Europe - Dublin December 20 2009

Woke up early and have a cup of coffee. In fact, i woke up roughly the same time, at 6am during our entire vacation. On the light in the kitchen and do my reading there until the rest of them wake up.

Our plan for today will include having a wonderful brunch at a coffee house follow by a shopping session for our winter clothing. Too bad though for the coffee house was close for today. Therefore, we headed straight to the mall to have our brunch. There were so many stores that I have known by name but only the first time I see them personally, like JJB Sports, one of the biggest sport clothing (I think so) in UK.

Finally, we settled for O'Brien for our brunch. It's a bit weird considering both Airin and I don't bother to go O'Brien in KL or PJ but came all the way to Dublin to try it out. Turns out it's a pleasant brunch for five of us, definitely will go to O'Brien when we are back in Malaysia.

After brunch, we start looking for a nice sweater for mom while both airin and I on a special mission, to look for a suitable charger for our digital camera. Seems that we forgot to pack our charger with us for our vacation. However, we didn't managed to get one because it will cost us around 50 euro. By now, we're pondering weather to get a new camera with the same amount of money.

the shopping mall interior decoration for Christmas

Towards 3pm, the sky starts to turn dark like it's 7.30pm in Malaysia. By then, we already found a suitable sweater and windbreaker for mom, both pink in colour. airin also bought a similar sweater like mom's and I got myself a nice windbreaker that cost much cheaper than if I bought it in Malaysia. Since we got everything that we need, we headed back home with bro driving slowly due to the frost forming on the road. Before reaching home, we went to look for Paddy Wagon office which will be our meeting place the next day for our day trip to Giant Causeway.

After we have a good rest and hot shower at home, we headed out again by foot for our dinner in a chinese restaurant in the city. Since it was very cold, we decided to take LUAS (pronouced Louis by bro), the LRT system in Dublin. Our journey took less than 10 minutes but it cost us 2 euro/person. Kinda expensive considering that we can actually walk to the restaurant during spring and summer time.

The Chinese restaurant located at the end of a dimly lighted street and it's very nice and cozy. I thought we will have the usual chinese style dinner like those in Malaysia. Boy am I wrong! The dishes were very spicy and I kept sweating throughout dinner even though it was cold and windy outside. Guess I will just order yong chow fried rice with telur mata if I ever go back to the restaurant.

Since everyone was very full and warm after the dinner, we decided to walk home through the shopping malls and boutiques at O'Connor Road. It's freezing cold out there but luckily we had very spicy food that actually keep us warm for the 10 minutes walk back home. By the time we reached home, everyone was sleepy, especially me. I think I still haven't get over the jet lag and straight to bed, dozed off quickly, a happy boy again...

airin a happy and tired girl after heavy dinner she can't even open her eyes

Europe December 18 and 19 2009

After six months passed by, I finally want to update my vacation to Europe from December 18 2009 till January 3 2010.

We planned our trip on the 18th night, because it was Friday and therefore we don't need to take extra day off. but, it was a public holiday anyway. haiyoh. lucky us. cos mom, airin and I spent the entire afternoon and evening packing,unpack and repack our bags till late evening. Should both of us work on that day, we will surely miss packing a lot of things.

we tapao our dinner, the favorite chicken rice near our home and have a hearty dinner with mom... our taxi arrived to pick us around 8.30pm and by 9.15pm, we were in KLIA with ample of time to spare before we can check in our luggage. After checking in our luggages, we went to the international flight terminal to catch our flight. We'll be flying with KLM Airlines for this trip and we're quite worried actually because of many negative comments by our family members and friends. We just pray hard and hope everything will turns out fine.

However, all fears quickly vanished once we were inside the plane. It's very comfortable, clean and ample of space in between seats for our legs. Furthermore, everyone have their own personal TV screen, unlike what we heard previously where two rows share one TV screen. The food were tasty and quite plenty too. ooohh, by the way, our flight from KLIA to Schiphol will take us roughly 10 hours with few hours on transit before we reach Dublin. During the entire journey to Schiphol, we watched movies, play video games, do some reading and sleep as well.

enjoying my movie

airin enjoying her movie while mom doing some reading

We reached Schiphol around 6.30am local time and the temperature was below 0 degree Celsius. Come to think of it, I was quite brave (or stupid) actually. I only wear a thin t shirt without any jacket or warmer because it was warm inside the flight. Anyway, i put on my jacket after breakfast because it's just too cold for me to bear with. We need to wait for three hours for our connecting flight to Dublin at 9.30am.

we had our breakfast here, a big slice of pizza with soft drinks for Euro 5.50 and shared by three of us.

the fat boys in schiphol

mom and airin in Schiphol

mom and I

beautiful bouquets of Tulips

sunrise in Schiphol

By 9.10am, we were on board an Aer Lingus flight, on our way to Dublin...managed to catch some sleep before arriving there. airin took some beautiful photos from the plane and they are very beautiful.

some views from the air

By 11am, we reached Dublin airport. Bro already there to pick us up with his faithful Honda Jazz. Finally, we set foot to Dublin after years of planning and scheduling. Can't wait to start our vacation and white Christmas in Dublin, Paris and Swiss.

Bro and sis stays in an one room apartment and it's very cozy and perfect for a small family. Mom, airin and I will be sleeping in the living room during our time there and we don't mind at all. It's free after all and save us ALOT of $$$. We had our home cook lunch by bro and he's the one who introduced preserved olive leaves to me. Because of him, I always eat preserved olive leaves with porridge nowadays and always keep a few bottles at home just in case.

Around 3pm, bro and sis brought us out for a walk around the city of Dublin since their apartment is located inside the city itself. After the short walk around, we went for yam cha session. However, I was very sleepy due to the jet lag and therefore hardly enjoy my hot chocolate and cake at all.

City of Dublin

Trinity College

old jameson distillery

Once we reached home, I showered and intend to lie down for awhile. But guess what, I dozed off and only woke up at midnight to go to the loo and then continue sleeping till the next day. There's my first day in Dublin, tired but happy boy.

me, minutes before sleeping