What We Like -Singapore: Travelogue 1 -London,Paris,Scotland (Dundee)

Hello everyone! Joanne here! and to kick off the first blog post, I'll be doing our very first travelogue to Scotland, London and Paris!

The UK is probably my favouritesstttt (no such word) in the world to shop, sightsee and the weather is cool all year round. Although, the weather in the winter makes me shiver like an energizer bunny.

So I usually head down to UK, particularly Scotland , Dundee to visit my sister who's currently a doctor over there. During which, we usually use Dundee as a base to travel to the surrounding cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow,London, St Andrews, Isle of Islay and Paris.

So last june, i went up to visit her just before university started and i really had such a good time over there! So enough of my rambling, lets get started with my first stop : Scotland!

1. Scotland (Glasgow and Dundee)

Probably, one of the worst things about going over to the UK is the journey. Well, I'm a terrible traveller and by that I mean TERRIBLE. When I was a little girl, I used to throw up all the time in the plane, and up till to day I cant eat the food on the plane cos it really makes me feel like I wanna throw up. So if any of you are thinking of flying to Scotland, I usually fly by Emirates which does a stopover in Dubai. Great place to stopover cos its clean and there's so many places to shop! But, I almost got lost the last time as I was busy running from one end to the other. I strongly do not advise anyone to take KLM, I had to when I booked my ticket late. and I thought I was gonna die on the plane. Imagine: Squeezy seats, NO TELEVISION and two burly dutch men sitting next to you.

Flight time's approx: 14 -16 Hours.

And from Glasgow to Dundee, my sister usually drives but before she had a car we used to take a bus ride from Glasgow to Dundee which was approximately an hour and a half.

The best thing about Scotland is its scenery. And, Im not really a scenery person. I'm more of a "let's skip all the sights and zoom in on the shops". But... in Scotland! The scenery is really. AMAZING. AMAZING. AMAZING. *dances around in a circle*

Dundee is such a quaint little city, and I really enjoy my trip everytime I go there! Shopping wise, there isn't much, but its sufficient I guess. They just reopened another H&M, which always makes me a happy duckie. The 2 main shopping malls there, are the Overgate and Wellgate. But I prefer the Overgate! Cos there's a PRIMARK at the overgate. Now, my sister hates PRIMARK. but I kinda love it.Everything there is so affordable. Oh ya, there's a place which kinda looks like an outlet area, and over there they have A HUGE NEXT, MATALAN, SPORTS SHOP, TK MAX and Borders!

Now for the sights in Dundee, hmm... I didn't see many sight but theres a place called Brothy Fery? where you can get some yummy Ice cream!

Food Wise: I love love love Agacan! I know its kinda weird to have Turkish food in Dundee, but that place is so great! My sister stays right opposite Agacan! Agacan is located on the Perth Road, and no one should ever miss it. (The Perth road is one of the larger main roads in Dundee and there's alot of pubs, hair salons as well as quaint shops). Another place located along the Perth road is this Burger place, called Tonic. I usually have the Surf and Turf Burger. and the hot chocolate is to DIEEE for! and theres a super cute Irish guy, with deep blue eyes there. Completely random, but hes so cute!

Sights in Scotland: I'd recommend going to the Highlands (its really quite unbelievable!), I did a tour with Rabbies Tours and they're a great tour group! (: However, they depart only from Edinburgh if I'm not wrong! I went to Lochness as well, and the highlands wins hands down!

I usually stay in Scotland for about a week, and during which my sister and I usually travel to Glasgow or Edinburgh for more mainstream shops. We usually book our bus tickets, from http://www.megabus.com/uk/

In June, I really wanted to go to Paris so enroute we stopped by London!

Stop 2: London

I love London! This is the loveliest place in the world to Shop.

But before I start on the sights and places to Shop... Before my last 2 trips to London, my mum and I often had alot of trouble finding places to stay at. Cos, in London accomodation isn't exactly cheap. And, most of the time we wanted places which were in either zones 1 or 2. And very often we stayed in Such horrible and expensive places. But until one day, I came across this little gem by the name of trip advisor. I love TRIPADVISOR.

So i searched for hotels in London, and from Tripadvisor I stayed at the base2stay, as well as the Park City London. They're both around Earl's Court and South Kensington. The best thing about these 2 lovely boutique hotels is... not only is it at a prime location but its rather affordable as well. Although, I do have to admit The ParkCity's standard has gone down slightly as compared to the first time I went there. My mum prefers the Base2stay and all the hotel rooms in the base2stay come with like a mini kitchen, which I think is pretty cool. So average price I paid for a night in each hotel is about 120 quid. But, the parkcity is more expensive than the base2stay. But here's a tip! I usually book my hotels in advance and they have these early saver deals!

Now for my favourite part of the trip:

Shopping!

My favourite shops in London include:

Uniqlo, trust me its so different from the Singapore outlets! H&M,Topshop, Anything along Oxford Circus. But my number one FAVOURITE PLACE IS:HARRODS.

I really love Harrods! Firstly, at Harrods they have such high service standards! They're so willing to help! Its like a breath of fresh air compared to the service levels in Singapore, where they "scan" you before they attend to you! (: I've got my very own Harrods card too! (: Now, what I really like about Harrods is the Duty free Claim section they have, whereby they combine all the purchases you bought into one Duty Free Claim Form, so that you can just present one form to the Tax Refund Booth at the airport! Such a Gem! Besides, the shopping, don't forget to try out the food section as well! A must for me is my LADUREE macarons. You have not tasted a Macaron until you've tasted a LADUREE one. My sister really enjoys the High tea at harrods, but to me, its not very worth it.

If you find the food at Harrods too costly, head over across the road to HARRODS 02. which offers food from Harrods but at a lower price.

Now, I had a weird craving for Sushi that day when I went to Harrods and hence we tried Yo! sushi. Well, if you love cold hard sushi! Go for it! IT WAS TEERRRIBLE. my sister and I were in utter disbelief when we tried this sushi joint. Not to mention, it wasn't very cheap either. But out meal was saved by Morelli's gelato which was at the next counter! I'm not really a ice cream person, but my sister lives and breathes ice cream! and this is one of her favourites.

Food: My sister found this place called the BOXWOOD CAFE, its by Gordon Ramsay and the food was over the moon. My other favourites in London is M&S simply food! I love the chicken tikka masala! (:

Other things to do in London:

Watch a musical, or a play!

I've watched Mama Mia in London, and it was really good! (: well, I liked it! (: and its different from the movie version as well! I watched a play at the Globe Theatre as well with my sister, which was really quite an experience.

tip: they sell these cushions before you enter the theatre, GET ONE OF THOSE! i think it's only one pound, but the benches are so hard and puny!

Sightseeing:

I didn't do much Sightseeing, but my mum forced me to go sightseeing for one day. So, we chose the Duck Tours! and I really really enjoyed it! I used to have pictures, but my com crashed! So go check out their website at

http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/

I didn't spend that much time in London, as my sister and I were planning to go to Paris. So next up, Paris!

3) Paris

We took a train from London to Paris, cos I really wanted to go to Disneyland! yupps! Disneyland. Honestly, I didn't really enjoy the shopping at Paris. Things there aren't very cheap as well.As my sister and I stayed at a Disneyland Hotel, It was quite hard for us to travel to the city as well.

We only had one day to go the Eiffel Tower and it was raining and cold! gahhh! My sister told me it looked better at night! and she insisted we go all the way up to the Eiffel tower as well. haha. I'm really not very into sightseeing.

Well, by the time we finished sightseeing, we were famished. and our feet were soaked. So we headed to one of the cafes near the Eiffel Tower, and the food wasnt that great too. ): and I think it cost us about 90 euros in total!

Now, on the other days I went to Disneyland Paris! (: so much fun! (: I recommend taking the 2 park tickets cos the 2nd park has some tour which reminded me of the universal studios tour where the water comes crashing down and the tram moves from side to side. So I love any Disneyland in the world. Although, I do think the Anaheim one is still my favourite. We sat this ride Cursh's coaster. and my sister and I thought we were gonna die. Well, we were queuing up halfway and we saw a sign which said sudden drops and sharp turns. But I told her theres 5 year olds taking this ride! How bad can it be! Gahhh. It was terrible. I guess it's cos im more of a ITS A SMALL WORLD ride person!