Category: Driving All the Way – England

Road trip in England.

A Summary of 4D3N at Stratford-Upon-Avon (Part 1)

December 11, 2024December 11, 2024 sweet surrender 1 Comment

Stratford-Upon-Avon was our next destination after spending 2 days at Legoland Windsor. After checking out from the Coppid Beech Hotel , we went to Swindon Designer Outlet . By the time we reached our Airbnb, it’s quite late already. So we quickly got our things offloaded from our car, showered, and called it a night.

This town is very easy to walk. All the major attractions are located centrally. There is no need drive at all. You can spend 3-4 days here to slowly explore this history-rich town. It’s the birthplace of William Shakespeare . You see more tourists here than locals. There are many holiday accommodations in Stratford-Upon-Avon to cater for visitors.

I’ve updated about this trip on my Instagram and I’m compiling it here. All the details are in the posts. if you would like to see the rest of the posts, feel free to head over to my Instagram account.

Part 2 will come soon. This is trip happened during the summer holiday. It’s now winter in the UK! Hahahaha! I guess I’ll only finish posting about this trip early next year 😛 As usual… It happened to last year’s UK trip too. I only managed to finish the postings early this year.

Anyway, Christmas is near, 2025 is on the way. Take care for now.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

Shopping at Swindon Designer Outlet

December 5, 2024November 29, 2024 sweet surrender No Comments

After checking out of Coppid Beech Hotel, we went to Swindon Designer Outlet (Kemble Dr, Swindon SN2 2DY, United Kingdom) for lunch and shopping. We thought that we won’t be here for long but we ended up spending half day here from lunch to dinner.

UK used to be a great place for shopping for us because we can get tax return. However, it’s no longer the case now. When this is the case, you’ll have to take a lot of time hunting for bargains and be very calculative. This is because sometimes buying it at home will be similar or sometimes cheaper.

After the long-hour shopping, we drove to our Airbnb at Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was very dark when we arrived. It’s almost midnight once we got everyone settled down.

I wonder what do you usually buy in the UK as a tourist? Especially back then when they had tax return programme.

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

Dinner at Reading and Staines

November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 sweet surrender No Comments

Since Legoland Windsor doesn’t open at night, we drove to Reading and Staines for dinner.

On the first evening after Legoland, we had our dinner at Reading. It is a large town on the Thames and Kennet rivers in southern England. We didn’t visit anywhere except had a quick dinner at The Oracle (about 45-minute drive) to try out Marugame Udon. Initially, we wanted to have a look at the shopping mall but it’s closing. We had to quickly get to our car because the carpark was closing too.

On the second evening after Legoland, we had a dinner appointment at Staines-upon-Thames. The town is a market town in northwest Surrey, England. It’s about 17 miles west of central London. We met at the popular Asian food court there. It’s called Staines Food Court (141-147 High St, Staines TW18 4PA, United Kingdom).

The food court has great selections of Asian food. It was so hard to decide. You want to eat everything after being deprived of food from home for a week or so haha! It’s a well-known food court here. It has an oriental grocery shop upstairs too. You can get all the Asian groceries here.

Reading and Staines are not too far from out hotel, Coppid Beech Hotel . Both were within one hour drive from Legoland Windsor. Staines were nearer.

So, next time if you are around the area, you can consider visiting these towns.

Get Legoland Windsor Tickets & Transport

By the way, If you’re a tourist with no transport and is going to Legoland Windsor while you’re in London, the 1-Day Admission Ticket + Round-trip Transfer is highly recommended. The pick-up and drop-off is at Victoria Coach Station. It can be purchased on Klook. This is suitable for those who are not driving. Getting the ticket and the transportation ready before arrival will save you all the troubles later.

Driving All the Way - England, Food Porn, Going Places

First Visit to Legoland Windsor

November 11, 2024November 7, 2024 sweet surrender 2 Comments

When I was in the UK back in August, we went to Legoland Windsor (Winkfield Rd, Windsor SL4 4AY, United Kingdom) for 2 continuous days. We stayed at Coppid Beech Hotel instead of the accommodation in the amusement park. We drove there from our hotel every morning after breakfast.

How to buy ticket? How to get there?

It’s best to buy LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort Ticket before you go there. Just buy it from the official website. You can drive there if you want. Google Maps is good enough.

If you’re a tourist with no transport and is going to Legoland Windsor while you’re in London, the 1-Day Admission Ticket + Round-trip Transfer is highly recommended. The pick-up and drop-off is at Victoria Coach Station. It can be purchased on Klook. This is suitable for those who are not driving. Getting the ticket and the transportation ready before arrival will save you all the troubles later.

My First Legoland Visit

One day is definitely not enough if you want to play many rides. You’ll spend a lot of time queuing for the rides especially on weekends and holidays. You also have to plan your time properly so that you won’t miss various shows. It’s useful to download the app to check the queue time.

However, mobile signal there wasn’t good when I was there. Legoland has its own Wi-Fi if I’m not mistaken but was congested too. It was rather packed. We were there during summer holiday and coincided with Bank Holiday. Hence, do keep your entourage together if possible or you might have problem reaching each other.

Here’s my Instagram posts sharing some experiences and also photo dumps of Legoland Windsor.

Which Legoland had you visited around the world? I guess this is my first and my last hahaha… Generally, amusement parks entry fees are expensive. It’s not worth it if you don’t get on the rides. Kind of hate the waiting time too. The food is expensive and nothing to rave about as well. Anyway, I’m not an amusement park enthusiast but don’t mind going if there’s no choice aka I’m not the one paying LOL!

Driving All the Way - England, Going Places

Coppid Beech Hotel Quick Review

November 4, 2024October 28, 2024 sweet surrender 4 Comments

Had the opportunity to stay at Coppid Beech Hotel (John Nike Way, Bracknell RG12 8TF, United Kingdom) for 4 days 3 nights when I was in the UK in August.

It’s a 5-hour plus drive from our place to the hotel. While on the way there, we made a stop at a Services for lunch. We had KFC and noddles from Chopstix Noodle Bar.

After having our lunch and toilet break, we continued driving to meet our relative first before going to the hotel. By the the time we reached the hotel, it was already 8pm or so. After all of us had settled down, it’s almost 10pm-ish. We called it a night as we need to wake up early the next day to Legoland Windsor.

Hope that you find this quick review useful. It’s certainly an option to consider if you don’t want to live in Legoland and you want to keep your family in one room.

Driving All the Way - England, Food Porn, Going Places