Okay, it looks like the sky is already clear - typical British weather. What do I even want to say? I'm like so tongue-tied already just being here. I have been in love with this city since I was very little. I think that my mom really loves London and so I think that it was just kind of pounded into me that, you know, this is such a magical city and like all the history and everything. And so I came here when I was - I think eight was my first time when I came here and it really was like I was just at that age where everything was magic and it was a wonderful trip and then I came back again when I think I was 13. I haven't been back since other than a couple run-throughs at Heathrow which are never fun. I'm so excited to be here at an age where I guess I can remember it more, but also be able to go around by myself because like I said, my mom is the London enthusiast and so she knows everything and like knew where to go and all this stuff so yeah - this is my first time like figuring out where things are by myself and I'm very excited. Yeah, we're gonna meet a couple friends. Tomorrow I'm going to Hampton Court because I am a nerd and I love - I remember going there when I was little and I just had the best time and so I want to go back again to refresh my memory so anyway, anyway I will see you guys once we're outside. I'm going to get the travel off of me and let's explore - oh my gosh! I feel so lame but I'm like on the verge of tears. I absolutely remember this so well. Yeah, trying not to cry. Like over there in the crypt, I would get potato leek soup. I have a picture of myself sitting with one of these lions and I sat in a puddle. I remember that very clearly. I'm just, I'm gonna calm down. It's - I've been here for like an hour so I'm like losing it but Do I feel incredibly like a tourist right now? Absolutely. but I couldn't be happier. What's that meme? Never watch the show. Sorry, I know Londoners are probably like, 'girl, it's a clock' but :) This seems so silly and so obvious but one thing that I find so funny about returning to places that I traveled to as a kid is that things are a lot smaller. I remember thinking, I don't know, that that bridge just like - it took me forever to walk across and just like I don't know everything seems so much closer and easier to walk to. Mainly because I know where I'm going, maybe that's something to do with it. I am apparently going to have absolutely perfect weather while I'm here but I'm so glad that I came here for a little bit of rain because these clouds - I feel like are quintessential London or British weather. Even when we were in Scotland actually we had obscenely beautiful weather - it was my favorite trip of all time - and it just almost didn't feel Scottish until we had the one day of rain. So I'm so glad that I get to see it. This might be a little bit too ambitious but I'm gonna attempt to get myself over to Millennium Bridge in time for the sunset. The sun sets about an hour earlier here I guess because the time difference, I don't know, but yeah I'm gonna try and get over there - we'll see. I'm just happy to be walking around in the clear air and literally couldn't be happier. I look nuts because I'm just smiling ear to ear but :) Low-key tempted. You can sit in the onion carriage. Maybe another day. Dead. I just met a very very cute girl who said that she watches my videos. I've been here for like an hour. London is treating me so well. I also got to say, Londoners love a jog. And not even a jog, like they're running, like running hard. I know that this is just because I'm walking on the south bank but everyone is running. Also I made it to the bridge. That's our destination and we made it and the sun is still up so well done me. I'm out of breath but I'm happy - oh and you can't see me at all but yeah we're gonna cross it, look at the sun, I don't know what else to say other than just I am so, am so happy! I'm having flashbacks to my Helsinki and Copenhagen vlogs in which I just filmed this street because the street is so beautiful. That's what I'm doing. I'm sorry. I just met some really cute people from Edinburgh and I am gonna move in with them. I think if this Pret is open - nope - everything closes really early here. I need like a hot drink so I think that there's a Pret near me. A redhead! Almost the same shade. I'm gonna get a coffee just so I don't go to sleep so early and then I am gonna go to sleep because I have walked too much.
Exploring Hampton Court
Good morning, it is a beautiful day in London. I'm right across the street from Waterloo and I'm going to hop on a train to Hampton Court and this totally ties in perfectly. I want to give a shout out to this video sponsor which is Surfshark VPN. I feel like you guys already know what vpns do and we all use them to watch Netflix in other countries but just in case - Surfshark VPN is a service that allows you to access other servers so if you need to access something in a different country like you want to watch Netflix Korea, you want to watch Netflix Canada. It also helps protect your online data so if you are ever using kind of sketchy public wi-fi, it helps protect you in case anybody's trying to get in and get your data. So for me, I recently used it to watch Wolf Hall on amazon prime but it's not available in Korea. I watched that because it's all about the Tudor era - I totally binged it before I came here so I used Surfshark VPN in order to access it so I could get ready for this. I'm so excited. If you would like to try Surfshark vpn, you can go to surfshark.deals/caricakes, use the promo code caricakes to get 83% off and then three months free. You can use surfshark on multiple devices so share with your friends. There is a 30 day money back guarantee so if you don't use it, you can get your money back. They're just a really great service and very useful especially when I'm traveling and stuff like that, surfshark helps me out. So I'm going to cross the street, I'm going to get on the train, we're going to go to Hampton Court. I'm going to nerd out about history and just enjoy this unbelievable weather so thank you and to surf shark, information will be down below, and let's go to the palace shall we? Once again, I felt like this was such a journey, like such an excursion, to come all the way out to Hampton Court from London and it literally was like a 30-minute train. Very excited to be here. It is a beautiful blustery day. It seems pretty empty. I saw a school group coming in and I was like uh-oh but now it looks like I have a place to myself and it's certainly big enough to house me and one little school group so let's go! This is what I am here for. At some point, palaces just start to look like movie sets, but you cannot recreate or just like encapsulate the feeling of being in a garden unless you're actually in the garden and I love these gardens. I just spent some time running around. I'm going to head to the maze. This is called the Wilderness. I asked the tour guide like how to get here and he was like "follow the signs to the wilderness!" and he clearly loved but he can say that and I loved it too. But all the queen anne's lace is out, smells so good, I just got - I got hit in the head with a very large bumblebee. but yeah let's explore! If I'm walking through spider webs, is this a good sign? I feel like I'm the only person that's gone down this path in like years. Did I do it? This is cheating. I found the exit exit. So I think I cheated but I found an exit. I'm taking it, I'm taking it as a win. All right good job guys, that only took me like 15 minutes. I hope those people are okay. They were, I think they were joking, but they're like "we've been in here for hours" but they're having a good time. They got out in case anyone's worried, they're free. You guys got out. I'm glad. I was worried. Yeah I took the fast exit, I cheated. Okay time to go home. I'm so sleepy.
Exploring London with Friends
Our next stop is Florence and we just found out it's gonna be like 30 degrees so I didn't bring anything for like that hot weather so I stopped in and got a dress and then the person working there said that she watches my videos and I blushed pretty hard, so thank you for saying hi and yeah I'm walking back to the hostel to take a hard nap and then I think I'm meeting up with my friend Annie? I'm not sure but it's been really beautiful. I just woke up at 5am so I'm ready for my nap and but yeah just walking around coming, so I'll see you later. But first a trip [down] memory lane. I sprained my ankle for the first and only time where this man is doing magic. Yeah on these cobblestones. Okay gang, my mom has sent us on a mission and since all I did for mother's day was send a happy mother's day text - we're gonna do it. Apparently they planted the moat of the Tower of London filled with wildflowers in honor of QE2's jubilee coming up and they should be out now because her jubilee is like June? So we're gonna go see it okay! Oh no... What am I missing? It looks like they're planting stuff right now. I'm gonna walk to the other side. I just realized I didn't actually say this to you, I said it to instagram, asking for recommendations. So a lot of times when I go from like a hot weather place to a cold weather place or summer to autumn or something like that, I catch like a quote-unquote cold. Like my throat just kind of hurts. It's not covid, trust me, I know this it ha - it happens since...I was born. So I asked for spicy food recommendations and everybody said Dishoom and my parents said Dishoom so I will get Dishoom - even though there's Chinese that looks really spicy well anyway so that's what we're doing, we're going to get Indian. I am scandalized. The line for Dishoom is longer than some of the lines for the theater which is happening - like all the plays are starting right now. I literally thought people were in line for... Omg. Okay back to Egyptian food. Oh my god it's 7:15!! I took a video because her little taiyaki machine was so cool so I figured I had to get some and she said it's really hot but... Oh it's a custard one, okay. I'm down. Thank you Chinatown Bakery. I can already feel it so don't come at me. I know that this is very times square-y, as someone who lived in New York I'm itching but I'm here at Piccadilly Circus because I just walked this way and I don't know where I am so.
Final Thoughts and Farewell
Good morning from Neal's Yard. I'm gonna get breakfast. I'm here like five minutes early and then I'm getting lunch with a good friend, I'm gonna meet up with Annie for coffee, and I'm getting dinner with a friend. It's a packed day so I'm excited. I'm a little cold but this place has porridge that actually sounds good so... I'm so very sad that I can't pack any books but I got this little little itty bitty one that's like perfect for holding exactly one book. This entire trip is just a practice in self-control. Now we're gonna walk maybe towards Hyde Park? I don't know. It's chilly, it's really cold so - dog - okay bye. I don't know if you can even hear me but we were originally gonna go check out the peter pan statue again which is on the other side of this park but I just read like a murder mystery thriller about peter pan that like really ruined the book for me so we're just gonna go to the V&A. It's also cold and windy - Little room tour. My single little room. But we're moving up in the world - yeah shared bathroom if you want to shower - look I've got a little terrace! Oh my god. So anyway, what a beautiful day, ridiculous. I'm going to rest, to charge my phone, and then go meet Annie! London has just got so much space. This is like one of many of their large parks and there is just like wilderness. Annie beat me to the cafe. I think she said it's closed. I'm fighting allergies hard. The thing that I thought was a cold is straight up allergies and so half of it's under control but it's taking me out so hopefully we find another place. Hiya so I haven't spoken that long and that much in so long. What a wonderful day. This, this was totally unplanned when I was first coming to London. I ended up getting lunch with Li, got drinks right after that with Annie and then right after that I got dinner with Li. It was just a day of so much good deep wonderful conversation. It's like - there were moments where I just completely forgot that I was in London and then like Annie and I walked through the park and I was like swans?! What the - where am I?! You know? It just made this trip so great and as much as I love solo travel, having someone to just sit and talk with - it was, it was just so great. So I'm so thankful to them. It made this trip so special. I think I would have otherwise - because it's not very easy as a solo traveler I don't love being outside at night because there's also not a whole lot I can do - the cafes close quite early and stuff - so being able to like hang out with them and walk around the city at night it just it was really special and I'm yeah so happy. So now I'm heading back to the hostel and I have one more full day so I'm going to meet up with one more friend hopefully for brunch, going to portobello market, Notting Hill. We're gonna finally hit up Camden. But yeah it's just been such a magical trip and it feels so warm and so wonderful there are so many fantastic people who live here and I'm very blessed to know a few of them. So yeah I - oh I can see - wow I hope my curtains are thick because the light of our hostel is very bright, it's like a beacon and it is right under my window. But anyway I'm just extremely grateful and yeah I'm yeah - oh such a good trip. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow, there will be pastries. I cannot wait. Alright back to the hostel - to St Athan's? Where am I? I don't know, anyway~ This is unreal. I asked if I should get the cardamom or the original - she said original. Excellent choice. I couldn't be happier right now. The weather is perfect. Neighbors are friendly. I have coffee. I have this amazing cinnamon bun. Okay Camden - crowded. Did I know this? Yes. I'm coming here on a Saturday - maybe not my best decision. But I'm heading to a pizza shop that I've heard about that - I am not hungry whatsoever but I need a bathroom and I just want to sit so I'm go... Jeju? There's a Jeju hair salon. But yeah I'm going to just sit and and chill out. It's quite hot. It's been a lovely day, like a beautiful day, I am just it's the end of the trip so I'm like tired so hopefully I find my pizza and a seat. Okay if the girls behind me on the bus are any indicator, it seems like all of London is a day drinking hard today. I decided to come over to Shoreditch because I haven't been in this area yet and I don't have any time for tomorrow. I think I go down here, I'm lost. But there's like definitely some kind of sporting event going on that people are watching the bar and like freaking out about. I don't know, people are having fun. It's also incredibly hot and I'm really sleepy so I'm - this is me pushing myself through. I want to apologize to Shoreditch and Brick Lane for the the abysmal job I'm gonna do of representing you. You seem like the coolest neighborhood and I'm just like weak so I will be back but I'm just gonna mosey around, maybe go look at the view from One New Change because that takes about zero energy and I'm hoping that there is chocolate in my near future so here we go, last night in London! We're doing a reverse of what I did the first day I came. I'm tired but somehow able to walk so I'm just gonna walk south bank, hopefully find the water unbelievable Hi everyone, I am so tired. I took the bus back to where my hostel is it's right next to Russell Square and I saw an open bench so I took it. It's one of those things where I don't want to be inside my hostel right now because I feel like it's a waste of London time and it's beautiful weather, golden, I mean, I mean. But I just couldn't like I couldn't walk anymore. I can't do anything so I am updating my journal and just sitting here. I might even take my shoes off, like there are kids swimming in this fountain my New York City, I could never. But it's just very chill. Everybody is like quietly eating or reading and it's very nice and I'm scared that I'm gonna fall asleep on this bench but I hope that - I hope that it came through but this has been just such an incredible trip. I feel like I could have showed a lot more of like the Shoreditch and the Brick Lane area but I am just so happy with what I did and I spent a lot of time just talking with friends and meeting up with people I haven't seen - I mean I hadn't seen Li in like six years so it was just, emotionally, a really good trip. And so yeah I couldn't be happier. I'm gonna go to Paris tomorrow, pack up my things, and then we are heading to Italy for a couple weeks so I will take you there as well but thank you for coming along. I will see you tomorrow. I'm not saying goodbye but this has just been the best so thank you London so much. Catch you when I have rested, okay bye. Hi guys good morning originally I was going to go to the Columbia flower market and all this stuff. I had trouble falling asleep and I decided you know, let's wake up, when I wake up if we don't have time we don't have time. So instead I'm having a slow very British gray morning. And I just had a really lovely avocado toast at Store Street Espresso which everybody recommended. Thank you so much. But as I was eating, I'm still quite stuffed up from my allergies, and I took a bite or a sip of my tea or something and all of a sudden one of my ears unclogged and the world was so loud and I was like oh my god have I been screaming at people this entire trip?! I thought I was speaking at a normal level but I clearly wasn't hearing correctly so anyway, fun times. I'm gonna head to Boots to just pick up some more things. I don't speak any Italian so I am a little bit nervous about our next portion of the trip so just in case we need anything I'm just gonna walk around and then it's time for my train home. So I'll see you at the train station. Hi everyone, I'm back so fast. So I ended up getting to the train station too early to even check in - just 10 minutes early - but the line looks already pretty long so I am going to just focus on getting through immigration and security and all that stuff so I'm going to end the vlog here but thank you London so much. I've already expressed it but this was just such a wonderful wonderful trip. I'm so excited for our next travels and once again thank you to Surfshark VPN who prepared me for my Hampton Court travels. If you would like to try out surf shark vpn, so many reasons to do so, you can go to surfshark.deals/caricakes and use the code caricakes to get 83% off plus three months free so - you're good you're good! plus three months free and then a 30-day money-back guarantee! It's just great if you're traveling, if you're living abroad, if you're trying to do anything in this international world, having a vpn's really good idea and surf shark is wonderful so thank you again to them - information will be down below. And yeah I'm gonna hop on the eurostar. I expanded my luggage a little bit but we can fix that. Off I go. Back to Paris then we are moving on. Gonna take a nice long train ride, but I'm excited to share with you and see you then, okay? Thank you always, bye!
0 Comments