14/7/2010
My day started at 5 a.m. Woke up early so I’ll have ample time to wake the kids and for Cicin to get them ready. Faiq, was a little bit cranky. Our taxi driver arrived early, but we left Kajang at 6.30 a.m. Both kids slept on the way to KLIA. I couldn’t believe that the day for us to go to London had arrived. I think we’ve been planning since April and since I broke the news to Faiq, everytime I told him we were going out, he would ask, “Kita nak naik kapal terbang ke?”
We arrived at KLIA before 8 a.m. After checking in, we went to KFC for breakfast. After letting Faiq and Aira play at the play area for a while, we boarded on the train to the international flight terminal. We tried to make Faiq and Aira eat the motion sickness pill. Faiq was fine but Aira couldn’t take the bitter taste and almost vommitted. Her expressions were very funny that I think I laughed most of the time instead of soothing her. I blogged and update my FB just before going through the gates. Finally we boarded on the airplane.
Both Rafiq and I were kinda nervous as both our children are flying for the first time and it was a long distance flight. 13 hours!! We hoped everything will go smoothly. Faiq kept asking when the plane will take off. Aira made a fuss before take off as she was uncomfortable with the belts but miraculously, both children fell asleep when the plane took off. Rafiq said that we should get as much sleep as possible to avoid a bad jet lag but I wasn’t sleepy and was too excited. Alhamdulillah, nothing major happened during the 13 hour journey..except that Faiq locked himself out in the toilet and cried (I think he learnt his lesson for going by himself!) We took Aira for a walk upon sensing that she was uncomfortable and needed some stretching. Faiq amused himself with inflight games that most of the time he drove us up the wall when he kept wanting to change games. We took him to the back of the plane so that he could see the scenery outside. He seemed fascinated with the clear blue sky and the cloud but it only lasted for a while before he requested that we go back to our seats so he could continue playing games. At last we touched down at Terminal 4 Heathrow at 3.30 p.m. Faiq was upset with something and then he started crying followed by coughing and vomiting. Nasib baik tak banyak but berbau la. Tension je semua orang yang tengah tunggu nak disembark from the plane.
While waiting for Aira’s stroller, we could see that it was drizzling outside. At the customs checkpoint, Rafiq declared that we brought along meat floss, which was then confiscated. I think everything was done by 4.45 p.m. and we waited for our cab which was supposed to pick us up at 5.00 p.m. While waiting for the cab, Rafiq went around the airport looking for cheap handphones and satellite navigation. Unfortunately there was none. Our cab finally arrived at 5.30 p.m. As soon as the cab moved, I started taking pictures of the buildings in UK and even got the opportunity to take pictures of the Houses of Parliamen, London Eye and Big Ben from afar as we passed one of the many bridges in UK. Rafiq and Faiq fell asleep in the cab and finally we arrived at Brunswick Quay. We were greeted by Amran, who showed us his apartment on the second floor. Whilst Amran and Rafiq attended to our luggages, I put the kids to sleep. Amran then served us his home-cooked curry mee which was marvelous.
We then freshened up and chatted with Amran about our flight and our plans for tomorrow. Alina came back from work at 9.00 a.m. and kami berborak until midnight before calling it a day.
15/7/2010
Alas, the thing that I had been dreading for happened. The kids’ jet lag! Since both Faiq and Aira had slept since 6 p.m., the decided to wake up in the wee hours of 3.00 a.m. I tried putting them back to sleep but to no avail. He said that he was hungry so he ate his cereal at 4.30 a.m. Prior to that, I performed Subuh payers, which started at 3.15 a.m. and ends at 4.30 a.m. 5.00 a.m. in UK feels like 7.00 a.m. in Malaysia.
Faiq took his bath at 6.00 a.m. and he slipped in the tub, which probably woke both Amran and Alina up. Since it looked like they won’t be going back to sleep, I re-heated the curry mee and also toasted some waffles and crumpets for them to eat. Amran and Alina got up at about 7.45 a.m. and got ready for work. He explained to us our tube routes and even gave us an oyster card each. We left Amran’s apartment at 9.00 a.m. and headed to Surrey Quay Shopping Centre which was about 7 minutes walk from the apartment. We went to buy on-the-go food, like brioche rolls, fruits and juices. Rafiq went to a handphone shop to purchase a 29 pounds handphone, to Curry’s Digital for Garmin and I headed to Mothercare when I spotted one. We were in fact going to the Mothercare store at Bond’s Street later but I just wanted to check the items in case there was none at the other store. We left the mall at about 10.30 a.m. and headed to Canada Waters Tube Station.
Eventhough I’ve been to UK about 11 years ago, this was my first time on the tube. Our destinations were Bond Street and Oxford Street and the agenda was shopping. We shopped at Mothercare, Primark, Marks & Spencer and Crabtree & Evelyn. If I have all the money in the world, I’d purchase everything..hehe. Everything was on sale, except for Marks & Spencer so I didn’t buy much there. Turned out that the sale will only start the following week. We even bought a stroller for Faiq, knowing too well that if he is tired, he would refuse to walk and we don’t think we are able to carry him. He happily sat in his new stroller, which at times proved to be inconvenient especially at tube station with no elevators. By the way, since we wanted to save time, Rafiq and I went on separate ways at Marks & Spencer. He took Faiq and I took Aira. Rafiq almost lost his pouch at Marks & Spencer. He can be so careless sometimes. Luckily, he found it hanging by one of the pants racks. If not we would’ve lost our passports and all our money. Alhamdulillah, syukur sangat.
By the time we left Marks & Spencer, it was almost 5 p.m. There were so many people, tourists and locals who were coming home from work. We were warned to be extra careful as there were a lot of pick pockets. We witnessed two incidents, which happened so fast..the only thing we saw was people falling down. Anyway, when we left M&S, that was when we realized how hungry we were. Both Faiq and Aira ate brioche rolls and biscuits the whole time. They didn’t complain but we felt bad as we didn’t have a proper meal. We stopped by at a halal food stall opposite Debenhams and bought some hotdogs and Fish & Chips. After we ate, we walked along Bond Street and window-shopped at a few more stores.
Since the whole day had been about us adults (Faiq commented: Babah ni, asyik-asyik beli baju, beli seluar..hehe!) we made a stop at Hamleys Toy Store in Regent Street. Hamleys is the largest toy shop in the world. It consists of seven floors all devoted to playthings, with different categories of toy on each floor. Seriously, Faiq was about to doze off but I told him not to fall asleep and as soon as we stepped into Hamleys, he stood up and started exploring the store. If I were a kid, I’d go nuts in Hamleys. There were so much toys and the promoters did a good job in persuading people to purchase the toys. They never seemed run out of words to say. Some even sang to get people interested. Faiq wanted a yo-yo, played with one of the demo toys and wanted to purchase it but we told him that there were 4 more floors filled with toys. On the top floor, Hamleys had specialized toys like Harry Potter wands and brooms. Even I was tempted. Finally, Faiq settled with a remote control helicopter. By 8.00 p.m., most of the stores had closed so we walked to Piccadilly Circus, took some photos at the Statue of Eros and went on the tube at about 8.30 p.m. The ride on the tube was challenging as we had our shopping bags and there was no elevator to the tube station. Luckily, most of the people were helpful and they helped us carry the strollers down the stairs. Both Faiq and Aira slept in the tube. On our walk back from the Canada Waters tube station, we bumped into Alina, who just got back from work. We must’ve been on the same tube! Amran bought kebab for dinner and we retire early as our whole body ached from walking the whole day.
~To Be Continued~
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