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[ View the Fotopage entry | View the complete Fotopage ]
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[ View the Fotopage entry | View the complete Fotopage ]
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| Sunday, 31-Jul-2005 00:00 |
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London HP Fan Trip Day 3
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Woke up bright and early, re-packed our bags, had yummy, very Malay breakfast of mee goreng which Aunty cooked, and maintained huge grins on our faces throughout the day because it was the day when our HP Fantrip actually begins! :horay:
We took a cab back to Paddington train station, and took the Heathrow Express back to the airport where we would meet up with the rest of the Potheads going on the HP tour. And despite the fact that Heathrow is hardly a good place to set as a meeting point (constant movement of LARGE masses of people... even trying to find Hagrid in there would be like searching for a needle in ten haystacks!), we managed to spot our fellow HP trippers nonetheless. It wasn't hard when everyone in the group wore some form of Harry Potter merchandise (official or otherwise) - tshirts, caps, buttons, scarves, sweaters... right down to self-made, customized Slytherin luggage set!!
And so we made friends, went in a big round of introductions (not that anyone particularly remembered everyone's names at that point!), and immediately delved into the magic that is our common interest on Harry Potter.
Once everyone was accounted for, we were taken onto a bus that would take us all on the hour-long drive to Oxford. And not 3 minutes out of the Heathrow compound, a bunch of us were already laughing and joking away as if we'd been best friends for ages. Some of them had actually just arrived on the plane and are mostly tired from the flight, but none of us slept or were even close to quiet on the bus. We were loud, we laughed the entire way, we were so eager for everything that lay ahead.
I did, however, shut up a little once we entered the streets of Oxford. Why? Because I had my eyes glued out the window, watching out for hunky college kids!!! Aahahahahah... but it was summer, and most of the students were away on holiday, so there wasn't really enough eye candy going around (although that doesn't mean we didn't spot any! :->). Ok and since I'm not entirely shallow, I was also admiring the beauty and serenity of Oxford. Honestly, I WAS! :-p
We checked into the Holiday Inn Express hotel, located next to the Oxford Kassam stadium (home of Oxford FC <- No, 'not fried chicken'. 'Football club'), where me and Weird settled into our room, got a bit of rest, freshened up, and later started dressing up in our Hogwarts uniforms and robes. It was almost dinnertime, and everyone was going to be treated to a lavish Hogwarts Banquet! The banquet was held in one of the colleges in Oxford, and the architecture and room decoration closely reflected that of Hogwarts. A majority of the others on the trip were also garbed in HP-themed costumes, so it really felt like we were amongst witches and wizards in Hogwarts! One of the adult men who came, dressed in a wizard's robe, also handed out school identity passes to all of us! I ain't kidding you! He made identity cards in the four Hogwarts colours and handed them out to us according to our houses! It was so much fun :D (Oh not to mention.. one of the waiters --no, due to today's movements for equality and anti-slavery, they had to employ actual waiters and waitresses to serve us instead of the normal routine of having house-elves do the task instead-- was uberly cuuuuute. So cute, I couldn't resist going up to him on the pretense of inquiring and confirming for Weird and my special Halal food, even though he wasn't even waiting on our table at that time! But he smiled... oh he smiiiiiiiiiiileeeeeeeeed.... and I melted.. and he came over and sent our plates of food.. and in my melted form I smiled, and he smiiiiiiiiiileeeeeeeeeeed.. and I turned back into solid form just so that I could re-melt again.. and then Weird and I went totally ga-ga when he maintained waiting on our table throughout the night from then on. Squeeee... and so out comes my camera, on the pretense of snapping pictures of the hall and other people, when actually I was zooming in on him. Lahteetah :cloud9:)
After the speeches, and everyone finished with dinner, we all stood up and grouped and sang the birthday song for Harry Potter! Because eyyup... 31st of July is Harry Potter's birthday!! (He would've turned 25... oh how handsome he would've looked at 25, if he'd actually been there at the banquet! Hehe). So we sang the birthday song, we blew out candles, and everyone was served with a huuuuge helping of one of the most yummylicious moist chocolate cakes I have ever tasted!!! *burp*
Dinner soon ended, and it was time to leave and head back to the Muggle world and the hotel. We took loads of pics (imagine posing for one picture but having ten cameras clicking away!) and then headed back to our rooms. Imagine our surprise when, upon stepping in, we saw gifts awaiting us on our beds (delivered by them trusty owls, of course!). We each received a HP Fantrip tshirt, and... this is the best part.. A HANDCRAFTED MAGIC WAND! Courtesy of master wand maker, http://www.alivans.com(Alivan's)! It came in a lovely blue box and a red velvet bag, and it's just perfect! I now have my own magic wand! Squee-bounce! I now have my own magic wand! Squee squee-bounce! (Yes, now you may die of envy 8-))
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