Travel

Beautiful London // Shopaholics’ Dream

Stephanie3 Comments

If you are a true fashionista at heart, look no further than central London. It is not a complete London adventure without going to all the timeless and classic shopping areas around the city. London features luxurious department stores, fabulous markets, iconic shopping destinations and much more. We have sales throughout the year. The big ones are Black Friday and January Sales (starts on Boxing Day and ending on the last day of January.)

Without further ado, I would like to share some of my favourite and popular places to shop at and where to buy your groceries in London.

Oxford Street, Bond Street, and Knightsbridge

Boots, Debenhams, Gap, Harrods, House of Fraser, H&M, John Lewis, Liberty London, Marks and Spencer (M&S), Miss Selfridge, New Look, Next, Primark, River Island, Superdrug, TopShop, Uniqlo, and Zara

(There are A LOT more shops but these are the most popular ones on my list.)

Shopping Centres

Westfield Stratford City

Westfield London (Shepherd Bush)

Markets

Borough Market, Brick Lane Sunday Market, Convent Garden, Camden Market, Piccadilly Market, and Jubilee Market

Grocery Stores

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons,Waitrose

(I will sometimes go to Chinatown in Soho for grocery shopping.)

Travel

Beautiful London // Airports

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It is overwhelming and exciting heading to the airport. It signifies our starting point for our adventures around the world. I love to explore every airport I arrived in. Each airport decorates their departure lounge differently. I been to a few airports within these recent years, but nothing says perfection like arriving back home. Here, in London, we have six major airports. They are scattered all over the place and they are not close to central London. Even though we have six airports throughout our city, I’ve only been to the two biggest airports throughout my life. The main international airport that the majority of the travellers will be arriving or departing from is London Heathrow (LHR).

London Heathrow is situated in the west of London (near Longford). It is Europe busiest airport. I absolutely feel comfortable checking in and greeting the staff members. I usually go through Heathrow when I want to travel ‘across the pond’ to America. I will admit that customer service is spectacular at LHR! All the workers shows kindness and compassion towards the travellers. They are very knowledgeable and approachable. LHR has four terminals (T2,T3,T4, and T5) and it’s the primary hub for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

London Gatwick (LGW) is the second biggest and major airport in London. It is situated in the south in West Sussex. I only go through Gatwick when I’m travelling within Europe. I find the airport difficult to navigate because there are two terminals: North Terminal and South Terminal. There are always a lot of confusion whenever I’m at this particular airport because there are a lot of walkways to the departure gate or long queues at Immigration and Customs. There is not much to say because I try my best to avoid going to Gatwick at all cost.

🛫 Happy Travels!🛬

Travel

Beautiful London // Introduction

Stephanie1 Comment

London holds a special place in my heart. I am fortunate to be born and raised in this beautiful city I call home. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. As a Londoner, I am fascinated that this city attracts a lot of visitors from around the world. There are so much to explore and discover throughout central London. London has a lot to offer from tourism to finding amazing job opportunities.

I will be writing my ‘Beautiful London’ series on my blog and posting it live every week. I will cover many topics throughout November (and maybe December) as well. These are the topics I will talk about:

🔹 Airports

🔹 Attractions

🔹Food Culture

🔹 Shopping

🔹 Public transportations

I hope you come back to my blog every week for my ‘Beautiful London’ series.

Travel

International Travel Essentials

Stephanie

I absolutely love the idea of travelling around the world. It brings me joy to think that we can experience other people’s cultures and explore different countries by travelling via plane. My personal interest and goal in life is to travel around Europe. I find European culture very intriguing and the sceneries extremely breathtaking. I do enjoy packing my hand luggage when it’s time for an adventure. I’m a very organised individual and I like to list everything that I’m packing so I don’t get a panic attack when I arrive at the airport.

These are the essential items I must have:

Pen: I always carry a pen with me because I need to fill out a declaration form when the plane lands at the destination airport.

My passport (and visa): Too obvious! I need to show my passport to airport security officers and customs and immigration officers upon arrival and departure. Our passports are our official documents for travelling. If I travel outside of Europe, I will need to show my visa enabling me to enter that particular country.

Travel Document Wallet: I use my travel wallet to keep my passport and boarding pass secure. It also holds hardcopies of my medical records, doctor’s notes and foreign cash. This wallet is big enough to hold two passports, if you are a dual citizen.

Toiletries Bag: This pink bag is from a brand called: Mia and Luca. The bag has two components. Inside the bag, I will have all my liquids on one side and the other side will have miscellaneous items. All our liquids must be 100ml and is in 1 quart sized bag.

Packing Cubes: I just discovered that using packing cubes are the best way to save space in my hand luggage. My packing cubes are from a company called: Travelon. The entire collection consists of two small sized bags, one medium sized bag, and one large sized bag. I use the small bags for underwear, bras, and socks. The medium and large bag are use for blouses/shirts, trousers, and dresses. I also have a white mesh bag for my dirty laundry.

Universal Adaptor: Wherever I’m going, I will always bring my adapter to charge all my technologies. Every country has their own style of plug outlets. My adapter will work in UK, EU Countries, Russia, Australia, Japan, and the Americas.

Citymapper App: I like to travel via public transportations whenever I arrive at a new city. The app ‘Citymapper’ helps me navigate safety around the new area. It will show you the waiting time for bus and train, where the bus stops are, which bus to take, buses and trains arrival time, and which direction to walk. This app will work in major cities and countries. Throughout Europe, the Americas, and a few Asian countries are some examples. Citymapper is available at the Apple Store and Google Play.

I hope some of my essential items are helpful when you pack on your next adventure.

🛫Happy Travels!!🛬

Health & Beauty

How to Prevent Eczema Flare-ups

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I was talking about skincare products that are helpful for my eczema in my last few posts. Today, I want to tell everyone how to prevent eczema flare-ups because we are approaching mid autumn/winter seasons. An eczema flare-up is simply an over active immune system triggered by a substance inside or outside the body. Flare-ups are uncomfortable because the skin can have extreme itchiness, redness, dryness, and flakes of dead skin. Flare-ups triggers can vary from person to person and can cause the eczema sufferer to change their lifestyle in many ways.

My triggers for my flare-ups are environmental related. Some people often flare in winter because of the dry atmosphere and harsh winds. Ironically, I don’t flare in winter, but my flare-ups are active throughout summer because of the heatwave.
These are the major steps I take to keep my flare-ups at bay throughout the whole year.

🔹Drink 8 glasses of water everyday.

🔹Take short showers (5-10 minutes).

🔹Wear cotton clothing.

🔹 Avoid wool, polyester, synthetic fabrics.

🔹Don’t use fabric softener sheets.

🔹Use skincare products that are non-comedogenic, alcohol free, and have hyaluronic acid in them. (Dove, CeraVe, Neutrogena, Laneige)

Health & Beauty

Affordable Skincare Brand // CeraVe

Stephanie6 Comments

I’ve been struggling throughout my life to find the best and affordable skincare brand products for my eczema-prone skin. Having dry and sensitive (+eczema) skin means I need to find skincare products with hyaluronic acid in them. My dermatologist recommended me to try the CeraVe brand. All CeraVe products (cleansers, body wash, lotions, creams, ointments and much more) are fragrance free, non-comedogenic, non-irritating and are formulated with ceramides and hyaluronic acid.

HA (Hyaluronic acid) are the key molecules that helps us retain water in our skin. It is critical ingredient in our skincare products because it helps maintain skin hydration and is the key to smooth and flawless skin.

According to the CeraVe website, ceramides are lipid molecules that helps form the skin’s barrier and help skin retain moisture. It protects against environmental irritants and pollution.

I use the CeraVe moisturising lotion and cream in the morning and at night. This moisturiser keeps my eczema flare-ups at bay. It has been approved by the National Eczema Association. These two products are multipurpose and can be use all over the body and face. It is not greasy and it last throughout the whole day. It blends in pretty fast, has an extremely lightweight and gentle texture, and it dries quickly on the skin.

This is an amazing drugstore skincare product for everyone. It recently been available in the UK at Boots and it’s widely available in USA.

At Boots, these two products cost £9 for the lotion and £14 for the cream.

I’m not a dermatologist but as an eczema sufferer, I truly recommend this brand. I rate this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Health & Beauty

Bath Products For Eczema

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Creating the perfect bath friendly or shower routine for eczema sufferers can seem a little daunting. Finding a fragrance free product can be difficult for an eczema sufferer. Over the years, I’ve came to terms that I will never find the best beauty bath brand for myself until I finally tried Dove.

Dove is a beauty brand working on making beauty a source of confidence. They provide deodorants, hair care, and skin care products to their customers. It is also cruelty free.

When I go shopping for my bath products, I need to read the labels carefully. As an eczema sufferer, I cannot have any harsh chemicals, alcohol, and fragrances on the soaps and shampoos. Luckily, I found a few products that does not irritate and dry out my skin.

Dove Sensitive Skin Body Wash (1L): This body wash is unscented and hypoallergenic. It is also gentle to use it on the face as well. One pump on the loofah can clean the whole body. My skin feels very soft and smooth after using this body wash. 1L can last eight months.

Dove Anti Dandruff Shampoo: This shampoo have pyrithione zinc formula to eliminate flakes; calms scalp itchiness and dryness. All the shampoos have fragrances, but I buy the one that has the mildest scent. That scent, of course, is the coconut fragrance. A little goes a long way, one squeeze can lather the entire scalp.

Dove Dry Spray Anti-perspirant: This product helps me to stay dry within the summer months. One spray on each of my underarm is enough for the whole day. The anti-perspirant last 48h.

I’m truly grateful that Dove products are effective on my eczema skin.