Garden – Maldo Travels

Windsor Castle – Historic Royal Home

Jean Maldonado — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 19:50:00 +0000

Known to be a popular residence of the current monarchy, Windsor Castle is a large complex that is open to the general public. By car, it takes about an hour to get there from London. There are plenty of paid car parks in the area, but it tends to get very busy in the summer so there’s more traffic and difficult to find a parking spot. Another option is to go by train which takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes. The train station is a short and pleasant 10-minute walk away from the castle.

Tickets can be booked online for a specific time slot and the booking process will note any restrictions on the day. You must book online to be able to visit and booking directly is the cheapest option. The ticket also comes with an audio guide that can be set to several different languages. As you walk throughout the site, you’ll see numbered signs that you can enter into the audio guide. This is a great way to learn about the history of the many different areas in the castle. It is also possible to book private and group tours if you prefer. The grounds are very well kept and all areas are very well signposted so it’s easy to find your way around. You can visit the different gardens and several different state apartments with many different things on display.

It’s easy to spend a full day here as there are so many places to visit. There are also activities for kids and a couple of cafes to grab something to eat. As you head towards the exit, you’ll pass by St George’s Chapel which is full of history. The Chapel is normally closed on Sundays for service, and you should check if it is open on the day you plan to visit as it’s a beautiful place. At the exit, there is also a soldier of the Queen’s Guard stationed in a booth. A small area is cordoned off and the guard will occasionally step out of his booth and march up and down the cordoned-off area. After leaving Windsor Castle, you can explore the town which has lots of restaurants and the riverside is especially popular. There are rowboats for rent and many ducks and swans floating on the river. Overall, it’s a great day trip from London to a place that’s full of history.

Singapore – Gardens and Rollercoasters

Jean Maldonado — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 23:46:00 +0000

When walking around Chinatown, we came across a Visitor Center that sold discounted tickets for Universal Studios and the domes at the Gardens by the Bay. The tickets for Universal Studios cost 71 SGD¹ each and tickets for the domes cost 26 SGD each. The theme park is located on Sentosa Island and is accessible by public transport. We were coming from the Bay and it would normally take about 40 minutes to get there by public transport. Since we left quite late, we decided to get a Grab² instead which is much quicker taking about 15 minutes and costing 10 SGD. We got to the park at around 11.30 AM and first went to some self-service machines to print out our tickets. We then picked up a map at the park entrance and planned which rides to go on. The park has several different sections with different themes. We decided to go through the park in a clockwise direction. The queues for the rides weren’t that long and on average, we waited about 30 minutes. There were rides for all ages and the themes throughout were great. At around 5.45 PM, the park begins to close and the guards begin to cordon off the queues directing people to the exit. After leaving the park, we decided to cross the boardwalk since it was a scenic walk. Overall, it was a fun and eventful day at the theme park.

After crossing the bridge, we got a Grab from the Vivo City mall to Gardens by the Bay. It was a quick 10-minute drive costing 14 SGD and we got there at around 6.45 PM. The park is huge and we mainly wanted to see the supertrees. We followed signs for Supertree Grove and got there before sunset. We then walked to Dragonfly Bridge where you can get some great pictures with the Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Singapore Flyer. The bridge can get quite busy with tourists though so you have to be patient to take pictures. At around 7 PM, we headed to the domes which was a 5-minute walk away. It’s a nice walk through the gardens with lots of photo opportunities. With our tickets, we had access to both of the domes and we first went to the Flower Dome. Inside, there are trees, plants, and flowers from all over the world in picturesque arrangements. We walked around taking pictures for about 20 minutes and then continued to the Cloud Forest Dome.

This dome is opposite the Flower Dome and upon entering, you arrive at a man-made waterfall. We then walked around the ground floor and as you look up, you can see a mist being emitted from some sky walkways making it look like a cloud. Some lifts take you up to these sky walkways where you can get a view of the dome from above. Inside the central structure, there is also a small museum and exhibits with information on the site. We spent about 40 minutes at this dome before heading for some food. There is a popular outdoor street food area called Satay by the Bay which is a short 10-minute walk away. There are lots of tasty food and drink options here in a great atmosphere. We were done with food at around 10 PM and then walked over to the Helix Bridge. At night, the bridge is lit up with colorful lights and makes for great pictures with the Marina Bay Sands in the background. From here, we then headed back to our hotel to get some rest.

Walmer and Deal – Coastline Castles

Jean Maldonado — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 21:23:00 +0000

It is possible to take a train to these castles but the train times aren’t that frequent, so we rented a car for these visits. From London, it’s about a 2-hour drive here and only 15 minutes from Dover. We first drove to Walmer Castle and there is parking available at the site. Tickets cost 12.60 GBP³ or free with an English Heritage membership. An audio guide is included with the ticket which gives you access to the castle and the gardens. There are several information panels with numbers that you input into the audio guide. This castle was part of a chain of artillery castles that King Henry VIII had built to fortify the coastline. He feared attacks from a new alliance between France, Spain, and the Pope after he broke away from the Catholic Church to create the Protestant church. Since then, the castle has been converted into a stately-home. You can see how the furnished rooms have been transformed to create a more comfortable residence. Several Lord Wardens have added improvements over time and it was once used by Duke Wellington. There’s a room with some of his history and also the room he died in has been kept the way it was on the day. You can also step outside to explore the gardens. We went in winter so the garden wasn’t as pretty as it must be in summer. It took us about two hours to complete our tour of Walmer Castle and we were done around 1 PM.

To get to Deal Castle, it’s a short 5-minute drive up the coast and there is also parking available next to the site. Tickets cost 7.90 GBP or free with an English Heritage membership. This is another artillery castle by King Henry VII but this one has been transformed into a museum. The entire castle is open for you to explore on a self-guided tour with the audio guide included with the ticket. At this castle you can learn a lot more about the 16th-century defense system. An interesting part of the castle is wandering through underground perimeter passageways below the castle. There are wellies available for you to put on as it can get muddy. You can complete the visit in about an hour so we were done at around 2.30 PM.