Okay, back to business..
On day three, we had planned to spend whole day at Bicester Village. If you don't know already, Bicester Village is a very well-known and outstanding Factory Outlet in UK and hold it's own reputation among other FO alike, therefore not much thing to tell and do there actually except SHOPPING.
We left Oxfordshire Inn after breakfast around 8 am. If the room doesn't meet up to our expectation, at least their breakfast did. The spread was pretty simple. It's continental breakfast by the way so not much to expect. However, their sunny side up was fresh and hot, the bread was soft, the beans was tasty and their plates and cutlery  was heated up to a point that you'll burned yourself should you touch the plates without napkins. So, despite the temperature was 10 degree at theat point of time, your food was warm enough for a very long and this is surprisingly enough to make me happy and make up for the frustration we had yesterday.
We stopped by at Oxford little town to get the girls their raincoat. There's not much choice of raincoat in Kuwait to which very understandable since it doesn't rain much here ha ha ha so we decided to get the jacket or raincoat for the girls while we was in UK. I was planning to get their jacket while in Bicester or in London tomorrow. However since the weather being unfriendly to us, we had to get the girls their raincoat asap hence the quick stop. We got theirs and mine at a very good deal, at Sports Direct Oxford, recommended by Ikhram. It is quite a steal actually. With jacket in hand, we then proceed our way to Bicester although my soul was clearly already there since morning.



If you wondering why there isn't any picture of mine at Bicester, ermmm well I've been busy. Very very busy hee hee hee.. Based on my opinion, BV wasn't a place for everyone lah. I mean, of course the price tag comes with outlet price, which means cheaper compared to boutique price. However, the word cheaper here is clearly by wealthy peoples's definition. To me, most of the stuffs there was still expensive, beyond affordable and will hurt your wallet pretty badly. But since it's all high end designer's brand, you don't come to BV without some figure in your mind right? Some of the stuff still comes with pretty good deal but don't ever expect for the price to be ridiculously low.

Of course, since we were already there, we did bought a thing or two that are within our budget range but honestly, we still have 20 days ahead of us, so we had to really watch our spending. If you have things for outdoor stuffs, you MUST shop at Timberland here. The price was super madly cheap compared to other places I've been too. And owhh Levis too. It's been ages since I wore Levis jeans to be truth. Malaysian market doesn't carry big size and unfortunately, Erin's post fat are here to stay even after 4 years so yeahhh.. I had given up Levis from my wardrobe list since forever ha ha ha. Anyway, Levis here does offered sizes for plus size model like me hehe so yeayyyy.. I am one happy camper!

Our day goes as it planned where by we did spent the whole day here till evening. Believe me, time flies really fast when we were there. We (read: me) had really good times going in and out, back and forth between shops. I used to hear people say that UK is unpredictable when it comes to weather and I finally be able to understands it. It's like 5 minutes of drizzle - so jacket on, hoodie up.. then it turned sunny so jacket off, hoodie down. The next minute it'd be raining like mad so the jacket is back on. It's such a waste of energy to keep taking your jacket in and out so we just don't bother.
We bid farewell to BV around 5 pm, headed straight to London because we need to return our rented car by 9pm latest. Actually we need to return it before 6pm but we made a call and informed that we'll be there slightly late, around 3 hours late. This is because we need to drop by Kak Anis's hotel to pick up the rest of our bags, send all the bags and our purchases to our hotel first before returning the car. For the next 2 nights, we will be staying at Premier Inn, Bath Rd, Heathrow.





The room was spotless clean and their beds was surprisingly super comfy, despite the fact that this is budget hotel. Definitely the best budget hotel I've been into and surely worth every pound spent. Their sound proof window and wall is worth a mention since we slept like a log although our hotel room was facing the runway of one of the busiest airport in the world. I swear, we don't hear a thing.
After dropping off our luggages, we went to send "Cik Akii" home. Remember the story about GPS that died on us and we had to get a new one? Although they claimed that if we submit the original bill when we returning the car, they will pay the GPS price, apparently they didn't because the GPS we bought was higher end sort and more expensive than the one their company been using so the claim part could be rather difficult. In exchange, they'd refund our GPS rental fee, waive our 3 hours late charges penalty for returning the car late and we got to keep the GPS. It's a win win situation I reckon. After settled all the bill, the rental company driver drove us to our hotel, had dinner and wrapped up the day.
The next day, is free and easy around London City. My husband had booked H.O.H.O (Hop on Hop Off) London tour bus package with Big Bus Tours so we're hoping to cover as much places as we can within a day since we'll be starting our group tour tomorrow and we'll be leaving London. *sobs sobs*




After staying in this hotel for two days, I concluded that Heathrow is one damn busy airport. Plane landed every 2 minutes and as we watched the current plane descended for landing, we can actually see the planes queuing behind it, waiting to get clearance to land. 2-3 planes at times. My heart truly goes out to air traffic controllers team here.
I believed, the thing I like most in London specifically, and UK generally was their public transport's efficiency and how comfortable it is. Like I said before, we travel with 2 young children and 4-turned-to-7-luggages by the end of our trip and we uses public transport a lot, outside our group tour. To be honest, I got scared just by thinking of how we would managed the luggages and the kids, and travel by train and bus in and out city, without losing any of them, errr or both. But sincerely, it was a very interesting and comfortable public transport experiences by far. Much much better than I anticipated.

We started day 4 very early. Initial plan is to reach London as early as we can, possibly by 8am since we were planning to had our breakfast at Malaysian Hall. We will starts out city tour pretty much from there. Bought a shuttle bus ticket to Terminal 5 where we will take Heathrow Connect to Paddington. Changed tube from Paddington to Bayswater where Malaysian Hall is located. Then we will start our H.O.H.O from the bus stop near Malaysian Hall. Well, it looked pretty and well planned on paper isn't it? We shall see...



A little bit on alternative ways of commuting between Heathrow and London City. Oh before that, should you wonder why we stayed at Heathrow instead of in London City or somewhere nearby.. I believed I had mentioned it before but I'll say it again here.. Our group tour assembly point is at Heathrow, Holiday Inn Express Heathrow to be precise . We only gotten our hotel list 5 days prior to our departure. By that time we already made our booking at Premier Inn and paid, else we would just book a room at Holiday Inn for this 2 days. That could save us a hassle of having had to transfer from Premier Inn to Holiday Inn on day 5.
Back to commuting.. Well which method of transportation is depends on you and your needs.
If you have nothing to rush for, then you can just get yourself an Oyster Card and use normal tube services that will end at Paddington. This method is by far the cheapest but not necessarily the fastest because the tube will stops at each station along the way, around 20 plus stations if I'm not mistaken.
If you are not that rushing but don't favor staying in a train for too long either, you can choose Heathrow Connect. Price wise, slightly higher than tube, but of course cheaper albeit slower than Heathrow Express. Slower by 10 minutes different because Heathrow Connect will still make a few stops but not as many as tube. Plus, if you're not fond of heavy crowd, Heathrow Connect is suitable  then for it's less passenger. We opted for Heathrow Connect on our first day but resorted to use tube for the next next trip to and fro London for it's cheaper price he he he. We're not really in hurry anyway :)

Thirdly, most expensive and the fastest method, is Heathrow Express. No stop, free wifi inside cabin and you will reach London in 20 minutes max. If you're chasing a datelines, or already late for an important meeting, or if you have extra pound to spare or anything along the lines, then you gotta choose this.


Moving on, we arrived Paddington Station around 7:30 am, in the middle of busy bustling city of London. Since it's working days, it's pretty chaos at the underground station with people in office suits walking real fast in heels and messenger bags sling across their bodies, files and documents in hand, coffee on another hand. There I was standing straight in the middle of Paddington station, not moving even an inch, coffee in hand, looking as fascinated as I can be, observing my busy surrounding and 1001 different things. London is really a good place to do people watch.


We then took a tube to Bayswater Station. The one and only trick that you need if you want to survive in London, is mastering their tube lines. We got pretty messed on our first day, resulting to going back and forth to the same station, taking wrong color of lines, missed our train before our eyes just because we're standing on the opposite side of the railway from what we're supposed to be and not to mentioned, couple of momentarily sulking after a series of finger pointing episode of who supposed to take the blame when we missed our train ha ha ha. The only thing that made it bearable was the cool weather. I just can't imagine how  we could turned up if the weather is hot and humid and sweaty and sticky. We might ended up pulling each other hair. Anyway, drama put aside, we did much much better the next day since we got better understanding on how the tube works. Trust me, understanding and choosing the right color of line and station is very so important cause how's your day going to be will be determine by it. If you're just suck at reading and understanding maps, you know.. errr just like me..then get a travel companion that can!
Reached Malaysian Hall 5 min passed 8 and there are already Malaysian having their breakfast there. From the way I see it, because of their price range here are among the cheapest through out London, business is good as people keep coming. My husband and I both have Nasi Lemak set while the girls having mee goreng, complimented with hot steaming teh tarik. As much as I like to say positive thing about them, I wanted to be fair in my writing. To me, personally, their foods was edible but nothing WOW about it. The buffet spread on another hand was awesome. So many varieties and sometimes you just forgot you're in UK seeing from the stuffs they sell there. Quality speaking, still tolerable lah although I've read about people getting diarrhea, luckily we didn't have any of those experience. Most importantly, it's dirt cheap and you know what people say, you get what you paid for so even though it's nothing fancy here, it's feels good to have that warung-like environment once a while.




Once done with breakkie, we headed to bus station nearby to catch our Big Bus. There's so many companies that offered the same package as Big Bus Tours so it can get really confusing as in whether you are in the right bus stop or not. Fret not, because each bus stop have signage that indicates the company names so should you buy tickets with Big Bus Tours, just look for a bus stops with Big Bus Tour's name on it, which is ample considering that they are pretty big companies. Plus, they will be inspectors on duty roaming and stand by around the bus stops everywhere to help the tourist. You can asked for their help anytime or if you didn't buy the ticket prior via online like us, you can do so from this inspectors or straight from the bus driver also can.

I like the system they implement where by you can start your tour from any bus stop nearby you on any particular time of the day as long as the ticket still valid. Not necessarily from certain designated station or certain time frame. You planned your own tour so as to say. You can stop anywhere you want within the route or you can just stay on the bus and completed the route first and do the stopping at tourist spot later on. Plus the ticket is valid for 24 hours, not daily like usual practice. This means, if you started the tour by 10 am today, your ticket will expired by 10 am the next day, not by the end of the day. Same goes if you started the tour at 4 pm, you can just cover as much as you can by the day, and continue tomorrow until 4 pm. With this ticket also, you'll get many benefit that comes with it, like free entrance to few tourist spot, free river cruise ride along Thames River and so much more. What I'm saying is, this H.O.H.O is really a good buy and wise option to roam around London. Just equipped yourself with their map and you are pretty much your own tour guide.

We had made our tour plan beforehand of where to visit first, what station we need to get off and where to go next and compiled it into list.
So our first stop is Buckingham Palace to see guard changing ceremony. The reason for it was because the guard changing ceremony is held every day at 11:30 am. Should you miss it, then you need to come next day, luxury that we don't have since we'll be leaving tomorrow. My husband wants to see this ritual so much actually. I can live just fine without seeing this guard changing thingy but my husband was so into this stuff so okaylah... What harm can be done right? Kita layan je lahh.. Oh by the way, once you hopped onto the bus, you'll be given a piece of headset, a disposable raincoat and map.
When we reached the station near Buckingham Palace, the ritual already started and peoples already flooding the area it was impossible to get a good spot and good vision. So, if your dream of life is to see Buckhingham Palace's guard changing ceremony, my advise is get there super early else the most you can see is the only the tip of the guard's furry hat. Worst if you're below 1 meters height, all you can see through out the ceremony could be some strangers's back side ha ha ha.. Like my girls.. I am no fan of piggy back ride but when the thought of my girls having memories of staring on some strangers's bum while watching guard changing for the rest of their life, I gave way.



After done with guard changing, it's time for Madame Tussaud. Again, we bought the ticket via online prior to our trip and had booked a slot from 1:30 - 2:30 pm based on our rough calculation. You see, big bus tour have 2 different color coded lines. Blue and red. So you need to pick your route wisely, else you'll be ended up having to do a complete round, one long round. And that's what we ended up doing. We supposed to take the red line and Madame Tussaud is supposedly 2-3 stations away from our last station. Unfortunately, we took the wrong route and because of that, we wasted good 45 minutes. It's fine actually as we're going to do the city circle anyway later on but since we need to be at Madame Tussaud by 1:30 as per our ticket, we're panicking. Anyhow, nasi dah jadi bubur. It's not like we can turn back anyway since by the time we realized it, we're already half way through the blue line. So we just sit back and enjoy the ride and worry about Madame Tussaud later. We did enjoyed the tour though.and I'll share some part of London's view from my lens.



Sure enough, due to the "tactical problem" earlier, we reached Madame Tussaud quite late, say about 2:15 pm. Although I'm pretty sure our entrance would be denied, they didn't apparently. They didn't even check our booked slot time. Duhhhhhh.. Looks like my anxiety was unnecessary.













I had so much photos taken here alone, like million of it but yeah I think you guys get the idea. Clearly, we had fun. Infact, everyone else does. We spent almost 2 hours inside because there's a lot of other things to do apart from play paparazzi and celeb wannabe but the most exciting was the 4D show featuring all the Super Heroes. The girls super lovess it.
Next in the list is, cruise by the Thames River and then lepak-ing at Hyde Park and perhaps, if time permit, we can visit Princess Diana memorial Park. It's nearby anyway. The last thing in my to-do list today is Oxford St and Harrods. Why last? Simply because I need to spend most time here hence I put it last. I just don't like the idea of having had to compromise my shopping slot with some other tourist-y thingy. So we do the tourist-y part first, then mommy part. It's a done deal.
I quoted what our tour guide ( group tour) told us. " You don't come to Europe to shop! If you wanna shop, might as well you go Dubai, Kuwait, Malaysia or even Singapore. You come to Europe for it's culture, for it's old city, it's history, their historical buildings, their culture, their museums and whatnot "

You see, our tour guide is a very old man. 70 years at least so I can see where he's coming from but sadly I have a different stands when it comes to holiday. I go for holiday not to do what others did, not to do what was recommended inside guide book. This is not some school field trip. We paid for this trip with our hard earned money so I will do what I wanna do. I will see what I wanna see. Even if it's means I will do less and see less than others. I'm not into structure and am certainly not history junkie so I won't go visit museum just because others do. I used to heard this a lot, you don't see the whole London if you didn't see this, this, this and this. Well. that is true but I choose to see London ( and other places) the way I wanna see it, and if my way will makes me see only partial of it, so be it. Others have their own definition of travelling and happiness so I am just happy when I got to do what I wanna do, instead of doing things people asked me to do or people always do.
There's some small tragedy happened after we got out from Madame Tussaud. We lost our Big Bus Tour ticket! Errr actually my husband lost it ha ha ha.. He must have misplaced it or got mixed up with other receipts and accidentally throw it away. As a result, we had to purchased another set of family tickets else we can't continue our tour and the new tickets costs us around KD 35 or around RM 400. Huhuhuhu menangis air mata darah pun tidak berguna.. Anyway, I didn't make this accident such a big fuss and being cool about it. Soooo glad I did because there's some similar incident happened in the later part of our trip ( I will tell when that part comes), let just say the table turned and this time I'm to be blame and he can't get mad at me because I acted cool when he made mistakes. Phewwww.. you get back what you give, as the saying goes.
So, we purchased our new tickets, and proceed to the station where we supposed to go for the cruise ride. Just show you Big Bus Tour's ticket and you'll be asked to wait at certain Terminal. Ours is Terminal 1. Waited a few minutes and the cruise arrived. Before that we strolled by the river and took some photo around London Eye and Big Ben.






The river cruise comes with a on board tour guide. Ours was very hysterical and sarcastic, in a good way so the tour was nothing but boring. In the end of the cruise, he will stand by the exit way and hold a metal bucket. It is sort of culture that people give some donation to show appreciation. You can skip it if you want, it's voluntarily anyway, based on courtesy.
After the cruise done, suddenly I felt hungry hahahah.. So we googled for the nearest Halal restaurant from our point. There's this good application that we used called Zabihah. This application basically provide list of Halal restaurant at your current location and you can choose to sort by distance, price or reviews (stars). Anyway, looking at the time, we realized that if we go to eat first, we will missed Oxford St since most of the shops closed at 6 pm. So changed of plan. We'll go to Oxford St first and do the dinner later before going back to Heathrow. Anyway, we decided to eat at Tuk Din, malaysian owned restaurant that night. It's ideal since the restaurant located around 10 minutes walking distance from Paddington and we need to take our train to Heathrow from Paddington.
It was just a relaxing journey to Oxford St. Making a few photo stops and ice cream stops. As I said, London is really an interesting place to do people watch.








What I show you here is probably only 2 % from the actual Oxford St. It's so huge area with so many shops I think during our time in London, we only get to cover not even 10 % of it.





Previously, I don't get this Harrod's hype. Why people keep talking about Harrods, why they were so famous. From what I know, everything in there definitely for no ordinary people like me as everything is overpriced. After my visit there, I do understand now why Harrods stand in different league from the rest of it's competitor.


They even have LIVE SOPRANO on duty!!!!!!! I am amazed.





What's not in picture was Bubur Pulut Hitam, Sirap Bandung and my husband food that I forgot. He ate fried rice if I'm not mistaken.
I don't like to rush my day especially when on holiday. I like to sleep in even if its mean to missed breakfast.
I like to take my own sweet time everywhere I go and do whatever I wanna do despite what others say. I will take lunch whenever I feels like it even it was only 10 am.
I am not one to follow rigid schedule.
Therefore, I am partly thrilled and partly nervous about this group tour. Again, will update for next day journey soonest. Be kind with me, please :)
As a closing, it looks like we are having pretty strong bond with Kuwait, much much deeper than we thought. Jodoh kuat orang cakap