£100 + A Babysitter | The World is My Oyster.
A few weeks ago, my friend Natalie invited me to go out on a girls day. I was excited because I never get to see my friend Natalie. When I found out that Travelex was giving her/us £100 to spend on a "perfect London day," well... duh, I was even more excited. £100 to spend with a friend around London? Obviously, I jumped at the chance. After all, I'm only human/desperate housewife.
No official day out in London would be complete without terrible weather, and yucky, cold weather was just what was on the menu for our day out. We started the day with a quick visit to Selfridges to pick up our Currency Card from the Travelex desk. (My first time to use these, but maybe a new favorite recommendation for traveling- protected debit card with your choice of currency at the best rate and only a small service fee. More info here, if you're interested.) Then off we went down Regent Street to...
Burberry. I mean, we only had £100, so it wasn't really our day to cash in on a classic trench, but we did get to feel fancy eating in Burberry's cool new restaurant, Thomas's. We had buttermilk pancakes with a slab of honeycomb and rhubarb compote, eggs & soldiers and "perfectly cut grapefruit" (which was hilariously emphasized everytime it was mentioned by the waitstaff.)
It was really fun being there, but I can't say it's a must-do for your trip to London. The food was mediocre, the hostesses were really good at rolling their eyes and the whole concept kinda felt like someone had thrown some tables in the middle of a department store. (Just trying to be honest for anyone that was as eager as I to try it out.)
But the coffee was good and so was the company, so we put the tab on our little Travelex card and left happy.
We wandered down Regents Street and waxed poetically about how much we love this cool city.
Then we trotted down through Piccadilly Circus and down to Trafalgar to the National Gallery. In case you haven't noticed from my Instagram, I spend a lot of time in museums in London.
Between work/school/kids/private guiding- I'd say that I average at least one visit a week, but I hardly get to the National Gallery. It was a nice treat to spend a rainy morning walking around it and just absorbing the buzz of people seeing it for the first time.
After we had our fix on Turner, we headed off for our final destination.
Cheap massages! I looked up spa after spa, but couldn't find anything that would fit our budget... so Natalie dug up a little hole in the wall off Leicester Square, Sensé Spa. Hilariously dingy, but super cheap and actually felt amazing. (Though kinda cold, since I was in a basement and the space heater was only working at half capacity. ha!)
And what girls day would be complete without a cheesy faux-candid shot overlook Trafalgar Square? None, I dare say.
Anyway, it was a great day out- Selfridges, Burberry, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar, National Gallery, Sleazy Massage Parlous... Doesn't get more London than that! If anyone else wants to invite me to toot around London (or Paris! or New York! I'm not picky!) with free money to spend, just know I'm game.
Now it's your turn...
How would you spend a £100 in London?
*images original to aspiring kennedy