London Haul

Despite what little time we had, I did manage to do a little bit of shopping…

From Artbox in Covent Garden I picked up a Harro Panda tote bag (it was a tough choice between this and the Nyan Poop bag >.<), a Summiko Gurrashi notebook and a A4 Shima and Shima exercise book. I really like to collect cute notebooks! I also bought some snacks: Lotte Koala March Shibuya Honey Toast and some Puccho candy – melon and grapefruit flavour.

In Chinatown, I visited a supermarket called Oriental Delight. It opened half an hour after opening time, but there is a lot of snacks inside. I have started to like Matcha Latte and I am looking for a good instant version I can make at home. The Gold Kili version tastes nice but it is a little too much on the sweet side. My boyfriend really likes Lipton Milk Tea and it is really hard to find it in the UK, so when I saw it in the window I had to buy it! This comes in a multipack of 20 sachets, so it should keep him happy for a while! I can’t remember the name but there is a small shop with lots of cheap Chinese items. I saw this Hello Kitty coin bank which is on offer at £1.

Speaking of Hello Kitty, this is my Cutter and Squidge haul. I picked up some leaflets about the afternoon tea and the cakes that they do. The ribbon is what they used to tie the cutlery together, and I think it looks really cute! At the top I have the menu, and you get a free sheet of stickers with the afternoon tea. I also bought some badges (two I gave to my sister) and a Hello Kitty mug from the shop.

Last but not least, these are things from the Strand Palace Hotel I took away. There is some stationery, Zanyah toiletries, a free shower cap, Border biscuits, Nescafe coffee sachets and English Tea Shop teabags. In reception, they have a selection of newspapers and magazines which are up to date. I took Look (a favourite of mine), Harper’s Bazaar and Tatler.

London Part 1: Arrival at the Strand Palace Hotel

A few weeks ago, my sister and I went to visit London for two days as a graduation/birthday celebration. London can be very expensive to visit and stay. Whilst searching for somewhere to stay, I came across Strand Palace Hotel, a four star hotel situated in the heart of London, just opposite the Savoy Theatre. Early advance booking for a twin room came to £355 for two nights. I used http://www.booking.com to book the room, an easy way to sort out our accommodation during our stay. After booking and paying for the room, I later found out that if you book direct from the hotel’s website, they would offer a free bottle of Prosecco and a £15 voucher to use in their restaurants and bar. Ah…

We arrived early afternoon to check in. We had the good fortune(!) at visiting London during the hottest days of the year so it was so good to enter the air conditioned reception area. Inside the hotel looks amazing – there are also shops, restaurants and bars on the lower level of the hotel.

In reception area we waited to check in. There is a lounge area for sitting with free newspapers and magazines, and there are free apples at reception desk!

When booking, I requested a quiet room for sleeping. We were allocated a room on the sixth floor towards the back of the hotel. The room itself was quite small but very clean. It has most facilities that I would wish for – body lotion, soap, shampoo, shower gel, towels, kettle, tea, coffee, biscuits, bottled mineral water. In the bedside table are a few magazines, a phone, pen and paper. My biggest complaint is the lack of air conditioning in the rooms. As I mentioned, we visited at a very hot time. There is a fan supplied in the wardrobe but it is very noisy to have on when we are sleeping. The alternative was to open the window, and I did notice a humming from outside (a generator?) which made it harder to get to sleep. I would have expected that a four star hotel would have no problems with such a thing, and it appears to be a common complaint on TripAdvisor. The manager did reply to say that the only rooms with have air conditioning are the executive rooms, but they are planning to install air conditioning in all of the rooms. There is an expected heatwave coming, so lets hope that this is done soon for the visitors’ sake!

I think I would like to come back to this hotel if I were to visit London when it was cooler. As it stands, Strand Palace Hotel has much to offer – great service, great location, fantastic facilities and relatively inexpensive when compared to other hotels in central London. If and when air conditioning is installed in all rooms, I would consider a summer visit!

Magazines, toiletries, tea and coffee can be found at the Strand Palace Hotel