#ClspTravels : Visiting a friend in London
3:57 PM
Five years ago I went to London and what reminded the most of London was Oxford Circus Station. As I stepped out from the station, I was in Oxford Street, a super crowded situation in front of my eyes. So grateful for coming back to this city and have the same excitement in the year of 2017.8 Days felt so fast. The main purpose of this trip was to visit Tamara, also to explore more about London ; the places & foods. I don’t mean to exaggerate but somehow London felt like home, Maybe, it will even be mine in years ahead. Thank you for always bringing me good memories, London. This time, mostly because of the warmth that Tamara & her friends gave to me while i was there.Here is my London short clip, as a personal reminder of my good memories, and maybe to give you inspiration for places to go while in London!
From the clip
Brick Lane is a thrift shop that only open on Sunday. There are a lot of graffiti and paintings around the street which can be your photospot
God's Own Junkyard is a must visit!!! a bit far from the central but worth the distance
La creperie de Hampstead only open from 13.00-23.00 and i fell in love with their Garlic Cheese
Ahi Poke "build your own bowl". The steps :
- Choose your bowl : small/regular
- Base : quinoa/rice/brown rice/even combination of them
- The fillings : salmon, tuna, shrimp, mushroom
- Sauce : Sesame shoyu (the famous), sweet ponzu, sriracha mayo, and black chilli
- Topping : fried onion, edamame, radish, red onion, chillio grapefruit, avocado, etc!
My choice was the small bowl with the combination of quinoa and rice, double salmon with sweet ponzu sauce, topped with fried onion and edamame!
Camden Market is also a place to thrift, but you'll be surprise with the wide range selections & price of it *my thrifted jeans as seen on the video was only 10 pounds!
Four Seasons has the most delicious Duck in town!!!!! believe mee Busaba is known for their chilli beef jasmine rice, and get very crowded after mins they open their resto
Sketch is so damn beautiful but also the most expensive restaurant among the others
Just Brothers is a regret. Pricey and not yummy at all for us
Primrose Hill is the place that i felt very happy and comfortable, simple park that will soothe you
Borough Market has a lot of cheeses, bread, and another good food. Try the scallop, oyster, grilled cheese, any bread with truffle & mushroom spread!
Flat Iron close my trip with such a tender meat!
Exclude the clip
Since my memory was full back then i have to delete several of the footage but you should come to the place i mention below!
- Joe & The Juice - try the power shake, i drink this each day!!! you can tell how much i love the juice
- Bao - The chicken's nice but if you eat pork maybe their classic will be your choice
- Selfridges - Be focus on what to buy, their goods will catch your eyes!
- Harvey Nichols - shop, more hype compare to selfridges
- London Eye & Big Ben - because why not?
FLIGHT
Right at the time after my parents let me go to London alone, I searched
for flight ticket in any web I could possibly look. Actually, back then I was
planning to queue in Garuda Travel Fair, which costs about Rp. 8.000.000+-
round trip to London from Jakarta. But my plan was changed when I know it’s
complicated (for me – to queue from the dawn, accompanied by the credit card
holder, etc). I was in luck, randomly opened up traveloka and there i think
London was calling me, lol. A day before that, I also saw traveloka but the
price was very different. So what I got is a round trip package promo from
Malaysia Airlines, which only costs for Rp. 8.061.200 on May 6th –
13th in which I think not significantly different from the price I
have to pay if I queue in Garuda Travel Fair. I directly contact my parents and
bought the ticket. Seriously it’s very cheap (normally it costs above 10 mio) and
I was very lucky. Lesson learned : if you saw a super low price for travelling,
I highly recommend you not to think much! Moment is memorable and the city’s
calling you!
IG & Line@ you should follow if you’re looking for a friendly price
: @Rajatours, @travelrack
Now the next question, what does it feels using Malaysia
Airlines?
Well to be honest, I was afraid of going far alone and using
MH ehee. But after the flight, it was all okay and just the same as my other
trip. So I have to say that it’s also nice using MH airline. If I have to
comment, it would be about the few choices of entertainment they got, compared
to other airline I’ve used (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Garuda, Singapore
Airlines, and Cathay Pacific)
VISA
My fault was when I didn’t directly take care of my Visa
after I bought the ticket. I went to Japan weeks after I bought my London ticket
and when I got back home from Japan, it only left about 3 weeks before my day
to London. I was in Hong Kong international airport and butterflies all
over my stomach when I knew it takes 21 working days to get my UK Visa. I look
for any alternatives that I could do. Contact several travel to help me, look
the normal guide from VFS, reading blogs and other sources. And the conclusion was:
I couldn’t make it with the normal way, I need to use the express one.
*VFS UK offer 2 choices for the visa, which is normal (21
days of working hours) and express (3-5 days of working hours). By working
hours, it means weekend is not concluded and 5 pm is the last time each day
they proceed the document. The difference between them is of course on the
price. The normal price is about 2mio and the express is about 4mio. All
informations are provided here http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/indonesia/
There are a lot of documents that need to be filled before
applying the Visa and I was panic so I chose to use travel service to help me.
On Tuesday I arrived at Jakarta and on Wednesday I went to Dwidaya to take care
of my Visa. At that day, Dwidaya told me to complete all the documents from
birth certificate, family card, identity card, student ID card, and many more
docs. On Thursday I directly went to Dwidaya again to give all of my documents.
But unfortunately, there was still few documents needed. Since my parents got
divorce, I also need to give the divorce papers, letter from biological dad et
cetera. *if you’ve changed your name, they will also ask for the letter
and details*. It was very very very complicated. But I finally finished
all of my documents on Saturday. The number I have to pay is Rp. 3.400.000
including the translate service. Few of the documents need to be translated to
English and it costs Rp.200.000 per document if I’m not mistaken. Next thing is
I have to wait until they call me to the VFS office. On April 19th I
was contacted by Dwidaya that I have my schedule to VFS on April 26th.
At least I have my schedule so I can be calmed a little bit.
The day came, I went to VFS and pray they can proceed my visa
faster, it was only left a week before I go to London. You can tell how nervous
and pessimist I was. The process inside VFS starts with going into a big room
filled with all of the visitors that want to apply for their visa. I took
number before I went inside and when my number was being called, I told the
person in charge that I’m going in a week so please do whatever it takes to
make me go. I really beg him. Oh and on the desk, I need to pay for the express
service which costs Rp. 3.128.400. After that, I went to a smaller and private
room to have a biometric data collection. Taking picture of my face and
fingerprints.
As I’ve mentioned before, it takes 3-5 days of working hours
to proceed the express way of the visa. I started to calculate when it should
be done. It must be counted a day after I went to VFS. So if I count from
Thursday, the fastest possible result will be on Tuesday and the longest will
be on Thursday while my flight schedule is on Saturday.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were not counted since on
Monday we have a national holiday. But unfortunately, until the 4th
of May, Dwidaya have not contacted me through anything. So I called the person
who’s in charge to take care of my visa and praise the Lord, an hour after I
asked him, he told me that my visa was out and I can take it on Friday.
My visa journey really makes me stomachache each day! Can
you imagine the feeling of going to London on Saturday and still don't have the visa on Thursday? I bet you don’t want to know & feel the feeling!
Concluding from the detail prices, I need to pay Rp.
6.528.400 to get my visa from the express service. The price is different with the one i've mentioned on the VFS part because I use the service from travel in which i need to pay them too. But i don't know the detail calculation. The different is around 1-2 million on the express service
Tips from me is please do complete all of your documents and
take care of your visa before you go to London. Don’t waste your money on the
visa hahah. If you want to be practical, you can use the travel service with or
without using the express way. But if you still have time, I really suggest you
to manage all of the data alone by following the VFS guideline.
OTHERS
I have to say that London is expensive, mostly on the foods and shops. But if you're travelling to London, just don't forget to bring to card. Credit card is more recommended than debit. It's easy to get to the ATM there so you don't have to bring a lot of cash in the beginning since you can take it from the machine. But of course, it depends on your choice & necessity.
When i arrived in London, i made my oyster card for tube & bus pass. I paid 50 euro for a week
Bought my phone card there for a week. I used Three which costs 30 pounds for 12/20 gigabytes i forgot so soooorry
TIPS
Citimapper application helped me a lot while i was in London. I highly recommended you guys to download this app whether you're going to London or other city that available from them. The map, direction, and time are all accurate
Thanks for watching & reading my post! Pardon my grammar, i hope you get what i mean!
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