Exploring London – Edinburgh – Manchester – Bicester Village – Oxford
Day-3, August 8, 2009
This morning we woke up and prepare ourself to go back to Buckingham Palace for palace tour. The weather a little bit warm today, but still i prepare my jacket because we never know for sure how’s UK weather 
Back to
Buckingham Palace we notice what time we should be there and what should we do, because we have done some research the day before when we were attending the ‘changing guard’ event. The ticket to enter the palace cost us GBP 15.50 per person but we don’t have authorize to enter the rooms
in the palace if we get this kind of ticket. The ticket for rooms entrance will cost us more than that. If you’re a student, try showing them your student card, because there is a special price for students. Eve
nthough you’re a student from Indonesia or other country, try showing them your student card.. as long as there is expiry date on the card, you will get the special rate for students. Too bad i don’t have any valid student card with me since i’m not a student anymore.
Queing for another hours are briefed by the security guard that we cannot take any pictures in the palace (damn you security guard!), and we will be monitored since there are many hidden-cameras inside the palace. We will be given an self-audio tour with many language options (but too bad they don’t have the language option in Indonesian hehe…). Entering each doors in the palace (which is soooooooooooo huge!), i got bored… All of this items belong to Queen Elizabeth.. her paintings, her jewelleries, her gift from many countries, her wardrobe, hers, hers, and hers. What is it with her… where are William’s stuffs? 
OK then,i think i’m not the only one who got bored with this tour.. i see my friends begin to yawn and take off their self-audio tour device and begin to speed up their tour until the very end of the palace. Just for your information, there are many drawing rooms in that palace, there are green, white, blue drawing room. And most of the room are full of paintings… No wonder, William and Harry got pretty bored in their own home hahahaha… Luckily i don’t live in the palace, it’s so big.. The most interesting part in this palace is the Buckingham Palace Souvenir Shop and Cafe. Love it so much! So great… Although the price is very expensive, but you can’t find any of this stuffs outside of Buckingham. So if you like the item, you better get it in that place. After doing someshopping in the souvenir shop we find an ice cream stall in the area. The ice cream pack is so cute! It has a crown picture on it, they have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavour. I chose the pink pack with strawberry flavour 
After that, we went to Hard Rock souvenir shop to get my friend’s t-shirt. And got home at night for tomorrow’s preparation to Edinburgh, Scotland. Yeaaaayyy…!!
Day-4, August 9, 2009
We woke up in the morning to get to London Euston railstation to catch our morning train. The first destination will be London’s Kings Cross then exchange train to Waverley, Edinburgh station. But there was no train operated to Kings Cross station at that time, sowe decided to walked. Thank God it wasn’t too far. We managed to get to Kings Cross on time.
It was my first time riding a train in abroad. We bought
the ticket online 
and get our boarding pass in the machine. How does it work? I did a lot of questioning with the people in the 
station 
. Oh it turned out, the credit card that been used for online purchase should be entered to the machine, and then you have to enter the booking number. After the machine verified your credit card, then it will be automatically printing the boarding pass. There are 2 kind of passes that will be printed. Don’t be confused. The one will be used for pass-checking and the other one will be used as your receipt. Just make sure you don’t loose both of the passes.
The train was fully equipped with electricity (so you can charge your mobile, using your notebook, etc.) and wireless internet also (i love this part so much!). So you can go online on the train. Since it was a long journey, so everybody fell asleep (including me).
After we arrived, we had to que to get to the elevator. So while queing we took some pictures and i even take pictures with fellow-backpackers 
.
As we managed going out from the station, we directly go to the Visitor Center near the station. I got in with my friend to get some maps while the others waiting outside because it was too crowded inside. 
. The officer was a woman and she’s so nice.. She speaks in Scottish’s accent which kinda make me a little bit hard to follow her speaking (let me tell you, SCOTTISH’ English is hard to follow!!) 
. She told us to get a daily-pass ticket for bus which will cost us GBP 3 / day / person. Since Edinburgh wasn’t so big enough, so it’s easier that way for tourists. Then she told us to get a bus to Dalkeith Area and told us which bus stop we should stop. We also asked her what are the best areas to visit in Edinburgh. She told us to go to Loch Ness (which is famous for the mysterious dragon), and to Edinburgh Castle. The information is enough for us, and to not let the others waiting we thanked the lady and go out immediately. We told all the information to our other friends…
We gather up all our coins and soon catch the bus that the lady told us. We asked the driver for daily-pass tickets. Along the way to Dalkeith Road, we are stunned by Edinburgh.. it’s really an old city which has good view.. Me myself loving it so much! 
. If you can see the pictures here had some DARK area, well.. it’s what Edinburgh have.. always have cloudy weather…
We managed to get to Dalkeith Road Apartment. We suppose to get to 234 Dalkeith Road Apartment, but the owner said we can get bigger apartment since there are 7 of us.. Whoaaa.. the lady-owner is so nice!! All I can say.. the apartment is GREAT! We have 4 rooms with 3 queen-sized bed and 2 single-bed and 1 fully-equipped kitchen. They even gave us free-food in the kitchen.. This is one of the best accommodation ever 
. They even give us free-internet-connection! Oh and the bus stop is right in front of our apartment.. How great is that?
After wondering around the apartment, we get ready to go out… we took the bus and goes to the city. We want to get late-lunch in one of favorite restaurant in the city. Thankfully at that time Edinburgh people are having Edinburgh Summer Festival. So there are a lot of university students gather up on the street and do art-demo such as dancing, singing, theatre, etc. It was a great view for such Indonesian like me.
We ended the night by sitting in a lounge to get some snacks.. It was raining at that time, so we waited till the rain stops, then we’re going home.
Day-5, August 10, 2009
Day-6, August 11, 2009
Day-7, August 12, 2009
Day-8, August 13, 2009
Day-9, August 14, 2009
Day-10, August 15, 2009
Day-11, August 16, 2009
Day-12, August 17, 2009
Day-13, August 18, 2009
Day-14, August 19, 2009
Day-15, August 20, 2009
Day-16, August 21, 2009
Goodbye London.. Goodbye UK, i’m so sad that i had to leave you. This past weeks had been so fun and so loveable. You’re always in my heart UK.. 
. This day on 12.05 AM we had to board to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Day-17, August 22, 2009
We arrived at Sepang International Airport, Malaysia on 9.25 PM, D’s friends picked us up and brought us to dinner place. We stayed at her apartment near Lim Kok Wing university area. It was the first night of Sahor in 2009 and August 23, 2009 was the first day of Ramadhan Fasting started. Thankfully we were on our period at that time so we don’t have to stayed up for Sahor and can’t sleep all the night 
. We stayed in KL for a night and then went back home with 3.55 PM flight…. back to busy city — JAKARTA.
Overall, all i can say is that… you’re going to be in love with UK especially with London. No wonder lots of people dreaming of going there. This wasn’t in my mind until i experienced it… And i don’t know how long i can forget about UK. I think… NEVER
BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!!
heartstrings 