Shopping Haul@Italy

Merry Christmas 2016! I'm going to share some tipsy for what to shop in Italy for your upcoming trip..hopefully it's useful for you all.

1) Branded Bags
I think this is one of the top list of the items that is must buy item for all ladies visiting Europe? :-) So, if you are visiting Italy - buy branded bags or items made from Italy! If you are clueless like me initially on which branded bags are actually from Italy (sorry, I'm a total noob on branded stuff since I'm not a fan of it) - below are some of the brands that are made from Italy which you can checkout during your visit to Italy:

• Gucci - founded in Florence, Italy in 1921
• Prada - founded in Milan, Italy in 1913
• Salvatore Ferragamo - founded in Florence, Italy in 1927
• Furla - founded in Bologna, Italy in 1927
• Liu Jo - founded in Carpi, Italy in 1995
• Giorgio Armani - founded in Milan, Italy in 1975

Estimated budget for Gucci or Prada: If you are looking for new arrival items in the normal retail outlets, you can estimate a budget of minimum EUR1,000 for a medium size handbag or a minimum of EUR400 for a wallet. You can get from factory outlet about half of the price for out season items.

Tax refund: Standard Italy product taxes are about 22%. You can get back tax refund of about 10 to 12% if you spend more than EUR155 and above. You can claim back the tax refund at the airport before departure back. It is always recommended to get back the tax refund form in EUR cash - don't get back the cash in other currency other than EUR dollar as you will lose in their exchange rate since the conversion rate from the tax refund company is pretty bad! Better take the EUR dollar and go back only change back your local currency.

Tips on where to shop for branded stuff: Shop in Rome - Piazza di Spanna, beside Scala di Spagna (Spanish Steps) rather than in Milan as it's very easy to locate the brands since it's lined up beside each other and not so crowded.

2) Italian Chocolates
Looking for some Italian chocolates as souvenirs for your friends or family members? Remember to checkout these few Italian choc brands as I never recall I see that in Malaysia. So worth to buy this for people to try!

• Baci Perugina Chocolates

• La Suissa Chocolates

I love the left one - pistachio! The right one is white hazelnut

•  Feletti Chocolates

Cappuccino flavor

I love the Tiramisu flavor one!

3) Olive Oil
As Italy is famous of Olive Oil, you can get variety of Olive Oil flavors in here like pepper olive oil (which is spicy one), lemon and garlic olive oil etc. Worth checking out the different flavors that you could not get in Malaysia especially like the spicy one - don't need to put chili flakes anymore when you cook spaghetti aglio olio :-)

For small bottle of olive oil, it's about EUR6 to EUR8 for each.

4) Italy Coffees
All coffee lovers out there - it's a must buy item as it's so dirt cheap for all the coffee in here! Some of the coffee brands that you can buy:

• Lavazza Coffee
• Pellini Coffee

Price for coffee ranges from EUR3 to EUR7.

5) Venetian Mask fridge magnets
A recommended souvenir to buy if you are visiting Venice (or you can find too in some cities in Italy) - Venetian mask fridge magnets! It's a very unique mask magnet which you can get only in Italy.

So beautiful Venetian mask magnets! You can find these in Burano island in Venice. The price is slightly higher for these - ~minimum EUR2 for each

The other designs like this is about ~minimum EUR1 for each. You might get it cheaper if you buy in bigger bulks

If you do not prefer the full face like the earlier ones - can consider getting this - it's quite nice too. About minimum EUR1 for each.

Note: Those bought from the Venice island like in Burano island is more expensive though since you need to consider the boat transportation cost over. So it's recommended to buy the magnets in the Venice mainland where you take the boat from.

If you are not interested in the Venetian masks, can checkout the normal type of fridge magnets like below:

6) Italian Biscotti
Biscotti, known also as cantuccini, are Italian almond biscuits that originated in the city of Prato. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, crunchy, and dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo.

You can buy this at about EUR 5.50 per pack as a souvenir for your friends or family members.


7) Fashion and Leather goods
Italy is famous for fashion and leather goods. Some fashion clothing brands which you can checkout is Valentino. The largest Valentino flagship store is in Rome.

8) Glass
Murano glass is glass made on the Venetian island of Murano, which has specialized in fancy glassware for centuries. Although it's made in Venice, it's available to buy not just in Rome shops but all over Italy. One thing to take note is to make sure it's the real thing - there are a lot of cheap imitations out there. All genuine Murano ware, no matter how small, comes with a certificate of authenticity.

That's all about the shopping haul in Italy.


For more information on my Italy itinerary, please checkout the link here.

Top 10 Essential Travel Tips in UK

Hola..I just back from my UK trip. This time around..I went to London, Wales, Hursley, Bath and Stonehenge. 

For those who are planning to visit UK, below are the top 10 essential travel tips:

1) Unlimited Data Plan
You need a data plan to get around UK to find the places, restaurants and even to find where is the tube station too! Saying that, which means you need google map a lot! 

From the survey so far listed here, I recommend you all to get the "Pay As You Go Sim" from Three store! No contracts, unlimited data for a month. On top of that, you get 300 minutes and 3,000 texts too. 

And it's only for £15 per month SIM plan. Check the information here below:
https://www.three.co.uk/Support/Free_SIM/Order

2) Get a Visitor Oyster Card or Travel Card
The London Underground rail network, or "the Tube" is a great way to travel to and from Central London and will be an integral part of most people's stay in the UK capital. So that's the public transport I used the most in my recent trip to get around Central London apart from walking la..

So what's Oyster card?
It's a plastic smart card which can hold pay as you go credit, Travelcards and Bus and Tram season tickets. You can use an Oyster card to travel on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground and most National Rail services in London.  

Deciding which ticket to buy – a Visitor Oyster card, Oyster card or Travelcard – depends on how long you're staying in London and how frequently you'll be using public transport.

If you plan to make two to four journeys a day for a couple of days, or if you want to travel to the outskirts of the city, then a Visitor Oyster card, Oyster card or contactless payment card will be your cheapest options. 


If you are visiting London for a week or more, and plan to use only the central London area (e.g. zones 1 to 2 or zones 1 to 4) to make four or more journeys per day on a daily basis, then a 7 Day Travelcard may be the most cost-effective option.

Note: If you buy a 7 Day Travelcard from a Tube station, Oyster ticket stop or London Travel Information Centre when you get to London, it will be issued to you on an Oyster Card (A £5 deposit is payable when you get an Oyster card).

I opted for a 7 Day Travelcard for Zones 1-2 (covers central London only, including most major attractions) which cost about £32.10 since I'm in London for more than a week. Check the link below here to help you decide which travel pass is right for you: http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/help/ticket-comparison/

3) Grab a free copy of the Tube map from the Tube station
Since in tips #2 I mentioned I used tube the most, so the free tube map is a MUST for me which helps to interchange between the tube lines easily. Or you can download the pdf here.
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf

4) Tips for booking overground train in London 
If you need to travel out of the city which is beyond the Tube line, use the London's Overground train. London's Overground rail services crisscross the city and extend beyond the Tube network. 

Most local train lines connect efficiently with the Tube and accept payment by Visitor Oyster card, Oyster card, Travelcard and contactless payment card. 

Wonder where the overground train covers? Check it out here: 
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/css/OfficialNationalRailmapsmall.pdf

Where to book the train and check the schedules:
Train Line: http://www.thetrainline.com/

Or from the train website directly:
National Rail: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
First Great Western: https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/

Below are some of the tips for booking the train: 

• Book in early - Advance tickets are the cheapest train tickets. The earlier you book, the greater the saving, up to 80%.
• Be flexible -  Avoid the busy peak travel times 06:30 - 09:30 and 15:30 - 18:30.
• Get single - 2 singles can be better value than 1 return journey.
• Split your journey up - Instead of booking one ticket for your journey, try splitting the journey into different stages with a ticket for each stage.

For more information for money saving tips for booking a train, check it out here: http://www.mytrainticket.co.uk/our-top-tips-for-saving-money

This is my train ticket from Newport back to London Paddington

5) Stand on the right, walk on the left on London Underground escalators
Stand to the right when riding the escalators unless you intend on getting shoved, nudged and bumped. Absolutely, under no circumstances, stand to the right.

6) Checkout Local Tour Package
Sometimes it's cheaper to get a local tour package if the train and also the entrance fees added up is more costly. Some of the local tours which you can check for the visit to some of the following places:

• Cambridge
• Stonehenge
• Bath 
• Oxford

Some of the recommended local tour options:

• Anderson Tours - I purchased the package to Stonehenge and Bath from this tour. Thumbs up!
• Golden Tours - My colleague recommended this tour agency

 
7) Do not take London's iconic black cabs from the airport if you are budget savvy
If you are on the budget constraint, check out alternative transfer services for transfer to and from the airport. An estimate of a black cab charges from the Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 to Central London cost about £80 per journey. 

• BA Transfer, a transfer service which is quite reputable, charges for £39 per journey inclusive of £7 for the airport parking to wait for your arrival. Otherwise, it cost only £31 for charges to Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 from Central London.
• Ezee Transfer

I personally used BA Transfer and the service is damn convenient. 

All I need to do is to go online and booked it earlier and TA DAA..I get my confirmation processed next day and the driver arrived earlier than specified pickup time. The driver will make a call to you personally before the pick up too. 

Oh, don't be surprised that the receipt that you get from the driver is like that:

If you wanted to get a cab in Newport, recommended to get this cab service: Dragon Taxis

8) Where to shop in London?

(a) Recommended Souvenir Shopping Street - Bayswater

You get a whole street of shops which sells plenty of London souvenirs like magnets, keychains, T-shirt etc. And dun worry about the shops closing at 9pm! You can do late night shopping here. For Malaysians, do take note that some shops here have special discounts for Malaysians!

Bayswater station

How to get here:
->By tube: Take the District/Circle (Green/Yellow) line to Bayswater station. Once you get out of the station, turn left or right...there are plenty of souvenirs shops everywhere here.

(b) Best clothing deal store in London - Primark! 

A good place to shop for incredibly dirt cheap clothes from as low as GBP1, shoes, inner wear etc. If you run out of room for your luggage, you can even grab one here at a very cheap price of GBP20 here too!

How to get here:
Primark Oxford Street East
Address: 14 – 28 Oxford Street & 3 Tottenham Court Road
London, W1D 1AU
By tube: Take the Central Line to Marble Arch. When you are out of the station, cross the road and turn left. Walk straight and you will see Primark on your right.

Website: http://www.primark.com/en/homepage
Opening hours:

• Mon - Fri: 8am to 10pm
• Sat: 8am to 9pm
• Sun: 12pm to 6pm

(c) London's most famous luxury department store - Harrods
 

How to get here:
Harrods
Address: 87-135 Brompton Rd, London SW1X 7XL, United Kingdom
Phone:+44 20 7730 1234
By tube: Take the Piccadilly line to Knightsbridge station
Opening Hours: 

• Monday to Saturday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm, 
• Sunday 11:30 am – 6.00 pm

**TIPS: When you shop in UK, remember to request for a VAT refund whenever you can. The VAT refund receipts are longer than the normal ones. And please ask for credit card VAT refund if the amount is too small, otherwise, you will get deducted GBP2.50 for every single receipt of VAT refund as admin charges. And dun worry about not getting your refund back in the card! I got mine credited after 5 working days which is pretty fast!

d) Best place to get sports shoes and jerseys - Lillywhites

Wanted to find Arsenal or Manchester Uniter jerseys? The place to go is Lillywhites! Here you can get wide selections of latest or out of season jerseys and sport shoes too.

How to get here: 
Lillywhites

London - Piccadilly 
24-36 Regent Street
London SW1Y 4QF 

By tube: Take the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus

Website: http://www.lillywhites.com/ 

Please stay tuned for my upcoming shopping haul post in London!

9) Where to eat Asian food in London?
Craving for Asian food in London? Below are the recommended places to get Asian food in London:

a) Bayswater

Here, you not only can shop for all the London souvenirs but you can even get Malaysian or Thai food too! Some restaurants which I have tried:

• Malaysia Hall Canteen : Satisfy your Malaysian food cravings here with Nasi Pattaya, Curry Puff, Mee Mamak..
• Gold Mine Restaurant : Best roasted duck!

How to get here:
By tube: Take the District/Circle (Green/Yellow) line to Bayswater station.

b) Chinatown
Get all the Chinese, Japanese or Korean food here! Some restaurants which I have tried:

• Bone Daddies : Delicious ramen!
• Tokyo Diner : So-so Japanese bento or don set. However, you get free green tea drinks when you dine here.
• Chinatown bakery : Get all the typical Chinese buns or cakes here

How to get here:
By tube: Take the Piccadilly/Northen line to Leicester Square station.


Stay tuned for my upcoming post on the recommended food in London!

10) Free tourist spot in London
If you are on a tight budget while visiting London, there are many free tourist attractions that you can visit too. And it's really worth it! Below are some suggestions on activities which you can do without costing you a penny:

1. Explore London's free museum
2. Marvel at the changing of the guard at Buckhingham Palace
3. Discover Westminster Abbey
4. Visit the British Library
5. Stroll through London's famous markets
6. Westminster Bridge - where you can take picture of the London Eye to the east and the House of Parliament and Big Ben to the west. If you walk west from here, you'll come across one of London's gorgeous Royal parks: St. James Park

Stay tuned again for my upcoming post about this! 

Check here for more of my UK trip sharing.

Interesting facts about Japan

Sharing on some interesting facts about Japan which makes this country super unique and always my fav country to visit all the time!

1) Secret to the Long Healthy Lives of Japanese - Take Natto!
Natto is a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans, and is characterized by its strong taste, pungent smell, and gooey texture. Natto isn’t well-known outside of Japan, and its acquired taste and unpleasant appearance probably confines it to a limited audience. Nonetheless, natto can be found in some Western health food stores for one reason: it is highly nutritious. In fact, the health benefits of natto are so considerable that some stores sell it in capsule form so that people can take it as a dietary supplement.

2) Pachinko

From wikipedia:

Pachinko (パチンコ) is a mechanical game originating in Japan and is used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a Japanese gambling niche comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gaming. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but has no flippers and uses a large number of small balls. The player fires balls into the machine, which then cascade down through a dense forest of pins. If the balls go into certain locations, they may be captured and sequences of events may be triggered that result in more balls being released. The object of the game is to capture as many balls as possible. These balls can then be exchanged for prizes. Pachinko machines were originally strictly mechanical, but modern ones have incorporated extensive electronics, becoming similar to video slot machines.

3)  Japanese toilets are famous for their high-tech functionality, heated toilet seats, and even those fake flushing noise buttons installed in women’s restrooms in Japan. The king of toilets in Japan is Toto, the company that brings warmth and comfort to Japanese behinds.

4) Japan is home to the world's craziest vending machine. It’s not so much the machines themselves but the variety of things sold in them. Beverages by the hundreds of variety beer, hot tea or coffee...and yes, even panties and porn.

Varieties of soft drinks

Ice-cream vending machine

Coffee maker vending machine where you can watch the screen how it makes!

Japanese snack vending machine

Beer vending machine too!

5) Japanese Food Display can be found in many restaurants in Japan. 

These incredibly realistic food models function to give a visual idea of what kinds of foods the restaurant serves while at the same time appealing to the senses of would-be diners in order to entice them inside. 

These plastic food models are often a saving grace for foreign diners who do not speak Japanese.

6) Japanese Bathing Etiquette
Whenever you enter the bathroom, you have to put on special bathroom slippers. Don't forget to take them off when you're done, that's a big no-no because if you keep them on, you will contaminate the rest of the house.

If you plan on taking a shower, be aware, that you will take the shower outside of the bathtub!! See the photo below, the shower head is not directly in the bath tub but it's outside!

You're supposed to wash your body while outside the tub, with soap of course. The bathtub is only used for soaking and you are only allowed to enter after you have cleaned yourself thoroughly. Soap should not get into the bathtub! The water stays in the bathtub and will be used for other people in the house.  Everyone uses the same water, but it's clean water because they clean themselves with the shower first. 

7) Drink miso soup without using spoon

I think it's norm in Malaysia to drink any soup with a spoon but not for Japanese drinking miso soup. You should drink the miso soup out of the bowl as if it were a cup, and fish out the solid food pieces with your chopsticks. 

So..dun go and ask waiter for a spoon when you are in Japan to drink miso soup lo!