LONDON - part 1

**note - I have been trying to wrirte down about the trip for ages but couldn't find time to do so...here's the story of the journey...**

L.O.N.D.O.N. - a trip of a lifetime...

(9th March 2010 - 11th March 2010)

London time : 12.50am (10/03/2010)

Part 1

Finally!! I’m in LONDON!! Hello London! Wait till I explore every inch of the place!

I still can’t believe it – me, in London!!! Yup...that’s right...it is spelled L.O.N.D.O.N

One of the busiest cities in the world, and the famous one, too! =)

London – the city with its famous double-decker red buses, the red telephones booth, the guards with furs & red suit (wonder why it has always been red!), the black ancient taxis or simply the famous London Eye (yeah...it is similar to our very own Eye on Malaysia)...

All this while, it was only a dream for me to come here – well, actually, I’ve never thought that I’d be here...well, with our small currency (RM) as compared to Pound Sterling (£), and with my career as an ordinary teacher, I had never thought that I could be here – having vacation overseas, paying my own expenses with my hard-earned money.

It’s not that I’ve never been overseas before but the feeling now is quite different...before this, I studied in Wellington CBD, NZ on scholarship basis...and I made sure that I maximised the use of the money to travel around the country and also the neighbouring country, OZ...hehe...but as a student at that time, the money spent was budgeted tightly and somehow, I never really give it a thought...Once me and my coolest roommates of Flat 41 Everton had the hunch, we’d just pack and travel (backpacking style)...even sometimes, when the money was low - only few NZ dollars left...*smiling fondly over the memories*

But now, as a career woman, my mind works differently...every single cent earned is valuable, and I really have to be wise in controlling my finance so that I could shop lavishly and not become broke afterwards...hehe...and Thank You Allah for the ‘rezeki’ and opportunities to be here, to do something that I love apart from teaching – travelling! =)

~~~~ Now, I am all alone in my room (in the Trinity House B & B @ Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow, east London). The room is comfy. Mak Uteh & Pak Uteh are in another room downstairs (I’m on the top floor) while Pakcik Bad & Pakcik Asri are one floor below me...

It’s so quiet now for it is already past midnight...everybody is asleep and so does this small suburb...I can’t sleep even though my loyal watch shows 1 a.m. already...why? of course it is due to my imbalance hormones! I am over excited and the other reason is because I have slept for more than 8 hours in the flight from LCCT – Stansted Airport. Now, I am wide awake, feeling fresh!

My room has a closet attached to the wall, a TV (don’t think that it can be used – tried to switch it on just now but nothing happened), a make-up dresser and a heater! (it’s not that warm – I can still feel the chill)

It’s cold, it’s quiet and I AM HUNGRY! The last time I ate was in the airplane, 3 hours before landing time...gosh...*am imagining how tasty the Chicken Biryani was...yummy* The estimated temperature at the moment is 4`C...grrrr...*reminds me again of the good old days in Windy Welly*

Can’t wait to explore London & visit all its attractions in the morning!

Oh yeah...before that I have to print my booking room email from AirAsia 1st – the Indian lady (maybe the landlord) doesn’t accept my handwriting info that I gave her...hey! I think she doesn’t like us – the Asians because we made quite a noise when we first arrived (I am being prejudiced here)...she looked rather annoyed when we checked-in just now...or maybe it is because we were disturbing her sweet dreams when we rang the bell at 11.30pm!

Well...what to do? We had to! Our plane landed safely at 9.50pm @ Stansted Airport and it took hours to deal with the Custom & UK Border Agency, and being in this strange place for the first time, we took quite a long time to decide how to go to Walthamstow...

Hell yeah...Hello London! Here comes lunatic Huda to discover this place...

Indeed...Life is beautiful ~~

the view from my room early in the morning