Hello Melbourne! - The Arrival

Travelling is addictive. I swear guys, it really is! My addiction for travelling started after my Europe trip with family a few years ago. After that, rasa gatalllll je nak berjalan. Pi dekat-dekat pun takpe lah, janji jalannnnn. Hehehe. I told my husband it's so important for us to travel because the kids need to see the world and experience things when we travel. They become cleverer that way. You want genius kids right, husband? :D #alasanmintakpenampor

First thing first, we needed tourist visa in order to travel to Melbourne. Yeap, travelling to Australia requires tourist visa guys. There are 2 ways to apply for one - online or via agent. The charges vary depending how you apply too - some RM60, some RM30 and some RM20/person. We got ours for RM20/person! :D #score

How we got ours for so cheap? Super easy! All we did was contact sales@rahaholidays.com, provided them with the necessary documents they needed (passport copies, ticket details, etc) and they did the rest for us :D Super convenient!

And then, all there was to do was just wait for the date to come! Now this was the tormenting part. Aydein  even had a calendar that he made himself for the countdown! :P But after what seemed like a million years, it finally did. We were going to Melbourne! :D

Contrary to our last oversea trip to Europe, traveling on a 8-hour flight was quite a breeze, now that the kids are all grown up. They behaved very well, just playing or watching movies together. I was even able to have some quality sleep, unlike last time!

The next thing we know, we've reached Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne!

We arrived Melbourne very early in the morning. It was about 1am in the morning when we reached our hotel - Treasury on Collins.

We were informed prior to our arrival that there will be no one at the Reception considering it was odd hours, but despite that, the checking-in process was super easy & efficient. All we needed to do was enter the code that was given to unlock the hotel's "back door", collect our room key in a safe, and then go straight up to our room. Super easy, fuss-free check-in! Exactly what we need after a long tiring journey.

The moment we stepped into our room, we were blown away. It is LOVEEEEE! Aien has always wanted to try staying in a boutique hotel, and Treasury on Collins is just perfect! It's actually an apartment-hotel, so it has everything - kitchen complete with its kitchenware, washing machine complete with its detergent, iron, iron board, fridge, microwave, milk, snacks, even free Netflix! Senang cerita, it makes our 4-day stay here very worthwhile lah!

I absolutely love their room decor. Simple je, but looks classy still.

The best thing about this place is also the fact that it provides free in-room wifi! Might not sound much of a big deal to you because it's pretty normal here in Malaysia but here's what you need to know - most of the hotels in Australia do not provide this in-room wifi service complimentary, not even the 5-stars hotels. Nak wifi boleh, tapi bayar ah bebbb. AUD20-29 on average per day ye, depending on where you stay. AUD tau. So you do the math! :D

Now some ask me, why not use Airbnb service during our stay in Australia? After all, Australia has many beautiful houses to stay in. Very true, and we almost did. But in the end, we decided to stay in a proper hotel instead. Here's why:

1) We travelled in a small family of 4, with 2 kids on tow. We don't know the house owner, nor the neighborhood. If something were to happen to us, how do we defend ourselves? Lain lah kalau travel with big families kan.

2) We were told that Australia is one of the countries affected by Islamophobia. To make matters worse, at the time of our travel, the issue on Paris attack was still very fresh. Again, it comes back to security issue. What if the house owner is not Muslim-friendly? Even if the house owner is, we can't be certain that the neighborhood would be.

3) I also read reviews on Airbnb that some service apartment's front desk staffs are not very friendly. There is a case where the guests were treated rudely when the service apartment's front desk found out that the guests were not the house owner.

Weighing on all these reasons, we felt like it was better to stay at a proper hotel where guests are required to be treated professionally. Habis cerita. Orang nak pi holiday, seronok-seronok. Ni kita dok takut-takut, risau sana sini. Tak payah. Dok hotel je dah. :D

So what did we do on our first day in Melbourne? Coming up next, on another entry! :)

Goodbye, Europe!

By the end of this entry, I realize how blessed all of us are, to be able to go back to the comfort of our own home and families, safely. My thoughts and prayers are constantly with the passengers and crews of flight MH17.
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It was our last day in Paris. We only have about 6 hours left before we boarded the train back to London. With limited time such as that, I told my husband we needed to go to La Vallée Village the Designer Outlet to see if there was anything worth buying.

There wasn't. La Vallée Village is just like Bicester Village in London (the look and feel pon are about the same), but the collection/brands they carry there aren't as variety as those in Bicester, much to my disappointment. We spent just about 30 mins there and decided to leave because we couldn't find something that we actually liked there. Even the Prada outlet didn't have the bag that I wanted, but we were told that it could be found in the boutique in Paris. (We were in Val D'Europe then still)

Lucky thing La Vallée Village was just behind our hotel, so we walked back to our hotel, took our luggage and decided to go back to Paris city to checkout the Prada boutique there. The rest of the family didn't come with us, so it was just us boarding the train on our own to Paris city.

Once we reached Paris city, we hired a cab to bring us to Prada. However, we had a hard time telling the cab driver to bring us to Prada! I was like, biar betol pakcik ni taktau Prada tu apa. Dah lah taktau Prada, English pon taktau. Grrr. The Internet signal was not helping either! It was so poor, I couldn't Google for the address to give to the cab driver! Pffffttt.

Anyway, while we were going rounds and rounds, trying to find the boutique, we saw Ladurée famous for their mouth watering macarons, but we were running out of time, so we were not able to stop.

Finally, we told the cab driver to pull over at a row of designer boutiques, where one of the sales assistant assisted us to the way to Prada. Finally someone that understands English! Once we reached the boutique, naturally the first thing I asked Dominic the sales assistant was (yes I remember his name because he was so good loking!), "Do you speak English?"

LOL. Because like said, all the French people there either purposely refuse to speak in English or do not know English, it made communication soooo difficult! His reply was, "Yes. Why, is it that hard to find someone who speaks English here?" Hahaha.

We learnt later from him that French people are actually the laziest people you can find on earth. They do not want to learn or progress, thinking that they are the mightiest race in the world. That explains the stubbornness and refusal to speak/learn English!

Anyway, long story cut short, we finally got what we wanted here. We were actually there to get a Saffiano for my elder sister. (I was aiming for Alma from LV all along) So imagine my surprise when my husband told me, "If you see anything you like here, get it,"

I couldn't believe my ears. I was like, "No wayyyyy, reallyyyyy? But, we will still go to LV though, right? I will still get my Alma, right? Righttt?"

And all he could say was, "Taknak sudah" like always. Hahaha. Mak apa lagi nyahhh. Shopping bag ahhhh. :P

No, that's not the bag that I bought hehe. It does remind me of LV's Alma Epi, though. Oh and while I was busy trying out different bags, the kids were busy snacking away -- in Prada! Haha. 

The sales assistants were all really cool about it too. In fact, I think the sales assistants there are way friendlier compared to the ones in Malaysia. This is one thing I notice that is good about the people there - the educated ones that is. They don't judge, if you know what I mean. You can come into the store with some stupid baju and selipar; they will still entertain you nicely.

We were also served with drinks once we were done with the purchase.

So, any guesses to which bag from Prada that won my heart? Yeap, gotta be the Saffiano! Hehe.

As soon as we left the boutique, we found the time in our hands. Just an hour to go before the train leaves us! We were supposed to drop by LV, but there wasn't any more time! It was either rush, of pay €180 each for the next train!

Long story cut short, we managed to board the train on time.

Unfortunately the rest of the families that were still in Val D'Europe then didn't manage to board on the train on time! They thought it would be a waste to spend €180 each, so they took the bus instead, that took them a whopping 8 hours of journey back to London. It was a horrible experience for them apparently, but well, still an experience! (Although I don't mind not experiencing it hahaha) :P

The next day, we had a few hours left before our flight back to Malaysia, so my husband and I decided to quickly checkout the Louis Vuitton boutique in Oxford Street to get my dream bag! :D :D

Yes, I was wearing the same outfit from the day before because the rest of the bajus were already packed in the luggage and would be troublesome to take everything out again! Baju semalam pon baju semalam lah, janji I finally got my white Alma, the bag of my dreams! :D

Then, we headed home, packed our bags and headed to Gatwick Airports to catch our flight home to Malaysia.

All in all, it was a hectic but definitely an exciting trip to Europe. We had good memories there, both good and bad, but will we ever go there again? Definitely! (Gotta think twice about Paris though) :P Until we meet again, Europe! xoxo.

Hello Disneyland, Paris!

As a kid, I have always wanted to go to Disneyland. I mean c'mon, tell me you've never dreamt of meeting Mickey, Minnie and Donald in person! Don't forget the princesses! So you can imagine how I felt when I saw Disneyland right in front of me. I gotta admit, it was as exciting for me as it was for the kids! :D

Upon arriving, my husband and I wanted to try this Hollywood Tower ride because apparently it's quite freaky.

But the queue was tooooo long that we decided to try another ride, the Rock n Roller Coaster.

I thought it was going to be some kiddy, unadventurous ride, but boy was I wrong! I remember praying really hard (and mengucap many times too!) that I don't get thrown out! It was super fast weh, my heart almost stopped. The flashing lights and loud music by Aerosmith blaring in my ears were not helping to keep my nerves calm too! As soon as we survived the ride, I promised myself not to ever go on any rides again! I'm too old for this! Hahaha.

Lol, can't get any more epic than that! Hahaha. After that, we went to look for our kids (feeling lucky to be alive and all) and concentrated on making the day FOR them. Haha.

First stop, was the Monster's Inc Scream Academy.

They had this awesome "scream monitor" where you scream as loud as you can, and see how high the scream meter goes. The louder you scream, the more energy you create for Monstropolis!

Then, we went to the kiddy ride section where the kids went on rides, and met Mickey in person! Aydein was of course, the happiest! Kept going on and on about Mickey hugging and kissing him on the cheek. :P

Of course, a Disneyland visit wouldn't be a Disneyland visit without a visit to the princess castle! :D

Then it was time for the parade. During this parade, all of Disney characters will come out with their moving decorated floats to greet the children!

Not sure if it was Adeena's white bear outfit or the fact that she's just a people magnet as mentioned before, but one of the fairy god mothers came near us and patted her gently :)

Once the show was over, we then proceeded to "It's A Small World" ride. We were asked to seat in a boat that sailed through the tunnel where puppets of children around the world greet us in the traditional costumes of their countries.

Just before we left the place, we had the pleasure of watching the Disney laser show and amazing fireworks right outside the castle. It was spectacular!

It was a beautiful ending to our trip in Disneyland. Before leaving the place, we got ourselves some gifts and souvenirs for memory sake and left the place happy. :) Until next time!