london food

one of my favorite things about traveling is trying the different kinds of food.  Nando's has been on my list since i heard about it several years ago and it did not disappoint.  think of it as a spicy version of chicken inasal (a type of bbq chicken from Bacolod, Philippines).   it was delicious! 

no photos of the food because we were so hungry and we just ate it all!  

wagamama is also winner in my book. I had the curry with shrimp over rice.  paul wasn't too impressed with his ramen and wished he ordered the same dish as mine. 

shrimp with curry

fried calamari

my favorite out of the food/restaurants we tried in London was shake shack.   when we were in new York city last year, we missed out on trying the food at shake shack.  well, we missed out a lot on that trip to NYC.  it was unbelievably hot so we always had to wait until it gets a little cooler before we stepped out of the hotel.  we finally got our shake shack opportunity while in London and my goodness was that burger good!  some of my girl friends are in new York this week and before they left, they asked me what I wanted from new York, I said, 'well, if you're arriving early enough, I want a burger from shake shack.' unfortunately, their flight lands at 11:30 pm Pacific so no shake shack for me. =(

i still dream about this burger

of course we had our fill of fish and chips.  we tried the fish and chips at Jamie Oliver's Union Jacks and at the Wellington Pub.  I liked wellington's fish and chips more than Jamie's.  it was cheaper, too.  I also enjoyed the mushy peas with a hint of mint.  it doesn't look very good but to me it went well with the fish and chips.   

pizza, she always gets pizza

the mussels were alright

pork belly, he can't say no to pork belly

fish and chips...i actually enjoy the mushy peas

fish and chips at the wellington; better than jamie oliver's

if there is no pizza, mac n cheese is michelle's next choice

so in summary, my top 3 London restaurants are:
1. shake shack
2. nando's
3. wagamama

the Waldorf Hilton London

the Waldorf Hilton London was home the whole time we were in London.  it took me a loooong time to decide on the hotel because I was looking at rates (in our case, how many points it would cost), location, and amenities.  i finally decided on the Waldorf because of it's central location, proximity to restaurants and sights, access to the executive lounge and the indoor swimming pool. 

front of the hotel. (taken from the hotel's website, not my photo)

hotel lobby. pretty small by american standards but the front desk staff were efficient and friendly.
photo from the hotel website

before making the reservation, i sent them an email via facebook and checked with them if they store bags for returning guests and they promptly respond to my question.  they stored a couple of our bags free of charge while we spent several days in paris and they delivered it back to our room after we returned. 

our stay at the hotel included access to the lounge where breakfast, tea, and appetizers/drinks are served in the morning, afternoon, and evening - respectively  (all the food and drinks were included in our rate).  we enjoyed our hot breakfast at the lounge every day.  there was scrambled eggs, English bacon, sausages, pastries, and fruits.  it is the same breakfast every single morning but we weren't there for too long so we didn't mind the lack of day to day variety. 

latte!

the tea service in the afternoon had a beautiful assortment of little sandwiches, scones (i love scones!), and cakes and teas!  i didn't have to pay extra for the English tea experience! 

i wish we took more advantage of the drinks and appetizers in the evening.  beer and wine was free along with a few hot appetizers.  the evenings are also more crowded in the lounge which only seats about 35 to 40 people.  the treats from the lounge must be consumed in the lounge but on our last night in London, there was no room for us to sit so i asked the staff if i can take a couple of glasses of wine to our room instead and she gave me the thumbs up. 

the service at the hotel was great!  the door man always had a smile and a friendly greeting for us.  the concierge and the bellmen were all very helpful and the housekeeping staff kept our room clean.  we left a tip for housekeeping when we left for paris and also when we left to head back home.  we tipped the bellman a couple of pounds for delivering our luggage to the room.  you are not required nor are you expected to tip in Europe but since we are so used to it, we just decided to tip a little bit as appreciation for their hard work. 

the bedroom was spacious and the beds were comfortable

michelle enjoyed hopping from her bed to ours. she can only jump on hotel beds.
bed-jumping not allowed at home.

we used the hotel pool only a couple of times because we were too exhausted from all the walking we did during the day.  the pool also closed early (around 6:30 or 7 pm) which was around the time we got back to the hotel each night after having dinner.  on my first visit to London with a couple of my friends, our hotel also had an indoor pool which was open until 11 pm so each night before bed, we would take a plunge in the pool and relax in the warm water...that was a nice treat.  i hope the waldorf would do the same.  =D

we were not able to take pictures while in the pool
this photo is more beautiful than it actually looks. it was pretty dark in the pool.
photo from the hotel website

over all, i would highly recommend the Waldorf Hilton London.  if you only need to add a few extra dollars for access to the lounge, go for it.  the hearty breakfast we had every morning provided the fuel for our walks and sight seeing throughout the day.  we usually had a late and light lunch while in London.  the tea service was a wonderful treat and the free wine and beer at night will help you relax and sleep well.  

this is bedroom number 2, we spent our last night in london here after we got back from paris.  

this is a little smaller than the first room we used.

London

it has been more than a month since we got back from our trip to Europe and I have not had the time to blog about it.  my apologies.  the month of MAY was extremely busy, it was difficult to balance work and personal stuff during this month.  paul and I told each other that we will try our best not to schedule appointments other than the obvious gazillion birthday parties we have to attend during this month.  my side of the family alone has birthdays pretty much every other day during the first half of the month.  I have at least 5 other close friends that celebrate their birthday during may.  there's mother's day and the end of the school year for michelle.  there was so much going on so june is a welcome relief and we're back to the normal pace of our lives until the holidays start to roll around.

anyway, Europe was wonderful!  we absolutely loved London and I'm still dreaming of the food from Paris. for the purpose of this blog post, we'll focus on London first.

we took a non stop flight from SFO to LHR and arrived at around 2 pm local time.  we arranged for a taxi to pick us up and take us to the city center at a cost of about 45 pounds.  the airport is about 45 minutes to an hour from the city center so it's quite a bit of a drive.  taking the tube would have been more cost effective but we've heard from friends and read blogs that the tube can be really crowded and it is difficult to take when you're hauling your luggage around.  that and we are traveling with michelle who is 7 years old...the convenience alone is worth the money. 

smooth flight from SFO to LHR
upgraded to economy plus seats, we got a little bit more leg room

it was a 4 day weekend in London when we arrived so the city was packed to the gills with tourists!   our cab driver took roads to show some of the highlights of the city...we drove past Westminster abbey, big ben, and the museum of natural history.  home was the Waldorf Hilton near West End/Covent Garden which was such a convenient location if you decide to stay in the middle of the city.  covent garden was 3 blocks away so there was an abundance of restaurants to choose from.  on our first night, we had dinner at Bella Italia with a friend of ours who lives in London. 

Waldorf Hilton London

the view from our room

on our first full day in London, we decided to take the hop on/hop off tour to maximize our time.  it was around 32 pounds per person, I would advise tourists to stop converting the amount to your local currency.  =D  London is very expensive but really worth a visit.  we didn't go to many museums because we know it would bore michelle.  we're traveling the world with her but we also know what would keep her entertained.  I was planning on skipping the changing of the guards because it gets absolutely crowded and i didn't want to stand around for hours to get the best view but we arrived at Buckingham palace just in time for the changing of the guards and michelle wanted to see it so much so we stayed.  she said it was one of the highlights of her trip to London. 

upper deck of the hop on/hop off bus

at St. Paul's Cathedral

tower of london

tower bridge (not the london bridge)

westminster abbey

easter sunday, we attended the sunday service at hillsong in London.  it was such a blessing to be able to attend their easter service.  they dramatized the life of Christ in a modern dance that was just spectacular.  very unique.  Christianity is perceived by some as boring and outdated but hillsong's easter performance proves that our faith isn't boring and can evolve to keep up with the times.  the message isn't lost and just showed that we can spread the gospel in many different ways.  =D



the only museum we visited in London was the british museum of natural history.  we arrived just a few minutes before the doors were set to open because the lines for this free museum can be really long.  like i said, it was a 4 day weekend in London when we arrived so we know that lines would be extra long.  it is one of my favorite buildings in the world- beautiful inside and out.  the exhibit is great for the kids and michelle had a blast exploring the museum.  once you enter the museum, head to the dinosaur exhibit first because this is the most popular part of the museum.  get there early and head straight to the dinosaurs!

british museum of natural history

inside the museum

after the museum, we went to the London Eye.  i would advise to purchase your tickets in advance and skip the line (27 pounds for fast track).  it will cost less if you don't mind standing in line but you're on vacation for a limited time and you don't want to spend precious time standing in line for an attraction.  i have a fear of heights so i wasn't sure if i was going to enjoying riding this massive Ferris Wheel...well, i enjoyed it.  it moved so smoothly and slow enough that it doesn't feel like you are hundreds of feet from the ground.  we were blessed with great weather that day and we really enjoyed the view. 

there was a lot of walking involved.  i think we walked about 10 miles each day we were on vacation.  i was concerned that my r.a. would hold me back from walking and exploring but it didn't, thank God!  even michelle was also able to keep up with us.  when we went to italy two years ago, she didn't really complain so we were confident she can handle all the sightseeing.  she does amazingly well on flights also but lately i've noticed she slept less and spent most of her time watching the in-flight movies.  united had a good selection of movies for kids and adults.  i saw anchor man 2 (bad), monuments men (good), the book thief (great),  and the secret life of walter mitty (good).  i watched all these movies on the flight back to sfo.  i slept most of the flight from sfo to london (red eye flight).  

some of the things we were not able to do but wish we did a.k.a. reasons to go back soon:

we didn't get a chance to see a show on west end =(.  we wanted to see a matinee show because we were afraid that michelle will fall asleep in the middle of an evening show due to jetlag.  matinees are usually on Thursdays and we were in a different city on Thursday.  miss saigon started the week after we returned from europe.  will do this next time!

british museum.  I've been here once before and truly loved it.  this museum is also free and it has a great collection of antiquities plus the rosetta stone (the real one, not the language tutorial). 

English countryside.  i was told by friends to skip the Stonehenge because it is boring and there's nothing else to see except the stones....i still want to see it and explore the countryside. 

on my next blog update i will write a more detailed review of our hotel, the waldorf hilton and london's food.

we are featured on CNN.COM!!!

every now and then, I send contributions to cnn.com's ireport.  recently, I submitted information for "Your child's travel firsts" and being that our family loves to travel, Michelle has a lot of travel firsts.  I submitted a picture from our trip to Venice in 2012 which is Michelle's favorite moment in Italy.  After I submitted my contribution, someone from cnn emailed me, asked a bunch of questions, and I happily answered all of them.  a few days later, I got another email from them and they said that they will be publishing a story on children and traveling.  On Monday, Mar 31st, this is what I saw on cnn.com!

Michelle's photo on CNN.COM!!!

my answers to their questions were quoted several times in the article.  exciting!  hahaha!  we were so excited to share some of the travel tips we've learned along the way.  michelle has been to many different parts of the world and has always been a good traveler.  it helps that she's well behaved and very respectful of other people wherever we are so how she behaves at home, is pretty much how she behaves on a flight. 

we are traveling again in a few weeks and I'm sure we'll learn new things on that trip again.  i hope to share them here when we get back. 

here's the link to the full article. 

our spring break plans

if you follow me on twitter, you'll probably see a tweet from me about how excited i am for spring break, well, it's because we are booked and ready to go to london and paris this april!  this trip became affordable for us because we earned enough points/miles for our airfare and hotel.  so if you earn points on your credit card, save it and use it for that dream destination!

how i planned this trip (airfare):

the airfares from san francisco to london usually hover around the $1,000 range during low season, and over $1,400 in the summer.  during all my past trips to europe, i have always traveled during spring break because i've found the airfare and hotels fit my budget better than traveling there in the summer.  the weather would still be a little cold (in the 50s and low 60s fahrenheit), but being from san francisco, that temperature is about average for our region year-round.  if you're thinking of traveling to a destination where the cost of airfare and hotels are usually higher, consider traveling during low season to make the trip a little bit more economical.  you can search online for the most affordable time to travel to your chosen destination or better yet, call a travel agent (like me!).  

this is how our itinerary looks like:
April 17 - Depart from SFO
April 18 - Arrive at LHR
April 22 - Depart from St. Pancras Station and take the Eurostar train to Paris
April 25 - Depart from Gare du Nord station and head back to London by train
April 26 - Depart from LHR/Arrive at SFO

we will be in london from April 18th to the 22nd before heading to paris.  we could have booked a flight from SFO-LHR, and then fly from CDG (Paris, Charles De Gaulle airport) to SFO but that would have made our airfare at least $200 more per person.  a flight like this is called 'open jaw'.  it would have been more convenient but i'd rather be inconvenienced a little bit and save $600 on airfare.  

for our train tickets to/from paris, the cost of a roundtrip train ticket start at around $200, we got ours for 50% off because we are blessed to have friends in London who are able to get discounted tickets on the train.  flights to paris would have cost almost the same but we took into consideration the amount of time it takes to get to the airport (which is usually outside of the city center) and go through security (which is usually long).  


St Pancras International Station

Gare du Nord

St Pancras is one of the most beautiful train stations in the world...in the same area is Kings Cross station which, if you're a Harry Potter fan, should make for an interesting stop for a photo at platform 9 3/4.  i hope we have time to explore and take a photo here before our train ride to Paris.

reunions

i have started and restarted this entry maybe a half dozen times already.  i couldn't quite capture the joy i felt to be surrounded by old friends and family from 'home' even just for several days.

Review: More Premium Lounge TPE International Airport

a few weeks ago, i went on a short but sweet trip to the philippines.  i haven't had time to write a blog about that trip yet but i want to write about the lounge i used at the TPE airport on my flight back to San Francisco. reviews of airport lounges are not easy to find so i will try to write a review of every lounge i use from here on.

i am a lounge club member courtesy of my bank/credit card company.  i've use the Alaska Airlines lounges at SFO and SEA-TAC and since they are airline lounges, they were ok.  nothing like the EVA Airlines lounge at SFO or TPE but good enough.

i had reasonable expectations during my 5 hour stop over in TPE via China Airlines.  i walked it to the More Airport Lounge, the lady at the front desk swiped by lounge club card and off i went to look for a place to relax and get something to eat.  there was hardly any food but there was an abundance of beverages.  and chairs, and rooms, and more chairs, and more rooms.  that's pretty much it.  i said to myself, 'thank goodness i didn't have to pay for this.  i would have thrown a fit.'  there really wasn't anything there.  after a little bit more exploring i found 3 small rooms with over sized chairs, a good place to get some sleep (i was sleepless in cavite for the past 4 days) so i set my cellphone's alarm and went to sleep.

ok, to be fair, it's not that bad.  but it's not good either.  it would be a step up of course from waiting at the gate for your plane.  the lounge offers privacy, an abundance of power outlets, free wifi and clean restrooms.  i would suggest purchasing something substantial to eat from one of the restaurants at the airport then bring it to the lounge.

for our next flight, i am debating whether to purchase lounge access from our airline or use the lounge that my lounge club provides....the latter doesn't seem too appealing and the former is kinda pricey at $50 per person. let's see.