Britain You Brepic Beauty!

Take me there 10 times and I’ll still look forward to the 11^th time!

Hands down, touring Britain was one of my best vacations. Perhaps mainly because I didn’t let Faisal control too much of the itinerary otherwise it mostly would have been some café and a tiny forest to and fro for a good chunk of the trip. Spending a good 2 weeks also let me really enjoy everything the place offered. I rather really explore a place than touch down and take off without actually quite getting the taste of the place.

Unlike Turkey, this was a pretty blunder-free trip. Let’s start off with you probably skipping all the museums and castles. They are all the friggin same!! Coming from the person who loves history and old buildings that ooze out chronicles of the ages past – in the end, it all looks the same. Seen 4 each so far and it just tends to get uninteresting and monotonous. Despite Faisal telling me to bounce em out, I was stiff-necked! Then I kinda wished I had listened to him because I ended up wasting some valuable days.

Let’s be honest, you can pretty much get the whole detail off the internet. You can see it up close at the museum but you can’t touch it. The stuff you can touch isn’t so great anyway that’s why they let you touch it in the first place. This may strike a nerve with some people out there, but unless you actually have enough days on your trip or you really are pretty enthusiastic about this kinda stuff, I’d say ditch it! You need a whole day anyway if you really wanna go through every single thing. You end up ‘glancing’ and just taking a brochure home for the rest of the stuff you missed out and scanning the net for it. So might as well just get a quick look online and scan the net from home. Save time for something the net cant give you.

Pro-tip: Don’t waste your time to check if the mummies at the museum are possessed. I did read ayat-ul-kursi to them, they didn’t move an inch. Final nail in the coffin for the museum debate.

One person’s opinion of course.

Madame Tussaud, however is a different story. Top line of life like wax statues, second to none – why the hell not?! Plus what are the chances of you actually posing next to the most famous people on the planet without a bodyguard hurling you miles away? Go for it and make the pictures count!! Box with Mohammad Ali, have a stare contest with Morgan Freeman, pull on Nadal’s hair, try (and fail) a moonwalk next to MJ – actually don’t, that was a bit of an embarrassment *cough* or gaze into Beckham’s eyes dreamingly while your hubby glares at you and refuses to take a pic till you cut it out!

Then the Avengers line up, the 4D show and a pretty good merchandise store. Worth every penny you pay for this place! Can’t recommend it enough!

One of the highlights of my trip was visiting the Harry Potter Studios. I went alone because Faisal has no clue about Harry Potter. I know – sad! If you’re a Potterhead, this place is Heaven for the likes of you and me. I seriously don’t know where to start, I should just write a whole new blog just for this – but I won’t. But lemme tell you this:

IT’S E to the P to the I to the C!!

Wandering down the Great Hall, the giant gates of Hogwarts, the Gryffindor Common room, the boys dorm, Diagon Alley, Privet Drive, the Burrow, Harry’s room under the stairs and what not!!

Then you get to actually do a green screen of you riding the broomstick over London and flying the Weasley’s blue car. Dream come true! And of course boarding the Hogwarts Train with each carriage decorated to reflect the story of each of the books. You get to see how the special effects team brings magic to different scenes! The structures they’ve made, all the wands used by characters, their outfits, even a working model of Buckbeak! And finally, the Hogwarts Castle. It was huge (or as someone in the White House would call it – YUGE)! They made a gigantic model and just added details to it every time more was revealed about it in the books. About 2 storey high that thing! That model was used throughout the movies and they’ve got interactive tablets that let you see how they’ve filmed different scenes of the Castle. I literally felt like I was strolling through 10 years of my life and by the end of it I was in tears. It was overwhelmingly nostalgically spectacular!

The store was again pretty awesome. I bought a couple of things and then accidentally got emotional and gave them to my little sister, Zainab. I have been dropping hints left right and center since then that I want it back but that little creep just doesn’t get it! Any help in this matter would be highly appreciated.

Then came the ODIs between Pak and England. Sided with Pak for the first match at the Ageas Bowl. Crushing defeat! Didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked I guess. Plus the match kept getting paused coz of rain and they eventually went into that DLS crap.

I tell you DLS is exactly what it sounds: ‘Duck-worth’ – basically worth nothing!!

2^nd match at Lord’s. A cricket fan’s temple that place! What a day!! Told Faisal I was supporting Pak again but then donned red and blue and he still bought it lol. To be honest, with Sarfraz smacking a glorious ton I was definitely swayed but Hales and Roy rocking up that record partnership had me hooked on to England big time! Met a whole bunch of legends too! Got autographs of Hales, Morgan, Rashid, Roy and Root from the English Team. Only Sarfraz and Babar from the Men in Green. Would have had Imad Wasim’s as well but…something to do with ‘failure of recognition’ stuff…

Other than that, Vaughan, Swanny, Atherton and Botham. Wasim Akram was ambushed wherever he went and if you’re tall as me (which is basically short) it was pretty hard getting anywhere near that guy. So finally when it came down to the last 3 overs and the crowd completely immersed in the game, I poised myself outside the Media Center and almost pounced on him when he stepped out of the elevator. It was just me at the time (credit to Faisal for thinking up this one) and I got myself a beaut of an autograph!

Yes, I am gloating. Sue me.

Checked out a few other attractions. Shrek’s Adventure, London Dungeons and the London Eye. Shrek topped my list! The Dungeons were meh. Basically a tour through the most gruesome bit of England’s histroy with a dash of comedy which kinda makes it even more disturbing. London Eye is iconic so…give it a shot I guess. It moves freakishly slow so you can enjoy the view. If you wanna add a bit more flavor to the experience, when you get right at the top, try imagining possible scenes that could be a part of Final Destination. Will definitely boost up the experience.

Went jet skiing. It was my first time so I had an instructor for the first round. But right at the end of it when Faisal and I both got off it, he said I was better at it than him. So while the jet ski was good fun, this comment made it so much more memorable. And no way in hell am I ever gonna let him forget it.

So, if you don’t know this already, Faisal is a bit of a tree-hugger, partially because he looks like one. We ended up going to Lake District for 4 friggin’ days! Don’t get me wrong, I like nature. I like beauty. But when you look at the same view for 4 days straight it’s just a bit too much for me. Yes it was gorgeous – the first day. Second day it was still pretty. Third day I didn’t even look around. 4^th day I could tell you how many branches each tree had coz Faisal wouldn’t stop going on about every tiny detail! Probably Faisal’s highlight of the trip but it kinda got anti-climactic for me. Didn’t do much there, went on a ferry ride which was, as ferries go… very ferry like. A little trip to an aquarium which was ok. We got there by one of those old coal engines which was kinda cool I guess but still mellow. All in all, if you aren’t too much into this nature stuff, 2 days would suffice.

Then off to the good part – the little trip to NDAC, Cardiff. When Faisal booked the Segway, I was pretty skeptic and a bit offended. It felt like an ‘old people’ thing. But oh my goodness gracious! You gotta give it a shot! It’s tricky to be honest. I was actually quite surprised that I struggled with it a little in the beginning but once you get the hang of it, you actually tend to respect the little retro gadget. The best bit is that they take you through different trails and it starts to get quite adventurous. My favorite bit was when we all stopped at this little place coz it was kinda flooded and we thought we would wait for our instructor to help us through. Then Faisal boldly took the lead and volunteered to get the whole group out on his own by ‘testing the waters’. Half way in and the Segway stuck and he just sploshed right in the heart of the muddy water!! I probably didn’t laugh as much in the 4 days of Lake District as I did in those 4 minutes.

    …through sickness and in health, but not through muddy puddles. Sorry hubby.

A zipline over the lake and a 3D swing that was pretty exhilarating! If you’re in the area, don’t skip this one.

We also booked the World’s Longest slide, The ArcelorMittal Orbit. Went there all zesty and then we found out that hubby dearest had made the booking a month before we actually had to visit the place. So we just basically went all the way to see other people do what we’ve been itching to do ourselves. Not a very good feeling I tell you. Do visit it if you get the chance but DO NOT let Faisal make that booking!

Now saving the best for last – the Windsor Bray Bungee. 300ft high with a stunning view. But the view doesn’t mean shit when you’re high up on the edge of a crane, tied at your feet and about to take a plunge head first! And if you’re as bad as me at Math, you’ll painfully find out that 300ft is actually a lot higher in reality than it is in your (my) head. One bit of advice I would offer is to take off your specs. Faisal jumped without his glasses and came down without so much as making a sound. He couldn’t see hence he didn’t know how high it actually was.

Ok that’s actually a bluff. He’s already jumped from 600+ ft Bungee in South Africa. This was child’s play to him. Not even a squeak! When you don’t scream at a place where you should be screaming, it feels like such a waste of money! That’s why I selflessly volunteered and screamed bloody murder!

Mein na houn tau kya karay ye admi?!

It was pretty frightening, to be honest. Standing up there, willingly paying somebody to let you step off the ledge 300ft high in the air while tied at your feet, hoping for the life of you it will hold, you begin to question your sanity. But once you step off, the burst of adrenaline hits you just right! It’s worth every God damned second! The thrill and the fear entwine and ripple through you! It was one of the best feelings EVER! Cant push enough for this. This HAS to go up on your bucket list.

Just do it! (Pay me Nike. I’m promoting you)

Tip: If you’re worried about your hijab, use bobby pins right next to safety pins to keep it in place. I wore tights along with my jumpsuit coz dangling upside down, that gives you an extra layer of covering.

All in all, a pretty fantastic trip. I don’t get people who go on trips and just sleep in their fancy hotels. If you just wanna fly overseas and do that, just go sleep in a fancy hotel in your own city! When you’re gonna step across the border, make it count. Squeeze in as many activities as you possibly can. You can always catch up on your sleep over the weekend once back home but you can’t go back and breathe in anything any more once you leave that place. Let the experience etch inside of you. Make it friggin’ count!

And heck start with the UK, that place is just Royal!

Note: We stayed at Faisal’s uncle’s place. Their love and hospitality was simply out of this world. Thank you mamujan and mumani jani for making our trip unforgettable!