SOLO TRAVELING IN LONDON | exploring neighbourhoods, coffee shops, sight seeing, markets, etc ੈ✩‧₊

A few weeks ago I decided to go on a two and a half week solo trip to Europe and I vlogged the whole entire thing. We are starting off in London, so let's get into the vlog. Okay you guys, it is my first official day in London. I am so excited. Today is the day we are doing Tam Corr's podcast. I'm so excited. I'm so nervous. I don't even know what to expect, but I just picked out my outfit and guys, I had something tragic happen. My curler broke because I think it's too high of a voltage. Oh my god, I think I need a new one that's like for the UK or I don't know what to do. Literally look at my hair. It is not styled. I don't know if I should go to a hair salon. I only have like an hour to do that. I am a little bit stressed, but anyways, let me show you what I'm wearing. I honestly don't know how I feel about the outfit. I can't tell if it's giving what I want it to give, but I'm wearing this black skirt with this belt. I'm wearing some tights, these little ballet flats. This sweater, is it giving cute or is it giving cape? I don't really... I don't quite know. I also have this black purse. Let's go see how the day turns out. We just finished. We're doing a little vlog. Vlog. A little vlog. Very cute. How'd that go for you? I loved it. If you watch my vlog, then you'll see literally before I came here, I was talking about how anxious I was. I've never done this before. And now I'm just... I feel proud of myself. I'm so happy with the content that we just filmed. The conversation was amazing. I'm very excited as well. I was saying to my audience, actually a lot of people, they were like, you need to hang out with her if you're in London. I'm like, guys, just wait. Just wait. Honestly, I can't wait. I think people are going to love it. No, people are going to love it. Also guys, look at her setup. She's got the whole... She's got the whole thing. I need to get on this. We are going to go grab some pizza for lunch, which I'm super excited for. It's a really sunny day, so hopefully we'll get a table outside and just chat. Just vibe. I'm so excited. And once this comes out, this is going to be the real deal. We've got cameras. We've got lights everywhere. Three cameras. I was stressed the whole time. I was like, does my jaw look good right now? This has been great. We got the same. And we got the same drink. I said I had to match them up. I'll get whatever you're getting. We're very matchy today. We're even wearing the same brown lip gloss. And we both got the same ring. We're on it. So, we have Blank Street right now, and we're both trying a completely new drink. I got the iced pistachio latte, and I got the blueberry matcha. She has had Blank Street before, but not blueberry matcha, and I'm like, you need to try the OG. Apparently, this is the best one. Yeah, the OG. So, you've got to get a good mix, so you don't just get syrup. I'll get some more for them. Okay, ready? Cheers. Yeah, I really like that. Do you like it? I actually prefer that to the strawberries and cream one, and the pumpkin spice one. It's very sweet. It is very sweet. It's literally like a dessert, almost. But I like sweet. We don't have a Blank Street in Vancouver, and I think we need to start a petition to do this, because this is so good. I would have one every day. This is really good. It would be my go-to. I'm obsessed. Okay, you guys. It is Saturday night, and I am going on a little friend date. I DMed this girl that I actually met in New York for Fashion Week, and I was like, girl, what are you doing tonight? Let's do something. And we are now meeting at this bar called Sketch. I'm really excited. Let me show you my outfit. I'm wearing this white shirt. It's a little bit scandalous, so I just put this bra underneath. But it is from White Fox, and then these jeans, they're like my comfort jeans. They're from By Bambi, and then I'm wearing these heels from White Fox. And then I've got my little gold coach bag. I'm just gonna put some earrings on, and then I'm ready to go. Good morning, everyone. It is day two in London. Last night, I ended up hanging out with Glam by Flo. We went to a super cool bar. Yeah, I had so much fun. But today, I'm so excited because today's the actual full day that I get to spend by myself. I'm very excited. This is my OOTD. I'm wearing some blue jeans, this pink little sweater, a jacket from Oak and Fort, and then my little purse here. Let me just say, though, I feel like I didn't pack correctly, as I do every time. But I don't have enough options, and I really wanna go shopping, and it's super unfortunate because the largest shopping district is here, Oxford Street, and I don't even think I have room to bring anything back home. But anyways, I might end up going there just because I've realized that half my things don't work. My straightener, my curler, my adapters, my charger, everything, that whole situation is just not working, so I need to buy some new stuff for that. I really wanna go to the Borough Market today to go get some food. We might go do some sightseeing. I feel like today is the day where I need the energy drink. I need the coffee. I need the multiple versions of caffeine because I don't have much time here, and I gotta get a move on it. I also hope it doesn't rain because it's looking a little rainy today. But anyways, let's go! I just got off the train. I needed to get off a few stops early so I could go to a coffee shop and charge my phone. You guys are gonna laugh at me because I always have a dead phone. If you've been keeping up with my content, you know that I've had a lot of transformation and change go on recently, so bringing a journal with me was one of the best things I could have done for myself as I was traveling alone. Okay, you guys, next up, we are on our way to Borough Market. I'm currently on the train, and it's taking every brain cell in me to not get lost. Apparently, at this market, they have, like, such good food, so I'm hoping to get, like, this sandwich that's, like, super viral on TikTok, and these chocolate strawberries. I also want to say that shopping was a success. I tried really hard to not spend my money, but there were just too many good stores and too many good items. I actually couldn't help it. If you don't already know, Borough Market is a historic market in central London with an emphasis on high-quality food, sustainable production, and social connection, so I was so excited to finally be going this day. It is so viral on TikTok, and they have so many viral foods, such as the chocolate strawberries and this pork sandwich, which I actually ended up getting a little bit later. These strawberries were so fresh. They were so delicious. This is so good. The chocolate is, like, staying melted, and the strawberries are huge, and they're so juicy. And you guys can see me here having this pork sandwich. I didn't actually get the OG one, the one that I was trying to get, like the viral one, but this one was still very delicious. After I was done with Borough Market, I got into my Uber again, and I decided to go sightseeing. We made it to Big Ben. We saw him. He slayed. I came to London, like, literally when I was, like, 16, and I did see all of these landmarks, and I forgot what they all looked like, so it's so much fun to see them all again and appreciate them now that I'm older. Honestly, I don't remember it being so, like, gold and pretty at the top, so it was definitely rewarding to come see it again. To be honest, I don't know what there is to do around here, so I'm just wandering, and my phone's still dead. So, this is the ultimate tourist experience. I might get, like, a little coffee or something and, like, go sit in the grass. Or just keep walking. I might as well get my steps to, like, 20,000. I have stumbled across this area. Don't know where I am. I think that there's a museum behind me, but honestly, I'm just liking this big space. Like, I feel like I haven't been around nothing in a while. Also, guys, I was just thinking to myself, it's crazy how when you are solo traveling, time feels like it's going by forever. Like, not even in a way that I'm not enjoying this, because I definitely am, but in the sense that my brain is so turned on in to not get lost, to look for things to do, to, you know, be on high alert, that it's kind of exhausting. Again, not complaining, but I feel like I've been here for seven weeks, and then this is, like, my second full day, which is insane. I'm having a lot of fun. So far, no pickpocketers. Haven't felt any weird energy on me, which is great, knock on wood. I will also say, even though I don't love the fact that it keeps raining and being sunny, the rain does make everything so beautiful, because everything is so green. One of my favorite ways to travel is honestly to just walk around and get lost, so that's exactly what I did. I walked around for so long this day, went around a beautiful park, saw some beautiful things, again went to another coffee shop and did some journaling, and overall I had just such a good day by myself. Okay, guys, it is much later. I'm so freaking tired. It was a 16,000 step day today, and so that means we ordered food. I was really planning on going out tonight. In fact, I had made dinner plans with one of my friends, but she ended up not being able to pull through because she's moving, which is so understandable. So I was debating if I should just go alone and, you know, get outside my comfort zone, but I think I just need to listen to my body and be like, girl, you're exhausted. You're still a little bit jet-lagged. You've done a lot in the past 48 hours, and sometimes you just need to stay in. Like, I have a problem where I never want to stay in, but gotta do it sometimes. So, let me show you what I got. I honestly don't even know what I really ordered because there's three things here, and I thought I only ordered one thing. We've got like a doner wrap. Wait, I didn't order this. Thank you. Got these little donut bites. That's the stuff. Okay, so I got a Greek doner thing, but it literally has fries on it, which is kind of insane. Low-key, I haven't really been healthy at all this trip, which is super concerning. I low-key wish it was spicy. Oh my god, pop in general just is like so fizzy for me. I'm gonna try the baklava. Did I order too much? I don't know. Okay. Wait, actually, I didn't get that. Never mind, I didn't get the baklava. I got something else with custard in it. I'm not quite tasting anything yet. It's just like pastry with like custard. Anyways, you guys, I'm so exhausted. Oh my god. Literally chill. I'm so exhausted. I might take a shower or something. Tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I'm hanging out with these influencer girlies. I need to text them actually right now, and I might be going to dinner. I'm having so much fun. Honestly, I wish I was in London for longer, and I wish I had someone with me a little bit, even though it's so much fun just exploring yourself, and I feel like I've done a lot of journaling, which has been really nice. It is annoying that you just don't have someone with you. I feel like other than the fact that they are just fun to be around, it does make me feel a lot more safe and confident, and I can get content, so it kind of sucks that I don't have anyone here, but again, the solo time is needed, and solo dates, we got to improve on those. So anyways, talk to you later. We have just gotten to Notting Hill. I feel kind of guilty because I actually haven't seen the movie Notting Hill. The bookstore is right behind me. I also want to get a coffee. I also want to go on, I think it's Lancaster Road, and just like look at all the houses. Those are the ones that we just passed now that were like super colorful, and then yeah, we'll see what we get up to, but there's so many things to like look around and do. I think there's also like a vintage store, like thrift stores that we might check. Guys, I can't stop having croissants. I've had like one a day. I just tried using the app LensBuddy to take photos of myself, and it didn't really work. Maybe there's one I could muster up, but it was pretty bad. I'm not gonna lie. But anyways, I'm walking on Lancaster Road. This is the road full of colorful houses, and so far everything's looking super cute. I'm having a lot of fun strolling around this area by myself. I just asked some girls to take a photo of me. Pretty cute. It was pretty cute. But guys, how cute is this? Who is trying to live with me? I want that pink house. Later on this day, I decided to keep exploring Notting Hill. So there were so many thrift stores to look at. I had so much fun. I wish I could honestly purchase everything, but I do not have enough space in my suitcase. I strolled through the streets. They were so colorful. There were so many little souvenir shops, and I actually picked up a few things for my family. But I just kind of enjoyed looking around and getting to know the neighborhood. Not only did I spend my time in Notting Hill, but I also went down Portobello Road, which is a beautiful road with lots of little shops and colorful homes. It was honestly just such a fun day. Later on, I decided to Uber to Daunt Books, which is a bookstore that is viral on TikTok because it is so beautiful on the inside. I had so much fun looking around and just enjoying this beautiful third space. Honestly, if this was back home, I would spend a lot of time here. Okay, you guys. A little bit of an update. Today was such a fun day. I started off the day, you guys saw, I was in Notting Hill all morning. It was so beautiful. I'm obsessed. And then I went to a different area. I don't remember the name of it. I'm going to put it up on the screen. It's so adorable. Low-key, I want to go there again because I feel like I didn't get to explore it enough. I went to this bookstore called Daunt Books or something. I saw it all over TikTok. It's a super cute store. It looks so aesthetic, so you can take really nice photos in there. And then I went to a coffee shop called Hagen, and I think it's supposed to be a really popular one. And honestly, the coffee was really good. I got it sweetened with honey, and it was delicious, and I didn't need extra sweetener. And then I met up with this girl named Chloe. She's an influencer, and she was so much fun. She was so cute. We went to go eat at this Mexican restaurant. We went shopping for a bit in Soho, and then we got a matcha at Blank Street. I've literally had Blank Street like four times this trip. My camera died, so that was my cue to stop vlogging. But I've had such a good day, and now I'm going to come back home. I actually have some meetings, which is really scary because it's actually 9 a.m. at home. Going to do some work. We've got to rest before we have a busy night. Hello, you guys. It's obviously been a couple hours. I showered. I blow-dried my hair. I did my makeup. I got dressed. Not sure if I'm going to wear this outfit, but we had an issue arise. I was going to go to dinner tonight with my friend, Leanna. She was actually from Vancouver, but she moved to London, so I was like, this is perfect. Let's hang out. Something came up. She had to cancel, but I decided to keep getting ready because I might as well still go out. It's my last night in London. I've been wanting to go on a little solo date. I was trying to do that yesterday, and that didn't happen, obviously. So I think I'm just going to still get ready and go for dinner. The only thing is that it's really late. It's 9-11, but if I can leave and maybe get there by 10 p.m. wherever I'm going, I feel like that should be fine. It's going to have to be a quick dinner. I'm down to get a drink. I don't know. I'm down to just see how the night goes. As I straighten my hair, let me just tell you about my trip so far. I have been having such a good time. Honestly, I never really considered London a place that I would ever even move to, let alone travel to. I don't know. I just never think of London, but I feel like I heard other people really hype up London, and I had been here once before, but it was a very short time. It was like two days. So I just... I don't know. I guess maybe I forgot what the hype was all about. I kind of felt like it was New York, but not really New York. I don't know. Anyways, now that I'm here and I got to explore more neighborhoods, which I feel like is more my vibe, just getting to know the whole city and surrounding little neighborhoods was more fun to me than just seeing, obviously, the touristy attractions. So now that I've done that, low-key, I could see myself living here. That would be really cool because it's so close to everything else. Maybe even moving here for six months. If I really wanted to be crazy with my life and really be the own designer of my life, I could wait until my lease ends in May, do a Euro summer, live here in the summer, and then... I was going to say move to New York in the fall. That might be a nightmare, just doing that many changes in a short amount of time. I do really like it here, and so far, I've made quite a few friends or deepened my friendships with some people. That's definitely up my alley and what I love to do. As you saw yesterday or two days ago, I hung out with Flo. I think Florence is her full name, actually, but her Instagram is glambyflo. She was so sweet, so nice. I really vibed with her. Again, I feel like if I moved here, she would be someone that I would be really good friends with. As well as today, I hung out with Chloe. She was so sweet. I just loved her. I feel like we both got along really well. It was kind of sad saying goodbye to anyone, honestly, because it's like, oh, hope to see you soon. I literally live in a different continent, but I feel like I'm always traveling, and so I really like to keep my friendships close to me. Even though that was a little friend date, I'm like, we can keep this going. I just need to come next time. It also gives me incentive to come again. Honestly, that's one thing I love about traveling. You make friends all around the world, and I feel like you get better at detachment in the sense that it's okay to have friends that you just meet, that you meet randomly and that you see a few times a year. There's some people that I'm friends with that I feel like I see them once a year, and I would still consider them my friends. I just like having a big worldwide network. If that's something that you can do, like even solo traveling, I would highly recommend it because it is so fun to be able to go to a new country and just have people that you already know that live there. The restaurant that I want to go to tonight is one that she actually recommended, and it's called Henry's or something. It's an Italian restaurant, and I usually don't eat Italian food because I feel like it makes my stomach hurt, but in Europe, that doesn't tend to happen. I hope I like it. I hope I get a spot to sit at. I'm going to have to sit at the bar or something, which I don't mind. As much as self-care in London sounds like a phenomenal idea, at the end of the day, she is. What's the opposite of a home body? An outside body? That sounds horrifying. I'm an outside body, and so I will be getting ready, and I'm going to go out alone tonight. I have no clue what the vibe is on a Monday night. For one, I hope that there's a spot for me. For two, I really hope it's not dead because I can't tell if a Monday would be dead or alive in London. As much as self-care... Okay, this is my current debate for my solo date. Do I bring a book? See, the thing is, my phone is about to die, so it's not like if I'm there and I'm uncomfortable, I can play on my phone. It's like, no, I'm going to be staring at the wall. So I'm like, okay, I can bring a book. The thought of just reading a book and then people being like, what are you reading? But at the same time, I have nothing to do. Okay, you guys, I'm officially going to leave now. I'm kind of nervous. I'm really nervous. I don't even have space to bring my camera, so I might just have to film on my phone. But let's hope this goes well.