First day (night) in London

Before I left, I said goodbye to everything in my room including my bed, my pillow, my bolster (missing you so much), my books, my clothes, and my guitar (yes I'm overly attached even to inanimate objects). When the car pulled out of the front porch, I felt a sudden bout of emotion and my tears started welling in my eyes as I stared up at the dark figure of my house thinking, "This is it. I am leaving. For real."

All this while I've been seeing photos of friends in the airport leaving for another country to study, and now, it's finally my turn. Constantly thanking God with all my heart because I got selected out of the many applications and this would never have happened without Him :'D

I mostly slept throughout the journey to KLIA....because it was freaking 6 in the morning -__-

With my (and dad's) luggage. Please ignore the ugly blue suitcase....I didn't choose the colour.

Chilling at McDonald's before my 10:10am flight.

My friends couldn't send me off at the airport thanks to the weird timing (usually flights to London leave at night) which was quite sad but maybe it's better that way because I wouldn't wanna cry in front of them. So I got a HUGE surprise when I suddenly saw Isaac walking over. Apparently he had been exchanging texts with my sister, who earlier told me that someone was gonna come but didn't wanna tell who it was -.- Well, I've never been more surprised in my life! He was doing his internship at one of the aviation centres nearby so he just dropped by before he started work. Really appreciate the effort for coming to send me off! And thank you for the lovely letter :)

Right before boarding.... :'( :'( :'(

And then my mom couldn't hold back her tears and started crying which made me start to cry and then my sister started crying too. The first few moments of separation was indeed very, very hard :'( Didn't actually expect the whole situation to be so emotional.

But after the long walk to the gate, I was feeling much better. Spotted the Boeing 777 that I'm gonna go on! Wow wow wow quite excited to fly Emirates for the first time :D 

And I'm on the plane! ...This whole time it still feels like I'm dreaming.

For lunch, we were served poached shrimp as the appetiser (surprisingly delicious), tomato rice with chicken kurma or grilled sea perch with red pepper (though I honestly think that the rice wins hands down) for the main course, and pistachio cheesecake for dessert. OMG THE FOOD IS SOOO GOOOOD it's like flying first class :')

For afternoon tea we had wholemeal roll served with Thai coleslaw and chocolate cake!

I watched Saving Mr. Banks (which I fell asleep halfway through) and Maleficent, and listened to Ed Sheeran's new album Multiply hehehe. Can't remember if I did it during the first or second flight though. When we were reaching Dubai I happened to look out the window and got a shock. I mean I know it's all desert out there but seeing it from the plane window just didn't cross my mind as I've always been accustomed to seeing the clouds, greens or the ocean from high up. I was so excited I actually let out a gasp/squeal. Also my first time seeing an actual dessert (!!!!).

Finally reached Dubai at 1pm local time (5pm Malaysian time). The journey took 6 hours and 50 minutes.

It was just a one-hour transit so we couldn't do much. Met a Malaysian girl on the plane who is studying A-Level in Northampton (if I'm not mistaken) and wants to study marine biology, which is so cool!! We walked to the arrival hall (it's a long walk from the plane), went to the toilets, hang around for a bit, and then it was time to board the next plane. I would prefer a longer transit so I can explore the airport :(  

Got on the Airbus A380 (for the first time!) and was just in awe of everything. It has a double deck that looks posh from the foot of the stairs so I'm guessing it's where the first class and business class are. Really wanted to go up and have a look around (being the jakun that I am), but there was a barrier so I don't think anyone can just access that area :/ The seat feels extra comfortable and it was so quiet when the plane was flying that I wouldn't know I'm on the plane if I close my eyes.



This is super cool.

Second lunch in one day LOL. We had sweet corn with vegetable salad served with smoked turkey slices for the appetiser, roasted chicken breast served with onion sauce or fish biryani rice for the main course, and banana hazelnut cake with fresh cream and passion fruit for dessert! Mmmmhm yums :D I wish my stomach was bigger so I could finish the dessert and not feel like exploding. 

The afternoon tea was the best because they served scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, besides assorted sandwiches and double chocolate cake!

It was such a coincidence that they served scones with cream and jam, since I'm going to the south-west :P It was on that flight that I encountered my first experience eating the specialty of the south-west and it was basically an embarrassing one. It was my first time seeing clotted cream so I was intrigued by the name and a little bit wary too. I honestly didn't know how to eat it - do I eat it on its own, do I eat it with the scones, or do I eat it with something else? So I took the scone and slathered the jam and cream separately on the outside of the scone. I took a bite of each and it was good. Then I decided to combine both spread (genius moment) - still slathering them outside the scone - and it. was. HEAVENLY. The funny part was not knowing that eating scones with both cream and jam is what the locals have been doing since forever, and there I was feeling quite proud of my decision to eat them combined.

(Cream tea consists of scones with clotted cream and jam, with tea. I previously thought it was a type of tea like green tea or chamomile tea LOL.)

Ahahahahaha....you can laugh at me now. But after eating scones the wrong way twice, I think I'm good at it now. Getting better at applying clotted cream on top of jam. Almost. People, Devonshire cream tea is seriously one of those food that you MUST try before you die.

K huge digression there.

Tried sleeping on the plane but honestly it's impossible to get a good sleep without lying down :( I did sleep soundly for a couple of hours I suppose. Arrived at Heathrow Airport at 6:40pm local time (1:40am Malaysian time). The journey took 7 hours and 25 minutes. I was beat.

Waited super long for people to take their luggage and get out of the plane. Waited a long time again at immigration (surprisingly fast process - only my passport was required even though we were asked to have other documents on hand) and again when collecting our luggage because there were just too many bags of the similar colour and size. Definitely a good idea to get a striking suitcase so you don't waste your time trying to spot your bag (I found my blue suitcase within seconds so I temporarily forgave the horrible colour).

After two hours of waiting, we were finally picked up by the hotel's driver and off we went! Felt the fresh cold air as I exited the terminal. I'M IN LONDON!!!!!

It was about half an hour's drive from Heathrow to Kensington. Throughout the journey I was feeling so surreal - couldn't believe I'm in London already (LONDON??!?!?!!). I was just busy admiring the buildings the whole way, gaping at the beautiful architecture - even at normal houses by the roadside. Passed by the Royal Albert Hall.

After winding through a busy street lined with restaurants, shops, and pubs, the car turned into a quiet street and there we were in front of Phoenix Hotel. Ahhh, finally.... When I was resting on the bed I realised that it has been almost 24 hours from the moment I woke up back home, and I haven't had any proper sleep since then. First jet lag experience....so bad.