5 of May 22

Next morning at 9 am we drove the fisherman wharf at North Shields which is 15 minutes away to have hot cooked fish & chips. It is a fisherman jetty and also ship port serving north UK and Europe with passenger ferry plying Newcastle and Rotterdam port.

Newcastle Harbour - having fish & chips in the car cos the weather too cold outside

Lake District, Penines Mountain, Newcastle upon Tyne - Day 3,4 of May 20,21

Woke up early and prepared to continue towards Newcastle. The drive to Newcastle is 150km. We tour the Lake District area. There are many beautiful lakes around this place. Lake Windemere is the most popular tourist destination with lots of lakes activities such as boat ride & kayaking.

We stop over at Lake Windermere to take some photo shots of the place.

From Lake Windemere, we took the Kirkstone Pass to get to Lake Ullswater.

Kirkstone Pass, lake District

Cambridge, Doncaster, Bradford, Yorkshire Dales, Burton, Lancaster - Day 1,2 of May 18,19

Flight booking using Air Asia was made 6 months before the trip. Managed to get RM2000 (400 GBP) for the 2 way fare.

The plane is 90% full, mostly with passengers from Australia  en route to London. We took off at 3pm. The flight took 13 hours. I spent most of my time reading and dozing off. They served 2 dishes, nasi beriyani for dinner and nasi lemak for breakfast

Me & the rented Vauxhall car

Holiday in UK 18 May - 30 May 2011

Itinerary - Lodging Sites

Kota Bharu

A close relative to my wife got married over the weekend on Sunday.
We rented a homestay bungalow close to Kubang Kerian called Suria Homestay. It was a brand new house owned by En Zukie. I found the house published for rent in the internet. Cost RM250 for one night and 200 for subsequent days. It has 4 rooms.

Jakarta & Bandung

We were on a family holiday middle of December. Since the elder children had started working, only the two younger ones joined us for the Jakarta Bandung trip. We were planning to visit our eldest child who works in Jakarta. However, in the last minute, he had to undergo office training in Xian China for 2 weeks. We left KL on KLM Dutch airlines.
The first 3 days we put up with Fakhrol (Zilla the wife), a relative of mine working Jakarta. The family stayed in Lebak Bulus close to Pondok Indah. The trip took us hour and half even though it was only 20km away. Fakhrol had been working in Jakarta for the last 7 years. Their 4 children goes to the local private school.

Treasure Hunt Cameron Highlands

On 11 Dec 2010, Share Guide Malaysia organized a Treasure Hunt to Cameroon Highlands. Aziela, Malar & Maira from our office had confirmed  to participate. However at the last minute Maira had to decline and I decided to take along my son who had just finished his SPM to replace her.

KL Bird Park Flagoff

Sungai Siput - Sarmila Wedding

Over the week end, we organized a trip to Sungai Siput to attend a wedding of one of the office colleague. We had nasik lemak at home for breakfast.

Having breakfast at our house

Melaka - ISO Meeting

Travel to Melaka on 19 April to attend 5 days ISO Meeting hosting 200+ delegates worldwide. However due to closure of all airport in Europe due to ash from Iceland volcano, most participants from Europe did not come.

Arrived at 12pm. Since it was lunch time, had nasi lauk ikan masak asam at a food outlet across Banda Hilir Police Station along Jalan Ujung Pasir. Unlike KL, they served all sorts of kueh during lunch right until evening. 

Checked in to Equatorial hotel and was placed at the 17th Floor. The room was excellent since the hotel was recently refurbished.

Langkawi - Team Building

I was one of the 55 staff nominated to attend our IT Department office team building session in Langkawi from 04 until 06 April 2010. Initially I did not put too much interest of the trip due to its distance and had been to Langkawi on several occasion.

Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam Garden Wedding

Last week our eldest son got married and today Saturday 20 Mar 2010, it was the bridegroom side to throw the reception. We had distributed 400 cards followed by emails, sms and phone calls invitation. It was held at Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) Bukit Kiara. The event started at 7 pm and ended at 11pm. Guest started to trickle in at 7pm and the crowd build up at 8.30pm at the height of the event. There is also a prayer room available and those who came early took a break to perform their maghrib prayers..