London recommendations

Here’s a one-on-one on what I’ve learned and experienced through my London trip. I hope you enjoy and find these tips useful.

---

Flight: Ryan Air. I almost always use Ryan Air when I want to fly cheap. I haven’t found any other cheaper flights and it’s great when the flight isn’t longer then two hours! I couldn’t bear to be cramped in a tight space longer then that. We got our tickets for less then 100 pounds for 1 person, back and forth with a seat reservation. We decided to order one luggage and surprisingly that wasn’t so expensive.

Hotel: 27 Paddington hotel. This hotel I found through booking.com and before I made my deciton to upgrade from another hotel I also looked on trip advisor. It’s a great place to read reviews from people and also see how it actually looks because visitors can upload their own pictures. The rooms are very clean and you get room service every day if you’d like. The hotel is divided into to tall buildings besides each other. You get a continual breakfast included and this is served in a little room by the reception overlooking the street.

Outdoors: Hyde Park is a wonderful park with lots of nature and animals. We went there every day, feed the squirrels and also to go from one place to another. It has a river in the middle and a bridge half way through so that you’ll be able to cross to the other side. You can go through Hyde Park to get to Harrods or Oxford Street.

Sightseeing: London Eye & Sea Life <- Direct link to buy a one day pass to London Eye and a 30-day open pass to Sea Life. You’ll also get a 4D experience and the possibility to take ‘green shot’ photos with your choose of background. You’ll get the most amazing view from the paris wheel and it’s a sight to be seen at night. Suitable for adults and children. Sea Life is a big aquarium with all types of fish you can think of. It will take you approximately 1 hour to go through the whole aquarium and you’ll be able to take pictures or video.

Shopping: Oxford Street & Harrods are defiantly the two main shopping markets. Harrods is a huge mall with all designer brands you can think of. In the area you’ll also find Topshop and other high end brands. Oxford Street is legendary and I don’t think you can visit London without going to the o so famous shopping street. Form high end shops to middle class and cheap shops, you’ll find it all. River Island, Mango, Primark, Victoria Secret are just a few. If you’d like something to eat whilst shopping I recommend turning away from Oxford and in to smaller street where they usually have restaurant after restaurant to choose from.

Food: Chili Chutney Waterloo – European & Indian restaurant near London Eye. A cute little restaurant we found whilst we where at the London Eye. You’ll get a lot for your money without having to pay a fortune. They have a range of spicy foods, vegetarian options, meat and chicken or fish to choose from.

Taxi service: Exclusive airports <- you’ll often get a discount when booking online. The best spend money I could think of. I hate rushing with my suitcase through public transportation, especially in a city I don’t know. That’s why is was crucial to find a taxi service to and from the airport. You type in your dates, pick up and final declination, name and time, and they’ll pick you up wherever you need. Nice, clean cars with good drivers.

---

I hope you found this useful for your next London trip. I will defiantly go back if the opportunity arrives.

Elizabeth

 

Advertisement

Shopping

Usually when I go on vacation I write a day-by-day experience. This time, as you know, I decided I needed a break and left all my blogging obligations at home. But now that the holiday is officially over with my first workday behind me, I will give you a recap of our holiday the next couple of days.

We decided to have one shopping day, which turned into two days, but a day completely to buying stuff and using well earned money. This was, ‘surprisingly’, my idea because I could’t wait to go to Oxford Street. After hearing how many stores there actually are, my inner shopping addicted came alive. Even though we were there when it was ‘low-season’ there where so many people! We walked around for hours, and lucky I had my sneakers on because I couldn’t have handled it any other way. The first store we saw was Primark, and since we don’t have this at home we had to go in. Everything is so cheap there, and I ended up with loads of things that I actually didn’t need. And because it’s so cheap you kinda end up with way too many things and the total amount rises higher then you think.

 

Grey coat: 20£
White, sleeveless jacket: 14£
Scarf: 3£
Make-up sponge: 1.50£
Face brush: 1.50£

I just have to mention that the face brush is so good! I strongly recommend it for everyone. It’s a great way to deep cleans your face even more, once a week. Either with your normal cleanser or with a peeling.

I also bought some cosmetics at Boots and some stuff at Victoria Secret.

Elizabeth

 

Must see in Florida

The MUST SEE things in Miami and Florida. I want to share my experience of all the good things and worth wild things to see in Florida. Only the important pieces of my journey will be posted here so therefore I will leave out all the unnecessary information. But if you’d like to hear about the motels, the not so good tourist tour and the non-highlights of the trip just leave a comment below.

Sighseeing:

Key West – Florida

If your going to Florida, Key West is a place you’d defiantly would want to see. You can take a day trip down there or stay there like we did. The trip down was so beautiful with water on each side while you drive over bridge after bridge passing a few “towns” on the way. Down at Key West you defiantly have to check out the beaches, no question asked. They also have some stores in town, but it’s mostly turistifide. You can also visit the southest point of America down at Key West, Hemmingway’s house, or do lots of water activity.

Ocean drive – South Beach

If you’re in Miami take a day trip out to Miami Beach. They have a huge shopping street With labels and non-labels, as well as the famous Ocean drive where there are restaurants after restaurants with live music every weekend right by hotels where famous movies where shot.

Miami bay side – Miami
If you’re in Miami, check out Miami’s bay side. Just by the water you’ll find bars and restaurants like the famous Hard Rock just by the harbour. You’ll also have a great view of Miami’s skyline at night. And in the light of day you can go shopping by some of the most famous boutiques or they have stands where you can buy suveneries. After that you can enjoy a refreshment at the water.

Shopping:

Tanger outlet mall – Fort Myers

If you’re flight arrival or departure is a Fort Myers there are some great outlet malls with label stores where you can spend a whole day. I went to Tanger outlet mall where they have stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Bare Minerals or Barneys of NY and everything on sale! This is something you don’t want to miss if you’re in need of some shopping.

Collins Ave – Miami Beach

Another great Place to shop in Miami Beach is at Collins Avenue. They have all the label boutiques lined up one after the other. You’ll find stores like Victoria’s Secret, American appeal, Gucci, Armani and so on.

Bars & resturants:

IHOP – International house of Pancakes

If you haven’t been to America and haven’t tried IHOP’s famous pancakes I’d say you defiantly should. Even though they weren’t my favorite I think it was Worth it just to see and original IHOP restaurant.

Off the Hookah – Miami

If you like to get out, go to a nightclub or just relax and smoke some shi sha or hookah as they in America Call it I would recommend you to go to Off The Hookah at Miami’s bay side. It’s right under Hard Rock with this egyptian theme. A huge room where you can site and listen to music, order a drink and smoke some shi sha.

Le Tub – Hollywood

If you’re looking for something original and an out of the ordinary restaurant you should check out Le Tub in Hollywood. They were nominated for the number one burger in America five years ago and still have the best burger in Florida. It’s so cosy and right by the water.

Elizabeth