LONDON – City of Inspiration and Creativity

Sadly we had 2 days in London which I personally think is not enough to explore the city. I believe if I ever moved there, I will never get bored of that place. There are so many things to see and restaurants to try. We managed to be proper tourist and visited the main attractions like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, London Dungeons and Madame Tussauds.

During our second day in London, Tim and I visited Borough Market where we had Spanish oysters, Turkish coffee and French cheese. Later that day we met up with my friend Elise for dinner in Carnby. Tim and I also did some shopping at Harrods and Oxford Street. I was amazed by how many GGC nationals were there shopping, it felt I was back in Dubai.

The main thing I love about London is the blend of modern and history, similarly to what I felt about Istanbul. London is a perfect place to be creative; everything is spectacular like the architecture, roads, art, museums… I can go on and on. Speaking of museums, Tim is a physicist and is in love with science however on the other hand, C’EST MOI oh well I’m like Penny from The Big Bang Theory. So while strolling the streets of London, I asked Tim if he can take me to a museum. Tim just smirked and said ‘Oh I know where to take you’ and YES!! We ended up going to a SCIENCE MUSEUM. Ladies and Gentle, that’s my cheeky husband. Anyway I got to learn the history of vehicles and the only thing that amazed me in that museum was the glow in the dark room.

London is in my top 5 favourite cities in the world, I can’t wait for my next visit and explore more.

I LOVE LONDON

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July 22, 2016July 28, 2017

Nissreen4 Comments

Palestinian Refugee Visiting the UK

Before travelling to the UK, I had extremely low expectation of the country and especially London. Many factors led me to think like that, starting with the way I’m treated in Dubai, everyone I know complains about the British weather, also the stereotype that British people are as cold as their weather and finally the visa centre for giving me a hard time and rejecting my first application for minor reasons.

Anyhow, Tim and I landed in Heathrow airport and it was my first visit to the UK and amusingly the lady at the passport control counter cracked a joke about my travel document saying “it’s been ages I haven’t seen one of those”. FYI, I have a ‘travel document’ which is issued by the Lebanese Government for Palestinian Refugees and is still HANDWRITTEN. She also advised us that in our next trip, I get to stand in the EU/UK passport line. My reaction was ‘OMG! This is the first time anyone at passport control treated me in a nice and respectful manner’.

Besides the fact that my travel document is handwritten, it is only written in French and Arabic (يا الله / Oh Mon Dieu). The amount of crap I receive at airports and of course being interrogated and waiting for translators to translate my enormous booklet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud to be PALESTINIAN but passport control are just pain in the @$$.

After landing in London and passing immigration feeling like the queen of the world, everyone I interacted with was nice. It felt weird at first but later made me feel very welcomed. Before heading to Hayling, we stopped at a rent a car in London and everyone who worked there were a racial mix of Asians and Africans with a strong British accent.

After spending days in the country side, Tim and I decided to stay in London for 2 days before flying back to Dubai. Honestly, I was impressed by the lovely city, country and the British people. Everyone was friendly, helpful and polite. I fell in love with the people, British culture and the UK weather LOL.

July 22, 2016July 28, 2017

NissreenLeave a comment

UK – A Day in Reading, Watford & Oxford

We planned a fun outing with Tim’s college friends Ryan and Gina who are extremely down to earth and are very friendly. We’ve organised an outing to hit some golf balls up at Watford, Hertz.

Before heading there, Tim and I made a stop at Reading early in the morning for coffee and muffins and went for a walk around his area. He used to live there before moving to Dubai.