A Lady in London

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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Most people travel to Innsbruck for the skiing. The city’s airport is famous for being located just 10 minutes from the slopes and close to some of the best skiing in Austria. But there are things to do in Innsbruck in the wintertime that don’t involve skis, and I was excited to discover them when I visited on Sunday.

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After a week in sunny Brazil, I returned to the UK with just a week and a half to go until Christmas. I was ready to get back into the winter spirit, complete with snow. Lucky for me, I had been invited to fly on easyJet’s inaugural flight from London Luton Airport to Salzburg, Austria.

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Rio de Janeiro reminded me of somewhere. The only problem was that I couldn’t decide exactly where that somewhere was. Every part of the city was reminiscent of another place to which I had traveled, whether it was in Asia, Europe, the USA or elsewhere. This was particularly evident on the second day of my Rio de Janeiro tour in Brazil, when I had a chance to explore some of the city’s diverse neighborhoods.

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“Rio de Janeiro is like a chocolate cake. Once you have a bite, you’re going to want more.” These were the words of my guide, Ana, who showed me the highlights of the famous city on a two-day tour of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Salvador is sensory overload. The coastal city in northern Brazil is bursting with color, music, and flavor. And that’s to say nothing of history and culture. The annual Carnival in Salvador attracts visitors from every corner of the globe, but even outside of the festival season the city overflows with life.

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Bahia is beautiful. Miles of coastline mean big, bright beaches and rich marine life, and the region’s natural endowments lure visitors from all over the world.

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Rio de Janeiro is called the Marvelous City. The name is appropriate for a land that switches seamlessly between urban chaos, golden beaches, and forest green mountains. In all my travels I have never seen a city with such geographic diversity, and when I arrived in Brazil I wanted to explore each facet of marvelousness thoroughly. As such, I started with a day on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

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I haven’t learned much about the British lawmaking process in my four years of living in London. As an immigrant, I don’t even have the right to vote in the UK. So when I was invited on a private tour of the Houses of Parliament this week, it was my curiosity about the history of the place rather than my interest in the legislative process that prompted me to accept the invitation.

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Afternoon tea is one of my favorite English traditions. The tiered trays of tiny cakes, the warmth and comfort of a steaming cup of tea, and the serene ambiance of tradition always make for an enjoyable experience. London takes afternoon tea very seriously, with venues across the city coming up with creative themes and menus. One variation that was recently launched by The Halkin hotel in Belgravia is a new Couture Chocolate Afternoon Tea in London.

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When my flight landed at Dusseldorf airport the border agent asked me why I was visiting Germany. “The Christmas markets in Cologne,” I told him. “Ugh. Why do all you foreigners like them so much?” he asked. I was nervous. The seven Christmas markets in Cologne were famous all over the world, and yet the first person I met when I arrived suggested they were overrated. Was it true? Had I flown all the way to Germany to be disappointed?

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Most visitors to Cambridge don’t see much of the university’s interior. The colleges are strict about who gets in and out of the gates in order to protect students from massive tourist crowds. As such, I was excited to receive an invitation to attend a few special events at Newnham College at Cambridge University. The chance to get beyond the exterior and experience college life firsthand was a unique one, and I couldn’t wait.

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A few weeks ago I was surprised at how early the Christmas season started in London. But now that Thanksgiving is over, my resistance to all things Christmas is gone. With the days getting impossibly short and the winter chill setting in, I need something to get me through the gray gloom. On Sunday I found just such a thing: the Hampstead Christmas Festival in London.

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