Hurray, there is now megatrain.com

I think RAIL is the best way of travel overland.

Following my bargain buys from megabus.com, I was really really trilled to find out about another really really cheap option of travelling! It is cheap, and it is convenient! We had very good experience with the Megabus for our Oxford trip ! It infact is using the Oxford Tube buses, super comfy double deckers that come with free breakfasts (a drink plus a sandwich ) if you take it from Oxford to London in the mornings.

All you got to do is go to the website and book, and print out the reference number of your booking. It is online booking for your travel, and the booking fee is just 50 pence! And for that really rock bottom price (come one, £1.00 can't even get you a cup of coffee in most places!), you could still make amendments to your itenary, after paying a small sum. We got this experience first hand, as we postponed this week's Cotswold visit to next week, and luckily we could change the dates for a small penalty, peanuts!

The downside to these £1.00 ticket? wake up earlier to catch the early bus, come back later and catch the last few buses. These are what you would be doing anyway, when you want to minimise hotel charges, isnt it?

Long live the MegaSOMETHING. will there be a Megaflight soon??? I hope so! Just the fact that i can book everything on the spot using internet is a big plus already. I am a big fan of internet booking for everything related to my travels.

I am looking forward to MegaTRAIN!

Size of a hotel room in London

What would you expect to be size of a HOTEL room in London? One that is about three stars, and the lowest discounted internet rate that you could get is about £60 pounds for a SINGLE room, and a double will cost you more than £80?

Well, imagine going into you hotel room, you open the door, and taa daaa.. you are veryhappy that there is an en-suite bathroom with a clean looking bathtub. After congratulating yourself about the tub, you turn to look into your room. it is SMALL with a capital S! There is barely room for a small dressing table and TV and a small cupboard. And no, there is no bar fridge in your room!

That is how small and expensive rooms in London can get. Small, small small hotel rooms.
However, I must say that the hotel is located in a prime location in Inverness Terrace, just off Bayswater road, and very near to the tube station and Hyde Park. I guess that is the price to pay for all the convenience and location- a really small hotel room. It is very clean though, as expected from the hotels from that chain.

How to save money £££ when you visit oxford...

Hi, here is another money saving tip from the poor traveler...

Oxford is expensive for most people, but here are some tips todo it cheaply!

If you have friends studying there, you will save a load from these;

1. - entry to colleges- Many colleges, at least those which are famous and beautiful, charge between 1-4£ per person for entry. A university student can bring 1 to 2 visitors inside for FREE depending on colleges. If you are going with a friend, and you have another 2 friends there, you easily save up to 15£ per person.
2. Accomodation!!! may post-graduates have decent accomodation, ie a flat with one bedroom. This can easily accomodate 2-3 guests. Ask your friends there!
3. eat in the college dining halls! Cost of a subtantial meal is only £1.50- you cant even get a decent coffee for this amount in most places.
   

Other ways to save

1. Buy freedom passes, group travel! A zone A to zone B pass costs 5£, will allow 2 adults plus 2 children free travel on all the buses in the company. Get the pass from the bus driver.
2. Buy from megabus.com instead of Oxford tube. You pay less, and still end up in teh same bus. You can purchase from the internet, jsut need to print out or take down the booking reference number. Fare starts from 1£ per trip per person. YOu can also use this co to book for other places including fr London to places in scotland. If you book early enough, you get it for only 1£!!! Very very good value for money! If you book just a few days ahead for a saturday or sunday trip, be prepared to wake up at 5 am.
3. Eat in the college dining halls (as above). If you can't, get the usual alternatives. The pizza hut buffet for 3.99 will be good to feed the hungry people who got up at 5 am. Before you walk into any restaurants, checkprices! Oxford restaurants can be more ex than london's
   
4. Ask about the discount stores! There are lots of discount stores for branded goods nearby, ask the people there what is currently on, and you get a fantastic shopping trip there.
   

The Oxford visit...

We went to Oxford to visit some friends. To make use of the Megabus promotion, we woke up at 4.00 am , and on a bus- Oxford tube by 5:30. Dawn by just breaking. Between some semi-unconcious effort to check out the scenery enroute and desperate need to catch some sleep, we reached at about 7am.

Warning!!!! No toilet at the bus station at these times, as the two 24 hour cubicles had been vandalised!By who? I wondered. Isnt this supposed to be a genteel town, filled with intelectuals? The public toilet would only be opened at a later time. I spent the rest of the time, filling up suduko from the free papers, and fighting the urge....which was intensified after copious amount of good old cappucino and very yummy danish pastry for only £1.50 from the corner shop.
















It was a rewarding day though. Managed to see quite a bit of places.
We were "lost", after missing our bus-stop, but was rewarded with the nice scenery and beautiful cottages meant as student accomodations further from town, and some nice B&Bs along the way. Pity our friend, waiting for us at the bus-stop. Anyway, the driver was nice, and we just remained in the bus, and get off on the "way back".

We were lucky to be spared from looking for accomodation in Oxford. Hotels or even hostels and B&Bs in Oxford is known to be Expensive. We are returning to another visit again, soon!

We pass by some of hotels and B&Bs to our friends' home. These are really charming cottages to stay in, will be nice for couples etc.

Here are some images captured by my handphone. I will get nicer ones from our friend later.

The crest of colleges on a door.

One of the back lanes of Oxford. It is really really "ancient"!.

FREEBIE--Google Calendar is now launched!

This is where you could get your google calendar!!

I took have toured the Google Calendar Overview; and well, this surely looks very very yummy! For years I have struggled with various calenders, and always find them lacking of user friendly features. But this one surely looks good. What I love is the ability to manage multiple calendars- so I could have one for my hobbies-travel and shopping, and one for my work, and one for my social life, and one for my family member's important events. Since I can choose to share the calendar, better still, everyone will know when not to bug me, and what on earth I am doing. Hahaahh...

Apparently, Google also managed to work around some of the usual features that I hate in a Calendar, which is FORMs and more forms!.
Look at this claim:

Click a spot on your calendar where a new event belongs (or use the Quick Add link) and start typing if you'd rather not bother with forms. Google Calendar understands whole phrases like "Brunch with Mom at Java Café 11am on Saturday

And this is where you could get your google calendar!! The damage to our pockets? It is FREE! Just like the firefox browser, (which I am using and loving) it is FREE!.

The colours of SPRING in London

It is finally spring! The trees and flowers are showing it. The daffodils have finally bloomed. [And those open top tourist buses like the Big Bus is FULL of tourists!!!]

This year, we have both the cherry and the plum cherry blossiming at the same time! Seas of white and pink flowers would have been the sight, if only the plant more of these trees. It must be soo soo sooo beautiful in Japan now. Here in London, you have a cherry or sakura tree here and there, although there are rows in Oxford street. Too bad the plum cherry trees in Oxford street are still rather juvenile.


This tree is in south kensington park, near the Broad Walk. I wish they have a row of trees like these. It is just so surreal, the beautiful pink flowers.Those home sick Japanese must have visited the tree, as I see red and white ribbons tied to the branches.









The grounds are now coloured with vibrant spring flowers. We love these bluish and purplish flowers.

The daffodils are just so beautiful, and it is really a natures's wonder.
In a field of daffodils, all would open up facing the same directions.

Some are orange, some are yellow and some are whitish. It is especially beautiful when it is in the
sea of shorter purplish flowers.

I go to enjoy al l these before Easter; after which throngs of tourists will camp in the parks, and teh Bayswater area would be abuzz with tourists. There are just so many tourists staying there! Those lucky few would probably stay in Hilton and the likes, with a prized view of the parks.

I need a portable hard drive!!!!

On my shopping list: a portable hard drive!!

I have been “roaming” in the Amazon , and also at Totenham area hoping to find a simple thing called a PORTABLE hard disc. Know I know why these people are packing boxes of computing stuff at Asian airports. The stuff here are sooooo expensive! My only hope is in Amazon. After days of surfing and walking, the SO (aka the IT nerd) thinks that Western Digital 60GB Passport External is the best. But the clumsy wanderer in me, seems to take a liking to a "tough drive", Freecom ToughDrive Pro 2.5" 40GB Shockproof USB 2.0 Slim Hard Drive The name Tough drive itselfs connotes that I can be less worried about bumps and drops. If only both costs about the same.....