EUROPE 2019 - LONDON

FRANKFURT HBF - BRUSSELS MIDI - LONDON ST PANCRAS

We checked out of the hotel to catch the train to London St Pancras via Brussels Midi. At Brussels Midi, we went through security and passport control to board the train. A word of advice, please make sure you subscribe to a data plan because we experienced a seat change informed to us through email on the day of the travel. Without this info, there would be chaos as your previous seats were assigned to others and you have no idea about your new seat number.

Our train departed as scheduled and arrived at London St Pancras @1611. 

Central Park Hotel

From London St Pancras we took the taxi to our hotel which cost £20. We have been to London several times and during those times we stayed at hotels and apartments near Marble Arch and Oxford Street. This time around we chose to stay at Central Park Hotel, Queenborough Terrace which is very close to the Malaysian High Commission and of course Malaysia Hall. It is also very close to many Malaysian restaurants and accessible by London Underground Queensway station and Bayswater station. Our room was spacious but the bathroom was small equipped with only a shower. The pillows and bed were very comfortable. There was also a coffee/tea making facility. Wifi was ok.

After nearly 1 month of traveling, we craved for Malaysian food. So immediately after checking-in, we went to Malaysia Hall and had our meal. Besides Malaysia Hall, we also had our meals at Normah's Cafe situated inside the Queensway Market and Putera Puteri Cafe in Queensway.

For this trip, we visited Greenwich for the first time and revisited Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square, National Museum and of course Bicester Village 
For our flight home, we departed from Terminal 5. After checking in our luggage we proceeded to security control and made it to our designated gate. Our passports were only checked when we were boarding the plane. The flight home was smooth and we reached KLIA as scheduled.

EUROPE 2019 - FRANKFURT

Firenze SMN - Frankfurt Hbf

Departed Firenze SMN to Milano Centrale at 0906 (delayed). The coach was clean and comfortable. Premium ticket includes drinks and biscuits. There was wifi onboard but on that day we could not surf the internet. At 1000 the train stopped after Bologna due to some technical problem of the oncoming train. Back on track at 1011. Due to the delay (including at departure), it was quite stressful for us as we had a connecting train to Frankfurt Hbf departing at 1123. Luckily we reached Milano Centrale at 1109 but had to rush to our coach to Frankfurt which was quite a distance (from platform 4 to platform 12). 

The train departed at 1133 instead of 1123 probably due to the delay.  The coach was clean with comfortable legroom but no wifi onboard. Our seats were facing forward from Milano Centrale-Bern, backward from Bern-Basel and forward again from Basel-Frankfurt. As we entered Switzerland @1330, our passports we checked.

Ibis Styles Frankfurt City

We checked-in at Ibis Styles Frankfurt City Hotel (breakfast included). It's about 400 meters from Frankfurt Hbf. The decent size room has clean sheets, very clean bathroom, comfortable pillows, and bed. Wifi was good and stable. Unfortunately, the room has no fridge. 

Walking Tour of Frankfurt

Here in Frankfurt, we did the walking tour as most of the tourist spots are within walking distance from our hotel i.e. Eurotower, Romerberg, Frankfurt Cathedral, Eiserner Stag, Mainkai, Hauptwache, and The Zeil.

Flea Market Frankfurt

We had the opportunity to witness this flea market at Shaumainkai Sachsenhausen.

Boat Cruise

We took the Primus-Linie 50 minutes Downstream (direction Griesheim) boat cruise.

Halal Restaurant - Thai Fun

There are several halal eateries around our hotel but we frequented the Thai Fun Restaurant during our stay in Frankfurt. It is very near to our hotel and Frankfurt Hbf. The food especially the Tomyam was delicious and the property is very clean and beautifully decorated.