A London trip...
Last month, I celebrated turning 27 - I say celebrated, I don't particularly enjoy birthdays now that I'm getting so close to 30. However, they are a great excuse for buying myself lots of treats and eating cake aren't they... so that's exactly what I did! Jake and I were itching to get away so a couple of months ago, I said I'd love to get away for a couple of nights for my birthday and we booked in a little trip to London. We stayed in the Premier Inn at Kings Cross which was honestly the perfect location.
Jake managed to find an amazing deal, and it was something ridiculous like £80 for two nights. I've actually never stayed in a Premier Inn before but our room was lovely with a huge and very comfy bed, as well as a gorgeous bathroom that had a huge shower. The bar area downstairs was lush too, and the food was super affordable and delicious. There was also a costa right next door which was perfect for a coffee fix. The best part was easily the location though, as it was just ideal for exploring all the different areas of London. Not to mention it was a literal two minute walk from the train station and we got the train down so that was also brilliant. They let us leave our luggage before check in, as well as after we checked out too so that we could go do a bit more exploring without having to take our cases with us. When I go back to London I will definitely stay there again! This sounds like an ad for them but it isn't, I was just so impressed.
Day one in London...
We got there on a Monday afternoon and after leaving our luggage at the hotel, we ventured to Covent Garden on foot. Jake wanted to uber everywhere but I refused as I think Kings X to Covent Garden/Oxford Street is easily walkable and I love taking in the views along the way. That's what exploring cities is about isn't it?! After spending a couple of hours dragging J around the shops, we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready to go out for the evening. I really wanted to go out for a massive Chinese as it's my favourite, and Jake was letting me choose everything as it was my birthday trip. We did decide that as we planned to get absolutely wasted the next night on my actual birthday, we'd go and eat a huge meal the night before to save any potential aftermath having it on the same night as lots of drinks...
We wanted to eat in China Town so whilst I was getting ready, J popped on google and looked for a Chinese restaurant to go to and we ended up at The Orient. It was basically dead in there on a Monday night, I'm guessing because it was mid-week, but I would 100% go back. The staff were all so, so friendly and lovely. We got served by a little old lady and she was absolutely delightful. We picked one of the set menus instead of choosing lots of dishes ourselves, and she said that we could change a couple of things on it and recommended other dishes to make sure that we'd both enjoy it all. The service was second to none and the food was absolutely divine. One of the most enjoyable restaurant experiences I've had! We were both so full that we couldn't even eat it all and the cost was super reasonable too. After we'd finished eating, we went for a little walk to walk off our food babies and ended up passing Simmons Bar on Oxford Street. We popped in for a drink, and the vibe was good but personally I wasn't drunk enough for that kind of vibe so it's one to go back to when we've had a few!
Day two in London...
My birthday! After a nice lie in, we ventured out to Covent Garden to one of my favourite cafes, Le Pain Quotidien. I've been obsessed with it ever since going to it for the first time whilst in London a couple of years ago for breakfast. We sat outside in the sunshine and it was honestly glorious, what a start to the day! It was pretty much lunch time by this point so we ordered cappuccinos and freshly squeezed orange juice and they were delicious. The real deal was what we ordered to eat though, Jake had the chicken & porcini focaccia sandwich which was chicken breast in a creamy mushroom and truffle sauce and said it was the best sandwich he's ever had in his life. He's still banging on about it haha! I never tried it, but as it was my birthday I ordered myself the mixed sharing board with different cheeses, meats, olives, dips and bread and it was honestly the most delicious thing ever. If you haven't been here, you must!
After brunch, we had a mooch around Covent Garden. It's one of the prettiest little spots in London, don't you think? I popped into the Deciem store and grabbed myself some of The Ordinary goodies, all of the best-sellers that you can never get hold of online were out in abundance inside the store so that's worth making a note of if you have any trips to London planned. Their products are so cheap that I wish I'd got more, but I did buy two of the peeling solution that's always out of stock everywhere. We went in a few clothes shops too and I bought a new playsuit to wear out that night from Urban Outfitters as well as a couple of other bits. I'd been telling Jake I wanted cake all day too, as it didn't feel like a birthday without it, so we ended up getting an uber from Oxford Street to Peggy Porschen and enjoying a quick coffee and slice of cake before going back to the hotel to get ready to go out.
The perfect evening in London...
I typically changed outfits like three times before we eventually left the hotel, but we actually didn't have a booking until like 9ish anyway. As we had a bit of time to kill, we went to the slug & lettuce and took advantage of their two for one cocktails trying out basically their whole menu. The real highlight of this entire trip though, is the fact that Jake managed to get us into the Jin Bo Law sky bar pretty last minute (the same week I think?!) as he knew I really wanted to go to a sky bar on my birthday night. It. Was. Incredible. I've never been to anything like it in all my 27 years so naturally I got emotional just taking it all in. Not only did J manage to actually get a booking, but we had basically the best seats as they sat us right next to the glass screen on the roof terrace. The photos don't even do the view justice as it was just breathtaking, particularly because it was at sunset and the sky was insanely beautiful! We spent a fortune on drinks but it was so, so worth it. Definitely a night to remember.
Day three in London...
As you can imagine we really slept in on our last day after all of those cocktails, but we eventually showered and got ready and popped downstairs to have a bite to eat in the Premier Inn restaurant. We had this open sandwich thing with chicken, bacon, avo... (I can't remember the name) and it was really good, just what we needed! We were both feeling a bit dodgy and hungover but I really wanted to go for a walk around Kensington, so we just got ubers there and back. It was actually really reasonable, like around £14 for a trip and we were in the car for half an hour or so. It's funny but I loved driving all through London in the back of our uber with the window down and the summer breeze blowing in my face. If you fancy sight seeing further out of central London, that's a great option to consider. I've never been to Kensington but it was everything Instagram shows it to be, it was beautiful and the little streets were so dreamy. It was a really lovely walk and it was nice to do something before the train home.
I can't wait to go back to London soon, there's always so many things to do that you just can't fit it all in to one trip. What's your favourite thing to do in the capital?
