Europe Trip (London & Paris)

This Europe trip is considered my first backpacking trip I took with my family. I don't include Singapore as I only went there for two days. The other oversea trips were under tour packages so they did not truly give me the feeling of being in an adventure. I will be sharing my journey throughout part of Europe and hope it will help me to remember as well as helping anyone who would like to know and plan for their own trip too.

1st - 2nd April 2011
I departed from LCCT airport at 3pm on April Fool's Day. It was a 13 hours flight to London!  At first, the journey was still alright. After the first 3 hours, I started to constantly ask my dad for the time and counting down till the landing. Thank God for my Kindle. If not, it'll be even torturing. It was night at around 9pm London time when I reached London-Stansted Airport. We stayed over in the airport till 6.30am the next day. There were a lot of people sleeping at the benches and even on the floors in the airport. Quite a sight to see.

We walked out of the airport towards the bus stop outside. There were not many people. We waited for the bus to Liverpool Street (London City Centre) at a provided area which shielded us from the cold. We took the Terravision Airport Bus [link] which costed each of us £9 (RM48.17).



The bus we took.

After a one-hour journey from the airport, we reached Liverpool Street. We then took a train at the Liverpool Street Underground Station to King's Cross Station [link] which cost us another £4.70 - from http://www.londondrum.com/transport/train-fares-ticket-prices.php£4.70 each (RM25.22)£2.20   - from http://www.londondrum.com/transport/train-fares-ticket-prices.php£2.20   - from http://www.londondrum.com/transport/train-fares-ticket-prices.php.

I was thrilled to see the buildings in London on the way there. The train stations were also amazing. Couldn't believe myself that I was actually in London. Anyway, when I reached the station, only I remembered that King's Cross station was where they filmed Harry Potter! It was the station where every September the first, he took the train to Hogwarts. Too bad, half of the station was under renovation, including the film site!

We headed towards the St. Pancras Station to board the Eurostar train. To find the station, just follow the signs for Eurostar check-in and you will reach in about 5 minutes. We got the tickets online but quite near to the date. Each ticket was around €90 (RM400.16). It would be cheaper to get them earlier. Don't buy on the spot at the station as it would be really expensive! To get them online, you can click here [link]. We were heading towards Paris Gare Du Nord, which was another 2 hours and 16 minutes. We departed at 9:22am.

Anyway, I saw Brooke Fraser and she was sitting in the same couch as mine! :D Along the journey to Paris, I witnessed pastures of green grass with cows, horses and sheep. It was really a sight to remember. My first time seeing such scenes in real life instead of in pictures. Kinda envy those people who stay there. I've always dreamt that I can stay on those green hills with farms at the side.



St. Pancras Station (Eurostar)

Paris was about 14 degree celcius when we arrived there at 12:47pm. My first impression of Paris when I was viewing it from the window of the train was the bandit area in Maple Story. That was because I saw many graffiti on the walls. It was quite creative. One thing we realised after a few visits around Paris. They have a lot of huge HUGE train stations. And all of them have marvellous designs and architectures. 


Paris Gare Du Nord Station

We went out from the station to search for food. Now, my first impression of the people there: Creepy. I could see many people hanging around outside the station flirting with girls, and eyeing people. One of them even called out to us in Japanese language. Well, maybe they were just trying to be friendly.

This impression got worse after lunch when we headed back to the station to take the Metro. We saw many rude, mischievous-looking, raucous people. Most of them didn't know how to speak in English but French. Fortunately we also met really helpful and friendly French people. They used sign language with us. The Metro station is in the Gare Du Nord station. We followed the 'Metro & RER' sign. The fare ticket was €1.70 (RM7.56). We were heading towards our hotel in Saint-Mande. To check out more about the trains in Paris, click here [link].

The first train we took, which was the RER (express metro), was a nightmare especially to my dad. It was because he expected the trains to be cleaner, brighter and more modern looking since its Paris. But this first train was very interesting (to me) yet in the same time creepy (again). It looked quite old like it was already there for 50 years. It had 3 levels. Lower, middle and upper level. Felt bit regret for not taking picture because was carrying luggage and also was afraid that the people might not like it. After that, for the rest of the journeys, the trains were all alright. They have a lot of lines and we had to walk along tunnels to reach to another station line. Pretty interesting. I guess the underground of Paris is practically full of underground tracks and trains.



The better metro station.

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