How gorgeous are these jam-filled shortbread cookies from Cinnamon Tree Bakery at the Borough Market in London? I can personally attest that they were not only beautiful, they were absolutely delicious. I’m crazy about chocolate sweets, but every time I step foot in the U.K. my shortbread craving shows up, and these hit the spot.
The first time I visited London, my mom played tour guide for the weekend and showed me pretty much everything you can squeeze into two days. My parents were living in England at the time, and my mom knew how to hit all of the city’s highlights perfectly and managed to fit in a super fun show at the theatre as well (Mamma Mia!).
Since I had already seen most of the major sights, and since Chris didn’t have any specific wants for this trip (he was just happy to see and do anything in London), I elected to plan a few things on my running wish list this time around. We arrived on a Thursday morning and had plans for Friday afternoon and most of Sunday, so we had about two full days to spend on London things. Here is what we managed to accomplish on the wish list!
When I visited London in 2003, I photographed everything with my 35mm film SLR. While I cherish those photos and I do love film, I was looking forward to taking more photos of the city with my digital camera. And not to toot my own horn, but my photography skills have maybe gotten a little better over the past 13 years.
I covered this one already in the previous post, but having proper tea in London ranked quite high on my wish list. Sanderson offered the perfect place to do so and with a cute theme to boot!
I love any opportunity to get up high where I can enjoy a bird’s eye view of a location, so the London Eye appealed to me for a good photo op. Because we had such a limited amount of time in London with a ton of items on my to-do list, I purchased advanced Ultimate Fast Track tickets from the website with the option to visit any time within 3 months from the date of purchase. It was a little bit of a splurge to buy those tickets over the standard tickets, but in the end we appreciated the convenience of selecting a day based on the weather forecast and then walking right onto the first rotation without waiting in line at all. We arrived at opening time (10am) on a Friday and there was quite a long queue for the standard tickets line. I’m pretty sure if you ask Chris he’ll say the extra cost was worth not having to wait. I tend to get a little whiny in long lines.
Truth be told, I was a little bummed to see the Parliament building covered in scaffolding and tarp, but the Eye was still a fun ride and I’m glad we had a gorgeous day to check this off the list.
This one was on the list with Chris in mind, although we both love bars. We stayed in the Covent Garden area and we had plenty of options for pubs – we couldn’t walk a single block without finding one and I had fun photographing the various pub signs. Sitting in a pub with a pint and a steak pie or fish-and-chips this time of year felt especially cozy.
My mom and I didn’t fit much shopping into our London weekend because we prioritized seeing the sights and getting to the theatre. This time around I planned to hit Harrods, the Covent Market Garden, Neal’s Yard, and even umbrella shopping at the famous James Smith & Sons store. Note: I wanted so badly to ask if the umbrella shop employees felt it was bad luck to open the brollies indoors, but I resisted. The store has been around since 1830, so I suspect the urban myth does not apply here.
The holiday shopping crowds at Harrods totally overwhelmed me and we didn’t end up staying long, so I’ll probably need to put Harrods back on my wish list for a third trip to London. It was fun to see the beautiful Christmas decorations though! I bought a very sturdy, well-made umbrella at James Smith & Sons, some artwork from the Covent Garden Market, and we had a fantastic lunch at a cute pizza place in Neal’s Yard.
I don’t consider Chris and I to be true foodies per se, but we do love food (understatement), so the more I heard about the different food stalls at Borough Market the more I wanted to eat my way through this outdoor marketplace. We went into the market at lunchtime with empty bellies and a specific plan of finding certain vendors that I had read about online. We found gorgeous produce, exotic mushrooms, fresh flowers, sinful baked goods, giftable food items, and so many options for a well-rounded meal.
On that very rainy Saturday, it felt like everyone else in London had the same idea to visit the market. We expected the market to be busy, but perhaps not quite that packed! The massive crowds meant we had some challenges navigating the market and finding things, so we ended up just going with the flow of the crowd and trying whatever we stumbled upon and that was fun, too. We tried a fantastic sausage bap from Northfield Farm, a warm, gooey cheese toastie from Kappacasein, cookies of all kinds at Cinnamon Tree Bakery, and as much fudge as we could manage to carry from Whirld. It’s worth mentioning that the fudge was so good none of it even made it onto the plane ride home.
In addition to all the goodies from Borough Market, we ate at some really fantastic restaurants in London. We were spoiled for choices in the Soho/Covent Garden area. One of my goals for each of our trips is always to try a new food, and I ended up doing just that while having breakfast at Bill’s in Covent Garden. I spotted “bubble and squeak” on a menu in my trip research and after Googling the definition (shallow-fried leftover vegetables and potatoes), I wanted to make sure I tried it. I absolutely loved it! One of these days I’m going to have to try to replicate it at home.
I didn’t technically have this on my London wish list, but I always want to go to the show. Always. I adore the theatre and will pretty much see anything, so on Friday when the weather forecast predicted a very rainy Saturday evening, Chris suggested we see a show and I pounced at the idea. Our hotel was literally less than one hundred feet from Cambridge Theatre where Matilda was playing, so we decided to give it a try. We were able to get great seats online, and the show was tons of fun. I’ve had the songs in my head since we returned home!
Lastly, I love seeing a city lit up at night, and I welcome the challenge of low-light photography. I didn’t end up doing any nighttime photography on my last visit, so I figured this time we could carve some time out to see parts of the city well past sunset. The Tower Bridge looks particularly lovely at night and I think this photo turned out nicely. (Low-light selfies are tricky, though I like how that one turned out, too.)
Looking back, we managed to pack so many things into a short almost-four-day trip considering we also visited the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London and saw another super fun show at the theatre (posts coming up), but I still have a running wish list for London. I have yet to tour the Tower of London or the National Gallery. I’ve seen St. Paul’s Cathedral, but I haven’t been inside. And Chris didn’t get to see Buckingham Palace because we ran out of time. I guess we’ll have get to go back!
Chris and I snuck off to London for a few days a couple of weeks ago with the main purpose of attending a very exciting event (hint/spoiler). But first, we spent a few days in one of my favorite cities doing a few things I had yet to cross off of my London bucket list.
Attending afternoon tea ranked high on that list, and I discovered the perfect place to do exactly that. Sanderson in West End offers just about the cutest afternoon tea I could have imagined with a Mad Hatter theme to make us feel like we stepped right into the beloved Alice in Wonderland fantasy world.
We arrived in London on a bit of a cold and dreary day, in fact we were nearly drenched walking to Sanderson in the pouring rain, so I was happy to see that the courtyard garden provided a lovely spot to warm up not only with hot tea, but with cozy blankets and plenty of heaters. Our reservation at 2:45pm meant we were seated right away, and the service was welcoming and quite friendly.
Of the wonderfully fragrant teas to choose from, I selected the tea party’s namesake, Mad Hatter, and Chris tried Alice. Both were delicious, and I regret not purchasing one of each to bring back home! The loose leaf teas are available to take for £12-15 each.
We had yet to eat breakfast or lunch after stepping off the plane, so we were both ravenous and all too excited to head down the rabbit hole and try each of the goodies in the savory selection. Classic cucumber sandwiches, goat cheese croque-monsieurs, crab and herb eclairs, and smoked salmon and caviar Scotch eggs filled our bellies. We were even offered additional savory rounds (the savory plates are unlimited!) before the sweets portion of the menu.
I could have eaten quite a few of those croque-monsieurs, but I knew I needed to save room for the massive tower of confections up next. The multi-tiered serving dish offered sweets of every color, shape, and size. I felt like a kid (in a candy store!) every time I selected a different candy caterpillar, marshmallow mushroom, or drink me potion.
My absolute favorite ended up being the rich chocolate Queen of Hearts cookie soldiers, but I also loved the banana bread-and-butterfly. And the scones. And the White Rabbit’s pocket watch macaron.
And just when we thought we couldn’t possibly eat or drink another thing, we received a surprise ending – ice cream served in a tiny flower pot with cookie crumble topping, bits of honeycomb, and an edible flower.
Sanderson definitely nailed the Mad Hatter theme, and afternoon tea couldn’t have felt more whimsical unless the Cheshire Cat himself was grinning at me from a corner in the room. At £48 per person, afternoon tea at Sanderson is perhaps a bit of a splurge, but it’s perfect for a special occasion though fancy dress is not required. We noticed a pair of friends at the table next to us celebrating a birthday (or maybe an unbirthday?) and they received some special birthday treats. Occasion or not, I definitely recommend this experience!
I recently read an article with the title, “Traveling Doesn’t Make You a Better Person.” The first time I skimmed it, I dismissed the idea because I may have misunderstood the author’s intended message. I read it as, “traveling can’t change you and doesn’t ever make you a better person.” And like the author’s reaction to a friend who made a similar comment, I was stunned and perhaps a little put-off by it. However, a proper read-through clarified what I think the author was trying to say. (The title of the article is perhaps a little misleading.) My interpretation of the overall message is that traveling doesn’t automatically make you a better person since it depends on how you travel, and traveling doesn’t make you better than someone who doesn’t travel. I wholeheartedly agree with that on both accounts.
It got me thinking about moments in my own travels so far and I was able to identify a few special experiences that did change me as a person. In general, travel makes me a better version of myself simply because traveling makes me so happy, but there have been a few moments that altered me in a very specific way. And I’m not even talking about my scars from various bug bites or injuries, or the pounds I have inevitably gained enjoying international cuisines.
Ah, my first trip outside of North America. I suspect you’d have a hard time finding someone bitten by the travel bug who wasn’t changed by their first trip overseas. I went to visit my parents who were living in England at the time, and I was mesmerized by the entire country. I’ve always had wanderlust on some level, but this trip introduced me to what it actually feels like to see and photograph far away places. Despite coming down with a horrible cold while I was there, I remember my magical trip to England with a very full heart and my love for travel has grown exponentially since then.
Thanks to Chris’s job at the time, I had the opportunity to tag along on a couple of conferences in fantastic locations: Hawaii and Switzerland. While Chris worked during the day on these trips, I set out on my own to explore and had some independent moments that allowed me to grow as a traveler. Oahu felt easy enough to navigate and it was a good starting point for a solo adventure. I rented a car and felt perfectly comfortable driving around the island alone during the day. In Switzerland, I wandered around Lugano by myself, shopping, eating, and navigating public transportation. On an overnight trip to Gimmelwald, I ended up taking the most peaceful, solitary hike where I was dwarfed by the surrounding Alps. And since the Italy border was so close to Lugano, I even hopped over to Milan for a day on my own.
Aside from a few potentially scary moments (getting lost on a mountain, wrestling my camera away from a stranger, etc.), these independent experiences gave me confidence as a traveler. I learned about navigation and safety in ways that will stick with me in my travel tool belt forever. Chris is my dream travel partner and I’m so very thankful to share adventures with him for the rest of our lives, but I’m also glad I had the opportunity to do some solo travel, albeit brief and on a small scale.
“Let’s go snowboarding while we’re in Colorado,” he said. “It’ll be fun,” he said. Never have I ever attempted to do something with such a steep learning curve. I heard from plenty of people beforehand that snowboarding is difficult to learn, but I needed to see for myself. I had been skiing once before and picked it up pretty quickly, so how much different could snowboarding be? Answer: completely different. I spent more time on my tailbone than standing up during my half-day lesson in Colorado.
It took four more tries – one trip to Snowshoe, West Virginia and three visits to Whitetail Ski Resort in Pennsylvania – before I got the hang of it. I’m a little stubborn in general (let’s call it persistent), but learning to snowboard really put my perseverance to the test. We can all use a good never-give-up lesson now and then, can’t we? I stuck with it through some really painful injuries. I didn’t give up despite how much it hurt my body and my pride. Then one day things suddenly clicked and I managed to link turns. That was a very proud moment! Now whenever I’m faced with a difficult task, I use snowboarding as the benchmark. Most things are easier to learn than snowboarding, so that helps keep it all in perspective.
I realize it might sound a little silly when I say that snorkeling changed me, but it did! And it happened on our trip to Tortola. I had attempted snorkeling a couple of times prior to this trip, and both times I got scared and didn’t last very long in the water. This was the trip where I vowed not to chicken out and I bravely faced my life-long ocean creature fears. Our island-hopping day trip to the Baths of Virgin Gorda was the perfect place for me to realize why other people love snorkeling so much. The water was calm, and the fish were colorful and friendly, and the positive experience enabled me to spend the rest of my time in Tortola happily exploring the beautiful underwater world.
Any time you step outside of your comfort zone and face a fear it’s a life-changing moment for sure, and this one led me to my next big moment…
Last but not least, my scuba diving debut in Belize earlier this year. Conquering one of my biggest fears certainly changed me and I wrote about it here. There’s nothing I was more scared to do (other than say, scuba diving at night or in a cave), so knowing that I was able to go through with it and come out perfectly unscathed makes me feel like I can face just about anything. I will always remember how I felt that day in Belize – the build-up of fear in the hours before we headed to the dive shop, the butterflies in my stomach on the dive boat, and the I-can’t-believe-I’m-doing-it feeling once I was submerged and breathing underwater among the fish.
So what about you? What moments in your travels (be it local or long distance) made a life-changing impact? It can even be something as simple as putting your face in the water wearing a mask to gaze upon tropical fish!
As promised, I’ve finally gotten around to scanning a few film prints from my travels to England in 2003! This trip was incredibly special for so many reasons. It was my first time going anywhere in Europe, and I was visiting my parents who had moved to Lytham St Annes (near Blackpool) for my mom’s job. They were both excellent hosts, and made touring the country really fun and easy. The trip didn’t start out easy though – the day before I was scheduled to leave, I received notice that my flight was cancelled due to incoming Hurricane Isabel. I called the airline to ask about my options, and they informed me that they had one seat available on that evening’s flight and that it was mine if I wanted it! Great! Only…the flight was leaving in just under three hours. Oh, and I was at work, in Rockville, Maryland, which is at least a 45-minute drive from where I was living at the time. AND I hadn’t packed yet! So if you do the math, three hours minus the commute time, minus the required be-at-the-airport-two-hours-before-your-international-flight time, that left me less than 15 minutes to pack a suitcase for a week abroad. What I didn’t account for was how crazy the security lines would be at Dulles International Airport since everyone else had the same plan to get out of Dodge Virginia before the hurricane hit. Somehow I managed to throw a bag together and get a taxi to the airport in time, and thanks to the kindness of strangers who let me jump to the head of the security line, I just barely made my flight! And thanks certainly also go to my super sweet co-workers at the time who encouraged me to drop everything, covered the remainder of the day’s responsibilities for me, and allowed me to go, go, go. I’ll never forget how crazy that day was – that is not my preferred method of travel (I’m an obsessive planner), but it’s nice to know I can be super spontaneous, too!
Once I arrived in England, my parents ensured that I saw an amazing sampling of the entire country. My mom and I took a fantastic side-trip via train to London for a few days where we saw just about every major must-see including Mamma Mia at Prince Edwards Theatre, my dad drove me all over the beautiful countryside to various castles and towns during the week, and we all took an overnight trip to Newcastle upon Tyne and went up to see Alnwick Castle, where parts of the first two Harry Potter movies were filmed! We even drove across the border into Scotland, so technically I’ve been there, too. (Chris and I are actually planning a proper visit to Scotland next year.) There’s still more I’d like to see in England so I’ll definitely go again someday, but I’m grateful I was able to see so much during this visit.
Note: there aren’t many people-photos on this trip! At the time, I was really just into photographing scenery and details. I did snap a photo of my dad at Alnwick and I wish I had taken more photos of my parents and I together. I guess we’ll all just have to go back! Also, I used to be into scrapbooking and several of my photos ended up sliced-and-diced for the scrapbook pages, so I included a scan of my London two-page spread just for fun.
