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[music] [music] [music] Hi guys, welcome back. I am in London now. I'm currently in Hyde Park. I'm just walking back to my hotel at the moment. I thought I would just go ahead and start this vlog off here. I haven't
Join Romney Ellen's cozy autumn vlog in London featuring book shopping, literary tours, museums, cafes, and scenic parks.
Key Takeaways
- Autumn is Romney's favorite time to visit London due to its cozy and beautiful atmosphere.
- Balancing revisiting beloved places with exploring new ones enriches the travel experience.
- Literary and cultural tours provide deeper connections to London's history and art.
- Taking phoneless days helps Romney live in the moment and enjoy her trip fully.
- London offers a diverse range of experiences from parks and cafes to historic estates and museums.
What the video covers
- Romney Ellen starts her autumn vlog in London, sharing her love for the city during this season.
- She explores Hyde Park, Marylebone, and Richmond, highlighting cozy cafes, bookstores, and scenic spots.
- Romney discusses her spontaneous travel style and desire to balance favorite spots with new discoveries.
- She shares a literary walking tour of Bloomsbury focused on female writers like Virginia Woolf.
- Romney reads 'The Penelopiad' by Margaret Atwood in a peaceful London square.
- Visits to the National Gallery and a charming gift shop find are featured.
- She takes a day trip to Richmond, enjoying the bakery, Ham House, and the natural surroundings.
- Romney reflects on the magic of revisiting favorite places versus discovering new ones.
- She highlights her enjoyment of Kensington Gardens and London’s museums.
- The vlog captures a blend of relaxed moments, cultural experiences, and personal reflections.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Hyde Park Walk
- 01:36Exploring Marylebone and Bookstores
- 06:28Shopping and Evening Out
- 06:45Reflections and Literary Walking Tour
- 08:43Reading in the Park and National Gallery Visit
- 11:20Day Trip to Richmond and Bakery Visit
- 15:31Exploring Ham House and Gardens
- 17:30Kensington Gardens and Museums
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
been vlogging the past few days since I've been here just because I've been just taking a few days off and living in the moment, you know, but I was inspired to start up vlogging today because it's actually the first week of autumn right
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now. And I thought I would just capture my cozy first week of autumn here in London. Autumn in London. It's, it's, it's my favorite time of year and it's my favorite place in the world. So, it's just absolutely a dream. I'm so happy to
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be here. I think I'm staying for a little over a week, but honestly, I'm, I'm kind of debating if I want to extend my stay or not. I think I might try to do that instead of going to the place I
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was going to go next, but we'll see. Just love London so much and it's just so lovely this time of year. I don't even know really what I'm doing this week. I honestly just decide things the day of, like whatever I want to do, I go
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and do. I have a big long list on my phone, of course, of places that I want to hit. Um, of course, I have some favorite places in London that I'll definitely be going back to. I also want
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to like make sure that I'm also exploring new places as well. So, that's what this week is going to be. I am currently just sitting on the park bench wearing a pretty boring all black outfit but yeah, that's the vibe. I hope you guys
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enjoy this vlog. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Okay, guys. I have to show you something.
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Do you see that sign right there? It's my name. It's my name. There I am.
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There's my, there's my future home, I think. And like I don't know what it is you guys. And I know Romney is like a common [music] last name in the UK in England specifically, but I keep seeing my name
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everywhere like on street [music] signs, plaques, like just like random stuff. Like I keep seeing it everywhere.
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And obviously I'm taking [music] that as a sign that I need to move here. I've already thought that before. Of course we know this. Today I'm headed [music] out into Marylebone. I'm going to D Books and I'm just going to walk around
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for the day. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] I just popped into Season and I saw this jacket.
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How freaking cute is this? [music] [music] I love going down this elevator every day.
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There we go. Okay. I bought this jacket the other day. I was checking out and the girl that was working was like, "Oh, I just love this dress." And at that moment, I realized it was actually a dress. But I'm going to be wearing it as
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both a jacket and a dress. But I think it's just so freaking cute. I'm obsessed.
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I am just headed out for the evening right now. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] I have a confession to make. I have been in London for I think 9 days at this point. I literally don't even know. It's
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been such a blur. Lots of ups, lots of downs. A lot of things have happened and I have been the worst vlogger on planet Earth. I've only vlogged maybe 2 or 3 days since I've been in London. But I'm
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still here for another week. So, I still have a lot of things to do and a lot of things to share and video while I'm here. Sometimes I just like to have phoneless days where I'm just not taking
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any pictures or any videos because I'm just living my life in the moment. And that's what I've been doing. But I have been inspired today. Just so excited for today because I'm doing a literary walking tour of Bloomsbury. I was just
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on Airbnb and I was just scrolling through like all like the little like touristy things you can do because I had a coupon for some reason. I don't know why, but um so I was looking through those and I saw this one that was a, uh,
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literary like female literary walking tour of the entire center of Bloomsbury. So a lot of this will have to do with Virginia Woolf of course 'cause she was one of the head figures in the Bloomsbury group. Really excited for
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this walking tour 'cause obviously one of the first things I did on this trip was visit her country home and now I can kind of see how those dots connect to her life in London. So very excited.
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Definitely going to be filming that as I do the tour. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] I'm just sat here on this bench in a square and I'm going to read my book which is The Penelopiad by Margaret
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Atwood. Just started this yesterday. It's so, so good. Her writing is amazing and you guys know I've been into the Odyssey this past summer and this one has been on my list for a while. I just picked this one up at a Waterstones. So I'm
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just going to sit here and read for about 30 minutes and then [music] decide what to do next.
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[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Here [music] [music] we go. [music] [music] I went to the National Gallery last night and I popped into the gift shop at the very end and I bought this. What do you think this is at first
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glance? Because I thought it was a card holder and then I realized it's a mirror.
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So, this is going to be in my bag from now on. I love stuff like this so much. [snorts] My window is literally right outside of a train station, so if you hear noises, that's what it is. And I'm sorry. I'll
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try to edit out the noises. Every single time I come to London, I tell myself that I'm going to go and explore Richmond, and I never do. Just because it's a little bit farther away from the places that I've stayed in the past. But
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I thought today I might as well just go make it a little day trip and just spend the entire day exploring that area. I do sometimes get in like this bad habit of just going back to my favorite places
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that I visited before because I'm trying to recreate the magic of seeing those places for the first time, which there definitely is something lovely about traveling and being able to go back to places you love. I feel so privileged to
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be able to do that. But at the same time, I know that the true magic of travel is like seeing something for the very first time. Hopefully, I will feel that today as I explore Richmond. I'm really excited. It's like a beautiful
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park with deer, gorgeous high street with bookshops and cafes and just random little shops and all these kinds of things. I've done a little bit of research of places I want to go visit, but I'll mostly just be exploring and
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seeing what I find. And yeah, I will take you guys along with me. I think my first stop is going to be to get a coffee and a pastry somewhere. So hopefully that's where I'll be in the next clip. Okay guys, I just arrived in
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Richmond and I'm walking through this little cemetery [music] to get to the bakery. [music] [music] [music] [music] I just went to Richmond Hill Bakery. I highly recommend it. It was so cute and so cozy. And that was the best almond
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croissant I have ever had. And an almond croissant is my favorite pastry. So, I'm pretty picky with them. [music] And it was so delicious. I sat and had a nice coffee and it was just so lovely. And now I'm walking over to
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what is it called? Ham House. Is that, is it Hill House or Ham House? Hold on, let me check. I'm walking over to Ham House and Garden, which is like a beautiful [music] uh National Trust estate. Just going to go explore it today. I'm hoping
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I can just pull up and buy a ticket. Uh, because I did not book in advance, [music] but it's not too busy around here today. So, it seems like I should just be able to walk up and get a
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ticket. I'm walking through the park and it's very green and very beautiful, and I feel like I'm back in the [music] countryside again.
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[music] [music] [music] [music] I could live here. I could do it. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat.
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[music] [music] [music] I was just exploring Ham House and the gardens and it is so, so amazing. The house was so beautiful and the gardens were
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little tiny like used bookstore shed. And there's a gorgeous cafe. And this has honestly just been such a good escape from the [laughter] fast London life. And I'm having such a good day. And I'm excited to explore more of
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Richmond right now. I'm going to Richmond Park at the moment. And I'm hoping to see some deer. [music] [music] Just made it over to Poet's Corner.
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And there's a poem up here by [music] James Thompson, the poet of nature. Okay, let's read it.
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Ye who from London smoke and [music] turmoil fly to seek a pure air and a brighter sky, think of the bard who dwelt in yonder dell, who sang so sweetly what he loved so well.
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Think [music] as ye gaze on these luxurant bowers. Here Thompson loved the sunshine and the flowers.
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He who could paint in all their varied forms, April's [music] young bloom December's dreary storms.
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By yawn [music] fair stream, which calmly glides along, pure as his life and lovely as his song.
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There off he roved in yonder churchyards lies all of the deathless bard that ever dies. For here his gentle spirit lingers still [music] in yawn sweet veil on this enchanted hill.
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Flinging a holier interest or the grove, stirring the heart to poetry [music] and love, bidding us prize the favorite scenes he trod and view in nature's beauties, [music] nature's god.
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An impromptu poetry reading in the woods is very very on brand for me. Oh my goodness. This is my first deer sighting of the day. I wonder where the rest of his pack is, or her pack.
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My [music] gosh, there are such beautiful creatures. I can't believe people hunt them for sport.
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I think it's the most horrible thing ever. [music] [music] [music] Those [music] deer are so beautiful, but people were really pissing me off to be honest because people kept like getting too close and like intentionally trying to scare the deer and then the
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deer would run away. Just hate people sometimes. I really do. [music] I'm about to take the train back to where I'm staying in central London. But that was such a good day. I love Richmond so [music] much.
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Okay, I thought we could do a little book haul of all the books that I've bought the past two weeks. This was me restraining myself very, very much because the bookshops in London, actually, just the bookstores all over
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the UK are absolutely the best. The selection is amazing. They're perfectly curated to the to the things that I happen to be interested in. So, of course, I've been buying books while I've been here. And I've been reading
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books while I've been here as well. So, I'll talk about the two that I'm reading right now. Reading two books at the moment, which is crazy. I'm usually not a two book at a time kind of girl, but
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ladies do crazy things when they go out of the country. I've been reading The Penelope by Margaret Atwood. I think I bought this out of Water St. here. I've been wanting to read this because it's about Penelope from the Odyssey, of
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course, and it's sort of her point of view and the writing is really good, of course, because it's Margaret Atwood.
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There's also some poems in here which are from the perspective of the maids and the Odyssey. It's very, very good. I really, really recommend this one. The other book I'm reading, I'm about halfway through, is The Castle by
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Friends Cafka. I bought this at Daunt Books last week when I got here. I've been wanting to read this for a while.
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Well, it's about a man that shows up to an island to work at the castle. Um, but no one will tell him where the castle is or how to get there or who to talk to to start his job. So, it's sort of this
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absurd situation where he's trying to figure out what to do and what's going on and how to like move forward with things. It definitely reminds me of The Trial, which I read last year. I actually bought when I was in Bath. You
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may have seen me reading this in my last vlog. It's Winter Notes on Summer Impressions by Fedor Dstoyki. Um, I finished this one. I really enjoyed it.
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Fedor Dosstoyki uh traveled all throughout Europe for 3 months and he wrote this, which is just sort of his reflections and impressions of his travels. So, of course, I thought it would be the perfect book to read while
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I'm also traveling on my own for a bit. It's pretty funny cuz there's this part in here where he's talking about how he's such a better tourist than all the other tourists because all the other tourists are loud and and annoying and
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they disturb the locals and all this kind of stuff and he's saying how much better he is than all of them. Thought it was pretty funny cuz I think every tourist sort of thinks that way when they go to another country. I am really
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really excited about this. Um I have not started reading it. I'll probably wait till I get home because as you can see it's quite big. This is the romantic outlaws the extraordinary lives of Mary Woolstonecraft and Mary Shel. Mary
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Woolstonecraft is Mary Shel's mother. Mary Shel who who wrote Frankenstein. Of course, Mary Woolstone Craft is known to be sort of one of the mothers of feminism. Um she wrote a book called The Vindication of Women's Rights. I think
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that's what it's called. I still need to read it. It's on my shelf back home. But she had a lot of really interesting ideas that were way ahead of her time, of course, about feminism. And she actually died, I think 12 days after she
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gave birth to Mary Shel because the doctor who uh did her birth, what is it called? I I can't think, whatever, uh he didn't wash his hands or something like that. and a problem happened with that and she got sick of course and died
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because of that. So, it's very very tragic. Um, but I'm really excited about this because I'm I'm super interested in these two. I'm very interested to see what the take is here. It's super interesting. You know, Mary Woolstonecraft's like the mother of
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feminism. And of course, she died quite early, but she gave birth to Mary Shel, who is like such an icon. And in a way, Mary Shel sort of lives through her, or she lives through Mary Shel, of course,
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as all mothers do with their children. And I just bought these two today at Dawn Books. I've been going to Dawn Books like quite a bit, at least every other day, just because it's so close to where I'm staying. I bought the image of
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her by Simone devoir. I've been wanting to read more Simone devoir. Um I read her memoirs I think like two years ago at this point and I've been wanting to get back into her ever since. Um so I'm
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really excited to read this. And then I also got I who have never known men by Jacqueline Harpman. I've always seen this and it's always sparked my interest and I was reading the back and then I read the first few pages in the
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bookstore and I thought I might as well buy it. also saw a girl reading this on the tube earlier today, so thought it was a sign that I should go ahead and get it. But yeah, that was my little
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book haul. I definitely need to chill for the rest of the trip. I think I maybe can buy like two more books and that's it because I still have to fit all this stuff in my suitcase, of course. Good morning, guys. It's a new
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day. I just got my coffee, my prep, and I'm walking over My hair looks bad. I don't want to do this anymore. Today I'm walking over to Kensington. It's about an hour walk from where I'm staying, but it's a really
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beautiful walk. And yeah, I think I'm just going to go to the Natural History Museum [music] and then I'm going to go see the Kensington Swans and say hello to them. I'm just going to Bbop around for the day. I'm walking through Hyde
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Park at the moment [music] and it feels very autuminal. Like you can actually see like autumn leaves like falling through the air. Literally a second ago, I just got slapped in the face with one.
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It's just so beautiful outside right now. And it's kind of going in and out of being overcast. It's just a lovely day. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] When I see a swan like itching [music]
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itself, I just I just want to help them. Like how when I when my dog is scratching himself, I always [music] go in like really just help him get that scratch. And that's what I want to do with swans. But [music]
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obviously they would not appreciate that. [music] [music] [music] I think this is definitely in my top five favorite places in London, which is Kensington Gardens. And all of the swans here, they're just so beautiful. It's kind of overcast today. And I feel like
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the leaves changed overnight here. Like like walking around today, I've seen so much more autominal leaves. And I'm just looking out at the skyline and there's just [music] so much color. And I was here a few days ago and it was not like
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this at all. So that's that's really exciting. It [music] officially feels like autumn. [music] [music] It's very very sunny today and it was very overcast yesterday. So I guess that's just how the weather works.
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Sometimes it's different every day. I don't know if I mentioned this at all in this vlog, but I think I I'm in London for two whole weeks and I have two more days. So, today and tomorrow and then
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I'm leaving to go to my next place. But originally, I was meant to just be in London for 8 days. Um, but after London, I hadn't had anything plans, but I hadn't had anything set in stone in terms of bookings. The thing about me
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when I travel is I don't like to plan too far ahead and I don't like to have too much of a strict itinerary. If I leave things open, I think it just leaves more room for magic and for me to
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just follow the thing that I want to follow in that moment. So after staying those first 8 days in London that I had planned, I decided I just wanted to stay a little longer. So originally I was staying in a hotel for 8 days. It wasn't
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like a super fancy hotel. hotel. I just found it on Airbnb. It's called Americana Hotel. Um, and it was it was a good stay. It was like really nice and central. That's why I booked it. I decided one of my travel philosophies is
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I would rather have like kind of a boring plain room in a central area than have like a beautifully decorated room outside of the city because I just hate commuting back and forth every single day. One of the things that I'm willing
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to spend a little bit more money on is just getting a nice location because I just love walking everywhere. Of course, I've been taking the tube if it's like super duper far. Like if it's over an hour, I'll usually take the tube, but or
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if it's night time, I'll take the tube as well. But like I just love like putting my headphones in and just walking even if it's like an hour walk to get to where I'm going. That was just like the best feeling ever for me. I
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don't know if I mentioned this also, but I've been staying in Marilleone on this trip. Um, and I have loved staying here.
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It's always been my favorite part of London, but I never actually stayed in this area when I came here. I think every time I come to London, I'm just going to stay in this area because it's just been such a good time with the
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location that I'm in. honestly was considering extending my stay even longer, but I decided I need to move on to my next place because you have to move on in life, you know? You can't just keep holding on to the thing that
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you love. And I'm going to be back in London. Of course, I am. And I want to live here someday. So, I'm going to have I'm going to have my whole life to explore London. I think I'm leaving here
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in 2 days. And I'm really excited for my next place as well. But today, I am just kind of boopping around. I'm in the Queen Mary's Rose Gardens at the moment and I'm just having my morning coffee.
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I'm just walking around the gardens. It's so so beautiful. Pretty much do museums every single day. I love a museum. I like I really don't understand like I see a lot of like travel itineraries for London on Instagram and
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so many of them like don't have any museums in it and I just don't understand that at all. The thing about London is that a lot of the museums are free as well. You have to go to the
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museums when you come to London. All of the museums that I showed in this video are some of my favorites, but I have so many more that I just love so much. I think right now I'm just going to
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continue walking around this area, finish my coffee. I think I'm going to go have some breakfast/ lunch somewhere.
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Hopefully just have like kind of a relaxing, chill day where I walk 20,000 steps and explore as much as I can because that's that's what we do on relaxing, chill days. I want to show you guys my full outfit today.
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This jacket I bought from Sesan [music] last week is probably one of the best purchases I've ever made.
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I always buy really cute things when I'm here in London and they always end [music] up being things that I wear all of the time as well.
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[music] [music] [music] [music] I'm at South Bank Center right now and this is currently my view.
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[music] [music] Hot take. I think it's more beautiful than the Eiffel Tower. Maybe. Right. I like the clock.
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[music] [music] [music] [music] [music]
Topics:Londonautumnvlogbook shoppingliterary tourcozy cafesmuseumsHyde ParkRichmondHam House
