Tag Archives: london

london getaway 2016!

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

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london

Remember back when I was thinking of planning my summer getaways in June? Well, I did book Galicia, but then was left up in the air about whether to go to London or San Sebastián, with part of that decision being based on whether I’d get my renewed passport back in time. And well, it came yesterday! So without another thought I decided to go with London, went online, booked my flights and – eep! – that’s done now. I’ll be there August 2nd – 11th!

Well okay, I did have a few thoughts. I still hadn’t heard back from my SS pal, and if she wasn’t going to be there it didn’t make much sense to go. Then a quick check by Twitter DM asking if various London friends would be around ended up with immediate responses and invitations and whatnot, so I decided to go with London. Flights clearly not as cheap as if I’d booked in June, but what the heck.

I’m going to London! 🙂

summer getaways

10 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by in london, spain, travel, trips

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passportEver since I took my first summer holiday in over twenty years (when I ended up taking with this little munchkin to Málaga with me) I have spent every summer since then frankly delighted that I am finally able to afford to take some time off and travel a bit. But I remain unused to travel plans that can’t be decided last minute and achieved by a shortish train journey.

For this summer I was suddenly faced with the delightful dilemma of having several fab and affordable opportunities present themselves in Málaga, Santiago de Compostela, San Sebastián and London. So of course I want to do them all! Well, I mean, why not, eh? I have a generous rental offer in Málaga, a free place to stay in London, great off-season airbnb price in Galicia and the offer to stay at my friend’s place in the San Sebastián. So it is ALL do-able. And this is where my panic sets in.

I almost cancelled Málaga this month because I was so busy, there was this and that to take care of, how could I justify taking time off….. until my friends Elena and Thane convinced me that the summer will feel extra long if I don’t take a few days now. So after much dithering… Málaga Getaway is GO. June 20-25th.

Once I got that far I realised I should seriously look into the Galicia Getaway, as my friends Anna & Jorge @thekilomeaters have been urging me to come up there for, well, almost forever. So today was the day! I not only booked my flights for the end of August, but also booked a cute AirBnB place just ten minutes from them. DONE.

Feeling empowered, I thought I should then go ahead and book my London Getaway… and I actually had possible flights based on the availability of my friends flat there (such a generous offer!). And then it hit me… what’s the expiry date on my passport? (turns out it’s Oct 2016) And will that affect me being able to travel to the UK in August 2016? Of course by the time I’d come to this point it was after closing hours of all consulates and embassies everywhere in Spain (ie Friday at 2 pm) so I shall have to wait until Monday morning to see what the deal is. Looks like I will have to renew my passport FAST, but can I still book my London flights? We shall see?

As for San Sebastián… that is something I was hoping to enjoy in July. Depending on the availability of the ONE PERSON in SS @tenedortours (ie, the me of the north  😉 ) who would make the whole experience worthwhile. But I still have time to book that one.

What I found interesting was how much every fibre of my being rebelled against booking flights and accommodation SO FAR IN ADVANCE (2 months?) and it made me realise how I very weirdly don’t like feeling “locked in” when it comes to plans. I’d always rather buy a last minute train ticket than feel like I have to be somewhere at a certain time. Anyhow, I also realise that some things need to be planned in advance, so I am totally thrilled now about Málaga, Santiago and London. And I suspect SS in July will be confirmed too.

What are you guys doing this summer?

last day in london…

04 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by in food & drink, getaways, holidays, london, travel, trips

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london thursday… and I didn’t get lost once!

Probably because I walked everywhere and it was daylight. Once again I didn’t have much of a plan, though Jeffrey @FoodieHub had set me 3 final foodie challenges: to track down and eat London’s best sausage roll, best grilled cheese sandwich, and best pizza. Well, clearly that wasn’t ALL going to happen, but the Ginger Pig sausage roll and the Kappacasein grilled cheese could both be found at Borough Market, and thus a plan began to take shape. On a whim I got in touch with Twitter pal @CoteDuPy (who wasn’t able to get to our Twitter meet up) to see if he was free to meet for a quick sherry at José Pizarro’s tapas bar in nearby Bermondsey street. And he was! So we had a lovely visit and shared some gorgeous garlic-chilli prawns before I head out on my mission.

I’d always been curious about Borough Market, though my friend José has long lamented that it was no longer recognisable. And although I’d never seen its previous state I understood exactly what he meant as soon as I walked in. Yet another charming market gone upmarket. Though unlike places like Madrid’s San Miguel “Market”, at least there were still a few places you could actually pick up a few veggies, fish and whatnot, though probably at much higher prices than before it became so trendy. To be honest, if I lived in London I probably wouldn’t go back to Borough Market. Meh.

k grilled cheese

I also found these “legendary” food items to be quite unspectacular. The grilled cheese sandwich was, well, a grilled cheese sandwich. Three types of cheese, five types of onion (really just a small spoonful was added) on sourdough bread. It just tasted like lots of melted cheese, no finesse going on there. And since I knew there was no way I could eat a grilled cheese AND a sausage roll, I decided to have the roll wrapped up to eat later as a snack at the airport.

gp sausage roll

So after checking in and all that I found a seat at a bar, ordered a glass of wine and asked if I could eat my sausage roll there. No problem. Except I couldn’t eat it. After two small bites I couldn’t carry on. Talk about DENSE. And really not all that flavourful. I will give GP the benefit of the doubt that it is probably best eaten hot out of the oven and not several hours later at the airport, but still. It was super stodgy. Ended up bringing it home and even the flatmate (who is not a fussy eater) wasn’t thrilled with it. Anybody else tried this and liked it?

And that was the end of my London Getaway. You can see all kinds of photos on my Instagram, and I do hope to actually write something a bit more than these few “postcard” blog posts. It truly was an amazing week and it left me longing to go back again soon. Oh, and I got to see Tower Bridge for the first time! 🙂

london twitter meet up

03 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in food & drink, friends, getaways, london, travel, trips, twitter, twitter friends

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london twitter meet upTwitter pals @milliskitchen @hollowlegs @cityjohn @shedlikesfood @marcooth

Wednesday was a bit crazy. I left home at midday not really sure where I was going to go, but then ended up in Soho. As it was getting close to lunchtime I stopped in at Rex & Mariano for a “light lunch” because I knew I had to have a seriously Fast Feast later on at Kitty Fishers, one of London’s trendiest restaurants, before heading out to a meet up of Twitter pals at the Canton Arms. The Twitter meet up had been planned for awhile, and when Jeffrey from @FoodieHub invited me to KF at first I thought I would have to choose one over the other, but since people eat SO EARLY in the UK, I ended up being able to do both. Even though I had to eat and run after having one bite – and taking a photo – of the final fab dish served at KF (and skipping dessert) it was still a great experience. Of course then I got on the wrong subway and ended up even later for meeting the Twitter gang, but in the end it was all good. Some of them I’d met before when they visited Sevilla, others I’d known for ages on Twitter but met in person for the first time. Once again the time went by too fast and soon I was making my way home, getting lost yet again. I think I should only ever take taxis in London.

kitty fishersJeffrey and fellow FoodieHub Experts…
we ate the entire Kitty Fishers menu in less than two hours