I have literally just got back from a trip to London to visit my friend Sophi, and it was very much needed! They house has been very stressful to say the least and my trip to London came up in good time. I booked the trip back in April/May, and due to that it cost me next to sod all! Only Ā£6.00 each way! Can I hear a woo to the motherfuckinā hoo??!!
Anywayā¦ I decided I would do a little photo diary of my trip down to āthe big smokeā (as my dad calls it), because why not?
Due to my anxiety I was really nervous about traveling on my own, but it was really straight forward. I just had to get on a train and sit for just over two hours.
My dad gave me a lift to New Street half an hour before my train was due, which I liked as it gave me time to grab a magazine, a drink (I drink a flat white with vanilla if you were curious), and get to my platform in time to get a good seat.
I managed to grab a good a window seat with a table which was good as it meant I could lean on the table and do some writing. Throughout the journey I did just that whilst listening to my music and wrote some blog posts. I was also talking to a lovely woman from New Zealand throughout the journey, and she was telling me how she had been traveling around Europe for nine weeks, and was getting close to her trip ending.
Finally after the two hour and a bit journey I arrived at London Euston, and was greeted by Sophi up by The Body Shop. YAY! I was pleased that she was able to meet me as I was anxious about getting lost attempted to get out of Euston, or going down to the underground. London does set off my anxiety a tad, even though from this trip I feel more comfortable about it now.
Day I Arrived:
As soon as we met up we decided that food was needed, and went to YO! Sushi for some lunch. We had a good gossip whilst we had our food and it was pretty standard for YO! Sushi really. If you know what I mean.
Soon as we finished our food we headed to the shops, starting off at M&M World. Me and Dane were meant to go there when we were in London last year, but we never did and so I wanted to see what I missed out on! Not going to lieā¦ I didnāt miss much.
Donāt get me wrong, M&M World was good and is definitely somewhere you need to go at least once, but the only thing I liked about it was the pictures I got to take with Sophi. A lot of the products for sale were well overpriced and whilst they were nice, I wouldnāt buy them for myself. Only a massive M&M fan will get a kick from this place. Alas, I didnāt. It was cool though, and I loved nosing at all the stuff that they had on offer, especially the create your own M&Mās! But they were extortionate prices so I left itā¦ Otherwise I would have bought some for me and Dane for when we move into the house.
The next shop we popped in was just next door, which is the Nickelodeon Shop. I prayed that they would sell some Adventure Time goodies, but sadly they didnāt. The majority of stuff for sale in there wasnāt anything I was really interested in, such as Spongebob Square Pants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Paw Patrol, and Dora the Explorer. They did have something I was interested in mind, even if the section was only small. The Rugrats selection they had wasnāt very big, with only four pieces of clothing on offer, including the t-shirt that I picked up. I will show it off a lot better on a haul post soon, but I love this t-shirt so much! I loved watched the show growing up, so it has some nostalgia to it.
After that we had a walk around various places all the while including (name of shop) which is an old sweet shop, where I got a few goodies, Hamleyās, Japan Centre, and then we went to Choccywoccydoodah!
Choccywoccydoodah is a chocolate shop that also make cakes. But the store in London has a cafĆ© at the top of the shop which me and Sophi ventured to for a naughty chocolate lunch. I had never heard of it until she told me about it, and insisted that we go. It was pretty damn amazing to be honestā¦ The cafĆ© that is! It was all done out and reminded me of Moulin Rouge. We had orange lemonade and some dark chocolate melted in pots with biscuits to dunk. It was a real treat to say the least and Iāll definitely be going again, especially with Dane.
As much as I loved the cafĆ© upstairs I sadly canāt say I felt the same about the shop downstairs. Iām being honest, but I just found that it looked tacky and was crazily overpriced. I guess Iām just a boring cow and love my cakes plain and simple. Is that such a crime? Although I say this I bought me and Dane some chocolate to try, because why not?
After a spot of chocolate overdose we headed to Oxford Street, what I was most excited about! I donāt know why I love shopping on Oxford Street so much but I have a feelings itās due to how big the shops are. Of course the first shop we had to go into was Lush, why would I pass that up?!
I had some black pots that I wanted to exchange for a face mask, and I knew for ages that I wanted to give Prince of Darkness a go. A lovely member of staff let me try it, as well as a few other face masks on the back of my hand. I knew Iād like this face mask due to the charcoal, and I cannot wait to try it and now and review it for you guys. Alongside that I also picked up a few other goodies including my Oxford Street favourite Supertramp bubble bar, and the new bath bomb Lava Lamp. I was very good to say the least and didnāt buy more things, even though strangely I didnāt want much more.
After this we looked around various other shops on Oxford Street before our final destination being Topshop. Oh my God, it was huge, I couldnāt believe it to be honest. The floor you walk into is just nothing but accessories, no clothes or anything. I was taken back by how much stuff there was on the floor, including a Bubbleology, and a Lolaās Cupcakes. We bought some bubble tea from there to drink, and Iām not going to sugar coat it, the staff were rude and it wasnāt made properly. I drink bubble tea a lot and watch how itās made, so I know when itās been right or not.
Other than that, I wasnāt completely disappointed by my trip into the Oxford Street Topshop. I ended up buying a real treat from there that I will love for years, my new yellow raincoat. YES I said yellow! š I will talk more about it in my haul that will be up in a few days, but I wore this for the majority of my stay in London, and it was so cosy, and warm, and of course was waterproof for all the crap rain we had down there. I cannot wait to do some look book posts with it.
After that we finally decided to call it a day and headed home. We stayed up until late nattering away about all sorts, as well as planning what we could do the next day!
Day One:
I woke up bright and early for the long, and exciting day ahead of us. In fact I woke up a whole two hours before Sophi did! It was because a delivery van woke me up and I couldnāt get back to sleep so I decided to text Dane for a while as he got ready for work, and was at the house. I also sorted out my suitcase by putting stuff in there what I had bought the day before.
The weather wasn’t exactly amazing whilst I was down there and the majority of the time it rained… The full day I was there wasn’t any different and it rained a lot! Good job I had my new raincoat, eh? š
Something I loved about getting the train from where Sophi lives (Harlow) is on the way into London you can see the gherkin, and The Shard! I had to of course get a sneaky picture of this.
We had already decided months before that we would be going shopping at the Stratford shopping centre, but not until we had gone to Bubba Gump Shrimp for lunch! I wanted to go when me and Dane were in London but as never really got time, and we worried we wouldn’t like what was on the menu, as he isn’t a massive fan of fish.
I really enjoyed going there, and I loved the food we shared too. Sophi had been before, she knew what to recommend for us to eat. When I had looked at the menu back when I ordered my train tickets I decided on a chicken burger, but what’s the point in going to a shrimp restaurant if you eat chicken??? Exactly! In the end I decided on a cherry fizzer drink, and for food we ordered garlic bread (which let me tell you were HUGE!), shrimp shack mac & cheese, and Forrest’s seafood feast.
Not only did I enjoy the food, but I loved the decor of the restaurant too! To make it better, they had Forrest Gump playing in the background, which I loved. It isn’t the cheapest place in the world, but Ā£39 for two people and drinks wasn’t bad in my eyes. I would and will gladly go again.
So our next stop was the Stratford shopping centre! Which I was really excited to go to as I have heard nothing but good things about it from Sophi, and I also heard how big it is before I went down to London. If you’ve never been, it is like two Birmingham Bullring’s, if not bigger than that!
I saw various things I liked and wanted to buy, and various things I liked and ended up being naughty and picking up. These are in my haul post here.
The one thing I really regret not picking up was this Deadpool picture from HMV. I can’t even find it on the website to order! As I always say on majority of my posts these days, I love Deadpool, and so does Dane. I would love this picture to put up in the spare room, as it would just look awesome! It wasn’t cheap at Ā£14.99, but to be honest I don’t mind paying that for Deadpool. I can see me picking this up next time I’m near a HMV.
I also eyed up this Totoro bento box in The Japan Centre, but I didn’t get it because of the size of it, and I don’t really need it. It was only Ā£12.99, so maybe next time I’ll pick one up!
Then after I was shopped out and very tired, me and Sophi headed home (aka her flat) and relaxed for the evening. We had something to eat, and watched Lilo and Stitch before we went to bed. I was shattered so we got an early night. Before I went to sleep I tidied my suitcase so that I wouldn’t need to do it theĀ next day.
Going Home:
It was time to head home, and as my train wasn’t due to leave until 2.13pm it meant we could chill out for a while in the flat before heading into London. We didn’t do much really, just made sure my bag was all packed and such, as well as have some breakfast and get showered and dressed.
We left the house nice and early to make sure we were in Euston for time to have a coffee before I left and a chat. We popped to Starbucks and Sophi treated me to their new S’Mores drink (which was really nommy!) and a toastie. I showed her Bee & Puppycat, and we chatted about what she could do with the rest of her day.
Eventually it came to be time for me to get onto my train, and I was really sad to be saying goodbye. I had an amazing couple of days with Sophi, and I honestly cannot wait to do it again soon!
My train journey wasn’t as quiet as it was going into London, and I couldn’t wait for people to get off at stops so I could just chill out. I was going to try and get a blog post or two written, but in the end I just played games on my phone and listened to music.
Eventually I got back to New Street, and good ol’ Brum with my dad waiting to pick me up.
As much as I loved London and seeing Sophi, I just wanted to get back home so I could give Dane his box of goodies, as well as start working on the house again. It was nice to have a break and escape reality for a while, but you can’t run away forever.
I’m hoping to go down to London again soon to stay with Sophi, as it’s just too much fun to wait until Christmas to go again! I also apologise for not having so many pictures towards the end of this post, I was kinda too busy to take anymore. š
I’m hoping to start doing more photo diary related posts, as I love reading things like this myself. Did you enjoy this style of post from me? Make sure to let me know in the comments! If you liked it, I’ll certainly do more.
Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a great weekend.
There Might Be Coffee 