UK chapter 1

Since I came back to Toronto, life has been busy again. There seems to be a curse. Every time I got back from vacation, there is a bad news waiting for me. This time, again, someone quitted. Although not as direct as in last year, I can still feel the impact. Many friends has been very caring and asked me about my trip. It’s kinda hard to tell the same story again and again (yet interestingly). So, I’m gonna blog it all out – also treat it as a token of memory for the 10 days when we (3 girls) had a reunion in a somewhat foreign country.

I just said I was cursed, but second thought… it could have been even worse. In the past week or so, there are news about the terrorist attacks in the UK. This time I’m much luckier – I was on a plane in North America during the 911 attack and I was stuck in Vancouver.

Thursday evening, I was at the airport, waiting for my plane. I was a bit tired and not as excited as I thought I should be (don’t know why). Guess I’m not very sensitive. Usually I won’t feel my feeling until a bit later. For EC’s wedding, me and G bought a set of Franz porcelain teapot and teacups. (Thanks RL for introducing this brand to me. We all love it. For retail locations in Canada, you can click here. Zoom Airlines – as I mentioned before – is a Canada-based company, offering flights between Canada, the U.K., France and the Caribbean. The fare was really good compared to all other airlines that I quoted from travel agents/online portals. The airplane was Boeing 767-300ER. It wasn’t a very new and fancy airplane, but with such price, they still offered 1 meal and snacks and drinks. The customer service was also very good. Overall I enjoyed my flight with Zoom. Another thing is that the takeoff and landing were both very smooth – it made me feel more comfortable/confident about flying Zoom.

Around noon time, I arrived at the Gatwick airport. Looking at the sky outside – a bit greyish. I murmured, “This is London.” Got through the custom. The lady wasn’t very friendly, as expected. Finally… I was waiting for my luggage to come out. Unfortunately, the process did not go very smoothly – that’s the only thing I would complain about Zoom – their luggage handling system sucked. I had to wait quite long both ways (in London and in Toronto)!!!

Hopped onto a training – it only took me about 20 minutes to get to East Croydon. Then, when I got off the train, I managed to use the google map to get to my friend’s place~ (Good job Marz!)… While I was on my way, all the different stores caught my attention. But the Ribena ads were everywhere. It reminded me of my childhood… Man… do you hear me?

After about 20 minutes walk, here I am… EC ran out and gave me a BIG HUG. It’s been a long time since I last saw her. She was so slim when I wrapped my arms around her (or… was it because I am big!)

(Skipped all the crazy preparations before the wedding day…) On the wedding day, we went to Southwark… God… G and I burst into tears – too happy.

After the registration, we went on a cruise. While waiting for the cruise, OMG, it was suddenly raining again… while G and I were all dressed up and enjoying a coffee near the river. It was kinda damp and cold. Really thank G for bringing all the winter coats so I could stay warm (I guess if it wasn’t because it was getting cold in Auz, she would have been like me… bringing all the tank top to London…)

Thames River

London Eyes… the world’s tallest observation wheel at 135m high. Located on the banks of the River Thames it offers unrivalled views over London. Built by the British Airways.

We had a really good time on the cruise and I took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, some of them were lost… I gotta think of a way to retrieve it from the SD card!!! Some people were seasick and some people were drunk. We got off the cruise after a few hours. Standing near the Southbank again… I see all these statues on the top of the buildings. I don’t know why they’re there but they just look like some people trying to commit suicide and jump off. LOL – I know some of you should know the stories of these… If you do, feel free to comment.

Took a snap shot of the center piece that was made by EC’s friend. In this wedding, almost everything was hand-made by the couple and their friends. It was partly because of the high costs (everything was really expensive there), and partly because they just have a lot of good friends who would volunteer to give the best to them.

After the cruise, some of us walked to the Waterloo Station to “tube” to the next destination for dinner… Waterloo is one of the major stations in London – You can take the Eurostar there.

Wedding dinner was really good. Unfortunately G and I were having jetlag and feeling quite tired… gosh. We could have enjoyed it better.

Finally, while we were heading home, we dropped by the KFC in London… Menu items are very much the same, but they are named slightly differently compared to the N. American ones.