So in addition to being hit with a little culture shock (the accents), I chose to go completely out of my comfort zone and stay in hostels. Hostels aren’t really a thing in North America (we have them, but most people choose to stay in hotels), and I’m more of a five-star hotel kind of girl, but since it’s Europe, you do as they do, and stay in hostels. Plus, I feel like that’s just what 20-somethings do… and then there’s the fact that it’s also way more affordable compared to hotels (especially the cities I went to, which are huge tourist destinations, so things tend to be a bit more pricier. Read, expensive as f***).
Since my only experience with hostels was watching the movie Hostel, I didn’t know what to expect. What if people snore? What if someone stole my stuff? Do you get blankets? I had so many questions.
In London, I stayed at The Generator Hostel, which is located at 37 Tavistock Place, a 10-minute walk from King’s Cross/St. Pancreas station. Generator Hostels is a boutique hostel chain with eight locations throughout Europe (to me, it was like the W Hotel of the hostel world, a bold statement I know, but seriously, this ain’t your typical hostel). I believe that it is one of the more larger hostels in the city and definitely one of the most popular.
The Generator London is, to sum it up, super trendy. No doubt, it caters to a younger crowd, and was very much my style — tons of art and lots of colour. The just reopened flagship location features six British-themed floors. You can choose to sleep in a dorm with other people (they have various choices, 12, 10, 8, or 6 people in a room, from 12 pounds), or a female-only dorm (8, 10, or 12 beds). If you want more privacy or have multiple people travelling with you, you can choose a private room (single, double, triple or quad). The private rooms tend to be a bit more money but are worth it if you have a group. I stayed in a private double on my first night, which had a bunk bed in it, a desk, and a sink and mirror. It was a small room, but honestly, the only time you are in your room is just to sleep.
That room goes for 95 pounds, which is a lot considering that it didn’t have a bathroom in it. The Generator was the only hostel I stayed in on my entire trip that didn’t have a bathroom in the room. The toilets and shower were located down the hall, about a 30-second walk. Not a big deal, but considering that the room is close to a hundred pounds, I would expect at least a toilet in the room. There are rooms with private washrooms available, I just didn’t stay in one. I also want to note that although I did find that expensive, the accommodations in London are very pricey. A hotel room will set you back at least 100 pounds a night.
The next night I spent in an eight person dorm. Basically it’s just a large room with a bunch of bunk beds. The bunk beds were very modern looking, not your typical run-of-the-mill bunkbed with squeaky coils. You get linens for both private and dorm (two sheets, a pillow, a pillow case and a blanket), in the privates you also get towels (they are extra for the dorms). The dorms also have lockers under the beds, which weren’t big enough for my suitcase, so I just stored random things in there and kept my suitcase locked beside my bed. The beds were comfortable, but the only thing I didn’t like was that there weren’t plugs in every bed. If I wanted to charge my phone, I had to charge it across the room and share with seven other people, but since there weren’t enough plugs, plus I didn’t want to run and get up when my alarm went off in the morning, I just chose to not charge it (luckily I didn’t use my phone that often because I could only use it on WiFi).
For the final two nights, my two friends and I shared a triple room, which had a twin bed and a bunkbed. I actually liked that room the most as it was a good size. It ended up costing us 34.50 pounds each per night. Again though, the toilets and showers were a bit of a walk away from the room. With that being said, the shower facilities were awesome (great water pressure) and even the bathrooms were really nice and modern.
The Generator London also has the option of paying for a buffet breakfast for 4.50 pounds. I got the breakfast the first morning, but honestly, for what you get, I wouldn’t say it’s worth it. It was typical hostel food – baguettes, cheese, meat, yogurt, granola, cereal, coffee, juice, oatmeal. It does the trick, but it’s not the best selection (with that being said, I’m used to American continental breakfast, which gives you more offerings).
For those who like being social (you’re staying in a hostel, it comes with the territory), there is a bar on-site, which had great drink specials every night from 5 to 9 p.m. (read: cheap beer), as well as a live DJ on some nights and a pool table if that’s your ‘thang. It was a great place to chat with other travellers, play pool, and just all-around meet people. There is also a chill-out room where you can play a game of chess or lounge around, a movie room that showed at least two different movies a night, a café, a laundry room, a luggage room (you have to pay to store your bags, buy a half day or full day), and a travel shop where you can buy passes for some of the major tourist attractions. I actually bought my Tower of London ticket and London Eye ticket here. I got a cheaper rate through The Generator on the Tower of London (they also offer student rates, so bring your student card! I’m not a student anymore but my student card doesn’t have an expiry date, thanks University of Winnipeg!) and they just give you a voucher which you give to the people at the attraction you are at. The hostel also has free WiFi (a must in my books!) and was very safe at night as you had to show the security guy your card if you arrived after the sun went down.
The pink, royal-themed bathrooms in the hostel bar.
Overall, I loved this hostel. Considering it was the very first hostel I had ever stayed at, it blew my expectations out of the water. The Generator also has locations in Barcelona (including a hotel as well), two in Berlin, Venice, Dublin, Copenhagen, and Hamburg. They are also opening locations in both Rome and Paris soon (both cities I visited, le sigh…). You can book a room online through their official site or through Hostel World. Also, keep an eye on their Facebook page as they sometimes offer promotional deals.
Have you stayed at The Generator London? What were your thoughts?
Please note, I was offered one night complementary, plus breakfast, in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
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So it’s been a long two weeks because I’ve been across the pond, visiting Europe. A friend of mine lives just outside London, in Peterborough, UK, so I figured it was a good a time as any to visit jolly ol’ England!
Since I get two weeks of holidays at work, and the fact that I’ve been saving up my credit card travel points, I took the full two weeks and spent four nights in London, three nights in Rome, two in Florence, two in Paris, and then the rest with my friends in Peterborough (about an hour train ride outside London).
Out of all the places I went to, I have to say that London was my favourite. I arrived on Wednesday, March 12, and right away hit up the Tower of London, which is one of the main tourist destinations. You can follow a guide, or choose to explore on your own, but you learn a lot about history and you even get to see the Crown Jewels. Right behind the Tower of London is the “London Bridge”, which is actually called Tower Bridge, but for some reason got a different nickname…
Other touristy things I hit up were the London Eye, Westminster Abbey (which was closed to the public when I was there because it was David Foster’s memorial, so I didn’t get to go in), Abbey Road, Picadilly Circus (basically like a smaller Time’s Square), Oxford Street, Covent Garden, the National Gallery and Trafalger Square, all the major department stores (Harrod’s, Harvey Nichols, Selfridge’s), and of course, Buckingham Palace and the parks around it (St. James Park and Green Park, which are both lovely to walk around in, especially since the weather was so nice when I was there). My friends and I also went to see The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London’s West End. If you are interested in seeing the musical, buy your tickets well ahead of time and I honestly recommend the cheap seats. We were three rows from the back but the theatre is quite small, so we saw everything perfectly. Our tickets cost around 42 pounds each.
Okay, so the things to know about London. Yes, it is expensive. A meal will set you back at least eight pounds, and that’s on the cheaper end. Everything I saw was in the 10 pound range. To put it in perspective, a 10 pound meal is $18.50 Canadian, $16.50 USD. It ain’t cheap. I got a meal in Peterborough for just shy of five pounds, and that was a chicken burger, fries, and a drink. Rather than eat out for every meal, I chose to just carry around protein bars, or go to Pret A Manger, a chain restaurant that serves sandwiches, pastries, etc. – there’s one literally on every block – and pick something up and then eat it in a random square or a park. The chain restaurants there are weird, as there are two different prices, one for eat in, which is more expensive, and then the take-out price, which is cheaper. Also, it seemed that every big store I went to had a food market, so it was easy to find food, but be prepared to budget for the day.
As for getting around London, it’s super easy. I’m not that great at directions, but seriously, London’s transportation system is seriously the easiest thing ever. First things first, if you arrive in London Heathrow, you can easily catch the Picadilly line to King’s Cross (yes, that King’s Cross from Harry Potter), at King’s Cross you can catch a different line to your destination. For taking public transportation, get an Oyster card, which will set you back five pounds for the card alone, plus any amount of money you put on it. With the Oyster card, it gives you a cheaper rate than the standard fare. You just flash it on the terminal and then when you leave, you flash it again and then it determines how much to charge you (they charge based on zones). If you forget to “tap out” as they call it, they charge 8.50 pounds. The Metro, or the Tube as they call it, is slightly more than the buses, but both of them are everywhere and they are quick, both in terms of how fast they come (the Picadilly line comes like every three minutes) and the amount of time it takes to get somewhere.
Now the best part, the shopping! The shopping in the UK was the best compared to the other countries I visited (France and Italy). But with that being said, the pound is a lot more than the euro, so the things you buy aren’t cheap (it’s close to double the Canadian dollar when you convert it). Oxford Street is the major shopping destination, with all the major stores (H&M, New Look, Primark, Zara, Selfridges, Top Shop, etc.). We have a lot of those stores already in Canada, so I was most excited to hit up the retailers we don’t have back at home, like Primark and New Look. Okay, so I always thought Primark was like Forever 21, but I would say New Look would be the closest. The Primark on Oxford Street is the largest one I believe, but it’s like a mad house. Seriously, there were clothes and people everywhere. So much so, that you couldn’t move and I stepped on clothes on more than one occasion. The store also have bottom of the barrel prices. I’m telling you, that stuff is cheap. With that being said, it wasn’t the nicest stuff. A lot of plain or basic items, or shirts that said the most random things on them (I saw a shirt that said Minneapolis on it. Like really, Primark… Minneapolis?). I got a jumper for a pound, a necklace for five pounds, a sport’s bra for four pounds, and a bathing suit for four pounds. It’s like sweatshop stuff. If I had to compare it to a store in Canada, I would say it’s like Urban Planet. They also had a home section and a travel section, you could basically buy anything in there. Truth be told, my favourite store was River Island, which had super trendy items for middle-range prices. It was also the only store I came across where I found a T-shirt that said “London” on it (everywhere had Paris or New York). They have really cute clothes but the prices were similar to H&M, although a tad more pricier.
Now since I’m a beauty blogger, I had to hit up Boots and Superdrug. Both those stores are like Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, or CVS or Walgreens in the States. They do have brands we have in North America like L’Oreal or Maybelline (although they had products I’ve never seen before), but I was most excited to finally buy some Sleek products. I ended up buying the Storm I-Divine eyeshadow palette, the Contour palette in light, and the eyebrow kit, all of which I love! Sleek is available at select Boots (I only saw it at the one on Oxford Street), but you can also find it at Superdrug. Both stores had promos going on, so I actually got three items but only paid for two because of a promo at Boots. There were a lot of brands at the drugstore we don’t have back home in Canada, like Barry M, Models Own, Seventeen, and more, but at this point, I don’t really need anymore makeup, so I chose to really be selective in what I bought.
Finally, one of the highlights for me was visiting the Ministry of Sound, which is one of the top nightclubs in the world and an institution for electronic dance music. In addition to the club, which opened in 1991, they also have a record label, clothing line, and much more. I have downloaded The Annual every year since 2007, which is their compilation CD which has all the major and biggest dance hits before they become hits. They are like the authority in dance music. I contacted the club a couple weeks before coming and the GM Jason hooked us up. We got in for free, got VIP wristbands, and the night we were there, Tommy Trash was playing (Reload, Sunrise – YouTube them). It was amazing and something I could check off the Bucketlist. The Ministry of Sound was located just a stone’s throw from the Elephant & Castle tube stop, which took about 20 minutes to get to from our hostel. The club closes quite late (like 5 or 6 a.m.), but we ended up leaving around 3:30-4 a.m., right after Tommy Trash closed his set. Watch the vid below, I’m at the 1:35 mark ;).
Overall, I absolutely loved London, and can’t wait to come back. It’s definitely a large, bustling city with tons to do and see. Truth be told, I did find it to be very North Americanized, but that might be why I loved it the most.
Enjoy the photos!
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If there is one product I can’t live without, it’s foundation. I have nice skin as it is, but a good foundation just makes everything seem flawless and perfect. There will be days I go sans face makeup, but if there is one thing I apply, it’s some sort of coverage, whether it’s a BB cream or foundation.
I used to be a huge snob when it comes to foundation, but ever since I tried CoverGirl’s Stay Fabulous, it opened the flood gates for drugstore brands. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation, but ever since I ran out of it, I’ve been using my Stay Fab instead.
Stay Fab is definitely a full-coverage foundation, perfect for a night out. Although I love a full-coverage face, I like wearing something a little lighter during the day. Recently, CoverGirl updated and repackaged the TruBlend line to include 14 shades that match 98 per cent of all skin tones in Canada. TruBlend Foundation is a water-based formula that blends into the skin for a more forgiving coverage, even if you choose the wrong shade. As a result, your skin looks natural and seamless and provides flexibility for slight changes in skin tone throughout the season.
TruBlend is definitely a lighter foundation than Stay Fab, it’s billed as light to medium coverage, but it is buildable. It’s also thinner than Stay Fab, no doubt because of the fact it’s water based. I have it in the shade L4 (this was the lightest one they had at Wal-Mart that wasn’t sold out) and find it’s a perfect fit for my skin. I do want to note that I was surprised on how nice it made my skin look. I have some redness in my face but nothing major, this did leave me with a flawless face.
I do think this is a perfect daytime foundation, great for everyday. It makes my skin look flawless when it’s applied, however, after a few hours, it does start to wear away. For instance, I’ll apply it at 8 a.m. and then at 4 p.m. when work is over, it’s quite patchy. It’s not a huge deal to me, but if you want a long-wearing foundation, this isn’t it.
I do want to add that CoverGirl also released their TruBlend Fixstick Concealer, which is a pencil concealer available in a few different shades. You can either reference your foundation shade to find your perfect colour, or customize for the look you are going for (example, get the lightest if you have medium skin to brighten the eye area). The concealer covers dark spots and circles and is quite creamy. It does have that plastic smell to it, but it’s not a huge deal.
Overall, I do like CoverGirl’s new TruBlend collection. There is also a powder foundation, as well as Perfecting Balms that were also released in the line. For the most part, I have worn this foundation and concealer every day since as I got it, as it’s perfect for work (not too heavy). The only downside I have is that I wish it would last a little longer.
Have you tried CoverGirl’s new TruBlend line? What were your thoughts?
Disclosure: I am a #BeautyUnited blogger. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events. The opinions on this blog are my own.
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So in addition to being hit with a little culture shock (the accents), I chose to go completely out of my comfort zone and stay in hostels. Hostels aren’t really a thing in North America (we have them, but most people choose to stay in hotels), and I’m more of a five-star hotel kind of girl, but since it’s Europe, you do as they do, and stay in hostels. Plus, I feel like that’s just what 20-somethings do… and then there’s the fact that it’s also way more affordable compared to hotels (especially the cities I went to, which are huge tourist destinations, so things tend to be a bit more pricier. Read, expensive as f***).
