London to Paris by Eurostar

Destination:    Terminal Eurostar Paris Gare Du Nord.

Date: 28 March 2012

To go to Paris by Eurostar, we took the train from London St Pancras Station. We booked the standard class carriage return tickets from London St Pancreas Station to  Terminal Eurostar Paris Gare Du Nord for 3 adults and 1 infant which have table in the middle at £256.00 + £4.00 for the credit card fee. Before going in the departure area, the immigration officer wanted to see our documents. So we need to show our passports, train ticket and hotel booking documents. Since we bought our train tickets and booked hotel through internet, we just had to show the printed documents as proof. So it is advisable to print your documents rather than keeping in your mobile phone as this would be much faster for the immigration to check. Who knows your phone might run out of battery or if you keep in your email, afraid that the internet connection is not good. So again, it is best to print out your documents! :)

Once get into the departure area, make sure you know your platform number and be alert on the departure status. Don't be late! 

My little 17months old girl was watching her favourite video when suddenly a guy was asking to slow down the volume. Oh come on, my child was just watching a video with a low volume! That was to help her seating down quietly. In the first place if the carriage is for the quiet zone, they shouldn't allow infant in it! He should have book the Standard Premier or the Business Premier to enjoy quiet surroundings.We felt a bit pissed off about that but tried to think positive as the man asked politely. Let 's forget about that, we reached  Terminal Eurostar Paris Gare Du Nord in about 2 hours.

Terminal Eurostar Paris Gare Du Nord

Once reached the Terminal Eurostar Paris Gare Du Nord, we took time to go to the public toilet and later went to queue for the taxi. The queue was quite long but fast moving. While queueing we could see there was one thin man without any official attire, offered to assist passenger by lifting their luggages into taxi's boot and later asked for some money for that. Some just paid but some just smiled and ignored as they felt cheated. I think many people thought that was a free service at the taxi stand. 

Next post I will share about our apartment in Paris! Till then! :)

Wild Winter Safari at West Midland Safari Park

Destination:  West Midland Safari Park, Spring Grove, Bewdley, Worcestershire , England.

Date: 14 January 2012

Since our 14 months old girl loves making animal sound, we decided to bring her to West Midland Safari Park in Worcestershire, England. We believe this will be a great experience for her to see the real animals for her first time! :)

As usual my hubby would search the best deal possible for the entrance tickets! We joined the West Midland Safari Park facebook fan and clicked the 'Like' button to get the 'Buy 1 get 1 FREE' ticket. For more info about this place visit their website.

We arrived around 10.30 a.m. and there were still plenty of parking spaces available. In fact it is good to arrive early, so that you don't have to wait for a long queues and can enjoy feeding the animals at your leisure time in the safari. You can buy the special diet animal food from the kiosk when you arrive. It was quite a cold day since it was winter! 

Hubby decided not to drive through the safari because he said that he would prefer to enjoy the scenery. So we bought the Safari Tours ticket at £4.25 per person. I guest you need to be early if you want to take this Safari Tours because seats are limited. Furthermore the tours have two sessions. One at 11.30 a.m. and the other one at 1.30 p.m.

The Safari Tour Van

One advantage taking this Safari Tours was, we were able to see the animal in a very close distance. The driver was trying his best to drive as close as possible to the animals. Meanwhile those who drove through using their own cars, were only allowed to drive on the provided road and had to queue.

If you have more budget, you could try the V.I.P experiences tour. We didn't try it, so for more info kindly visit their website.

Here are some of the photos we had from the Safari Tour! 

  

Reindeer

Zebra

Wolves

Indian Rhinoceros

Buffalo

Cheetah

White Tiger

African Wild Dogs

Lions

White Lion

Elephant

Nilgai or Blue Bull

 Bactrian Camel

 Our daughter looking at the camel

The Safari Tour took us about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Then it was just the right time for lunch. Below are some of the photos at the Explorers Cafe inside the West Midland Safari Park.

Right after lunch, we watched the Sea Lion Show at the Sea Lion Theatre.

Our daughter really enjoyed sitting on her Stokke Evo stroller, because she could have better view as the seating is high!

At time of our visit, we found out that this Discovery Zone was not very exciting. There are many rooms for improvement. 

Before going back home, we would like to buy the fridge magnet. Anyhow they did not have many designs, what a shame. Furthermore, we were searching for the "RAA RAA The Noisy Lion" toy but couldn't find here. "RAA RAA The Noisy Lion" is a kids tv programme in Cbeebies Channel, so I guess they could make bigger sales by selling Raa Raa and the gang toys here! :)