Just got back a week ago from a week long trip in UK primarily for medical university interview but 99% holiday.
Having already came all 7000 miles from home, one might as well drink the water one swims in.
I had the personal privilege of traveling alone without the company of my family which did knock out some fun prematurely before the trip but what it did was to really, push me out of my borders, and forced me to have fun in more ways I ever imagined, from a different dimension of joy.
When you're big enough for your parents to travel to England alone, you da man. You da big big man so you have the rite of passage to write a long advisory blog post on what people should avoid when traveling overseas to promote the smooth-running of their trip.
1) do not
feed the birds.
 |
| Fo' real. |
Let me tell you a story of a girl at Hyde park. It was a cold day with little sunshine so she went and got herself a bag of potato chips. It bothered her that the very small bag of chips cost her RM5, but she got over the thought and strolled off. She was multitasking very well. Taking pictures with her right hand like a typical Asian tourist while pouring chips into her mouth with her left. Little did she know when she made her way to the middle of the park that she was treading into the territory of very hungry evil birds. It started with
a kiss an innocent looking pigeon, which soon called it's brothers to join him.
They were soon succeeded by the crows. And the little Asian girl was too preoccupied with taking pictures of these creatures to notice the immense danger she was in. She dropped a chip. The birds rushed towards her feet at lightning speed, pecking furiously at the ground. That was a big enough wake up call. She let out a little yelp, stuffed the bag of chips into her mackintosh and backed away very quickly.
 |
| Hi there I want to EAT YOUR CHIPS! |
 |
| Pigeons of doom. |
 |
| Feed and befriend at your own risk, boy! |
Considered yourself warned, dear reader.
 |
| For added emphasis, this was found at Trafalgar Square. Loud and clear, peeps! :) |
2) do not
order espresso at a local coffee shop thinking you're executing a
penny wise move. You'd look like a fool like how I did by the time you realised it's no substitute for a cup of coffee/tea. Seriously. *double reverse facepalms myself*
3) do not think of yourself as a
second class citizen in another person's country. When you're travelling alone, I've learnt that confidence is key. Never feel insecure just because you're not one of the locals. Speak knowledgeably and politely. And smile as much as you can. No one can resist a sweet person.
 |
| Sweetness overload. :) |
4) do not wear
6 inch heels to the airport and on the plane. You will impress no one. You will trip and fall to embarrass yourself, develop a thousand types of knee/joint disorder and finally, be murdered a million times over in the minds of the 300 other passengers on board for puncturing the inflatable slide with your heels during an emergency landing. Not cool. And thank goodness, not me.
5) do not
put all your money in one place. What I do is to put some £ in my wallet, some in the luggage, some in my bag pack. But by the time you'd try to rob/thieve from me/pull a sneaky act on me, I've beaten you to it! Not only would you NOT KNOW what booby traps await, I'd have changed the location of my hidden preciousss; so give up your plots.
6) do not have an
overbearing mental currency converter in your head. I assure you, you will buy nothing home. Splurge a little for the sake of your loved ones. I had the ratio of £ to RM ;
1 to 4.8
4.8
4.8!!!!!!
Burned into my mind permanently throughout the trip. But because I was convinced by my little brother to buy something back for him, I overcame that mental barrier and spent money whenever need be.
7) do not
stare too long at cute guys on the tube. It is socially unacceptable. You will be embarrassed. What you should do, is to take out your camera, sneak a picture and go home knowing your dreams have just became sweeter.
8) do not
act like a functional retard at first sight of snow. Unless the locals are acting like that too. I was fortunate enough to catch snow just as I was about to leave Heathrow. Was literally pressing my nose up against the boarding room windows because I was confined there after checking in my luggage.
 |
| HEY MA IT'S SNOWING! :D |
9) do not
forget to pack moisturizer. You will feel bad when you peel bad.
10) do not
look like a tourist. You will be 40.67% more susceptible to being conned. Beware the clause, do not be shy to use your camera either.
Never ever forget your camera when you're travelling. Sure we have memory but a picture lasts much much much longer *reference to 7)*
To further prove my point, without my camera, I wouldn't be able to reminisce on such lovely moments I lived out throughout my trip:
 |
| Berry nice tree. :) |
 |
| Birmingham University. |
 |
| Birmingham Medical School |
 |
| Hyde Park |
 |
| Say good morning, London! Can you spot the Shard? |
 |
| Guilt-free snog indeed. |
 |
I had 2, maybe 3. Felt very amorous after that. ;)
Hey, it's not my fault that my most favourite food in the
whole wide world turned out to be (delightfully) aphrodisiacal! |
 |
| Yummy in the tummy! |
It was a great trip! Would gladly do it all over again. Which means, Mr Piggy is going to be force fed with a bigger ferocity from now on in. :)
