London Baby! Solo flight, Harry Potter Studios, Sophie Tea Art showrooms and more

Hello and welcome back to the blog. 

Where do I start, March was a busy month and always is for me, it starts with my grandmother's birthday, then my own, then my brothers on St.patricks day, and usually ends with mothers day, so there's lots of celebrating in my family in March. But this year I also went to London for the long bank holiday weekend that's the Irish government gave us this year. With things getting back to normal after a long two years of COVID 19, lock down's and being too careful. It was nice to finally book my first flight after four years, my last flight was to Paris in 2018, four years ago! I was excited to hear the pilot say “ Welcome aboard,  this Aer Lingus flight..” and to watch the flight attendants do their safety routines and just look down onto the clouds. 

Also, this was my first solo flight too, yea I know Stephanie you are 31 years of age how have I not been on a flight by yourself? well I haven't, I have always had someone travelling with me. I was so anxious about this trip, so nervous about doing it by myself. But at the start of the year, I set the challenge for myself to get over that fear, and I’m so happy I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. Because I enjoyed the whole trip. So if you are still a bit nervous or anxious about travelling after the pandemic, don't worry you are not alone, and it can be done safely. I felt very safe with Aer Lingus, we all had to wear a mask on the flight, plus they also recommended downloading the “Verifly” App. This is an app that is up to date with all the COVID restrictions for each country, it will tell you what you need to enter the country, you can upload any PSR tests, vaccination certificates etc, so you can then fly through the que’s in the airports. Instead of trying to search through each country's government COVID guidelines, just download the app and it tells you everything you need to do. So handy! 

So what did I do in London? Well, the Harry Potter studios at warner brothers was the main event for me. Being a big Harry Potter fan, visiting the studios has been on my bucket list for a long time. It was literally like walking into Hogwarts, seeing the sets, costumes, behind the scenes, even trying a butterbeer. Which I still can't compare to anything else, so I can't tell what it tastes like your just going to have to try it for yourself. As an adult growing up watching the Harry Potter movies I appreciated the behind the scene magic and how they created the magical world. But warning if you are bringing kids, it can be a little disheartening as they do show demonstrations of film tricks of the magic, but you can always avoid those demonstrations, and move on with the tour at your own pace. Greengots bank and the Hogwarts castle would have to be my favourite part, oh but bowing to buckbeak was cool Or boarding Hogwarts express on platform 9.3/4. Well, just all of it. There is so much to see and do! You can watch my Instagram reel to see all of my favourite parts, but I'm giving you a spoiler warning now. 

After all the excitement of Harry Potter, the next day I walked like a tourist to all the hot spots in London. Big Ben, the London eye, hyde park, the royal Albert theatre, even visited the Queen. It was such a beautiful day, we saw everything and anything in between. One place I did want to visit was the Sophie Tea Art Gallery in Carnaby Street, to view the artwork and the artist's journey which inspired me to start my art journey. I was so glad I did as I found out after it was the last weekend before she left Carnaby street for good. So very grateful I saw it and didn't miss out and I wasn't disappointed, this fun, colourful, 90’s vibing, women empowering instagramable showroom brought so much vibrancy to the street, I'm sure they will be missed. 

That wraps up my London trip, short but very sweet. I also celebrated my 31st birthday with dinner and cocktails with the girls on my first night “out out” in a pink suit that I have had my eye on for some time. We watched the local Paddys day parade after two cancelled years, which was quite emotional, but so nice to see smiles again, catching up with people, and feeling somewhat normal. 

Cheers to that, and to finally making plans again, I have itchy feet now and want to book my next trip abroad. Where should I go next? 

Before I go here are some travel tips, my honest recommendations, there is no sponsorship or anything of the sort. 

London Travel Tips:

COVID travel App - Verifly 

Evan & Evan Tours - Harry Potter plus transfer bus to and from London. 

Study the tube system, if it is your first time, so much cheaper and quicker to get around. Also, you can tap your bank card instead of buying trains tickets. I tapped my revolut card, which you can also exchange your money for British pounds for the best rate at any time. 

Well, that was a short version of my very busy March, I enjoyed it. But looking forward to a more quiet month, I have a few projects I am working on, which I will spill the beans in due course. But hopefully finish April with a bang at the Histyle Beauty Awards, as myself and the team at Denise's beauty & skin clinic are nominated for 8 awards. So be sure to follow my socials to see how we get on. 

Thank for coming back to Miss Styler's Blog

See you next month

Stephanie xx