My Bubble: Visiting Old Trafford ...

After 3 nights stay in London, lo kong and I overnight in the Manchester ... the 3rd most visited city in United Kingdom, which is also home to the well-known football clubs, Manchester City and Manchester United. MU is lo kong's favourite football team and it became a must to visit the Old Trafford since we are already on English soil. We took the Virgin Trains which cost £18.00 per person from London Euston Station and arrived in Manchester Piccadilly Station just alittle over 2 hours. The punctuality of all the trains in London and here were very admirable. If we had known that they offered 2FOR1 discount voucher for the Manchester Museum & Stadium Tour, we wouldn't have purchased our tickets online before leaving home. Instead of paying only £15.00, we had forked-out the full price for two!

After checking in to our hotel (the best hotel we've stayed in while in UK), we quickly made our way to the Old Trafford by tram. I know for sure lo kong was very excited about it. It was convenient to get there by tram. Although it was supposed to be a 10-mins walk from the Old Trafford Station to the stadium, we took slightly longer as we had confused our destination with the Old Trafford Cricket Ground. It was wet and cold as we made our way in the right direction to the stadium.

The one hour tour took us on a behind-the-scene look at the home of the world famous football club. A funny tour guide who was full of jokes took us on a front-row view of the whole stadium, going from one section to another, through tunnels and underground areas. We were even brought to the dressing room for the players. We also get to sit in the seats of the home team. There was a lot of exhibits at the museum that we sadly had to miss as it was already towards closing time. The tour is certainly a recommended activity with lots of facts and figures to be digested about MU if you are ever in Manchester. There is a Red Cafe within the grounds but we also had to overlook it in order to browse and shop for souvenirs at their megastore. Here's where lo kong went on a spending spree again!

Lo kong bought a black 2011 jacket that was on offer for £20.00, a beanie £12.00, a retro bar scarf £11.00, a color-crested pen set that was on discount for £8.00, some keychains, pins and fridge-magnets. He also bought a MU T'shirt £18.00 for Nick back home. We were lucky to have taken a second look at our receipt as we had been mistakenly charged for an item we did not purchased as well as an overcharge on one of our purchases. Thankfully, they were very quick to entertain the refund without any hesitations.

Though the city centre was busy, it wasn't as hectic as London and was really easy to get around. However, as pedestrians you will need to keep an alert eye for the oncoming trams whenever crossing the streets. We had a free and easy morning around the city centre, going about at our own pace. I managed a fair bit of my own shopping at Primark, a clothes retailing chain from Ireland where the prices seemed to be cheaper than Marks & Spencers. Quality-wise I did not spot any differences. I don't run the miles like lo kong does but I bought 7 pieces of sports bra at one go ... I must be nuts!!!

I loved Manchester and given any chance to live in UK, I'd chose here.  Anyhow, we only had one day to spent here and we were soon heading back to London on the next afternoon's train.  Here's some pics to share what we did around Manchester.