Booked flight for a family tour with family members (minus CK and Jo); Airbnb and rental car (for self driving tour in Scotland confirmed)... then came the unexpected Iran war flagged by Donald Trump and Israel's Netanyahu, and the massive disruption of air travel transiting through middle east. Our direct flight to London very a BA is unaffected, but return flight via Qatar airways (transiting through Doha is in limbo). After much deliberation, we finally rebooked return flight via Air France.
As we checked into our BA flight to London at Changi airport, we were greeted with WhatsApp message that Qatar airways had announced that peoples transiting through Doha airport on 4 Apr are allowed cancellation of their flight. However,since we booked return flight via 3rd party, it's unclear if we could get some partial refund of the unused flight with Qatar airways.
CY was traveling with Kevin to Vietnam. Their flight via Emirates airlines from Hanoi to Glasgow seemed secured/on scheduled.
突发的以美伊中东战火导致我们的英国自由行起了一些变数。开始是忧虑婧怡与凯文能否如期从河内飞往英国（ 因为他们需要在杜拜转机）, 后来又得担忧我们能否如期乘搭咔嗒航空从爱丁堡飞回新加坡。。。最终决定另行购买法航飞回新加坡的机票。这样一来，我们就没有了后顾之忧！
This blog will cover first leg of our journey in London/Cambridge. There will be another separate blog on itinerary for Scotland later.
Day 1 20 March
Departed from home around 8.30pm. Took night flight departing around 11 pm from Changi airport. Flight departed on time.
The leg room in economy seats was surprisingly spacious. Managed to have some sleep in the 14 hours flight.
Day 2 21 March
Landed at Heathrow airport around 5am. It's rather chilly while walking pass the air bridge.
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| Heathrow Airport |
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| On board Elizabeth Line to King's Cross station |
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| Heathrow Airport |
Took Elizabeth line to King's Cross station, then walked about 10 minutes to our Airbnb lodging nearby.
After depositing our luggage in our AirBnB lodging, we started our day 1 exploration of London.
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| Shopping Mall... crowd waiting for the door to open |
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| Big Ben |
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| London Eye |
After snapping photos of Big Ben, London Eye, we walked through Graffiti Tunnel to Borough Market - took our Fish and Chip lunch there, then walked to London Bridge and London Bridge.
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| Borough Market... very crowded |
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| Fish and Chips for Lunch |
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| It's just a bridge... not that remarkable as I thought (after being brain-washed by London bridge nursery rhyme) |
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| This is how London Bridge looks like |
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| London Bridge |
Tower Bridge on the other side of the river walkway is more impressive...
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| walking along the side walk from London Bridge to Tower bridge |
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| Tower bridge |
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| Tower of London, old castle... after crossing the Tower Bridge |
After walking pass Tower Bridge, we took a bus to St Paul's Cathedral
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| 樱花 |
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| Walking pass The Great Fire of London @ The Monument, as we walked from the bus stop to St Paul's Cathedral |
After that, we retired for the day at our AirBnB.
Day 3 23 March
Main places of interest today are - 1. Buckingham Palace, 2. British Museum, 3. Chinatown 4. Dinner at Fallow (near Chinatown)
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| outside the metro station leading to Buckingham Palace |
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| Tourists outside the palace, to view change of guard ceremony |
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| British Museum |
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| Inside the museum |
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| Vietnamese Pho before visiting British Museum |
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| travelling by bus on Day 2 |
Glimpses of city lives from the bus...
Day 4 24 March
1/2 day trip to Cambridge - just to see 康桥，made famous by 徐志摩, a Chinese poet, who died young in a plane crash.
Cambridge is a very touristy town. Many admissions are admission charged. It is memorable only for the die hard fans. Each admission to various colleges cost ~ 30 pounds (it's not cheap).
The train ride from King's cross station took about 2 hours.
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| Train to Cambridge |
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| The museum (free entrance) was closed when we were then... |
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| 康桥当背景 |
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| 就为了它而来！ |
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| Newton's Apple tree |
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| Sakura |
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| waiting for the train back to London |
After return from Cambridge, we went to Chinatown for a walk and for our dinner.
CJ and Vivian went to visit Harry Potter theme park, followed by Les Miserables Broadway show.
兴致勃勃的参览大英博物馆，对所展示的中国古董真迹有点失望。
不过伦敦的气场，无可否认是蛮有震撼力的 - 大钟楼，伦敦之眼，宏伟的吊桥，人潮的汹涌。。。其气派非凡。
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