Free tour? Is this for real? That's what I thougth when seeing the review for this tour in tripadvisor. I've been checking how to best visit the Scottish highland in a safe way, given not many public transportations are running. So this time, I joined the Hairy Coo tour, which is tip based only. So you can pay whatever amount you want. Although they did kind of set up expectations by saying how much their competitors charged, how much does it cost for them to run the tour, etc. First stop is the Forth Bridge where basically old and new bridges spanned side by side. The old one looked more sturdy though. Russel the guide was also the driver and I'm impressed by his ability to multitask which doesn't come natural for most guys. In the ... read more

I woke up a bit sleepy today after last night fireworks party. But today is another exciting day: Harry Potter! Luckily I did some last minute check and just realized I'm suppose to enroute to Watford Junction instead of just Watford. And its totally different train line! I half ran my way as its over 1 hour journey and my session is at 11 am. I had to change trains more than I thought and wait more than I want. Because today is new year, the train is running in reduced service. But I somehow managed to arrive, just in the nick of time. Due to rushing I forgot to put my coats in the cloak room so I ended up dragging it around for 3 hours like a dead raccoon. This Warner Brother studio is ... read more

Having a very full itinerary yesterday, I started the day late. Only got out at 9.30 am. But today is the wrong day to be lazy. Because it got blue skies!!!! Going to London in winter, I'm well aware that I'm against the odds for blue sky. But there it is now. Given the weather, I decided to ditch my original itinerary and make my way back to Westminster - so I can take shots of iconic London buldings with blue sky background. The parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, the red phone booth.... I was tempted to take the London Eye and already started queueing. But after overhearing some conversation of possible 4 hours wait until you can actually ride it, plus seeing the dark clouds moving in - I decided to ditch the queue and ... read more

The plane arrived 20 mins late and the bags came out really really slow. But I'm still thankful that I didn't encounter any issue at the immigration borders (some people did get into red line and were grilled with many questions). I actually have Easybus ticket to city (2 GBP promo price) but after terrible reviews in tripadvisor and the fact that the green district line tube is under maintenance, I decided to ditch my ticket and bought First Capital Connect train ticket (9.9 GBP). I also bought 18 GBP Oyster Visitor card. Its new regulation effective Dec 2012 that they separate between the Oyster Card for residence and visitor. The difference? The visitor version is not refundable so your 3 GBP is stuck with them. Residence need bring their utility bill as proof when asking ... read more

Wow, last day in Europe. At least for this trip. As pretty as Vienna is, I’m not in the mood for an early start. Besides, tonight I have to take long haul flight back home. I ended up spending my morning sitting at the lobby and having skype call with my mum and hubby. My to do list in Vienna is still long but I still feel sour after what happened the last several days. I’m finally able to push myself out of bed and walked out the door. It’s 10 am and I’m late. On the way to Rathaus, we got lost and ended up in front of the Parliament building instead. It’s gorgeous though. Pretty Greek style statues with contrast gold embellishment. The sky was blue as well and make such a nice backdrop. ... read more