Apologies for the extremely late—3 months later—trip summary. My trip to the UK wasn't as exciting as I hoped it to be, thus I have procrastinated writing this. It's only now, when I've booked my next vacation, that I realised this needs to be written. So without further ado, let's get to it.
HOW WAS THE TRIP?
I had high expectations for the UK. It's the land of Harry Potter after all! Alas, it didn't quite meet my expectations. But before I continue, I must say that this is a personal statement—there's just something about England that I didn't quite enjoy. I did, however, like Scotland very much. It has been months, but I'll try my best to recall the entire escapade.
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| Edinburgh Castle |
Day 2: Moving a few of the places in the itinerary around, we hit the major locations we wanted to visit before randomly strolling in search for evening tea. This way, we found hidden gems and dining places including MUM's Great Comfort Food where I tasted haggis for the first time—don't quite like the intensity of the spices though.
Day 3: It was a rainy day. We hiked up to Arthur's Seat before it started pouring on our way down. By the time we reached ground level, we sought shelter and conveniently found refuge in the Scottish Parliament Building. When the rain stopped, we peeked through the gates of Holyrood Palace before heading to Carlton Hill where the sky was finally blue. Yes, a blue sky!
Day 4: We picked up our car from Hertz—got an upgrade for free—and headed to Aviemore. We made a stop at Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery and had some cocktails. After which, we arrived at Aviemore and checked-in to our awesome Airbnb—more on this place down below.
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| The Breath-Taking Scottish Highlands |
Day 5: We spent the day in Cairngorms Mountain. We did the Windy Ridge Path and the Coire an t-Sneachda trails. Windy Ridge Path lived up to its name, so don't be fooled. I had to cup my hands over my ears to stop the wind from hurting my eardrums. It was a good day though. The landscape is unforgettable.
Day 6: As my family and I love cycling, we rented bikes for the day and cycled around Glenmore Forest Park. We were done by noon and did some walking at Craigellachie National Nature Reserve. We also stumbled upon an ice-cream shop in town called Miele's Gelateria. There was a queue right out their door, so we decided to give it a try—pretty good, though the money could be better spent on discounted Häagen-Dazs from the nearby Tesco.
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| Steall Falls |
Day 7: It was another travel day—Aviemore to Glasgow. Along the way, we stopped at Fort William for the Steall Falls and Nevis Gorge trail. We spent quite some time there, trudging through mud to see Steall Falls up close, before continuing our journey to Glasgow.
Day 8: We had little interest in Glasgow, so it was another travel day for us. We headed for Grasmere in Cumbria, did a little walking in the rather small town, then dropped by Rydall Hall Garden, before checking in at our Airbnb in Ambleside—I actually enjoyed my stay in this Airbnb, but the host made some accusations on how we treated the home which... well... more on that later.
Day 9: The Old Man of Coniston was the hike of the day, of which we didn't complete. It was brutal because of the constant gradient. We made it 80% of the way before heading back down. We also did the Tarn Hows Circular Walk which was, honestly, boring.
Day 10: We tweaked the itinerary to go with the flow. After seeing Stock Ghyll Force Waterfall, we decided to push forward and ascend Wansell Pike. When we got down, we had lunch at The Apple Pie as planned, before visiting Holehird Gardens and Lake Windermere.
Day 11: A five-hour journey from Ambleside to London.
Day 12: Let's just say that all of us didn't quite enjoy touring the city of London. We live in a city ourselves and nothing about walking 35,000 steps around a bustling and crowded city was fun. I now know what to omit in my future itineraries—more great outdoors, less cities.
Day 13: In comparison to London, our day trip to Oxford was slightly better. The main downside about Oxford was that there was a graduation happening, which closed off some of the places of interest. It was also raining that day, so it was gloomy and we didn't bother taking much pictures—yes, the weather assumption of this country is a fact.
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| Diagon Alley isn't always this vacant. |
Day 14: This was the day I was looking forward to. I had high hopes. I was so excited. But let me just say... if you're looking for a truly immersive Harry Potter experience, the Warner Bros Studio tour is not the place to go. If you want to play pretend, head to Universal Studios instead. I had a much better Potter experience in the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Osaka then I did at the studio. But for what it's worth, I have some pretty cool pictures.
Day 15: We ditch the itinerary and decided to do some last minute Primark shopping. Why? Because I couldn't find a single Potter item I liked during my entire trip—the Primark at Oxford street was a downer—and dropping by one more Primark was my last shot. I did get some stuff which you will see below.
DID THE BUDGET WORK?
Note: We removed Wildlife Highland Park from the itinerary because there was no payment confirmation and the bank could only confirm purchase at the end of the month. So we decided to skip the place and cancel payment.
Update: Our 12-day car rental—free upgrade due to the original rented car not being available—was RM707.50 per person (instead of the initial estimate of RM726 per person).
As for our in-hand budget, we had an extra £313 which converted to RM1690.20. Once split amongst the four of us, we had an extra of RM422.55 per person.
So, did the budget work? Yes it did. In fact, the cost of the trip ended up being less that RM8K total!
Update: Our 12-day car rental—free upgrade due to the original rented car not being available—was RM707.50 per person (instead of the initial estimate of RM726 per person).
As for our in-hand budget, we had an extra £313 which converted to RM1690.20. Once split amongst the four of us, we had an extra of RM422.55 per person.
So, did the budget work? Yes it did. In fact, the cost of the trip ended up being less that RM8K total!
HOW WAS THE LODGING?
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To make things easy, here are my Airbnb reviews with a few extra notes.
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| It doesn't look like much but the Aviemore Airbnb is something! |
Edinburgh: This place was a lovely, city-centered home—ideal for exploring Edinburgh. The host waited for our arrival to check us in and explained everything in the home. However, at the time we were staying, the windows couldn't open (due to a recent paint job), and the washing machine was moldy. I'm sure the host solved these two problems by now, so it's definitely a place worth considering if you plan to explore Edinburgh on foot.
Aviemore, Cairngorms: This is a place I would book again should I return to Aviemore. The home was fully-equipped, having almost everything I needed. It was also clean and cosy, and the host was very responsive too! I rarely give 5-stars on Airbnb, but this... this deserved it—a 5-star accommodation worth the price.
Glasgow: The house was a little run down with a lot of non-functioning things. However, the host was very responsive and apologetic during my overnight stay when things weren't in order. I can't say much about everything else since I was there for only a night.
Coniston, Lake District: I was looking forward to this place and it delivered. It was a lovely home, though a little difficult to get in and out of—single, narrow road. However, I was offended when the host wrote an accusing review on our stay, claiming we broke their heaters and spoiled the windows. If only she asked before accusing she would've known that the heaters fell off the walls due to lose hinges and the windows... well, God only knows what she was referring to when we didn't even open them.
London: Upon my arrival, I had to wait about half an hour for the host to arrive—she could only check us in after her work, which could be an inconvenience for some. The home is in a great location though, and is definitely worth considering if you're looking for a place in London. I also have to add that the host said I asked too many questions—is it just me or are English Airbnb hosts a little nitpicky? I might have met a minority, because my English friends aren't like that.
DID I DO ANY SHOPPING?
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| Primark Loot |
Yes. I brought Roses and Quality Street chocolate home and snagged some Primark stuff. I was hoping to spend more, but there was just nothing more to spend on.
TO SUM THE SUMMARY...
Scotland was great. The people were nice. The scenery was amazing. But England was... underwhelming. My expectations had been set too high from all the British dramas and movies that it I was quickly let down. The question is: would I go back? To Scotland, yes. It isn't rated as a top destination for nothing.
So, where to next—where have I booked a flight to that spurred me to write this post? Well, I can finally say, New Zealand. Yes... New Zealand is happening. It's not being put off any longer! So stay tuned for my upcoming posts, because I'm working on the itinerary and budget as we speak!
(For more pictures of my UK trip, head over to Instagram! I have an instastory collection of my vacation, and I'll be posting a whole lot of #throwbacks gradually.)
So, where to next—where have I booked a flight to that spurred me to write this post? Well, I can finally say, New Zealand. Yes... New Zealand is happening. It's not being put off any longer! So stay tuned for my upcoming posts, because I'm working on the itinerary and budget as we speak!
(For more pictures of my UK trip, head over to Instagram! I have an instastory collection of my vacation, and I'll be posting a whole lot of #throwbacks gradually.)
Check out my other posts on the UK: