Europe 2018 {Day One~London}

I'm just back from a little over a week in Europe. This time my trip was split between London (aka: my favorite place on earth) and Amsterdam, with a day trip to Bruges, Belgium. I started the trip in London. I flew out on Tuesday, July 10th and my flight was delayed due to a thunderstorm over DFW Airport. I was flying to Iceland and then connecting to London, but unfortunately it looked like I was going to miss my connection to London. I spent the first 7.5 hours of my trip in a bit of a panic, but once we landed in Iceland, they had actually held most of the connecting flights to elsewhere in Europe. Whew! That was a huge relief. I landed in London a bit later than I had planned, but still had big plans for the day.

Before I dive into my day, it ended up being a huge coincidence, but I landed in London exactly 22 years to the day that I first arrived in London.

Me {July 11, 1996}

My phone booth photo 22 years later!

Now back to this trip...First up was to get to the hotel, check in, and get cleaned up. I chose to stay at the same hotel I had 4 years ago because I liked the hotel a lot, but loved the location (more on that later). I took the Gatwick Express into Victoria Station, and thought it would be easier to just take a taxi to the hotel (I don't love dealing with luggage on the subway).

Once I cleaned up and had a bite to eat, I headed out to "my shops". My shops include Fortnum & Mason, Cath Kidston, Liberty of London, and Carnaby Street (less about shopping than looking at their decorations). These are located in the Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, and Regent Street areas of London.

F&M had lots of summer related window decorations

I got a new tea to try and a piece of nougat and moved on, but I was tempted to try some honey. Who wouldn't be tempted by this display?

Cath Kidston is a store where I just want one of everything. One thing I specifically went for was a case for my new iPad mini, and lucky me, they were on sale!

I only drink tea out of my CK mugs, and I wanted this one that came out this spring to celebrate CK's birthday...

Regent Street had taken down the Union Jack banners that had been hanging in May and June, but they had been replaced with colorful banners. These were commissioned street flags by artists to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Academy of Arts...

Carnaby never disappoints if you are looking for a lively setting...

My last stop was a stroll through Liberty...

I headed up to St. Pancras/King's Cross Train Station to do a little Christmas Shopping for the Potter fans on my list. While I've been to St. Pancras a couple of times, I've never ventured outside to admire it...

Outside King's Cross entrance, they were having a little culinary market, so I grabbed a cookie for dessert and a pastry for breakfast the next morning. Then I headed in to find the Platform 9 3/4 and store...

This store was so darn crowded. Having never seen HP or read HP, I was just grabbing the things I had scouted online before I left.

For dinner, I stopped in the Pret a Manger at the end of my street for a Chicken sandwich and crisps. This is one of my favorite meals ever, so I ate in bed while watching England play in the World Cup semi-finals.

(psst: this pic is from my instastories, and you can check out more pics and lots of videos over on my instagram account. I've saved the instastories from this trip to my highlights @legallyblondekf)

The hotel I stayed at was Hotel Indigo London-Kensington. It was still a good hotel, but they were having AC issues. I allegedly got a room with AC, but it wasn't working great. The location is still amazing and it takes less than a minute to walk from the hotel steps to Earl's Court Station...