I recently stayed at a very unique, funky hotel… right in the middle of London’s Heathrow Airport! Meet YotelAir London Heathrow, an airport hotel that at once elevates the typically boring and soulless airport hotel into something fun and interesting, yet keeps the whole experience to a budget. Yotel has actually been described as “Heathrow sleeping pods,” and you know I love a good sleeping pod experience (like during my layover in Iceland), so I had to check it out.
I’ll let you in on a little secret… my absolute favorite thing to do in London is explore Borough Market! Not least because there are gluten free Borough Market stalls galore.
Looking for the best things to do in Cheddar Gorge? Dan and I just got back from a lovely few days based in Cheddar Gorge, exploring Somerset. When we arrived, we knew we wanted to do as many Cheddar Gorge walks as we could. However, we had plenty of time (and plenty of rain) to explore other activities in Cheddar as well.
Dan and I recently took a road trip through Somerset, where we stationed ourselves in Cheddar Gorge for a few days, and tried all the Cheddar Gorge walks we could. I’d just spent the last two months hunched over in the library studying for my board exams, so I gave Dan full travel planning powers. My only requirement was somewhere I could get fresh air.
Driving through the patchwork farmland that characterizes the English county of Somerset is more than picturesque – it’s the definition of classic English countryside. Then, you arrive in the cobbled, winding streets of Frome and ‘picturesque’ reaches a new level. During my recent Somerset road trip with Dan, I knew I wanted to visit this quaint little market town… but besides being cute, are there actually things to do in Frome?
When Dan and I were booking our most recent stay in London, we wanted to experience the city differently. We’ve both been to London countless times, and while it’s a city that it is difficult to grow bored of, I still wanted to see it in a new way. A big part of that comes down to accommodation and location. That’s when I started looking for an eco hotel in London — a phenomenon I’ve experienced in Amsterdam and seen across the USA, so I was curious how London would compare. From my searches, it was obvious that the best eco hotel in London was Qbic in East London. It’s the only hotel that has completely branded itself around its efforts at sustainability. Which honestly came as a surprise to me in a city as innovative as London, but maybe nobody wants to compete with Qbic? We stayed at Qbic for three days, and this is what we thought!
I’ve had a few USA friends travel to London lately and ask me for tips on this city I love so dearly. I have been to London countless times since the first time I moved to England five years ago. I think that is the true sign of getting to know a place… it becomes more a city you love than a city you can count your travels to. Which is why I would love to be your London tour guide too, and share all my London tips and secrets!
When I read that the April travel link up topic was “places you can’t get out of your head,” well I knew there was one special place I had to write about! The United Kingdom, of course. I lived in southwest England for 3.5 years, and my heart does a little twinge at that past tense. I was so sad to leave the UK when my visa expired, but like I mentioned when I left the country nearly four months ago, I know my story with the UK isn’t over yet.
I felt a click the moment the wheels lifted off the tarmac. As in: it’s too late, there’s no turning back now. The frost on the airplane window is telling me this is no longer your home. I watch London’s close packed grey roofs fade into squares of white, cordoned by dark green hedges. All of England seemingly covered in crisp snowflakes, never more beautiful than in this exact moment, gazing down from my window seat. Beautiful because it’s no longer mine. It is like the country I love so dearly is sending me a white flag of surrender, offering up a final goodbye. Or maybe the snow is a celebration (of me leaving? or of my years here?).
What to do in Little Venice London is a good question, but the first question for most people is probably what IS Little Venice London? It took me years of living in England before I’d ever heard of Little Venice, and when I finally did I couldn’t believe that this unique area existed and me, a travel blogger, London lover, and frequenter of the city countless times, had never happened upon it! I suppose that is partly the magic of London: It is so vast and fascinating, that you can spend hours – a lifetime – exploring it and you’ll still happen upon new places to fall in love with.
