Hey! What's good?
So, I'm back with another part of my travel stories in London, UK. This part made the trip even more special than it already was: meet ups with family and friends in London 😊 

Don't miss the first 3 parts! Read them here:

→ TRIP TO LONDON (PART 1): I WON A TRIP TO LONDON FOR FOUR!!

→ TRIP TO LONDON (PART 2): BREATHING LONDON AIR FOR THE FIRST TIME! 

→ TRIP TO LONDON (PART 3): ALL THINGS HARRY POTTER!

After exploring some of the popular Harry Potter locations in London on the second day, it started to get dark and my stomach was already grumbling. We made our way to Charing Cross Station (if I'm not mistaken) and went to Burger King. I ordered the Bacon Double Cheeseburger cos bacon is love, bacon is life. Bacon got me like: YAAAASSSSS.

sidenote; We used our London Pass cards (that we bought at the airport) on our forth and fifth day in London, so do stay tune to Part 5 to know all the amazing places that we went to!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! 😎

JL.

Previous entries:

TRIP TO LONDON (PART 1): I WON A TRIP TO LONDON FOR FOUR!!

 TRIP TO LONDON (PART 2): BREATHING LONDON AIR FOR THE FIRST TIME! 

Woke up the next morning on my bed and I was feeling excited to get the day started. But first, breakfast! We brought Maggi, Gardenia bread and canned food all the way from Malaysia #Jimat. We also bought cup noodles and other cheap items from the convenient store close by #JimatTimesTwo

we had a quiet neighbourhood as a view. loved it. 💓

We showered and got ready. We then went downstairs to the lobby and stayed there for a short while to use the free WiFi because it was only available there. There were a lot of tourists from different parts of the world there with their eyes stuck on their phone screens. After that, we went out to the bus stop. Truth be told, we didn't have any proper plans for the day, so we just went with where destiny would bring us, loooolll.

We quickly went up to the upper deck of the bus and the front seats were empty. Yay!

recorded the journey with my HTC RE Camera but sadly the camera malfunctioned recently 😔

we always find our way to places by referring to the maps at the bus stops

We stopped at the bus stop nearby the King's Cross Station and made our way to a very iconic location nearby. Platform 9¾!! If you're a Potterhead, this is really the place go. The location can be quickly identified with a huge crowd queuing up to take photos at the location where a trolley can be seen disappearing into a wall, "entering the magical realm". We didn't feel like queuing up (memang sah pemalasss) so we didn't bother joining the long queue (which I kinda regret now). The Harry Potter Shop is just beside the platform. They sell many cool items from the Harry Potter series and also Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them there. 

tak ambil gambar, kita ambil gambar orang, hahaha. and this one got a lot of attention because he's a good-looking kid 😎😂 #ModelMaterial

forgive my expression here but here's a selfie infront of the shop with my #London2K16 squad 😅😆

Didn't know why we didn't take many picture there, haihh. So, let's proceed to............ just next door-- the St. Pancras International. It was a sight to behold because this gothic architecture is indeed a beauty. It is also another popular movie location due to it's appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  

hmmm, muka kelaparan sebab excited sangat sampai tak breakfast betul-betul

 There was also a live broadcast happening infront of the building, so we "accidentally" walked by it. And guess what yall's?! We were seen in a British local news channel!! (hahaha jokes kbye) We just wandered around King's Cross and stumbled upon this giant Christmas tree in a seven-metre ‘cube of ice’. It was a work of art by British artist Alex Chinneck. Not your typical way of "decorating" your Christmas tree, I must say.


We got on another bus and headed to Piccadilly Circus. This is once again a famous place that's related to Harry Potter. Daym, I must go on a Harry Potter marathon soon! A famous scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I was shot here in Piccadilly Circus. 

Then, we kept walking around and got attracted by a huge sport store in Regent Street, SportsDirect.com. We might had spent more than one hour in there but came out with a few items only. I didn't take any photos inside cos' I was too focused "shopping". So, here are some other random photos taken----

because.................... yeah. #TeamMalaysia

they have the cutest taxis ever!!

that's me just standing there cos I can, kehkehkeh

I love this city so much, like.... "siriusly" ❤

⇀ Click HERE for Part 1 where I rant about how this trip was made possible

Luggage dropped. Got into the plane. Settled down in the four seats in the middle. Take off took quite some time, head counts were done multiple times, but soon later, we were flying high in the sky. The food and drinks served were pretty good but bad luck Joel, he got a stomach ache. Having to do a number two in a plane wasn't a pleasant experience at all. It's all good though cos I got to watch few good movies, listen to Adele and Frank Ocean, and most importantly.. sleeeeeep. Lucky woman infront of us got all four seats for herself (i was really jealous, haha)



More than 14 hours later.. touchdown! 😎 We arrived London safely (phewww). It was surreal, felt really unreal. We went out from the plane and got through immigration. We got our luggage and the first place we headed to was the Travel Information Centre, where we purchased our London Pass cards which will allow us to enter/use attractions in London with no further payments. 


We then proceed to the airport's underground tube station to get to our hostel. We booked a room in RestUp Hostel for 5 nights. What made travelling convenient was the Oyster cards that I borrowed from a good friend. These cards are extremely useful for public transportation in London and I believe that it's the cheapest way to get to places in London too. Shoutout to Cielyne for telling me about the card and for lending them to us!


Dragged our luggage into the tube and it was fairly empty. Well, that did not last very long, though. After a couple of stations after the airport, the tube started to get filled with people. The tube is very small if you compare it with the size of the people there. People kept coming into the tube and there was barely any leg space. Memang macam tin sardin. It took us around 40 minutes in the tube to finally reach the Elephant & Castle Station, which was the nearest station to our hostel.

Climbed up the stairs and when we reached the top.. I had my first contact to the cold London air. I finally got to see the iconic red double decker buses!! #BucketList checked! ✅ It was a moment when I had goosebumps all over and I truly felt blessed.


After sucking it all in, we made our way to the hostel by foot with the help of Google. We successfully found the hostel and it has a real chill cool vibe to it. Hipstuuuur. You can check out the hostel at restup.co.uk. Too bad that we were not allowed to check into our room yet because it was still early. So, we left our stuffs in the lockers as we wanted to go around Central London. It costed us a few pounds to rent 2 lockers but we really didn't wanna just sit around and wait.

Made our way out and the bus stop was right infront. We got onto a bus and it's not long after when we reached the place that made my day..

tick tock, who can name this iconic clock?

round and round The London Eye goes.

Overjoyed, I really was. Up to this point, it still felt like a dream. I didn't know it was possible, but there I was.. eating a Gardenia toaster waffle beside the River Thames.

We then walked to Trafalgar Square. Got to see more of London by walking.


There were a lot of people at Trafalgar Square, just immersed in the street performances. Few Yoda(s) were there too.




Then we made our way to St James's Park. I fed the squirrels and birds there!



St. James's Park is located nearby the famous Buckingham Palace but food mattered more to us, so we went to find food. And guess what we wanted.
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Rice, looooooooooooooolll. #SoMalaysian

So, we went to a place called the Malaysia Hall Canteen. It's a homey canteen serving quite a variety of Malaysian food, by Malaysians for Malaysians. #SapotLokal

not the best Malaysian food I've tasted, but it suffices.

Malaysia Hall also provides budget accommodations for Malaysians-- just so everyone knows. It probably would really feel like home as it's filled with all things Malaysians.

After lunch, we went to Bayswater Station to go back to our hostel. We finally checked into our private room. The room was incredibly small but we just needed a place to sleep at night and secure our stuffs when we go out.. so it was A-okay! It was a hostel, so washrooms were shared with other occupants. We settled down and rested for a bit, then we head out again.

London gets dark really early in December. London started to get dark at 3 p.m.. But, I'm not complaining because the view was still very beautiful when it's dark. There was a Christmas Market nearby The London Eye, so that was the place that we went to.

the great view from the bridge as we head to the market. breathe-taking.

stuffed our faces with this delectable thaaang.

We finished our hotdogs while enjoying the great view of the River Thames. After finishing the huge hotdogs, we strolled beside the river and got closer to The London Eye.

Called it a day cos' we needed rest for the next day. It was an ah-maaaa-zing day indeed.