The UK and Ireland

[dindinstars]

^ Thanks for replying Sis. 

Maayos at madali lang ba intindihin ang tube station ng London? Kase kung ganun, hahanap nalang ako ng hotel na malapit sa tube station.

Hmm, We're traveling naman with my Sister and her soon to be hubby na Irish na many times ng naka-punta ng London. Pero I don't want to depend on them naman lagi.  Gusto ko rin meron akong alam at meron akong na-research about the trip.

[little_princess]

^ medyo magulo kasi kasi it's very extensive and there are a lot of stations lalo na if first time. There is a tube planner app though that you can download or plan ahead na lang before you go kasi the minimum fare is more than GBP1.

[dindinstars]

OK. Thanks Sis. Once na we finalie na yung plans tapos pag naka-apply na kame ng visa ( we will be applying from Singapore kase SG based kame), magtatanong ulit ako sa group.

Super excited nako!

[shegie_285]

dindinstars have you been to letterkenny before? Donegal is nice especially with good weather. i'm from Dublin by the way.

London tubes, they have tube map naman (paper), it is very extensive pero the map is very easy to understand. you know what line connects to another line and what color to get to your destination.  But i dont know if tube stations have lifts, i went to london with a friend who had a 10month old baby, a bit hassle lang sa stairs ng tube kase bitbit mo buong stroller. ayaw na din namin tiklupin ang stroller. buti apat kami (three girls and the dad) so tulong tulong na lang buhatin ang buong stroller with the baby  on it and with all the baby bags. pero un lang naman, aside from that, we were fine. after the first day, we realised not to get the tube during rush hour because of the baby.

We stayed at travelodge in covent garden, ok naman sya.

[pmartini]

i'll be in Dublin in first week of May.   and Second week of May sa London naman. I'll be a solo traveller in Dublin
hope i can find my way around crossed fingers*. Sa London naman it's my bday gift to hubby to bring him to Leavesden Harry Potter studio. will post updates of the trip!
still thinking whether to use Oyster or travel card in the UK any thoughts?

[shegie_285]

hi pmartini Dublin city centre is not that big and its easy to find your way around, just have a map. let me know if i can help.

we use an oyster card but because hubby bought one before and we just kept it in case we need it (he sometimes go to London for work). parang mas sulit ang oyster kung magagamit ulit. parang may fee ata ang card. When i went for a weekend beofore, i used the oyster card instead of the day-pass kase i calculated and parang you need three rides para sulit. when we planned our itinerary hindi namin masulit ang day card.  sa oyster parang 50% ang discount sa fare.

[riksy07]

^^sis, sulit sa Harry Potter studios. Well, being a Harry Potter fan I loved it there.

I used the Oyster card the entire time I was there. I got mine sa airport kasi nagtrain lang kami ng friend ko na nagsundo sa akin from the airport. There is 5GBP deposit which I did not get na kasi nga I took home my Oyster card as a souvenir. I would top up lang, like around 10GBP per day pero kasi may cap naman ang pagdeduct nila ng credits for the card which is almost worth na rin ng isang day pass and with the number of times I needed to use the Tube plus nasa Zone 4 pa the flat of my friend sulit na rin if I just topped up everyday and use it until I reach the daily cap.

[melvel]

^You're back!  How was the Eurotrip?

[riksy07]

^sis! Yes, I'm back. Haha super enjoy ang trip sis. Worth every cent I saved up and spent. Mas nagustuhan ko the days na I was solo or just with a friend. Naenjoy ko naman the walking tours pero mas natuwa ako pag naliligaw ako tas kung san san ako nakakarating tas kung ano ano nakikita ko. I had a GPS map naman on my iPhone kaya okay lang maligaw because I still end up finding my way back. If I had more funds, I would've shopped siguro. But for this trip I focused more on seeing the must-see places. I froze in London. There was this one morning na I came out of the Tower of London to see very light snow falling. I enjoyed my horse riding sa Hyde Park and yung Bath and Stonehenge trip. The transpo system is much less complicated than I thought it to be prior to the trip. I loved the Tube sis. It's my favorite metro amongst the three that I tried, with the Paris Metro and Rome Metro being the other two. But as to simplicity, the Rome Metro is the simplest. The Paris Metro kasi nangangain ng t**** haha. Or baka since I did not like it eh I did not really bother getting to know more of it.

[little_princess]

risky07, when were you there? i'm leaving tomorrow evening and been monitoring the weather, parang so far so good. much better than when i was there last february to march.

pmartini, we use the oyster card kasi feeling namin mas sulit versus the pass

[riksy07]

^sis, I was there from march 24 to march 30.

[little_princess]

ay kaya pala it was still snowing when i left eh

how was the bath trip? hubby and i are going there for day tour eh.

[riksy07]

^the Bath trip was okay. I was with a tour group there but we were given independence in exploring the town. I ended up doing the Jane Austen Centre and the Roman Baths. Maliit lang the town and kayang kaya lakarin. What got me were the picturesque views from Bath and of Bath as we were driving back to London.

[mom_G]

^sis, how much time did you spend in Bath?  we are leaving tomorrow too and we're planning to go to Bath on Sunday to avoid the London marathon crowds.

[riksy07]

^sis, we arrived in Bath fom Stonehenge at around 11:30am. We were given until 4:30pm to roam around Bath. So that's around 5 hours.

[little_princess]

^^ we might bump into each other i'm flying tom/tonight as well

^ super enough time ba ba yun? Hubby and i are taking the train so we're doing bath the whole day.

[riksy07]

^the five hours was enough for me to have lunch, go to the Roman Baths and to the Jane Austen Centre. If Bath lang kayo for one whole day, I think enough na ang one day to cover the major things. It really is just a small town sis.

[little_princess]

^ thanks! We booked our train tickets in advance and we have a total of 7hours there so i guess ok na yun.

Currently in london and will be here for the next 3 weeks. Weather is surprisingly good! Yesterday was the feast of St George and we were at the Trafalgar Square and there was a band and food fest. Popped in the national gallery as well

[riksy07]

^wow sis, three weeks in london? Hay, sana nasulit ko ng ganyan katagal ang London. I miss it so much right now. Parang nakakapanibago na naman na nasa Pinas where the transpo is inefficient and the air is so polluted. It may sound unpatriotic but I really am planning to look for a job and move to London.

[mama squeak!]

^I agree with the transport system in the UK. They really are efficient as long as you read the signs you won't get lost. Spring and summer there is really nice but come late fall and winter. Naku it's so dreary and wet! It gets dark pa early as in early ha 2PM pa lang madilim na. I would always hurry up to the bus stop as soon as classes end. My school's quite a walk away pa naman to the bus stop. But come spring, specially summer, 11PM na maliwanag pa!

I am hoping to go back soon with hubby and visit our old home and the school I went to. Plus do the usual tourist route of course.