A Lady in London

Brighton isn’t the most popular winter travel destination. Nobody sunbathes on the beach in England when temperatures are near freezing. But when VisitBrighton invited me on a press trip to the city in January, I accepted. I was curious to see how the experience would compare to my last trip to Brighton, which took place in much warmer weather.

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There’s nothing I like more than starting a week with a good meal. Since I am the world’s worst cook, I generally leave the food to the experts. Yesterday was no exception. I was invited to have lunch at The Grill at The Dorchester, a London restaurant in the famous luxury hotel on Park Lane that I had heard would more than fit the bill.

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I haven’t traveled much this month. With the exception of short trips to Belfast and the New Forest, I have stayed in London for all of January. Given that I’m usually on the move, cabin fever set in last week. Then I got invited to spend a night at The Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge, and I welcomed the opportunity to staycation in London.

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It’s winter in England. Time to curl up by the fire, take country walks in tweeds and wellies, and enjoy comfort food in cozy dining rooms. While these things can (sort of) be done in London, it is much easier to do them in the countryside. When I got invited to have lunch at The Pig restaurant in the New Forest this week, it seemed like the perfect place for winter pursuits.

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Secret audience. Secret film. Secret locations. Secret worlds. Tell no one.

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When I first moved to London and told people that I lived in Hampstead, they always responded the same way. “Oh! I love West Hampstead!” they would say, even though the neighborhoods are completely different. I didn’t understand why they confused the two. I still don’t. But if everyone loved West Hampstead so much, I needed to find out why.

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My last trip to Belfast was six years ago. I arrived on a train from Dublin, ran through the rain to a cafe, met a friend, then returned to the Republic of Ireland. An hour in total, it wasn’t much of a visit. When I had the opportunity to travel to Belfast again last weekend, I looked forward to getting a proper introduction to the city and a special tour of Belfast’s Titanic sites.

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This is the 500th post on A Lady in London. The previous 499 have covered travel destinations all over the world, and, closer to home, locations throughout the UK. I have written numerous posts about my exploits in England, several about my sojourns in Scotland, and a couple about my weekends in Wales. But in the four-and-a-half years I have been living in London, there is one UK destination that I have not covered in this travel blog: Northern Ireland.

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It has been a year since my last trip to Asia. 12 months since I last immersed myself in cuisine laden with the clean, fresh flavors of cilantro and mango. I was starting to miss those elements in my food, and since I’m the world’s lousiest cook, I’m not exactly qualified to put them together on my own. Enter Nahm.

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It’s the new year. Time for new resolutions, new beginnings, and maybe even a new wardrobe. But where to find inspiration? If you’re me, the answer lies in food. Over the holiday season I was invited to Pret a Portea at The Berkeley hotel in London to enjoy their unique fashionista afternoon tea. The offering featured cakes and cookies designed to resemble the season’s catwalk trends.

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Happy New Year! I spent New Year’s Eve in London this year and rang in 2012 with friends in the UK. Last year I was traveling in Sri Lanka over New Year’s. I took a few video clips of the beaches in Galle, the cultural capital of Kandy, the hill city of Hatton, the lush tea country, and the famous Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, but never got around to putting them online. As such, my new year’s resolution this year was to finally finish putting the Sri Lanka video together. I hope you enjoy it!

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2011 has been a big year of travel for me. While I didn’t set any specific goals for the year like my 2008 goal to visit 25 countries or my 2010 goal to visit 10 new countries, I did start my 90 under 30 Travel Project. I also managed to make it to quite a few places. Here is the recap.

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Four months ago I set myself an ambitious travel goal: to visit 90 countries before my 30th birthday. Since I announced the 90 under 30 Travel Project, I have worked my way up to 82 countries and have four more months to visit the remaining eight.

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After five winters in London, I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t spent a single Christmas in the UK. My first one was a sunny Christmas in Sydney. My second was celebrated in a tented camp in Etosha National Park in Namibia. My third took place in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and my fourth in Singapore. After experiencing Christmas all over the world, I stayed in London this year to discover the British Christmas traditions that I had been missing out on.

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I love Advent calendars. There’s nothing more exciting than cheap chocolate in plastic trays behind flimsy cardboard windows with tacky decorations on them.

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