The London Trip June 2018

At the beginning of June I finally visited London again. If you have been a reader of my blog you know I absolutely adore London and everything about it. When I came back from my trip my life turned upside down and I was too busy with uni to even write a post about it, so that's what I'm doing right now!

Tuesday June 5th

An early flight took us from Amsterdam to London Gatwick and the small delay didn't stop us from going straight to the hotel and to our first breakfast spot: The Breakfast Club. I LOVE this place so much. It can be busy -which is probably the only thing I do not like about it- but their pancakes are so good that I easily forget about the 30 minute wait. The berries & cream version is loaded with so much cream, maple syrup and berries that I order it every single time. I mean who can say no to that?

Since the weather wasn't as good we decided that today was our shopping day. We went past New Look, Primark, Boots, Zara and Topshop and I surprisingly only bought a bag at the last store. Oh, and a few beauty bits from Boots obviously. Got to stock up on my Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer somehow. 

We ended the day at Zizzi near Paddington station and went to bed early since we slept for like three hours the day before.

Wednesday June 6th

Rise and shine because on this day the sun decided to join us! So happy when London doesn't look as gloomy. We walked around the Sloan Square area to eat breakfast at The Locals. I went for these eggs with feta cheese, tomatoes and red pepper and it was so tasty. Top that off with a curcuma latte and I'm all happy.

Since today was going to be all about food we immediately went to Peggy Porschen Cakes. One of the reasons was to skip long queues and I was surprised to see there were like two tables left. At 9:45 AM. People must love cake. We ordered way too much -everything for a pretty Instagram pic- and took the big slice of cake with us in a box. I loved my cupcake though. It was with berries and I get hungry even thinking about it.

Since Dominique Ansel Bakery is on the same street as Peggy Porschen Cakes it felt stupid not to include it on this foodie day. They have these amazing watermelon soft serves and we had to try them. They start selling them from 11am -which we didn't know- and we were so lucky because we popped in at 10:59am. The ice cream was so pretty and yummy but did melt fast. Especially with the hot weather.

Then we walked over to Harrods, cycled through Hyde Park and made our way to Notting Hill. All the pastel houses make this one of my favourite areas in London. I bought a vegan red velvet donut from Doughnut Time - which was delicious btw- and also tried the vegan chocolate cookie from Pret a Manger that everyone is raving about. I have to say, that one was pretty good too.

After all the sugar we hopped on a tube to the Tower Bridge and took way too many photos. With the blue sky in the background the bridge looked even more magical. We stayed there for a while and took a bus to Covent Garden. Ever since New York I really miss Shake Shack so I had to fix my Shack burger and cheesy fries cravings. After my first bite I was so happy and it totally brought me back to my first trip to New York in January of this year. 

Dear Shake Shack, can you please open in Amsterdam too? Sincerely, a Shake Shack obsessed girl.

Tuesday June 7th

Sadly, this was our last day in London town so we packed up our things -which was surprisingly easy since I always have to sit on my suitcase to close it- and hopped to our last London breakfast. I think I have told you about  Eggbreak before in a best London brunch post, and it's hands down one of my favourites in the city. You find this hidden gem on a side street in Notting Hill and they serve the best breakfast foods. I went for caramel pancakes -shocking choice I know- and they were SO good. The plates they serve everything on are so pretty too.

Then we went to Camden Lock Market to get me some new rings from the Poppie Jasper stand. I talked about this on my Insta stories, but they honestly have the best jewellery. I have about seven silver rings from them and they still look so nice. The guy behind the stand even recognised me from when I was there in November. 100% would recommend having a look at their stuff.

We then visited the London Eye area and walked to Covent Garden for some Milk Train ice cream. I entered one of their giveaways the week before, so we got two soft serves for free! The ice creams looked so cute with the cotton candy clouds, but because of the warm weather they started to melt pretty quickly. They were so yummy though.

The last hotspot that we wanted to visit was Saint Aymes. This place and its pretty flowers are seen all over the gram and I loved everything about it. We had a pink hot chocolate, a blue latte, some macarons and a unicorn cookie. It was expensive though, but we had to do it for the gram. Go on a non-rainy day so you can sit outside with the pretty purple flowers. You'll love it!

And that was everything we did. After another sugar overload we grabbed our suitcases, jumped on a busy train to Gatwick and boarded our flight back to the Dam. I already made a list of new cafés that I want to visit so expect a new London travel post soon! 

What are your favourite hotspots in London?

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The London Trip September 2017

I hear you all thinking: ‘why does this girl keep going back to London?’ To be honest with you, I have no idea why I'm still not bored of that city. London has so much to offer and there are still so many cute places that I haven't visited yet. I already have a trip planned for November with my mum and sister, but I wanted to have one last look at the city before fall comes around.

I kind of booked it on a whim and stayed at a friend of mine who recently moved there. My flight departed on a very early Thursday morning and after dropping my luggage off at Victoria station I went for some breakfast at Sunday, a little cafe near Highbury & Islington. It had been on my 'London hotspot list' for years, so I was happy to finally pay a visit. I went for the French toast with salted caramel and banana -like I would order anything else- and it was everything I could've hoped for. There was A LOT of food, and I sadly didn't finish it all. I also had a chai latte - of course - and I felt really comfortable and happy eating this by myself. 
After my delicious breakfast I went on a Mews hunt. London has the most instagrammable streets and houses and it's safe to say that I photographed a lot of them on this trip. Especially on the second day. 
I actually planned to go to Palm Vaults again, but unfortunately they were closed, so I couldn't drink one of their colourful lattes. To make up for this terrible loss -only joking- I did a bit of shopping. My favourite places to go to are New Look, Topshop, Primark, Boots and Anthropologie. The craziest thing happened at Topshop though, because I spotted blogger Megan Ellaby. I only recently discovered her, but I love her style and videos a lot. I thought about going up to her and start a conversation, but part of me found that it was awkward and before I knew it she was gone. No surprise there because I lose friends all the time in the Oxford Street Topshop. 
After that freak out I stopped at the Selfridges Food Hall to pick up a green juice from PRESS. You know to balance out the French toast and the dinner that I was going to have (a Pret sandwich and salt & vinegar crisps). I had a really great evening though. Just catching up and watching Sex and the City.

The next morning I had a slow start and went out later than I initially planned.  So I changed up my schedule as well. First, I decided to go to Trevor Square again. I had taken a photo of the gorgeous pink house on my last trip, but I was not happy with the lightning, so I went again. Since I was near Harvey Nichols I also wanted to check out Fenty Beauty, but it turned out there was a huge queue so I passed. From there I walked to Élan cafe. A cute little bistro including floral bikes and marble tables. I grabbed a chai latte to go and walked a bit more around Soho. The sun was out that day so I didn't mind at all.
The next thing on my list was to go to WALALAxPLAY at Now Gallery. It's a colourful art maze with mirrors everywhere. It was really cool, but a bit small. After fifteen minutes of walking around on my socks -no shoes are aloud- and taking shameless mirror selfies I had seen it all and went off to Notting Hill. 

Now in Notting Hill all I wanted to do was taking photos of houses and eat. I had lunch at The Dayrooms cafe. The cutest cafe one street away from Portobello Road. I planted myself on the table near the window so I could watch people outside and had a honeycomb hotcake and a turmeric latte by my side. It was my first yellow latte and I have to say I really liked it! They dusted cinnamon on top as well which made it the dreamiest drink ever. I then walked all around Notting Hill on the hunt for pretty houses. I am actually thinking about creating a post about them, since there are many hidden gems waiting to be photographed. 
After all those photos I went to Covent Garden for an ice cream at Milk Train. I need to do better research about the hotspots that I go to because it was closed. Like which shop is closed on a Friday?! A bit disappointed I walked into TK Maxx and wondered around Covent Garden a bit more. My friend was also done with work so I headed to her place where we again had a lovely night of chatting and laughing. Her roommate and friend from Manchester were there too and it was all so nice. 

The next day we all went out for brunch at Muriel's Kitchen. It was quite busy but there was a table free with swings. The only one there I recall and I was really excited when we got the table. The chairs were swings and I swung around as happy as a kid. Again I went for the pancakes -shock- and ordered a lovely green tea. We then went out, did some errands and it was time for me to leave again. After my departure on the Gatwick Express it started raining so I guess London was sad that I left as well. It would have helped if it stopped raining when I boarded the aircraft (since you need to walk on the platform up the stairs) but even those drops of water couldn't ruin my mood. 

I had a lovely time exploring, eating and shopping my way around London and November can't come soon enough! Hopefully Megan will be in Topshop again, because this time around I will definitely walk up to her.

What is your favourite city in the world?

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The London Trip July 2017

At the beginning of this month it was time for another trip and surprise, surprise, I went to London. Now this time I had a reason to go, besides shopping and eating at all the cute places, because I was going to see Adele at Wembley Stadium. I really wanted to get tickets when she came to perform in Amsterdam but I was not able to buy them, so hopping on a plane across the pond seemed like the only option.

I was there for an entire weekend and had a lot of things to do. I had made a list a few weeks in advance of all the places that I wanted to visit. I was by myself so the best thing is that you can actually do all these things and you don't have to compromise with your travel buddy.
Now you might think going all the way to England for a concert by yourself is a bit weird. And at the beginning I also thought that. I almost didn't buy the concert ticket because I didn't know anyone who wanted to go with me. It's not just the ticket but also the flight, hotel, food and shopping's, so I get why people don't immediately scream yes to the idea. For me the only reason not to go was that I had to go by myself and I thought that was a stupid reason so I decided to go anyways. I have been going solo to a couple of concerts in Amsterdam so I wasn't as frightened of the idea anymore and I am the kind of person that doesn't mind being alone so I was pretty excited to go on this trip.

The first day was probably the busiest of them all. I booked the earliest flight possible at 07:05 AM from Amsterdam Airport which was why at 09:30 AM I was already eating matcha French toast at Hally's in Parsons Green. My sister and I went to this café on our last trip but it was too busy so I decided to try again and I managed to get a seat on the big table across the bar. The food was really good and I have to say the staff was very friendly. Definitely a must when you visit London. Next on the list was a visit to the Sky Garden. I booked my ticket at 12:00 (you need to book a free ticket in advance) and since I was early I popped into New Look and TK Maxx. I bought the most amazing dress in the New Look sale which I will write about in another post.
I took the elevator to the highest floor and had the most amazing view all across London. The garden itself is also the perfect place to take lots of instagrammable photos but since I was alone I couldn't go crazy with that. A lady did take some photos of me but those were not very insta proof. Trust me they were not.
I didn't stay in the garden for too long, because moments after I took all the photos my iPhone battery died and I ended up in Eat. with a pink lemonade and my seat as close to a charger as possible. It's not that I am that obsessed with my phone but on trips, Google Maps is my best friend. After about 30 minutes I went on the bus to Hackney, which seriously took 45 minutes. I did see a lot of London though.

Two hotspots on my list were not that far away from each other so I went to both of them. At Café Miami I had an iced chai latte and Nutella stuffed pancakes -yes STUFFED with Nutella-. They were as amazing as it sounds and I loved the pastel pink and purple interior. It wasn't that busy too which was amazing. I just ate my pancakes, charged my phone and looked outside the window to see all the Londoners walk by. That's also what I like about going to the places you find on Instagram, they are not that touristy -at least most of them are not- and you get to see all these different sides of London.
Palm Vaults was very high on my list and apparently also on everyone else’s. It was so busy in there that I decided to take a lavender latte to go. Not that I was hungry after the pancakes so a drink was just what I needed. The place looked gorgeous though with marble tables and plants in pink pots hanging from the ceiling, so I will definitely go back for a yummy smoothie bowl or a slice of cake. By this time it was late in the afternoon and the lack of sleep started to kick in. I took the bus to Oxford Street for a short shopping trip at Topshop, Anthropologie and Primark, went on the tube to my hotel and picked up a takeaway from Shake Shack on the way. Their cheesy fries are so good! 

The next day I woke up with the news that Adele wasn't going to perform. I was disappointed with the news but the days before I had a feeling it was going to happen. Very strange that I already kinda knew she wasn't going to be able to perform. I was still happy to be in London and decided that I just had more hours to do stuff. Peggy Porschen Cakes was the first location on my list. You might think it's weird to eat cake at 10 AM, but it's honestly the only time you can get a table at this place. It was empty when I arrived so I ordered a pink lemonade and a strawberry & champagne cupcake. Bit snazzy for in the morning but I went with it haha!
A couple of girls where actually having a photoshoot near the pretty flowers in front of the store so I kindly asked them to take a few photos of me. I'm so happy I did, because a photo at Peggy Porschen Cakes was something I really wanted. After the cupcake I went to a food market near Sloane Square. I had seen this market in a Tanya Burr vlog from a couple of years ago and after some research I found out where it was. I bought two beignets from the same stand as she did and also bought a lot of fudge. There was so much different kinds of food and I loved that it wasn't packed with tourists like Borough market. I then picked up a smoothie at the Good Life Eatery and walked all the way to Harrods. Near there is the famous pink Trevor Square house and after a few snaps -because of the lightning they don't look as nice- I dropped of my fudge, beignets and Zara Home stuff -yes I also bought the most amazing cups in Zara Home! They are so pretty- at the hotel. 
After a lie down I took the tube to Notting Hill. I wanted to take a photo of the Bisquiteers shop but they were doing some work on the road so I wasn't able to get the shot that I wanted. Walking past all the colourful houses I took the tube to Oxford Street, had a last little shop at New Look and TK Maxx and bought some delicious things from Crosstown Doughnuts. Ooh and on the way home I picked up another takeaway from Shake Shack.
The London night life is probably amazing but I couldn't be happier, laying in my bed with doughnuts, cheesy fries and watching Me Before You on Netflix. That's my perfect evening right there!

The next Sunday morning was my last day in London. I actually bought a bit too much so I tried to get it all in my carry-on luggage -you all know I'm not good with carry-on bags- and went all the way to Regent's Park. I have always had a little obsession with Primrose Hill. I think it's from the fact that I always wanted to go to Primrose Bakery. I don't even know how I found that bakery to begin with because it was way before Instagram existed. And even though I have been to London many times I never went to Primrose Hill. So on that gorgeous sunny Sunday morning I walked all the way through Regent's Park, up to Primrose Hill to enjoy the amazing view of London. I then went to Regent's Park road and totally forgot about the fact that Primrose Bakery is here too. I did like Primrose Hill though. Can't wait to have a Sunday brunch at Greenberry Café and go for a cupcake at Sweet Things and Primrose Bakery.
One last thing on my list was an ice cream at Milk Train. They have the most amazing creations and since it was sunny and very hot I thought it was the perfect moment for something sweet and cold. Unfortunately many people thought that and there was already a queue when I arrived. I wanted to be there earlier but there was a problem on the underground so it took ages to get to Covent Garden. Instead I decided to have a late brunch at Covent Garden Grind. You find Grind all over London and I've always wanted to eat there. I sat by the window and had a cold ice tea and avocado toast with poached eggs and feta cheese. I loved the chill vibe there and it's the perfect 'sit down with your laptop' kinda café. Since I had about an hour left I wanted to take one last photo of an item on my list. So I decided to go to the Ivy Chelsea Garden. They have these gorgeous flowers outside -according to Instagram- but when I arrived it wasn't as pretty so I made my way back to the hotel to pick up my luggage. Kind of in a hurry because I lost track of time, but I catched my train on time and even had a little time at Gatwick Airport to do a little shopping. I just bought three massive Toblerone bars and some Pret sandwiches for that night and the next morning. Call me crazy but I love me some Pret.

And sadly that is the end of my trip to London. I had an amazing time exploring the city by myself and taking lots of photos. I didn't cross everything of my London list but I know I will be back in London in no-time. I hope you don't get tired of my London craziness because I certainly haven't. Until next time London!


Have you ever been to London? What is your favourite place there?

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The Copenhagen & Sweden Trip

There is nothing more exciting than visiting a country you have never been too. For me that was Sweden. I always wanted to go, but never hopped on a plane to go there. Luckily one of my friends moved there so I decided to meet up with her and be a tourist at the same time. The closest airport to where she lives is Copenhagen Airport and since I have never been there either we decided to make it into an exciting Copenhagen/Sweden trip.

After flying down there and walking to the hostel we decided it was time for some food. I spotted this café La Esquina on Instagram and it looked pretty good. We went over there and had an amazing avocado sandwich, berry waffle and an interesting cuppa ginger tea –it was spicy af-. I loved this little café and after a lot of chatting and demolishing all the food we walked around Copenhagen to see Nyhavn. THE harbour that is as pretty as in the photos. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t that amazing, but I imagine that with some blue sky and sunshine it is the perfect spot to sip a drink next to the water. It started snowing, not short after that so after walking back to the hostel and lying down for a bit we took the bus to this place called Souls. A vegan restaurant with the most delicious food. Since it was already dark the photos that I took weren’t that amazing. But I highly recommend paying a visit.

The next day we walked to Møller Kaffe og Køkken. Another amazing place that I spotted on Instagram. The point is that you order everything separately. So we had some bread, avocado, fried eggs, cheese and chai lattes. The food was good, but the staff wasn’t that friendly to be honest. After our tummies were full we walked to this artsy park called Superkilen. The part with the stripes on the floor is pretty cool. Especially when you stand on the hill and look down.
Some few hours later we dropped of our luggage at the train station and were heading again to Nyhavn. I forgot my big camera the day before so I wanted to film some stuff. There is actually a food market near the harbour. It’s really big and full of different types of food. We went for vegan pizza and salted caramel cheesecake and as you may now I’m a real sweet tooth and I have to say the cheesecake was SO GOOD. We then headed to The Little Mermaid statue. A must for every tourist that visits Copenhagen. That was the last thing we did. We picked up our luggage and took the train to Sweden. Since it was dark I didn’t see much, but we did went to a sweet shop called Hemmakväll. I immediately became very happy when I saw all the candy and filled up my paper bag with too many sweets. We also bought a falafel wrap and ate all those things while watching Dirty Dancing 2. It´s one of my faves and really makes me want to visit Cuba and learn salsa dancing. 

The following day the sun was shining and I was ready to see what Sweden had to offer. She showed me her university in Lund –the buildings there are so gorgeous- and we brunched at this cute bistro called Inkognito. They had so many cakes and besides the toastie that I ate I had to try out this liquorice caramel pie. It sounds weird but it was actually pretty good. 
We then took the train to Malmö and did a bit of shopping. If you ever go to Sweden you have to go to Lagerhaus and Granit. Especially Lagerhaus was the store of my dreams. So many interior things, cute wrapping paper and stationary with donuts on it. And you know I love donuts. To do even more shopping we hopped on the train to a big shopping centre called Emporia. First stop was Joe & the Juice and I then spotted Sephora and spend way too much time in there. I only bought something from NARS, so I did quite well. 
After our shopping trip we went to the supermarket. I love foreign supermarkets. Mainly to see what they all have. I picked up some pastries and salt and vinegar crisps –my fave- and we then went back to her place to watch YouTube videos. 

On my last day in Sweden I went on my own to Malmö. I had no idea what to do so I decided to sit at Espresso House –a Swedish kinda Starbucks- and ate a yummy mozzarella sandwich and drank way too many chai lattes. They had amazing Wi-Fi and a charger near my seat so I was a happy gal. I then took the train to Copenhagen airport and was quite sad to leave this amazing place. Especially on a day where the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I did a bit of shopping at the airport, had an awkward encounter with the cute guy behind the till who said ''have a nice flight'' and I responded with ''you too'' -It doesn’t seem that bad now but I felt a bit embarrassed at the time. I had another Joe & the Juice, watched some YouTube videos and flew back to Amsterdam. I felt a bit sad when the airplane went into the air and Copenhagen became tinier and tinier. 

I definitely want to go back to Copenhagen one day. There are still a lot of cafes that I want to discover and especially around the summer time it would be awesome to rent a bike and discover Copenhagen even more. Stockholm also seems like an amazing place so maybe I can combine the two next time?

Have you ever been to Copenhagen or Sweden? What was your favourite thing?

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