It was a bit cloudy and dark on that day and seemed as though rain would fall soon. Hence, we decided not to spend the whole day over there. I hate rain. I didn’t want the same thing in Belfast happen to my camera again, in this case the new one. But all in all, we enjoyed our quick visit to St. Ives. I, in the first place, didn’t plan to play with the water by the beach, but only to take pictures. Then I changed my mind, gave up that plan and instead, went near the beach to play with beach water like a little kid (also took some videos but I’m too embarrassed to post it here haha). In fact, all of us (me and friends) stepped forward to reach water by the beach. It’s not a beach like many of you might imagine where there are bunch of visitors playing, sitting on the sand, sunbathing, etc. The wind was too strong for that kind of activities. So the visitors were a bit calm there. Most of them only went round for a while, then went to the nearest bar or restaurant to chill out. I wonder if it’s a different ambiance during summer holiday. So, finally, we then headed back to Birmingham. I personally was satisfied by this particular roadtrip. In 3 days we visited quite some places yet we could enjoy each place without any rush. The difficult-to-find-chinese-restaurant during the trip might be the only drawback (though it’s actually the most essential one haha. we found ourselves as a group of people who suffered from starve for days)

p.s. well, there was, too, another misfortune: our car got clamped by the security because we were late 20 minutes. So, here’s the story behind… we bought the 2 hours parking ticket, and turned out we appeared 2 hours and 20 minutes later which made us fined 80 pounds. 80 pounds for 20 minutes late, for God’s sake!! Just our luck. But at least we got lesson to learn. Don’t forget the parking time limit.

p.p.s. I’m only a few days away from Eurotrip! woohooo. Will go visit my friends in Netherland this coming weekend and I’m also expecting my sister to come a few days later then (her visa is still in process. really hope it will be issued on time!) then we’re up to Eurotrip together. Hopefully, everything is on track. I’m coming more on to this later!

Minack Theatre:

Land’s End:

First day, journey to Polperro (about 30 minutes from Plymouth where we stayed in) took about 4 hours and we drove 227 miles to get there. Polperro is a small village, belongs to Looe as a bigger district. When we arrived exactly in Polperro, I at first vagued that my thirst for beach/sea views could be fulfilled. I could only sense the village view, which was also nice and beautiful but the way, but still not beach or sea! However, my curiosity was too deep that we asked the local people if there was harbour there and the guy gave us direction to the harbour. As soon as we reached the harbour I couldn’t quite believe what I see. It was really beautiful and peaceful that I felt like I didn’t want to leave the place. I was astonished!

It was a shame we arrived quite late to the site in which many shops and attractions have already closed and the visitors were only a few. Hence, it wasn’t too lively by the time we arrived. But after all, I really liked the place. Going further the harbour, we saw cliff and climbed on it. Below the cliff was a sea! woohoo.  Seriously it’s so much relaxing and peaceful standing up on the cliff and hearing the sound of wave hitting the rocks and cliffs. It’s like we’re on the top of the world haahaha (well, sounds a bit lame) The wind was not too harsh on our visit and everybody was happy. Staying overnight just nearby the harbour of the Polperro would really be more exciting but we’ve booked rooms in Plymouth so time to go back. To top this visit off, we also made a go for local fresh food (mainly seafood dishes) in a bar near the harbour, the blue peter inn bar. yummy! different taste from what I usually had. You definitely have to pay a visit to Polperro. It won’t let you down trust me.

to be continued to day 2 journey….

I personally don’t think that “explore belfast” as title is appropriate. As a matter of fact, we didn’t quite explore the city as we were only visiting Belfast castle and strolling around the city centre. haha. This particular trip was probably the most random one I’ve made with numbers of misfortune occurences. So, this is how the story goes.. Me and neni headed to Bristol because we booked ryan air ticket Bristol-Belfast. It was amazingly cheap, I tell you. 5 pounds for single flight ticket just sounded ridiculous yet miraculous to us — students — if I might add. So we thought that it would be a brilliant idea to make a go for Bristol daytrip before flying to Belfast. It would be great indeed, WITHOUT THE RELENTLESS-STUPID-UGLY RAIN. So misfortune #1: relentless-stupid-ugly rain. I believe that all travellers hate rainy day when they are on a travelling mission. Bristol is nice, it has a great shopping centre named Cabot Circus. We didn’t have so many pictures there, blame the stupid rain. I think Bristol looked nicer than Birmingham, no offence. hahaha. Misfortune #2, I gave up all my toiletries to the airport security guy. I didn’t store my stuff in the baggage because it required further charge so I just brought a handbag, squeezed all my stuffs there, took it with me to the aircraft. But I completely forgot the airlines regulation on liquid and stuffs. And to my dumbest, I actually took the brand new bottles of facial cleanser and moisturiser I bought couple days before (which in total are quite costly for me). They were each 150 ml whilst the limit for each bottle of liquid is 100 ml. I did lie to them by telling now it’s only half left, they just couldn’t see it. But airport guys are always heartless everywhere, that’s all I know. They didn’t care to what I said. So there they went, all of those brand-new-quite-costly-stuffs were thrown to the bin. I was really into pieces, seriously. A serious heartbreak. We arrived at the Belfast International airport quite late and we didn’t want to stop by any stores to buy toiletries. I ended up sleeping like a smelly cat. haha.

But I loved Belfast at the first sight, just as soon as I set my feet on the Belfast land. haha. You know there are some political issues between Northern Ireland and England. I don’t really care anyway. Despite all the issues, I personally think Belfast is a nice city. We just booked one night at Belfast hotel but somehow, whimsically, tried to find ways to extend our stay to 3 nights. hahaha. Well, that sounds crazy, I know. Searched for hotels rate for 2 days and information to change our flight schedule. Nevertheless, the price estimation took us aback. So we just gave up with the ideas to extend the trip. The day after, I got up a bit early and rushed to the nearest store to buy toiletries because I didn’t want to appear as a smelly ugly cat for the whole day for real. The weather was amazingly sunny in the morning, and I hummed “GREAT..It’s gonna be a great day with great weather”. But it turned out raining very heavily in the afternoon and to make things worse, my umbrella failed me. Misfortune #3, RAIN agaiinnnn, yes that stupid ugly rain (it’s always rain and rain that I really hate) and it resulted in a terrible headache. sooo, Belfast.. at first we planned to visit two tourism spots there: the Belfast castle and titanic tour (the city is very well-known for the titanic history). As Belfast castle is the furthest among those two, we went there first, by bus. From the guide book it was written that bus journey would only take about 10 minutes to Belfast castle. It turned out, about 20-30 minutes. I asked the bus driver to kindly give a sign for the Belfast castle bus stop to us so then we knew where to get off. He said “sure, no problem”.  Turned out he was (very) late to give us the sign that I told him. We stopped a bit far away and walked farrrr until we arrived at the castle. It was raining so heavily, in case you forget. Both me and neni were bewildered about the entrance of the castle. hahaha. It was up on the hill so we could say we were two hill-climbers of the day, perhaps? hahhaha. Thank God we found a shortcut. Misfortune #4 bus driver stopped far from the site, caused us to walk far to the castle and confusing entrance. But the castle was good. Luckily, the rain just suddenly stopped when we reached the top of the hill where the castle was lied. Beautiful view from the top! So I switched on my camera, then realised that there was something wrong with it. It took a while until it was really really successfully switched on. I was so depressed and frustrated. How could that happen to meeeee? All those consecutive misfortunes?? At first I switched it on, but nothing happen. The screen was all dark. I switched it off again, switched on again, switched off again, switched on again….. thousands time doing the same things, until it finally ON! It has never happened like that seriously. I don’t know what is happening to my lovely camera. Now, my camera is still sick. I have to attempt thousands times of switching on and off until in really is ON. I want my camera back healthy. so yes, misfortune #5 camera breaks-down that makes me quite depressed. I feel bad. We didn’t have much time to visit the titanic site. Our flight back was at 6.30 pm and it was already4 pm when we were over with the Belfast castle tour. So we just took the time enjoying the city centre vibe and stopped by a little cupcake cafe which successfully cheered me a bit.

Northern Ireland is really good. It’s worth my another visit anytime soon. I promise. And despite all those continuous misfortunates, I’d rather take them as precious experiences. There are always some things that travelling offers to us. All-wrapped to an unforgettable experience. I feel good now I’m home, in Birmingham, which although I don’t really think it’s as beautiful as other cities, I feel it’s my home where my heart belongs to. hehe. I’ll never get bored of travelling no matter how it will surprise me (both in good and bad way). All that matters is  the experience!

Abingdon city council

city centre square

Fish and chips restaurant in the city centre. i can’t resist the yummy smell.

in front of the house.

calm road passage.

an Italian restaurant, named ASK. love the place!

and i had spaghetti bolognaise from Ask for lunch. deliciousooo!

i was going with a friend of mine, Emy. as we’re not that into Shakespeare or any literature stuffy, we decided not to push ourselves to buy the entrance ticket to Shakespeare houses and birthplace. a bit costly, to be frank. and we’re afraid that we would get lost if you know what i mean. so, walking around and exploring the city as a whole were taken as a good decision. indeed good! we found quite some unique things along the way.

Shakepeare’s birthplace

Traditional music performance

Book bargain deal. I shared with my friend for the 7 for 4 deal! that’s crazy! we paid £12 for those 7 books! that was just crazy. i grabbed some from Sophie Kinsella and Enid Blyton. haha.

A beautiful river, surrounded by park. very refreshing.

A town square just nearby the river still inside the park.

A lot of ice cream booths (i just pictured one) by the riverside. the ice cream tasted heavenly!

vintage style shops along the street of city centre. beauty!

a teddy bear house! you’ll find a lot of teddy bears inside, and some dolls as well. i didn’t buy teddy bear doll but a bought a set of russian dolls (5 pieces) or better known as matrioshka! i’m happy.

so, that’s the wrap up of our tour or my finally-accomplished trip. haha. i love Stratford upon avon to bits!

so the journey was as follow: i arrived in York at 12-ish. it’s a lunch time then we decided to get something from Betty’s cafe tea rooms. i love it to bits! and i think it deserves an exclusive post which i’ll do later. then we headed to the museum garden. beautiful garden and ruins of ancient masterpiece building. the museum (Yorkshire museum) was currently under construction until june. well not that bad. because we could still enjoy the garden atmosphere and took loads of pictures with the ruins. love! next destination is the York Minster cathedral. it is beautiful! there was a wedding ceremony when we came. what an experience! as we walked through the street, we reached the shambles streets where vintage shops are lied. this is a famous area. and again, lots of tea rooms along the way. tea is very British mind you. i bought a little fluffy rabbit doll from Peter Rabbit store. so happy like a kid, haha..ok, pardon me. next, it is the Cliffords tower in the castle area. i think (i hope i’m not wrong) it’s sort of fortification tower in the old days (during war period), to watch for the enemies. dig for more information from the reliable source here. i’m never good at history telling. haha. and before we wrap up the whole trip, we took a York boat trip. then go back to Birmingham!

i.love.york!

had a roadtrip with some friends on tuesday and we drove to castle combe (part of cotswolds). people call it the traditional British village. and some movies have taken place here (e.g. pride and prejudice). i love the breathtaking scenery. felt like i was brought back to the old era. for those who needs to escape from city life, such a place can be a perfect getaway. too bad we did not have the opportunities to stay in the cottage or bed and breakfast hotel for more days as we are all horrified by deadlines. it would be lovely to spend one or more nights there. but there’s always next time. not to worry. hehe..

i want the polaroid film to stop being veryyyyy expensive!

i am addicted to polaroid pictures as well as to holiday.

and my aunt’s family is very warm. they treated me very well and i felt so welcome. aunt cooked home-dishes (hot and spicy Indonesian food) during my stay i was so spoiled. and i love the kids, especially the little one, although we rarely communicated in a proper way. he speaks dutch, a little english and no Indonesian. while i don’t speak Dutch at all, but speak Indonesian and English. now you notice the odds. haha. but we were bestfriends. his name is michael and he likes chicken (kip in Dutch) haha. he wants to have little chicken as his pet. haha. strange obsession. he’s also obsessed with komodo. he asked me once “do you like komodo chicken?” haha. kids.

ok, now i have to go back to work. a very hard one because i have massive deadlines for next month. and exams! and just to motivate me to do my best, i plan a travel destination for next holiday although i’m not sure yet when and where. for the time i have to options, after exams (june) but for only a week because i’m pretty sure my thesis will miss me a huge, or after i finish my thesis (september. amen! please pray for me guys. hehe.) and for the places hmm, ireland? eastern europe? scotland? or other places. i basically can’t choose now where to go because i want to go everywhere. just see where my heart goes to later.

ok, enough rambling. work hard! xxxx

i was only for a quick visit there. commuted by train Breda – Amsterdam centraal – Breda. but it wasn’t a direct train so we passed by some cities like rotterdam, delft, den haag. bright shiny dayyy as seen in the pictures above. amsterdam has a beautiful landscape. a lot of canals and rivers as well. so i took a boat trip to explore some parts of the city. and i noticed a tremendous amount of bicycles! (more than the population i reckon. hahaha.) everyone rides their own bicycles. well, the Netherlands is known as a country where bicycles is everywhere all around the country. but, i’ve never seen bicycle as much as here in Amsterdam. everyone rides bicycles (and also those people wearing formal suites). haha. my aunt said that even the prime minister used to go to work by bicycles. well, it doesn’t happen now because of the security issue. this is fabulous. my cousins asked me to join them hanging out in bicycles but too bad i forgot how to deal with the bicycles. hahaha. it’s been 10 years ago i rode bicycles. well, shame on me. the houses arrangement are just pretty. i love to see many different houses style in many different countries. and i took it’s different from England. both are pretty, still. hehe.

anyway, i’ve never enjoyed sun as much as here, back then in Indonesia. sun is something magnificent. hehe..

volendam is a small town in the north of Holland, near the sea. this place is very famous among tourists as a place where they can make a photograph wearing traditional costumes of Holland. i also made myself one. hehe. in the centrum we can find a lot of souvenirs shops and restaurants. i ate fish and chips there, and tasted much better than fish and chips i found here in England. haha. no offence. at least i think there are a lot of Indonesian tourists visit this town. in the windows of the shops, they display many famous Indonesian people posing with the traditional costumes. haha. i felt like home. i hope i looked awesome in the Dutch traditional costumes. haha.

aunt took me to the keukenhof tulip garden. as i told before, due to the late coming of spring, i wasn’t lucky enough this year to see the tulip grew quite a lot and tall. in the open garden there were only some tulips have grown fast. some were still very tiny and even haven’t started to grow (still in the seed). luckily, in the closed garden (named Wilhelm-Alexandre), i could find various kinds of tulips. maybe they’ve been given some special treatment in this closed garden so the flowers grew quite fast and tall.

and below are my most favourites. the deep red tulips, and black tulips. well, it certainly not really black. but very close to black, a very deep purple. sorry, i don’t think the picture for black tulip i took is good enough. but i just want to put it here. hope it doesn’t let you down. hehe..

black tulip

deep red tulip.

i wish someday on my wedding day, i have these tulips decorated the party. teehee.. kidding. and i love keukenhof garden! the weather was really good in the morning. we left the house at 7 am for the sake of good weather as we had seen the weather forecast earlier (rain in the afternoon). and it’s all worth it. hihi..

Aunt and family picked me up at the Bruxelles-midi-zuid station. I was completely mesmerised by the beauty of Brussels. Brussels, capital of Belgium, is a small and vintage city with the beautiful architecture. The highlights of this country are the Belgian chocolate, Belgian waffle, beer, manneken pis statue, Tin Tin story, atomium. Belgium is a bilingual country, speaking both French and Dutch. The south area, which is closer to France, uses French. On the other hand, the northern people speaks Dutch. However, all the streets marks are written both in French and Dutch. Speaking English is more acceptable here than in France.

1. atomium, was built in 1958 as a monument for an Expo. It represents the structure of iron crystal. i won’t go for the chemistry stuff any further otherwise i will be the most boring blogger. haha. lots of people come to Belgium make their way to this place. we can either go by elevator or staircase to reach each balls. at the top there is restaurant where you can enjoy the view of Brussels from the top, making it looks like miniature. each balls has exhibition. and i love the things exhibited there. such as the development of fridge and vespa, from the very vintage one. ok, i might look like a weird one. haha.

2. Belgian chocolate shops. Belgian chocolate is something that i can never ever resist. i am a sucker to chocolate, isn’t it very clear? hehe. one is never enough. and belgian chocolate really has a thing. loveeeeee it!

3. random building along the centruum.

4. market square. i loveeeeee this place. square in the middle, surrounded by beautiful old buildings. this is (i assume) the heart of Brussels. no wonder, many tourists hanging around. hehehe. too bad it was raining so hard.

5. restaurant area. still in the centruum. i did try spanish cuisine in a spanish restaurant. the dish’s name is paella. nice one.

6. manneken pis. at first i didn’t really know the history about this statue. but it’s very famous and has become the trademark of Brussels (and Belgium, maybe?) as we can see, it’s a statue of a little boy peeing. here is the detail history.

7. manneken pis in belgian chocolate statue.

the weather has been very ugly these past few days. rain on and off. and i am totally convinced that i hate rain during holiday! well, actually i hate rain when i’m doing outdoor activities. i couldn’t really snap a lot of good pictures. but no matter what i still enjoyed the city very much. i wish i could go back again someday. i found it so difficult to answer the question how many days i need to explore a city. maybe it would take at least a week in the same city. one or two days is never enough for me, seriously. but yeah, it was quite an experience.