Hi! Back on the blog, with a new fresh article about my last trip of the year! Yes I fly to London for 3 days before Christmas time and I enjoyed it so much ! It was so much needed too ! I had my exams session and just the day after my last one we were on the plane for the big city !
I went to London once, it was with my father and my sister couple years ago. So happy to be back and for Christmas time, for the first time ! We took the first plane of the day to have 3 full days here. But, there always have a but, we had so issues to finally get there…
I don’t know if you heard, but on Wednesday 19th December, on the news we saw that there was some drones flying around Gatwick airport, for some unknown reasons. But I ask myself, why ?? It’s the end of the year, I just did my exams and finally got some time off and then I was not sure to be able to get to London for my trip ?!?! Really ? It sounds like some spoiled child but I really needed some time off to just enjoy to be in another city with my friend and before all the craziness of Christmas with the family.
I was at the gym, the day before we leave, and Léa called me to inform me about those drones that I didn’t know. We ask for some information at Geneva airport but they didn’t know anything about our flight.
As you know the price to get by train to Geneva airport from Vevey is pretty high, I was anxious to get to the airport and just to see on the screen that my flight was canceled. Fortunately, we manage to get to this plane and to finally land to Gatwick airport ! Yay, we had to wait for about 1 hour on the plane, because Gatwick didn’t let us land there but with a lot of chance we finally can take off !
So we arrived with an hour late, but lucky us we got an hour back from the jet lag, we were in London at 9AM. We took the train, it was really fast and then the metro to get to our hotel, the Pilgrm, Paddington. Amazing hotel by the way ! People were so friendly and helpful for everything we needed, I loved the decoration and the vibes were just good !
The room wasn’t ready so early, so we dropped our suitcase and left to have breakfast, because we were awake since 3AM ! As always I had my little food spots on my list, so to begin our little getaway, we tried Milk beach.
It was the perfect breakfast to start the day, we ordered some granola/yoghurt, green bowl, banana bread and avocado toast ! Let’s talk about the banana bread, the yummiest I have tried ! All the dishes were so good, honestly we paid 25.- each for four plates and two coffees so worth it! Again the people here are so friendly and kind, I love that !
After a good breakfast, we were ready to walk down the city, and do some Christmassy shopping, but I made a terribly mistake ! Two days ago, I ordered some cute boots with heels, not high but enough for me, haha… Why did I decided to put them for the first time, the day when I travel for London, why ? That’s so me … I literally died all day, I’m not the heels kind of person so you can understand my pain. But I succeed to spend the day with these little new heels !I had to shop my last three Christmas gifts, so I was a little anxious to not find anything before the 25th December. Obviously we did the main street, Oxford Circus, but it was so crowded !! We spoke with the staff of our hotel, and she told us that they expected that tourists will spend over 1 billion pounds, how crazy is that ?! After hours of shopping, I wanted to see the Landmark hotel, it’s a really expensive location choice but it was good for the eyes. The view is speechless, totally unpredictable to see palmtrees there.
For our first night, I convinced my foodie girl, Léa, to try a vegan restaurant called GENESIS Restaurant. You can ask her, it was delicious !! We ordered different plates and share like always. Some cheese sticks, tacos, burger, fries and hot dog all vegan ! So yummy and tasty. Again the waiter was so cool, after our dinner, he sent us some places to go. But unfortunately, we only had two days left and things already planned. Next time!
After a good night of sleep, the bed was so comfy by the way ! We decided to have breakfast at Elan Café, near Hyde Park, a little cute place to eat with amazing waiters and one frenchie ! I worried to not have seats, because, on the picture on social media I saw that it was quiet small. So I decided to call them before, and the waiter recognized my horrible french accent and laugh too when he talked to me in French. But so kind again and really understanding. Again we ordered different dishes to share ; some raspberry croissant, smoothie bowl, salmon/avocado toast and passion granola. The only thing I was disappointed about, it was the strawberry/banana smoothie I ordered and when I saw it, it was strange, because it’s didn’t seem like the one at home, so I ask the waiter why it was like that and he told me honestly that here, in London, they have the habit to do the smoothie not with fresh or frozen fruits but they put some coulis…. But when you put on your menu, smoothie, it’s with real fruits right ? So he was agree with me and I didn’t have to pay for it. Understanding kind of people like I said previously.
Next, we decided to went to Covent garden, for our shopping session. It was full, like all the city of London, but so cute with all these Christmas decoration and lights.
We decided to go back at our hotel to get ready for the sushis night at Stick’n’sushis, it was a must to do in London. We are both sushis lovers so I found this classy restaurant. This location was quiet expensive, but it’s sushis, so we were ready to warm the credit card! And we were right !! These sushis were amazing ! Top 3 of my food locations in town.
For our last full day in town, Sunday means brunch day, our last breakfast location called Brown & Rosie, near the famous Harrods. For a brunch, we get up early, we didn’t check the opening hour, and we arrived 30 min before the opening, so we waited. A really cute brunch spot with amazing outdoor Christmas decoration. A real brunch means French toast, pancakes and granola. Yummy, yummy !
Our last day was a rainy day, so sad, but it’s a good excuse to have a look at Harrods! Amazing place despite the fact that I can’t afford to buy something despite some books, haha. We literally arrived at the opening, it was craaazy the amount of people in front of the door.
I almost forgot but we had some time before the opening time at Harrods, so we went to Notting Hill, to take a walk. Despite the fact that we had not the weather with us. We really wanted to take a look and we were right to go. Nobody so early on the streets, on a Sunday, our pictures were perfect with all these little colorful houses. If I had the luck to live in England, I want to live in this district.
Our last lunch spot of the trip called Avobar,in Soho, I love avocado, so when I found this place, I put it on my food list! I was pretty happy about my food location and my friend too. All the people I know always told me how bad we eat in London, but I think it’s totally wrong. When you made some research, you can fin some amazing places. This one was really well decorated and the food was amazing, I took « the fundamental » with avocado and toast and my friend took a sandwich with cheese.
Well, well, all trip comes to end, these 3 days were full of food and shopping. This getaway reminds me of the joy and the kindness of the English people. That’s what I loved the most, the welcome feeling that I felt when I spoke to the hometown people. I will always come back to London for sure. xoxo