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EuroTrip: The London Times

Hanzky

Hanzky/ 70

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Five countries and six cities. That’s where I had been from the end of June to the middle of this month. Started from London,  Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Milan and ended up in Dubai. Have so many stories from each of the places, but since this is a fashion blog, I’ll take you there through my outfits, just don’t hold your expectation up high because traveling in style is much harder with two kids in tow. But I thought it would be fun to show you outfit pictures with variety of backgrounds that are not normally shown here :).

Day One
Arrived in London at 7 AM. We checked in to the hotel, showered, changed clothes and stepped right out for some London breeze. The weather was perfect as it was sunny but brisk. Where did I go first? Where else but the famous Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus area :D. Our hotel was in Paddington so we took the tube to go there. It was about the only time we took the tube because navigating the stroller through the narrow and deep stairs, along with two 50 year olds turned out to be not so efficient. I also didn’t know that the tube doesn’t have air conditioner as it was built before the air conditioner was invented. So it’s roasting inside.

  • Scarf from Toko Dua Amoi
  • T-shirt from Closet Quickies
  • Forever 21 Jeans. They were so worn out that I left them in the hotel room 😀
  • Charles & Keith nylon bag

One of my missions in Oxford Street was to find Primark Store! Primark is an Irish clothing brand. I’ve heard about Primark from Loucee, our forum member who used to post her today’s outfit picture and recent purchases from Primark and they were all stylish clothes. She always said everything in Primark is dirt cheap but I didn’t believe how cheap it was until I stepped foot in the store. The prices are really the cheapest among any other high street brands. I’m talking about 3 quid legging, 15 quid shoes, 18 quid blazer. I don’t think I saw any clothes priced for over than 30 quid. Everything resembles the latest runway trends. The quality? About on par with the other brands, really. The store in Oxford Street is as big as a department store and has clothes for kids, women, men, underwear, accessories and even home decoration stuff. I even got a new big hard shell suitcase from there for only 35 quid. The other store I checked out was only H&M and Topshop but then after you shop at Primark, everywhere else seemed expensive :D.

Day Two
Time for some sightseeing. First stop was the Buckingham Palace. I wanted to see the changing of the guard but we got there too early for that and would be too long to wait 🙁 Today was colder than yesterday and I loved it even more :))

  • Black linen dress from Matahari, I forgot the brand
  • Chicsimple navy motorcycle jacket
  • Little Things She Needs gladiator sandals
  • Charles & Keith bag

    Getting our hoodies on

    The famous London black taxi along with the red phone booth and London Eye

The Big Ben. It’s not too far from the Buckingham Palace and across it is the Westminster Abbey and London Eye on the right side. I walked a bit more towards Trafalgar Square and just hanging out by the fountain area absorbing the surrounding.

Of course, a London report in a fashion blog won’t be complete without a mention of Harrods department store. Previously owned by the Egyptian businessman, Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose son died in a car crash with Princess Diana. Being inside there feels like in a setting of Christmas movie. And obviously, I just got to buy something from there 😀 I needed a replacement for my compact powder and got a Diorskin Forever Compact with SPF 25. But I think I got a shade too light, especially that I’m getting tanned after the vacation. I hate the fact that I bought what the sales lady said about how the lighter one suits my skin best :< Anyway, if you go there, don’t miss the Food Hall, I was more entertained there than I was inside the fashion section. Since it’s a luxury department store, everything in there is high end designer stuff.  After that, off we went to Chelsea stadium.

Day Three
In the morning, we walked around the hotel neighborhood and then went to see the London Bridge. I regretted that I didn’t have a chance to visit Portobello market because we had to catch the Eurostar train to Paris later on the afternoon 🙁 But I got to meet my long time friend at St. Pancrass station and chatted for a little bit.

  • Chicsimple navy motorcycle jacket
  • Primark long top
  • Primark legging
  • Little Things She Needs gladiator sandals
  • Charles & Keith Bag
  • And the drink I was holding is happiness in a cup. It was a Hot Chocolate Milano from Caffe Nero. It’s a thick and smooth, liquid chocolate topped with whipped cream and Belgian chocolate. Tasted so heavenly I could drink it all day everyday. Too bad I didn’t find the coffee chain in other cities that I visited.

    The street style in London is definitely like you’ve seen in street style fashion blogs. There are a lot of eclectic and quirky styles that were so interesting to see. When it comes to fashion, I think London is the king of high street brands as you can find almost any high street brands in Oxford Street, from Uniqlo to GAP to Miss Selfridge. But when it comes to food though, I didn’t see many fast food chains. It’s saying something about the quality of life the Brits are having. Not only the food, but the city itself is so charming, with the historical building, the clean streets, the parks in almost every blocks. Most of the people I met were so polite. I also noticed the difference between the African American in London than those in the US in terms of style. They are much classier in London and don’t sport any shocking colors and overly blinking fashion items. If you’re a Muslim, you will like London as there are so many people wearing hijab all over the cities. In fact, they are swarming Harrods like crazy. The businesses there obviously notice the growing number of Muslim population in London and UK that KFC and pizza chain Dominos have Halal certified branches.

    I initially planned to stay longer in UK and road tripping to other cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Cambridge and the southern part. But then we had three additional company that it was just hard to rent a van fit for seven people 🙁 Overall, I LOVE London. I would move there tomorrow if given the chance 😀 and would definitely go back there to explore more.

    Up next: Paris report!

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