holiday in a far far country
Over the summer, my family and I flew across Asia and step foot in London-Heathrow International Airport. As I stepped into the arrival hall, chilly breezes swept pass my face and the cloudy sky gave a warm welcome as it started to shower. I was beginning to suspect that the weather in England was going to be unpredictable. After walking back and forth around Terminal 3, we finally made our arrival upon a parking lot filled with hundreds of rental cars from all colors and sizes. 
Our grey-blue Saab stood out from the rest for its unique color and shape like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. As we traveled over an hour to a southern district of Sutton, Surrey, I fell asleep due to the jetlag and lack of sleep on the plane. As the car halt 
to a stop, a white- red semi-detached house with a small front lawn appeared on my left. As my family and I got off, we were greeted by our family friends whom we haven’t seen in two years. The rest of the afternoon was spent on chit-chatting and unpacking three hefty suitcases of clothes, gifts and daily necessities.
As the cloudy sun set behind the horizon, two families ate a plentiful dinner filled with oriental dishes and typical English fast-food dinner of fish and chips. The oval dining table was filled with laughter and jokes as the night passed. As all our stomachs filled up, my friend Ash, her sister Caitlin and I jumped on the comfortable sofas and started our night by playing Wii bowling and tennis. After an exhausting hour playing Wii, we decided to watch a few episodes of MTV’s “Sweet Sixteen” and called in the night. 
Early the next morning, my family and Ash’s family drove our cars to the closest tube (train) station and took the underground to Central London for the day. As we got on the tube, an excruciating smell entered our noses as we saw a beggar lying on the blue-green seats directly across from us. The smell was so unbearable that we had to move to another compartment because the tube in London is very different from the trains in Hong Kong. Hong Kong MTR trains are cleaned around the clock but the tubes in London are rarely swept, so litter and empty liquor bottles would be trashed throughout the compartments. The tube ride was long and boring but when we got to Piccadilly Circus, it was a totally different atmosphere. As I stood right in the middle of the crowd, there were all kinds of people around me, who were mostly tourist. As I looked up to the peaceful sky, I saw fighter jets flying across the monumental buildings. It was quite a view and very cool as I was told that it was the Queen of England’s birthday. It was fascinating to walk through Oxford Circus and pass the doorsteps of Hamleys, world famous toy store and many other shops.
After touring around downtown London, we rode the tube to Tower Hill station and once I stepped into the open air, I saw the Tower of London before my eyes. As we walked on sidewalk and admired the view of River Thames, suddenly, a siren went on and the gates leading to middle of the bridge came down. A huge boat was approaching the bridge and the bascules had to be raised up in order for the boat to pass. I had never experienced watching a bridge open so it was so awesome to all the cars stand still and people just crowding around the gate. 
As the gigantic chocolate-brown boat pass, the bridge gates slowly came up and the traffic resumed as if nothing happened. After a long day tour around London, we sat down at a fancy restaurant and ate a delicious Malaysian dinner.
After that day in London, we spent another week sightseeing all around England and Wales. We traveled on endless highways and long car rides throughout the week traveling to Bath, Oxford, Cardiff, Bristol and many more cities. After a two week holiday with my parents, my parents handed me to a friend’s house and I stayed with their family for three agonizing weeks. During my stay, I worked at the family’s take-away shop and served fish n chips to the customers. Though it was fun to fry fish and pack chips, I was very homesick because I never left my family for so long. But it was truly an experience as I got to experience life outside of Hong Kong, in a country I know very little of.
I would definitely go back to England because I think it is full of fascinating places to sightsee and relax. The best part of this trip was learning to be independent and to experience the culture of British people. I really liked the food there at first, especially fish and chips and pub food but as I ate it more often, I got so sick of it. But overall, I think my trip went very well and I was very happy that I was able to buy tons of goodies for my friends, family and myself! 
Summer Holiday in England
Over the summer, my family and I flew across Asia and step foot in London-Heathrow International Airport. As I stepped into the arrival hall, chilly breezes swept pass my face and the cloudy sky gave a warm welcome as it started to shower. I was beginning to suspect that the weather in England was going to be unpredictable. After walking back and forth around Terminal 3, we finally made our arrival upon a parking lot filled with hundreds of rental cars from all colors and sizes. 
Our grey-blue Saab stood out from the rest for its unique color and shape like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. As we traveled over an hour to a southern district of Sutton, Surrey, I fell asleep due to the jetlag and lack of sleep on the plane. As the car halt to a stop, a white- red semi-detached house with a small front lawn appeared 
on my left. As my family and I got off, we were greeted by our family friends whom we haven’t seen in two years. The rest of the afternoon was spent on chit-chatting and unpacking three hefty suitcases of clothes, gifts and daily necessities.
As the cloudy sun set behind the horizon, two families ate a plentiful dinner filled with oriental dishes and typical English fast-food dinner of fish and chips. The oval dining table was filled with laughter and jokes as the night passed. As all our stomachs filled up, my friend Ash, her sister Caitlin and I jumped on the comfortable sofas and started our night by playing Wii bowling and tennis. After an exhausting hour playing Wii, we decided to watch a few episodes of MTV’s “Sweet Sixteen” and called in the night.
Early the next morning, my family and Ash’s family drove our cars to the closest tube (train) station and took the underground to Central London for the day. As we got on the tube, an excruciating smell entered our noses as we saw a beggar lying on the blue-green seats directly across from us. The smell was so unbearable that we had to move to another compartment because the tube in London is very different from the trains in Hong Kong. Hong Kong MTR trains are cleaned around the clock but the tubes in London are rarely swept, so litter and empty liquor bottles would be trashed throughout the compartments. The tube ride was long and boring but when we got to Piccadilly Circus, it was totally a different atmosphere. 
As I stood right in the middle of the crowd, there were all kinds of people around me, but mostly tourist. As I looked up to the peaceful sky, I saw fighter jets flying across the monumental buildings. It was quite a view and very cool as I was told that it was the Queen of England’s birthday. It was fascinating to walk through Oxford Circus and pass the doorsteps of Hamleys, world famous toy store and many other shops.
After touring around downtown London, we rode the tube to tower hill station and once I stepped into the open air, I saw the Tower of London before my eyes. As we walked on sidewalk and admired the view of River Thames, suddenly, a siren went on and the gates leading to middle of the bridge came down. A huge boat was 
approaching the bridge and the bascules had to be raised up in order for the boat to pass. I had never experienced watching a bridge open so it was so awesome to all the cars stand still and people just crowding around the gate. As the gigantic brown boat pass, the bridge gates slowly came up and the traffic resumed as if nothing happened. After a long day tour around London, we sat down at a fancy restaurant and ate a delicious Malaysian dinner.
After that day in London, we spent another week sightseeing all around England and Wales. We travelled on endless highways and long car rides throughout the week travelling to Bath, Oxford, Cardiff, Bristol and many more cities. After a two week holiday with my parents, my parents handed me to a friend’s house and I stayed with their family for three agonizing weeks. During my stay, I worked at the family’s take-away shop and served fish n chips to the customers. Though it was fun to fry fish and pack chips, I was very homesick because I never left my family for so long. But it was truly an experience as I got to experience life outside of Hong Kong, in a country I know very little of.
I would definitely go back to England because I think it is full of fascinating places to sightsee and relax. The best part of this trip was learning to be independent and to experience the culture of British people. I really liked the food there at first, especially fish and chips and pub food but as I ate it more often, I got sick of it. But overall, I think my trip went very well and I was very happy that I was able to buy tons of goodies for my friends, family and myself!
