Spain 2018 (Pt. 4) - Hidden Gems of Seville

Considering the adventures we've been having the past couple of days, our 4th day in Spain consisted of "waking up naturally with no alarms".. And finally after what felt like weeks (probably is), I woke up at normal human hours like 9AM around there.. AAAAAAHHHH! Lega man!

The agenda of the day was just to shop, have lunch and just lounge around see where the day takes us. 

First stop of the day was of course, ZARA. To be fair, it wasn't like I needed to shop for myself much (surprisingly ZARA Spain wasn't having their sale, so it didn't much different whether I buy it in UK or in Spain) but Anis wanted a pair of heels that she claimed could only be found in Spain. So I literally made a point to find nearest ZARA within whatever area I was in just to look for her shoes. Found her shoes, but unfortunately wasn't in her size and I felt so bad cause I texted her saying I found it!! Only to realise it wasn't her size -.- 

But still, Aisya & ZARA, we have a special bond, so of course I still found some stuff for myself despite how many times I've walked in the store before this hehehe. 

Also next to the ZARA near our hotel was Amorino, so you know I don't say no to ice cream....

ZARA & ice cream, always... ;) 

Spain 2018 (Pt. 3) - A Day in Granada

About 10 years back, my parents took our family to Spain. I remember falling in love with the Alhambra so much, that I made it a point inside me that I'd come back and visit it again. 

When Zoe & I decided that we'd go to Spain I thought we could squeeze in a trip to Granada as well, but given that we only had 5 days it was rather hard to cover two cities. But after much spamming of Alhambra pictures by me (thanks to @spain.vacations on Instagram, they have some really nice photos of Spanish cities and its attractions guys!) and a well thought-out itinerary based on what we want to cover and how convenient it was to get to those places from our hotel in Seville, we found a full-day where we can spend visiting Alhambra in Granada instead (which was 3 hours away from Seville by bus/ train). 

Since we only have a day, we really should maximise all our time and so one fine day I decided to check for Alhambra entrance tickets (previous experience reminded me that we had to buy tickets) and to my dismay, THEY WERE ALL SOLD OUT! 

-__________________- 

And mind you this was after I bought our bus tickets (because I read online that the bus were rather comfortable too and since it was half the price of a train ticket but the same amount of time spent travelling, I thought why not) so I'm like "What are we going to do in Granada?!" (based on my deteriorating memory, I didn't have much to do in Granada other than Alhambra). Thankfully the tickets were returnable because based on the travel tips I got online, Alhambra tickets should be booked 6 months in advance of your trip to avoid disappointment as they do limit the number of visitors per day to the Nasrid's Palace as it's an old wooden structure and when this happened it was just slightly above a month before our trip... 

But what I was even more thankful is this little voice in my head (it could be gut feel, or it could be a guardian angel - I prefer to believe in the latter) told me; "Aisya, before you return the tickets, make one last check and see if you can find any more tickets".

So I actually Googled "Alhambra tickets sold out, what do I do?" and to my surprise there are many more other people like me and there were actually a lot of articles suggesting on what to do! Lol, guess I'm not the only one who plans a random trip to Alhambra last minutely.. 

The article told me to book this other Granada history sites tour (Dobla de Oro) that would also include entrance tickets to Alhambra and thank the lord some of these tours are based on allotment basis rather than live integration with the main ticketing system cause otherwise I wouldn't have tickets to Alhambra! 

Even though the tour tickets are slightly more expensive that the Alhambra tickets only (as it includes tickets to other sites too obviously), but given we have saved so much more on our transportation tickets the extra EUR 4 is negligible.

After seeing the Alcazar and on the way to Plaza Espana Zoe & I were having this conversation about what's the most beautiful monument I've seen. Safe to say Alhambra was one of them (Kaabah isn't beautiful structurally but looking at it will give you a feeling that no other other structure can't compare) for me and upon hearing this Zoe was even more excited to see the Alhambra the next day to see if it lives up to the expectation. 

That morning we both had to wake up rather early as our train to Granada was at 8.15AM and it takes about 20 minutes walk from our Hotel to the train station (pagi-pagi, sejuk-sejuk this girl wants to walk to the station.. Sabo jer lah...). 

As Granada was slightly chiller than Seville, a thicker coat was required (and thankfully both Zoe & I found the perfect one in ZARA on the day we arrived #sempatlagi) 

Spain 2018 (Pt. 2) - Exploration in Seville

- brace yourself for 112 photos in this post.. here we go! -

Despite the tiredness, I still found myself awake 5 hours after falling asleep x.x While I was scrolling through Instagram, playing Gardenscapes etc to keep myself occupied, Zoe was snoring away like a baby #jealousssssss

Spain 2018 (Pt. 1) - Arriving in Seville

3 hours snooze fest on the flight later, we left gloomy land and landed in sunny Seville! I mean just look at that and do the comparison yourself..  

UK 2017

Okay! I have decided that I shall do this in 2 parts - one post for UK (London, Brighton & Hastings), and one (maybe two - depending on how long it gets) for Spain (Seville & Granada). 

So brace yourself for super long posts!

London
28 December - 30 December 2017

After running errands all day (it was really like a week of errands), I finally had time to properly pack for my flight that night late that evening. Years of last minute packing has prepared me for this moment and I'm happy to announce the only thing I forgot to bring was a pack of vitamin C (I told you, once you turn 25 your body is no longer as strong as it was.. #weakling!) which I must say is not bad. Got my vitamin C at the airport and I was all ready to just pop it in my drink and snooze all the way to Heathrow, but God clearly had other plans for me.. 

My flight got delayed from 11.30PM to 2.30AM - they had to switch aircraft and all.. But thankfully my flight turned out to be empty so I had an "economy flatbed" all to myself :p I didn't even bothered waiting for the "wear your seat belt" sign to turn off, I just snoozed immediately after take-off until mid-flight (cause the seat belt was starting to get uncomfortable..). 

Also, back to the whole your-body-is-just-not-the-same-after-25 thing, I have lost my ability to sleep throughout the entire flight. About 4 hours before landing I was WIDE awake (and mind you this was probably about 4am UK time x.x). Thankfully I had a book with me (usually books that go on flights with me are just a waste of space in my handbag/ hand-carry), so I managed to catch up on HP6. (At the point of me writing this, I'm very sure I haven't pick up where I left off with it. But I'm currently reading another book #defensive)

Upon landing, I managed to clear immigration and pick up my luggage within 30mins of landing - I forgot how efficient things are in UK. Hopped into a cab (because Heathrow Express was under maintenance -___-) and started bugging Zayana: 

At 9.15AM: "I'm in the cab now to the hotel, probably would reach your place about 1030AM"

At 9.17AM: "Btw, SELAMAT PAGI!!!"

At 10.00AM: "Hrmm, she hasn't reply my texts.. I should call her" *2 minutes later* "Pisang what doing?"

Zayana:"Trying to ignore you"

At 10.10AM: "My soul is ready!"

At 10.15AM: "Map says it's 5 minutes walk to your place.."

At 10.20AM: "I'm hereeeeeeeeeeeee"

Zayana: Of all times you want to be on time -_________________- *once she tagged me in* Ma, look, I found a pest downstairs..

Aunty (Zayana's Mum) fed me spaghetti goreng before we left cause knowing me I missed all my meals in flight (sleep > flight meals). At least Mummy was pleased that I had proper breakfast instead of my bag of chips (though I did have a bag of chips in the taxi cause I was really hungry!)

First stop of the day was to pick up the Harry Potter & the Cursed Child tickets I got for later that evening (and the evening after). When we got to the ticketing office, we found the main entrance empty as in without any humans at all. Pisang were all excited to take a photo there and thankfully we met another Potter fan who wanted his photo taken too (he was travelling alone) and I swear he's a trained insta boyfriend cause the pictures he took were so straight! *claps*