Travelling up London (transport in maidstone)

October 01, 2017

Today is a Saturday morning, i'm pretty much familiar with part of maidstone now, especially the city since i've been walking and walking and walking around maidstone usually about 40mins each time.
I'm also used to the public transport now.
The bus in UK is not punctual, most of the time it is late up to 15-20mins, sometimes when its early a few minutes, some bus driver will wait till the schedule arrival time while others just drove by the station if no one was there.

I'm currently staying in upper fant road no.3xx, from my place to school required 2 different bus company. Walk 8mins to bus station pay $1.50 to ride to city then walk a few minutes and change bus to school cost $2.50. Because there is 2 different bus company hence i couldn't purchase (not worth) daily,weekly, or monthly ticket. The bus company in town is called ARRIVA while the one to boxley school is called Nu-venture. I took this journey from my hse to school only once because the arriva bus was late and when i reach the station i saw nu venture bus passing by. The nu venture bus no.130/131 only comes in 1 hour or 2 hour, while the town bus arriva comes in every 20-30mins.

So nowadays i walk a 30min journey from house to city to take bus to school to avoid missing bus from happening again.

Currently i'm renting a room for $100/week for 3 weeks while i still look for accommodation. This room doesn't have wardrobe and desk, and the bed is so soft and springy that i fail to get a goodnite sleep. Sigh~........

Today I walk 35mins from my house to East Maidstone Railway Station to travel to London. The ticket i bought at the station cost $25.90 for a DAY pass and it include Journey to and back at Victoria station as well as all public transport in London (underground train & bus). There is no need for me to buy a Octopus card once i reach victoria station. Instead of scanning/touching the octopus card, you just insert the ticket and it will pop back up and let you through in london. For railway station there will be a person to check your ticket in the train.

The seating for Railway train and underground train in london is different

The journey from maidstone to victoria station is 1hr. Once i reach victoria station i proceed to bayswater station. However, i got lost in the process as i do not know how to differentiate between a circle line and district line train since both of these train are at/uses the same platform. The only way to know which line of the train is using is by looking at the front/head of the train when its coming otherwise you can look at the electric signboard inside the train which tell you where it ends. Because i didn't know i thought i was taking circle line while i'm actually taking district line. I got off at Earl court station and change to Piccadilly line and then back to circle line. Since Bayswater station is under maintenance i have to get off at High Street Kensington and walk about 35mins through Hyde Park to reach Bayswater station.

The purpose of travelling to london is to collect my Bio Residence Permit at Queensway Postoffice and to eat this delicious huge portion of roast duck and char siew rice at Kam Tong Restaurant open at 12pm. I'm glad i choose Maidstone instead of London to study because the cost of living are so high. The rice above cause me about $18 while everything below is less than $10. The mineral water in London cost $2 while in Maidstone cost 80pence. London is a trap, it gets you into shopping mode and you start your spending spree unknowingly. Since i pass through so many big big shop i'm so tempted to enter one or two, at the moment i enter i start spending. Today damage in ZARA $160 for a coat,shirt and wallet. The notes in pound are too big to fit into my Braun Buffel wallet.