5-day family trip to Marrakesh, Morocco 🇲🇦

Here's a write-up of my trip to Marrakesh, Morocco last week with family. We were a group of 14 with a mix of ages from toddlers to seniors.

Accommodation 🏡

We stayed in the south of Marrakesh around 20 minutes by car to the centre. We booked a villa which we had exclusive access to. The villa had a decent size swimming pool and a large garden. We booked it via Airbnb.

Expect to pay £400 to £600 per night for a villa which has a decent size swimming pool and a decent size garden. The earlier you book and the further you are from the town centre, the more you'll get for your money.

Flights ✈️

We flew with Ryanair from London Stansted to Marrakesh Menara Airport. Our flight both ways was an afternoon flight which was just perfect. (Early morning and late night flights are the worst!) We booked our flights six months ahead of our trip and it cost us around £200 per person.

Getting around 🚐

We used a company called Tours R Us Morocco to transport us around by minibus. They charged us around £50 for a two-way trip to the town centre. We asked around and that was the price that different transport providers were quoting.

We used TTC Morocco for our airport transfers. We booked it via Travel Supermarket (which is powered by HolidayTaxis) for £65 (there and back).

Both transport companies were great. We used two different companies for the sake of experimenting and matching prices.

Food 🥘🥤

We did a big shop at Carrefour in Menara Mall on our first day because we had no grocery stores near us and so that we wouldn't have to go grocery shopping again after.

For meals, our routine was as follows:

1. Make breakfast ourselves in our accommodation.
2. Keep it simple for lunch with bread and cheese from a local bakery.
3. Go out for dinner or order in from a local restaurant.

For dinner, we stuck to the recommendations of our accommodation host and they were bang on the money. The restaurants which we got food from and enjoyed were Venezia Ice, Bladna and Toubkal. Expect to pay around £5 to £8 per person at these restaurants.

Walk: Otford station to Kemsing station in Kent, England

I walked yesterday from Otford station to Kemsing station along the North Downs Way. You can find my route on the Ordnance Survey Maps app here. Some details to call out:

1. If you're going from London, get a return ticket for London Victoria to Kemsing via Otford 🚆🚆
2. The train each way is hourly and it does not run on Sundays. Factor that into your planning ⏱⏱
3. Navigating pathways was a bit of a challenge at times. Have a compass and map to hand 🧭🗺
4. It was wet and muddy in places. If you go outside of summer, wear waterproof footwear 🥾🥾
5. If you go in April, look out for and enjoy the bluebells.

4-day trip to West Sussex and Isle of Wight in the south of England

I had a super pleasurable four-day trip down to the south of England with family last week. We were a group of eight and travelled in two cars from London.

Below is the itinerary of our trip which includes Ordnance Survey grid references for places which we stopped at. If you need a reminder of how to read Ordnance Survey grid references, check out this article or this video. Pro tip: you can plug an Ordnance Survey grid reference into the UK Grid Reference Finder web app and link out from there to Google Maps or Ordnance Survey.

Itinerary

Day 1 morning: We loaded up our cars and started our journey southwards.

Day 1 early afternoon: We stopped at Kithurst Hill Car Park in the South Downs (TQ 071 125) and did a short walk eastwards to Kithurst Hill (TQ 082 125), then southwards to join the South Downs Way (TQ 082 123), and then north-westwards along the South Downs Way back to our car.

Day 1 late afternoon: We stopped at Pulborough Bridge (TQ 045 185) and did some canoeing and kayaking for an hour along River Arun. We hired our canoes and kayaks via Fluid Adventures. Be sure to book beforehand.

Day 1 evening: We drove to our accommodation in Bersted which is just a touch northwards from the coastal town of Bognor Regis and we rested for the night. We booked our accommodation via Airbnb.

Day 2 morning: We had a slow, relaxed morning knowing that we'd have to get up early for the next two mornings.

Day 2 early afternoon: We drove down to Climping Car Park (TQ 005 007) and walked westwards along the coast. The route was a nice mixture of beach to our left and fields to our right.

Day 2 late afternoon: We drove westwards to West Wittering Beach Car Park (SZ 769 982). Lucky for us the weather was cloudy and forecasted to rain so the beach was nice and quiet. Note that the car park is pre-book only.

Day 2 evening: We drove back to our accommodation and rested for the night.

Day 3 early morning: We got up early, headed for Portsmouth and caught our 9:40am ferry to the Isle of Wight. We booked our ferry via Wightlink and it was around £40 each way per car.

Day 3 late morning: We exited the ferry at Fishbourne and drove to a couple of viewpoints on the Isle of Wight's eastern coast. We stopped first at Bembridge Down Car Park (SZ 626 860) and second at Culver Down Car Park (SZ 636 856).

Day 3 early afternoon: We drive clockwise along the coast to Shanklin where we stopped for some scones and tea at the Old Thatch Teashop. Note that you have to call in and book beforehand.

Day 3 late afternoon: We continued our drive clockwise along the coast up to The Needles Car Park (SZ 307 854) from where we walked the stairs down to the beach. We sat by the beach for a while and then caught the chair lift back up to the top. The chair lift costs £4 per person each way.

Day 3 evening: We got back to our cars and drove straight through to Fishbourne just in time to check in for our 6:40pm return ferry. We exited the ferry at Portsmouth, picked up some food from Umami Street Food and returned to our accommodation.

Day 4 morning: We tidied up and checked out from our accommodation.

Day 4 early afternoon: We drove to Brighton and stayed put in and around Brighton Palace Pier. Again, it was a cloudy day and forecasted to rain, so we got to enjoy the beach in relative quiet. Note that Pay & Display parking in Brighton is super expensive so you're best booking a parking slot beforehand on JustPark or using one of the car parks listed on the Brighton & Hove Cark Parks web page.

Day 4 late afternoon: We drove back to London.

Walk: Great Monk Wood in Epping Forest

Summary

If you're looking for a super casual walk just a short drive from East London, this one's for you.

Route

The steps for this walk couldn't be simpler:

1. Drive northwards up Epping New Road (also called the A104) and pull into Wake Valley Pond car park.
2. After you park up, walk out of the car park where you just entered from and cross over Epping New Road into the forest on the other side.
3. Walk in an east-south-easterly direction until you're right besides the road named Golding's Hill (also called the A121).
4. Turn and walk in a south-westerly direction along the path named Green Ride (as named in the Maps.me app).
5. Whip around Court Hill and then start to walk northwards back towards your car.

See here for a graphical representation of the route in the Ordnance Survey website and see here for some pictures of the area uploaded to my Flickr account.

Recommended app

For this walk I definitely recommend the Maps.me app over the OS Maps app since none of the paths are marked out for this one in the OS Maps app. Whichever app you decide to use, remember to download an offline map of the area beforehand since there's pretty much zero phone or data reception in the entire area.

What to pack

• Small mat to place over any fallen trees you decide to sit on... to prevent yourself getting a wet bottom.
• Waterproof walking boots so you can splash around at will anywhere in the forest.
• Extra footwear to keep in the car and change into when you finish your walk.

Walk: Holmwood Station to Leith Hill Tower in Dorking (Surrey)

Went for a walk yesterday in Dorking (Surrey) just south of London with my cousin and nephew. We walked from Holmwood Station to Leith Hill Tower and back. It's around four-and-a-half kilometres each way so around nine kilometres in total. It's not a difficult walk but there are some inclines so take that into account. See here for route details in the Ordnance Survey website.

Getting there

It's just one hour from London Victoria to Holmwood station. But bear in mind that it's an infrequent service so plan ahead. For example on Saturdays the outgoing and incoming train is only once per hour and when I last checked there's no running service on Sundays.

In terms of cost we got a three-person GroupSave off-peak day return ticket for £28.20 which worked out cheaper than getting a standard two adult and one child off-peak day return ticket.

What to pack

If it's raining on the day of your walk or has rained a day or two before your trip it can be muddy so I'd highly recommend getting a pair of waterproof walking shoes. Other than that it's just the normal trekking items to pack: compass, Ordnance Survey Explorer map (the 146 map of Dorking, Box Hill & Reigate is the one your want), waterproof jacket or poncho, and compact prayer mat (which'll nicely double up for you as a picnic mat).

Recommended apps

Hands down the best two apps for navigation for me are the MAP.ME app and the OS Maps app. I use both when I'm out on walks. I use the MAPS.ME one 80% of the time because I like it's simplicity but there are times when I'm not so sure about which way to head and that's when the detail of the OS Maps app comes into play. Be sure to download the area of the walk that you need in both apps ahead of time so that they continue to work even in places when you don't have an internet connection.

6-day trip to Kaghan Valley and Hunza Valley in the north of Pakistan

I completed a 6-day round trip this past week with some members of my family travelling from our home village in Pakistan (situated around 100km south-east of Islamabad) northwards up to Sost. We were supposed to go a further 90km north-east up as far as Khanjereb Pass to touch the Pakistan-China border but we were running tight for time so decided to cut our trip a little short. You can find below some highlights of our trip as well as some tips which you'll find useful if you're planning on doing a similar trip. For pictures see here.

Highlights

• Mountains
• Rivers
• Good organic food and fruits (apricots abound)
• Nice friendly people living pure, simple lives
• Bumpy mountain roads!

Tour operator

We travelled with a Lahore-based tour operator named The Trekkerz. We contacted and got quotes from a number of tour operators ahead of time. All the quotes we got were in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 Pakistani rupees for a 6-day, 5-night, 8-person trip travelling in a new Toyota HiAce Grand Cabin. The price included a driver who doubled up as a tour guide, 3-room hotel accommodation, breakfast and entry to some but not all sites of interest. We decided to travel with The Trekkerz in the end not only because they had good online reviews but because they were the only one to be recommended to us by somebody we knew.

Day-by-day breakdown

Day 1 – We set off early in the morning from our home village (Arha) and arrived at Naran in the evening. We passed Islamabad, Murree, Muzaffarabad and Balakot along the way. We stayed the night at Naran Mountain Chalets.

Day 2 – We did a jeep ride up to Saif-ul-Maluk Lake in the morning and then set off for Hunza Valley. We passed Lulusar Lake, Babusar Top, Chilas and Gilgit along the way. We stayed the night at Hunza Embassy Hotel.

Day 3 – We visited Altit Fort in the morning, did a trek in Hopar Valley down to a glacier in the afternoon and then set off for Sost in the evening. We stayed the night at Sost Embassy Motel.

Day 4 – We made our return back to Hunza Valley passing Passu and stopping for some boating (at Attabad Lake), fruit picking and dried fruit shopping along the way. We stayed the night at Osho Thang Hotel.

Day 5 – We were supposed to proceed down to Naran but the road was blocked due to a local protest and so we had to take the longer road homewards which passes Dasu and Besham City. We stayed the night at Besham Continental Hotel.

Day 6 – We proceeded with our return journey home passing Mansehra and Abbottabad along the way.

Essential items to pack

• Travel sweets or chewing gum to stop you from throwing up because the road sure can get bumpy at times.
• A Chilly's water bottle (or equivalent) and cooler bag which keeps your water and snacks cool in the heat.
• Sunglasses and sun cream.
• A mixture of warm and cool clothes because the weather fluctuates between hot and cold from place to place.
• Pakistan national identity (NADRA) card for swift passage through police checkpoints.

Walk: Dorking West station to Betchworth station via Box Hill

Went for a walk along the North Downs Way with my wife, brother-in-law, nephew and trusty Ordnance Survey (OS) Explorer map last (Bank Holiday) Monday. We walked from Dorking West station (OS coordinates: 160498) north along the Mole Gap Trail for 1.5km, then joined the North Downs Way (OS coordinates: 164515) and walked east for around 1.5km to Box Hill (OS coordinates: 179513) where we had lunch and enjoyed the view before proceeding east along the North Downs Way for another 3km to Betchworth station (OS coordinates: 211514) where we completed our walk. See here for route details in the Ordnance Survey website.

Summary of the walk

The total length of the walk was 6km (3.7 miles). There was an incline at Box Hill (from 50 metres elevation to 170 metres elevation) but other than that it was a steady, easy walk.

Getting there

Outgoing we caught the Southern train from London Victoria to Redhill (35 minutes) and then caught the Great Western Railway train from Redhill to Dorking West (15 minutes). Incoming we caught the Great Western Railway train from Betchworth to Redhill (10 minutes) and then the Southern train from Redhill to London Victoria. We booked the train ride as an off peak day return from London Victoria to Dorking West for £29.50 for all four of us (3 adults and 1 child).

Essentials

As well as the Dorking, Box Hill & Reigate Ordnance Survey Explorer 146 map we also found the Maps.ME app super handy. Unlike the Google Maps app the Maps.ME app shows walking paths. Also, on a hot day like we experienced it's worth having at least two 50cl (500ml) bottles of water per person.

I've uploaded some pictures from the walk to my Flickr account here.

Racist police at German airports

I was flying back from Muscat (Oman) to London (England) this week via Munich (Germany) and I had a horrible time being subjected to intimidation and threats by German police officers at Munich airport. I contacted Lufthansa Air and Munich Airport about it in the hope of finding a channel through which I could make a complaint. Thankfully, Munich Airport got back to me and provided with an email address (bpol.muc@polizei.bund.de) to which I've just addressed my complaint and described my experience, as follows:

Dear Munich Police, 

I was flying from Muscat to London via Munich on Monday 16 April 2018. (Flight number LH 2482 from Munich to London Heathrow.) After going through our gate (Gate H40) and, having been checked by Lufthansa staff, my wife and I were stopped by a couple of police officers. 

We can forgive that these police officers were only stopping and profiling non-white passengers. Fine. And, whilst it's distasteful, we can also understand and forgive that these male police officers wanted my wife to lift her face veil to show her face (even though she had just done so a second earlier to a Lufthansa staff member). Fine. She obliged. Not a huge deal. 

However, what is unforgivable is that the one officer we were dealing with was getting in our faces, getting super aggressive and threatening to detain us. And, to top it off, he was laughing out loud about it with his colleague as my wife and I were walking away afterwards. It was a horrible experience, totally unnecessary and has left us disturbed. Is this normal behaviour to be expected when flying through Munich airport? If so, that's fine; we'll accept it and refuse to fly via this airport in future. If not, we would appreciate a response and for this officer to be brought to account. 

I am sorry that we did not get the officer's name and identification number. We wanted to. But with the aggression and intimidation we were facing, we were afraid to request it. We honestly felt like we were dealing with a thug rather than a person of the law. 

Regards,

Adil Hussain

I searched online to see whether I was alone in my experience. Doing a quick search of "Munich airport racist police" and "Frankfurt airport racist police" turned up a number of results as follows:

• UK athlete Mo Farah being pushed and dragged by a police officer at Munich airport
• Brown person singled out for profiling
• Brown person accused of having a fake passport
• Black travellers describe their ordeals with German customs
• Indian Woman Told To Strip At Frankfurt Airport
• Lady arrested and robbed by the police at Frankfurt airport

So, in summary, it seems there's racism top to bottom in the police force at German airports and you're best avoiding Germany if you're non-white. If you really do have to travel to or via Germany, brace yourself for a run-in with "the law"!

Update (05 May 2018): After contacting Munich airport, Lufthansa Air and Munich police about my experience, the responses were as follows: Munich airport got back to me straight away and were super helpful in providing me with the Munich police contact details. Lufthansa Air got back to me around a couple of weeks after my complaint and were apologetic and said they had forwarded my complaint to the station manager at Munich Airport. Lastly, Munich police got back to me a week after I contacted them with a generic letter saying they would investigate the allegations.

12-day trip to Oman: Muscat, Sur, Nizwa

Below is a write-up of my 12-day trip to Oman with my wife. I'll start with a summary and some essentials and then proceed on to our trip itinerary.

Summary

12 days，7 hotels ，6 destinations, clear open roads and a good mix of land, sea, sun, mountains and deserts in the north of Oman. A highly recommended trip for the adventurous and nature lovers. Pictures of our trip here, here, here and here.

Essentials

1. Rent a car for the duration of your trip. The best way to get around is by car and finding parking in Oman is never a problem. A four wheel drive vehicle is a must if you're going to head for the mountains or the desert.
2. Have a cooler bag in your car to keep your snacks and drinks cool because it gets very hot in the car.
3. Keep your sunglasses and sun lotion with you at all times.
4. Purchase a mobile data plan on arrival at the airport.
5. Download at least two offline mapping apps on your mobile device. We found no one app was good enough to rely on entirely. The two we tended to use the most were Google Maps and MAPS.ME.

Itinerary

Day 1 (Thursday 5 April)

Arrived in Muscat from London Heathrow flying via Munich. (We booked with Lufthansa Air for £440 per person.) We bought a couple of Omantel Hayyak 2GB mobile data packages for 7 OMR each on arrival, set them up and then picked up our SUV (Hyundai Tucson) from the Europcar/Interrent desk at the airport. (We booked our car with arguscarhire.com for £467 including insurance.) Once our phones and car were all set up we drove to and checked into Lana Villa in Muscat.

Day 2 (Friday 6 April)

Stayed in and explored Muscat. We caught the Friday prayer at Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and then drove on to Qurum Natural Park and Qurum Beach.

Day 3 (Saturday 7 April)

Drove to Sur from Muscat and stopped by at Bimmah Sinkhole and Wadi Shab along the way. After that we proceeded to and checked into Sur Grand Hotel.

Day 4 (Sunday 8 April)

Stayed in and explored Sur. We stopped by Bilad Sur Castle, Sunaysilah Fort, the fishing harbour for the sunset and then Al Ayjah Lighthouse where we sat and enjoyed a multitude of Adhans being called for Eisha in every direction.

Day 5 (Monday 9 April)

Drove from Sur to the southern part of Wadi Bani Khalid near the villages of Sabt and Sayq but we didn't find any water so we turned back and proceeded on to Wahiba Sands and checked in to Golden Palm Oasis for an overnight desert experience.

Day 6 (Tuesday 10 April)

Drove to the northern part of Wadi Bani Khalid near Muqal where we got some good swimming in. Proceeded on to Nizwah where we checked in to Al Diyar Hotel.

Day 7 (Wednesday 11 April)

Visited Nizwa Souq and Al Hoota Cave and then proceeded up Jebel Shams and checked in to Sama Heights Resort.

Day 8 (Thursday 12 April)

Drove around the top of Jebel Shams near our accommodation, caught site of some good deep canyons and went for a nicely paved walk from Al Khitaym.

Day 9 (Friday 13 April)

Drove to Musannah and checked in to Millennium Resort Mussanah. The initial plan was to pass through Wadi Al Hawqain and Al Rustaq on the way to Musannah but we got caught in some tough mountain roads so we bailed on Wadi Al Hawqain and simply passed Al Rustaq on the way to Musannah. The resort was a little too much on the luxurious side and we only stayed here because there were no other accommodation options in the area. In hindsight we should have just gone straight from Jebel Shams to Muscat.

Day 10 (Saturday 14 April)

Drove to Muscat. Checked in to Behlys Boutique. We visited Muscat Grand Mall in the evening but it's nothing to write home about. Just another fancy mall.

Day 11 (Sunday 15 April)

Hung around and did some activities in Muscat. We caught the dolphin watching boat ride from Marina Bandar Al Rowdha (we didn't enjoy the dolphin watching experience), some jet skiing in Azaiba Beach and then some gift shopping in Mutrah Souq.

Day 12 (Monday 16 April)

Dropped off our rental car and caught our return flight from Muscat airport.

Trip to Makkah and Madinah in the first ten days of Ramadhan

Went with my wife to Makkah and Madinah for the first 10 days of Ramadhan. We stayed in Makkah for the first 4.5 days (5 nights) at the Elaf Al Mashaer Hotel and then in Madinah for the second 4.5 days (4 nights) at the Rove Al Madinah Hotel. Both hotels we booked ourselves via the booking.com website. We flew via Saudi Airlines which we also booked ourselves direct from the saudia.com website. Car transfers we arranged with a Pakistani (not Arab thank God!) company called Al-Falah Transport Services (contact details in the comments) which was on point: good prices, good communication and good service overall. The visas we arranged with a London based company called Hassan Hajj Tours. Overall the total cost of the trip for two persons not including clothes and dates shopping was £3300 (accommodation [£1500], flights [£1100], visas [£300], transfers [£200], food [£200]).

Makkah

In Makkah because of the heat and the crowds it's not so easy going back and forth between the Mosque and the hotel for each Salah. Thus the routine that we gravitated towards over the course of our stay was as follows:

• Fajr (4am) – we would go to the Mosque half an hour before the Adhan, pray and then make our way back to the hotel half an hour after Salah.
• Between Fajr and Dhuhr – this is when we would get our longest stretch of sleep.
• Dhuhr (12:30pm) and Asr (3:30pm) – we would make our way to the Mosque half an hour before Dhuhr, pray Dhuhr, hang around until Asr, pray Asr and then make our way back to the hotel half an hour after Salah.
• Between Asr and Maghrib – we would get some rest at the hotel, freshen up and pack our Iftaar snacks.
• Maghrib (7pm) – we would get to the Mosque (sometimes inside and sometimes outside) a few minutes before the Adhan and break our fast with dates, yoghurt drink and whatever other little goodies we had with us (croissants, Loacker wafers etc).
• Between Maghrib and Eisha – we would get in a Tawaf on the first floor. Sometimes we would do the first few circuits on the ground floor and then head up to the first floor when it got too busy and congested.
• Eisha (9pm) and Tarawih (9:30pm) – we would finish Tawaf before the Adhan, continue half a circuit more to the opposite side of the Mosque and then find a good spot to pray on the mats.
• Between Tarawih and Fajr – we would go to the third and fourth floors of the Clock Tower building to get some dinner and to purchase some snacks from Abraaj Hypermarket for the next day's Iftaar, then proceed to our hotel to do our social media browsing for the day and then on to the hotel's dining area for some pre-Fajr breakfast.

Madinah

In Madinah it wasn't as strenuous as it was in Makkah to go back and forth between the hotel and the Mosque and so we tended to come and go between each Salah. Restaurants and takeaways close to the Mosque are in very short supply so we highly recommend arranging breakfast and dinner at your hotel if this is an option. Lastly, for clothes (Jubbas, Jilbabs etc) and dates shopping, Taibah Commercial Center outside the Mosque has plenty of options. You don't need to go anywhere else. There's a Bin Dawood supermarket in here also for you to stock up on snacks and fruits.

Horrible experience flying Saudi Airlines

I flew back from Medinah to London Heathrow airport last Sunday night via Jeddah. The experience was a nightmare to say the least! It was an experience closer to being prodded along by prison guards than being helped along by commercial airline staff.

First: the Saudi Airlines staff at the check-in counter at Medinah airport were horrible. Best way to describe them? Rude, arrogant, snotty. Very similar to the Jeddah airport staff if you've ever experienced that! They would not answer any questions asked of them and instead were more interested in the conversations they were having on their phones. They would operate at a snail's pace but when they were ready to do some work they would wave with their hands and yell "Yallah! Yallah! Hurry up!" On top of that they didn't have the courtesy to notify passengers checking in that our flights had been delayed by half an hour. Absolutely ridiculous.

Second: when it was time to board the plane, the Saudi Airlines staff were again operating at a snail's pace letting through maybe one or two persons every minute. Probably busy again talking to each other rather than doing some work! I was at the back of the line so couldn't tell. When they realised they had 75% of the plane still to board and now very little time to do it in they started ushering everybody on board with very little checking. They were so panicked at this point I saw them physically pushing an old Bangladeshi lady just because she took a second too long to kneel down and pick up her bag. Of course they would not push a Saudi or Western national like this. Absolutely ridiculous.

Third: when we arrived at Jeddah airport for the transfer, it was only by chance that a fellow passenger informed me and my wife that we might have to pick up our baggage and re-check it in. It didn't occur to a single member of the Saudi Airlines staff to inform us of this. When transferring between flights with any other airlines at most other airports this is handled automatically by the airline. It's fine that we had to do it ourself. That's not the biggest problem. What really irritates me is that it did not occur to a single member of the Saudi Airlines staff to inform passengers about this. All of the other passengers who were transferring got a huge shock when word spread that we had to collect and re-check in our bags. It was pure luck that we didn't all proceed to the second flight without collecting our bags.

Once we got onto the plane for the Jeddah to London flight we were bemused to be met with smiles by the on-board staff. It had been a good few hours during which the only emotions we had received from Saudi Airlines staff were sarcasm and disinterest. The ground staff really need to go through the same training as the on-board staff.

All in all: a nightmare experience! It's very unlikely I will be flying with Saudi Airlines again any time soon and definitely in my opinion worth paying a bit more money and flying with a carrier that takes customer service a little more seriously.

3-day trip: Cotswolds, Forest of Dean, Wye Valley

Headed to the West of England this week with my wife for a short 3-day trip (Monday morning to Thursday afternoon). We based ourselves in Howle Hill, Ross-on-Wye for the evenings and hopped between the Cotswolds, Forest of Dean and Wye Valley in the daytimes. Below is a full itinerary of our trip:

• Monday morning – we caught the GWR train from London Paddington to Gloucester station. (We booked the train a month before the trip for £68 return trip for 2-persons.)
• Monday afternoon – we picked up our car for the trip from the Europcar office which was a 20-minute walk from the station. (We booked the car a month before the trip for £50 for three days plus £10 for roadside assistance plus £12 for car insurance which we booked separately with iCarhireinsurance.) After picking up our car we headed to the Sainsbury's right nearby to stock up on all our food for the trip.
• Monday evening – we settled in our accommodation (Ivy Studio) on Howle Hill in Ross-on-Wye and went for a short walk around the surrounding area. (We booked our accommodation a month before the trip via Airbnb for £172 for three nights inclusive of the £22 Airbnb service fee.)
• Tuesday morning – we drove out from our accommodation to Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds. It was meant to be an hour's drive according to Google Maps but turned out to be over an hour-and-a-half. Longer than we would have liked.
• Tuesday afternoon – we picked up our hired cycles from Hartwells Cotswold Cycle Hire (£14 per-bike for full day hire) and then cycled our circular route from Bourton-the-Water to Lower Slaughter to Upper Slaughter to Lower Swell and then back to our starting point. Our experience was that the area is better for walking than cycling. The cycle paths were non-complete and we found ourselves on the roads and footpaths more than we would have liked.
• Tuesday evening – we drove back to our accommodation.
• Wednesday morning – we drove from our accommodation to the Forest of Dean. This was a much shorter drive than the previous day. Just 30 mins.
• Wednesday afternoon – we picked up our hired cycles from Dean Forest Cycles (£18 per-bike for full day hire) and followed the circular route suggested by them passing Cannop Ponds and New Fancy View along the way. This was a much more enjoyable cycle ride than the previous day. The cycle path was clear, well-connected and well-signposted all the way through.
• Wednesday evening – we stopped off at Symonds Yat on the way back to our accommodation for a beautiful view of the Wye Valley. Well worth the stopover.
• Thursday morning – we drove back to Gloucester from our accommodation and returned our car.
• Thursday afternoon – we walked to the train station through Gloucester town centre and caught the train back to London Paddington.

I've uploaded some pictures of the trip to my Flickr account here.

3-day family trip to Brecon Beacons

I went to the Brecon Beacons National Park last weekend with the family (9 of us; 2 cars). We booked our accommodation in the eastern part of Brecon Beacons in a place called The Beast House Barn. The barn is located right near a village called Cwmdu with the towns of Crickhowell and Abergavenny just a short drive away. We found the barn to be very easy to get to from London (it's a 3.5 hour drive with no stops; or 4.5 hours with a couple of short stops along the way). Our itinerary for the trip was as follows:

Sun 28 Aug morning: We set off from home around 8am and arrived at the barn around 12:30pm.

Sun 28 Aug afternoon: We had a short rest at the barn, unloaded our baggage from the car into the barn, had some lunch and then set off for a walk. We drove up from the barn on the A479 following it north for 10 minutes to a car park that comes just before the village of Pengenffordd. From there we set off on a walk eastwards up the hills towards Waun Fach. It was nice and secluded; there were just a few walkers around.

Sun 28 Aug evening: Back to the barn for dinner and sleep.

Mon 29 Aug morning: A slow wakeup and breakfast.

Mon 29 Aug afternoon: We drove for an hour to the south-west of Brecon Beacons for the famous four waterfalls walk. We stopped at the first and fourth of the waterfalls (Sgwd Clun-Gwyn and Sgwd-yr-Eira) but didn't have enough time to stop by the second and third (Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn and Sgwd y Pannwr). It's a long walk (4+ hours) so: if you have kids with you, bare that in mind. 

Mon 29 Aug evening: Back to the barn for dinner, toasted marshmallows and sleep!

Tue 30 Aug morning: Another slow wakeup and breakfast followed by clearing up of the barn and loading of our baggage back into the cars.

Tue 30 Aug afternoon: We drove down to Cardiff to get a feel for Wales beyond the Brecon Beacons. We caught the afternoon (Dhuhr) prayer at Dar-ul-Isra Mosque before heading on to Pontcanna Fields for a picnic and a splash in the River Taff.

Tue 30 Aug evening: Back home alhamdulillah!

For a small selection of pictures from our trip, see here.

2-day trip: Devil's Dyke, Truleigh Hill, Shoreham-by-Sea, Brighton

Had a pleasant 2-day trip from London to the south of England last weekend with the wife. We set off from home on Saturday around 12pm and drove to Devil's Dyke in the South Downs. The drive – including a break for lunch and Dhuhr... and traffic – was around 3 hours in total. We chose one of the car parks right besides Devil's Dyke to set down our car and immediately saw a sign for a farm cafe (Saddlescombe Farm) a short walk away... and thus we followed suit! After cakes at the cafe (which were very nice... the Banana Flapjack especially) we walked back to the main part of Devil's Dyke and chilled there for a couple of hours before heading back to our car.

From Devil's Dyke we drive to our accommodation for the night: Truleigh Hill YHA. The distance from Devil's Dyke to Truleigh Hill is only 3 miles but there's no direct road so it's a half-hour drive. We chose to camp out on one of the fields besides the YHA (£13 per person per night) rather than booking one of the rooms. Our spot had an excellent view of the sea to the south and we were lucky in that the field was pretty empty that evening. We set up our tent, got out our disposable BBQ and heated up the chicken that we had pre-cooked at home earlier in the morning. It was a pleasant day and, as ever, it was a joy praying Asr, Maghrib and Eisha in the outdoors.

The next morning – after breakfast at the YHA and packing away our tent – we drove down to Shoreham-by-Sea (half-hour drive) and sat on the pebbles by the sea for a good hour or so. Always a joy to find an empty beach and not have naked people all around! There weren't many people around at all. Just a few people fishing by the pier and a few people out walking their dogs. Maybe it wasn't busy because it wasn't too hot and summer holidays haven't started yet?

After Shoreham-by-Sea we continued our drive on to Brighton. We parked up right outside Medina Mosque (24 Bedford Place), prayed Dhuhr there and then had lunch at a burger place called Chinoz and ice-cream next door at a place called JoJo's Gelato. Plenty of Halal eateries on Western Road right beside the Mosque! We couldn't stay long in Brighton because the parking spot we had was for up to 2 hours and because it's pretty expensive to park around there! £6.20 for 2 hours. So, a word of caution, if you want to go to Brighton, you're better off taking the train.

Here's a small selection of pictures from our trip:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/adilson05uk/albums/72157668500141744

10-day trip to Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Kota Bharu, Perhentian Islands

Below is a write-up of my 10-day (approx) trip to Malaysia with my wife. Definitely wouldn't mind going back to Malaysia again in the future! So much to see and experience...

Kuala Lumpur

Wed 23 Mar afternoon — set off from London Heathrow airport flying on Emirates Airline (flight cost us £550 return per person; we booked three months in advance).

Wed 24 Mar evening  — landed in Dubai International Airport for a 4-hour stopover before proceeding onwards with our journey. Had a McDonald's burger meal while we waited!

Thu 24 Mar afternoon — landed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Got a taxi to our hotel (The Federal) located in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. (We arranged and paid for the taxi at the taxi counter at the airport.)

Thu 24 Mar evening — joined a friend of a friend (a local) for a drive out to a restaurant named Sate Kajang Haji Samuri for some local Malaysian food. We had Satay meat (chicken, lamb, beef and fish) with rice and rice balls and peanut sauce! Was awesome!

Fri 25 Mar morning — the travelling caught up with us and we totally slept through!

Fri 25 Mar afternoon — we walked (around 20 minutes) from our hotel in Bukit Bintang to the Suria Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) mall located under the Petronas Twin Towers, and then had a browse around the mall.

Fri 25 Mar evening — met some friends for dinner at Madam Kwan's on the fourth floor of the Suria KLCC mall. We ordered Nasi Lemak and Kung Pao Chicken. Was very decent!

Sat 26 Mar morning — we just about woke up in time for the hotel breakfast and then met with a local brother who drove us around Kuala Lumpur. We stopped by some places like the National Mosque and Central Market.

Sat 26 Mar afternoon — we continued our tour with the local brother and went on to Putrajaya where we saw the newly constructed government buildings as well as stopping by the two famous mosques here: the Putra Mosque (also known as the Pink Mosque) and the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque (also known as the Iron Mosque). Totally loved the open designs of these two mosques.

Sat 26 Mar evening — met some friends for some Thai food at a little local eatery called Pak Chu Tomyam located in Keramat, Kuala Lumpar. If you're gonna go, go with a local otherwise you won't know what to order!

Sun 27 Mar morning — headed to Kuala Lumpur International Airport to catch our flight to Langkawi booked with Malindo Air (approx £15 per person). We should have flown from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (also known as Subang Airport) which was a bit closer to our hotel but I made a mistake when booking the flight!

Langkawi

Sun 27 Mar afternoon — landed in Langkawi International Airport and got a taxi to our hotel (Langkawi Chantique) located in Pentai Cenang.

Sun 27 Mar evening — we got a taxi to the Cenang beach, enjoyed the sunset, prayed Maghrib on the beach, and then walked along Jalan Pentai Cenang (= Pentai Cenang Road) and browsed the shops. We also booked ourselves on the Mangrove Tour for the following morning. Absolutely lots of places offering tours and activities and things to do in the shops dotted along Jalan Pentai Cenang.

Mon 28 Mar morning – we got picked up for our Mangrove Tour and taken to Kilim Geoforest Park where the tour starts.

Mon 28 Mar afternoon — we continued with the tour travelling to the various sites by boat. You'll see bats, monkeys and eagles along the way. Highly recommend the tour. Thoroughly worth it.

Mon 28 Mar evening —walked from our hotel to the shops dotted along Jalan Pentai Cenang in the search of dinner. We settled on Telaga Restaurant based on the taxi driver's recommendation the previous day. Bad idea! Don't trust drivers when it comes to restaurant recommendations! The food was not nice and overpriced too.

Tue 29 Mar morning — we hired a moped for our last two full days in Langkawi and what a great decision! So cheap (£10 per day including full insurance cover) and so liberating to go wherever we want whenever we want.

Tue 29 Mar afternoon — we rode out on our moped to Langkawi Cable Car (also known as Langkawi SkyCab) and enjoyed the views up top of the mountains. The Oriental Village at the bottom was nice too. Some nice cafes to rest at.

Tue 29 Mar evening — we rode out to the night market which is set up in a different area of Langkawi every night of the week and on this night happened to be close to our hotel. Had we known how good it was we would have gone the previous nights also! Lots of snacks and drinks on offer.

Wed 30 Mar morning — we rode out to the Crocodile Farm. Worth a quick stopover to feed the baby crocodiles and to watch the adult crocodiles being fed!

Wed 30 Mar afternoon — we continued our ride on to the Crafts Complex and then the Fruit Farm. Both worth a quick stopover.

Wed 30 Mar evening — we continued our ride on to Restoran Siti Fatima which had some good reviews online only to discover that it closes at 4pm! We thus rode back to Jalan Pentai Cenang and had dinner at Restoran Haji Ramli instead. Was decent. Good value for money.

Thu 31 Mar morning — rode out to Jalan Pentai Cenang to return our moped which served us so so well the previous two days.

Kota Bharu

Thu 31 Mar afternoon — we got a taxi from our hotel to Langkawi International Airport and then our flight with FireFly (a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines) to Kota Bharu airport (also known as Sultan Ismail Petra Airport) and then a taxi to our hotel (Hotel Perdana Kota Bharu). The flight cost us approx £25 per person.

Thu 31 Mar evening — we set off from our hotel and walked around town. We had no real plan. Just to walk around and get a feel for the town centre. We picked up some Kelantan FA (The Red Warriors!) football shirts along the way, stumbled across a local book fair and stopped by the local night market for some dinner. The local night market was cheap and cheerful but not quite as good as the one we experienced in Langkawi.

Fri 01 Apr morning - we got a taxi from hotel to take us to the Kuala Besut Jetty. The taxi ride from our hotel to the jetty took us just under an hour.

Perhentian Islands

Fri 01 Apr afternoon —we caught the 12:30pm boat from Kuala Besut Jetty to our hotel on the Perhentian Islands (Perhentian Island Resort). Note that boats are hourly from around 8:30am to around 4:30pm and the boat journey is around 40 minutes. We bought our boat transfer tickets from Kota Bharu Airport (70RM return per person).

Fri 01 Apr evening — we chilled by the resort's beach and jumped in for a swim till sunset and then prayed Maghrib before tucking into the resort's buffet dinner.

Sat 01 Apr morning — we got some snorkelling equipment from the resort's equipment hire cabin and practiced using it on the resort's beach.

Sat 01 Apr afternoon — we joined a snorkelling boat tour and stopped by three different places close to our resort which are good for seeing coral and fish.

Sat 01 Apr evening — last evening on the island... sitting by the beach and taking it in :-)

Sun 02 Apr morning — we caught the 8am boat back to Kuala Besut Jetty and then a minibus ride to Kota Bharu airport.

Kuala Lumpur

Sun 03 Apr afternoon —we flew to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (also known as Subang Airport) from Kota Bharu and then got a taxi to our hotel (The Federal). The flight cost us around £20 per person.

Sun 03 Apr evening — we joined some friends for some delicious Western Chinese Muslim food at Amber Chinese Muslim Restaurant located in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur. Excellent way to wrap up the trip.

Mon 04 Apr morning —a taxi ride to Kuala Lumpur International Airport from our hotel and then the return flight back home with Emirates Airline.

*****

SUMMARY: Excellent trip throughout. We'll be back to Malaysia for sure! And if we go back to Langkawi (which we sure plan to) we'll probably spend a week there next time round rather than just a few days.

4-day trip to Ireland (Dublin and Galway)

Went to Dublin and Galway in Ireland with the wife for four days last week. Here's the itinerary of our trip:

• Thursday 27th morning flew over from London Stansted to Dublin airport with Ryanair.
• Thursday 27th afternoon picked up our rented car from Europcar at the airport and drove to our hotel (Aspect Hotel Park West) located west of Dublin town centre near Park West and Cherry railway station.
• Thursday 27th afternoon got the train from Park West and Cherry railway station to Dublin Heuston railway station and then the Luas tram on to the town centre (Abbey Street) from where we started our walk south to Dublin Mosque passing Trinity College, Merrion Square and St Stephen's Green en route.
• Thursday 28th evening prayed Asr and Maghrib at Dublin Mosque and had dinner in between in the Mosque canteen.
• Friday 28th morning drove down to Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland for Jumuah and then had lunch at the Mosque canteen following Jumuah. What a Mosque!
• Friday 28th afternoon drove further down south to Powerscourt Estate Garden and Waterfall. Highly recommended! 
• Friday 28th evening drove back up to Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland for Maghrib and a light dinner and then on to our hotel.
• Saturday 29th morning returned the car in the town centre and then caught the train to Galway.
• Saturday 29th afternoon walked around Galway town centre and caught a very nice crafts and food fair on Church Lane just off Shop Street.
• Saturday 29th afternoon picked up our rented car from Budget and drove along the coast to our B&B (Summerville B&B) and then on to Spiddle town, stopping along the way a couple of times and catching the views.
• Saturday 29th evening drove back into Galway town centre for dinner. We went to Pearla Na Mara restaurant and found it to be very nice!
• Sunday 30th morning drove along the coast back into Galway town passing and stopping at Salthill en route before returning our car.
• Sunday 30th afternoon got the train back from Galway to Dublin Heuston railway station and then the Luas tram on to Abbey Street to pick up some goodies before getting the Airlink 747 bus from Busaras to Dublin airport.
• Sunday 30th evening got our return flight from Dublin airport back to London Stansted.

Good trip overall alhamdulillah. We could have done with an extra day in Dublin to ride the DART local train to explore the east coast and an extra day in Galway to explore Connemara National Park... but I guess that leaves us things to do should we return!

Here are our pictures from the trip:

• Dublin (5 photos)
• Powerscourt Estate and Garden, Wicklow (3 photos)
• Galway (5 photos)

Day trip: Wendover station to Coombe Hill

Went on a day trip with the wife, niece and nephew last bank holiday Monday. We got the train from London Marylebone station to Wendover station in the Chiltern Hills (around 40 minutes). And then we walked from Wendover station to the top of Coombe Hill, chilled there for a while and then back to the station. It's a nice easy walk which takes around 40 minutes each way if walking at a reasonable pace and not taking breaks. The view from the top of the hill is very nice on a clear day like what we had. If you use Ordnance Survey maps, it's the Chiltern Hills North (181) map which you want (grid reference '86 07' to '84 06'). 

Some pictures from the walk here.

Book Review: Virtues of Jerusalem, by Ismail Adam Patel

This is the perfect little book for anyone planning on visiting Jerusalem (Al Quds) or just generally wanting to know a bit more about why Jerusalem is so important to the Muslim. It covers the verses of the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) in which the land is mentioned as well as the Prophets of old who are linked to the area. There is a section also about the history of the area in the previous 1,000 years. Rightfully, in my opinion, modern politics and Israeli occupation is not dwelled on and is not the focus of this book. If anything stood out for me in particular, it was the point that it is the land itself which is blessed more so than any particular building or structure within it. In summary, get this book if you're going to Al Aqsa!

Weekend trip to Brecon Beacons

Organised a weekend trip with friends after a long period of stagnancy! We were 21 in total (one 17-seater minibus and one extra car) and we booked out Smithy's Bunkhouse on the east side of Brecon Beacons near Abergavenny for two nights (Friday and Saturday).

We set off from East London on Friday evening and got there on Friday night. We had a nice group breakfast on Saturday morning at 10am which included fried eggs, bread, hash browns and cereal, and we set off for a walk in the Black Mountains near Grwyne Fawr reservoir around 12pm on Saturday. We got back from our walk around 6pm and got the BBQ going (minced lamb, chicken breast and chicken wings) till late. Those of us who went to bed in good time (not many), got up early on Sunday morning and walked up Sugar Loaf mountain. And just before we set off for home on Sunday afternoon, most of the group drove up to the streams nearby and jumped in for a dip!

Good 2-day chill-out trip alhamdulillah. We over-calculated the food again so we really need to get that right next time (see comment below)! We estimated the cost to be £75 per person (£30 accommodation, £30 transport, £15 food) but we could have easily met costs at £60 per person, especially by cutting down the amount of food we took.

Here's my pick of the 12 best pictures from our trip:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adilson05uk/sets/72157647271360426/

2-day trip to Marrakech, Morocco

Went to Marrakech, Morocco for a couple of days last week with my wife. Good destination for a short break.

We landed late on Thursday night and went straight to our hotel. On Friday we prayed Jumuah Salah in the main, central masjid (Masjid Koutoubia), we then had lunch in a restaurant by the main square (Jemaa el-Fnaa), explored the endless markets north of the main square and then returned to the square for dinner at the food stalls. The square really comes to life in the evening. Be sure to be there in the evening for barbecued dinner and bizarre entertainment! As for the market, you'll have to be patient and employ your bargaining skills. Expect to be quoted five times the actual price. And don't be flattered when they tell you it's "just for you, Muslim price"!

On Saturday we joined a day tour of Ourika Valley in the Atlas Mountains organised by M'Hamid Travel. On the tour we visited a Berber village where we had some fresh green tea, a herb garden where Argon oil and other herbal medicines were grown/made, we had lunch by the river, walked over a bamboo bridge built over the river, ascended a mountain to see a beautiful waterfall, and on the way back to the city we stopped by a pottery workshop where we made a memorable Wudhu from a clay pot :-)

Extra bits: We flew with Ryanair, the hotel we stayed at was Hotel Les Trois Palmiers and the airport-hotel transfer company we used was Ma-Navette. All above par and met our expectations.

Here's some pictures from our trip:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/adilson05uk/sets/72157644442639179/