Who would've thought that after already visiting London, I would be back so dang soon?!? Prior to coming abroad, I told myself that I was not going to return to a place, unless it was in the future years, because I wanted to see ALL of Europe. I guess, I kinda failed though when I fell in love with London… The heart wants what the heart wants, and this time I had the chance of spending time with my cousin, Alex, who I hadn't seen FOREVER!! Although this trip was planned extremely last minute, I was able to get a good deal, and I took advantage of that… Even though my cousin was going to be in Sweden for the week leading up to my arrival and she wasn't going to be back in London until Friday night, I went ahead and bought myself tickets on an early flight in order to enable myself to check in, explore on my own, and figure out food and fun for the both of us.
I was on the train to the airport by six in the morning, on a flight to Heathrow by eight in the morning {having issues with Iberia Airlines AGAIN!!}, and going through customs just a few hours later {thanks to my argument skills in Madrid}. Weaving up and down, the anticipation was killing me as I was back in one of my favorite countries, and when I FINALLY made it to the front of the customs line I was ecstatic {even though I got questioned like no other… but that’s another story}.
With hours to kill, I hopped into a taxi and headed to the St. Pancras International Hotel… Prior to that trip, I had NEVER heard of the place BUT it’s the HUGEEEE train station located in London. It is absolutely beautiful and has a hotel connected to it and I was fortunate enough to stay there, thanks to my cousin’s job at Deloitte. Because my flight was so early, my plan was to take a little siesta; HOWEVER, I just love the city so much I could not get myself to nap. I walked about twelve miles in twelve hours while people looked at me like I was a crazy woman cause I was wearing a cute little romper when it was gloomy out and everybody else was wearing scarves and pants. I made pitstops in stores along the main shopping strip, tried Bobaology {which frankly is not good}, and just explored until I was worn out completely. When Alex finally arrived, I had Deliveroo with dinner for us delivered to the hotel and we had a girl’s night in to get caught up on each other’s lives. Not saying it was an EXTREMELY early night, because we went to get drinks and ice cream at the bar, BUT we were asleep by about one in the morning.
By the time I woke up, Alex was at her hair appointment at a super trendy salon just three miles away, so naturally I walked for about an hour {instead of dealing with taxi’s and to get my exercise} and wound up at the salon. It wasn't only a hair salon, but also a nail salon, a men’s barber shop, AND a restaurant… I got an avocado smoothie!! Honestly, sounds bad, but it was pretty good. About an hour went by, and it was time to officially start our day.
With plans of having an extravagant brunch, we wound up at the Cereal Killer Cafe. I had heard about it in the past just because of famous Instagrammers and my mama and I had passed one our first time in London, but I finally had the chance to go. It was a blast to the past!! The TV show, Hey Arnold, was playing on a small and old fashioned television, there were classic cereal boxes everywhere, they had an assortment of cereal box surprises on shelves, and the atmosphere was just so fun. Upon ordering, one has the option to order off of a set menu or create their own cereal: American or European cereal, toppings of all sorts {candy, nuts, fruit, etc…}, and a wide variety of milk. I could not even tell you the last time I had cereal, so you could imagine, our big bowls of cavities were gone within minutes.
Following breakfast, we wanted to walk off all of our Lucky Charms marshmallows and other sugary cereals, so we headed to Kensington Palace where the marathon was taking place… To say that I envy all those people who are in shape and running twenty three miles is an understatement, especially after all the goodies I have consumed thus far, while being abroad. Also, witnessing the infamous London marathon was pretty cool!! We then made our way to the main shopping area, bought ourselves some fun goodies which mainly consisted of not clothes but hair and face stuff, and then eventually headed back to the hotel.
After a nap, we were more than ready to take on the night!! Starting with reservations at Nobu for drinks and yummy rolls, then to a local’s bar to meet Alex’s friends {and where I managed to take my FIRST tequila shot}, AND THEN to the ball bit bar… Frankly I think that Ballieballerson is another one of those places that is over hyped and it did not live up to my expectations. That being said, I am in no rush to return, but it is definitely something I checked off my list of “things I want to do in Europe.” First of all, we were all dressed in nicer “going out” clothes; however, once our taxis pulled up, we saw that everybody else was in neon booty shorts with war paint and tennis shoes or just funny outfits. Note taken: do NOT wear wedges to an adult ball pit. Also the top floor is the bar, which is a lot smaller than I had expected and the service was terrible… but whatever, we were there for the pit. We made our way downstairs, where again I was kinda disappointed. There was only a small section that had balls in it and they only went up to our mid thighs, BUT if you were to fall it felt like you were drowning. Also, thank goodness we went with some of Alex’s friends, because honestly, just the two of us would not have been TOO exciting. After that experience, we headed out, got apples at some produce market, managed to last about twenty minutes at another bar, and then fell sound asleep at our hotel.
With hopes of making it to the infamous Barry’s Bootcamp just down the street by eleven in the morning, you can guess {and be fully correct} that we did not make it, especially after such a long night out. We did however wake up with enough time to shower and get ready for our tea at the Ritz at two o’clock!! Dressed in nicer clothing, we both still felt under dressed, but the Ritz was absolutely beautiful. So elegant and so proper. Filling up on tea and pastries rather than the finger sandwiches, we talked for a couple of hours about our future travel plans because our other cousin, Laura, is flying out in a couple of weeks to travel to world too. Following dinner, we hit up the shopping streets {Hey Dad!! Can you believe I didn't spend any money on clothes?!}.
After shopping for outfits for Alex to attend a graduation and a wedding {it was a successful day to say the least}, we decided to head to Whole Foods {AMERICAN FOOD} to stock up on some yummy goodies and get ourselves some salad for dinner. Upon arriving back at the St. Pancras, the hotel had upgraded us, we popped a bottle of champagne, ate our salads, and had a face mask and Netflix night. Sadly because it was my last day, and a day well spent, I was then forced to pack up, sleep fast, and be on the road by four in the morning to make it to my class… Thank goodness I have a long weekend coming up!! Stay tuned…
xoxo V
