Tag Archives for travel

Packing hand luggage like a pro

packing-hand-luggage-like-a-pro

I’m lucky enough to travel pretty regularly with work and over the years I’ve got my hand luggage packing down pat. I love flying but it kind of blows for comfort and glamour, unless you’re going business. Packing well can mean the difference between crawling off a plane with shit hair and pasty bad skin and emerging like VB in a pap shot at Heathrow. Who cares? You may ask. Well, when you’re flying with work and trying to impress people or schmooze clients, looking presentable becomes vaguely more important.

So, here’s what I pack. All the other essentials are in my handbag because, of course, I do not travel with just one bag. As if I could manage that.

1. Kindle – I was a Kindle naysayer for a long time. I like buying books, I have loads of books, I like their smell, their feel… just like vinyl purists bemoaned the Generic MP3 Player, I avoided the Kindle. Then I got one for travelling and everything changed. As well as reading lots (this is the trash I’ve downloaded for my current trip), I think the apps are great. Spotify is was nicer on here than on the iPhone and Twitter and Facebook also function really well. I need to get some games on it too, but I have no idea about that sort of thing. Any ideas?

2. Headphones – forget about crappy aeroplane headphones. Your music is interrupted every time they make a safety announcement! Just kidding, you should obviously try and listen to them. I like bringing my own headphones because I have an enormous head and always find that plane headphones don’t fit comfortably – or if they’re in-ear ones, the sound is crap. These also operate as a ‘please leave me alone’ prop pretty nicely.

3. Bag – a big squidgy bag is great because you can bung all your airport buys in it but still squidge it under the street in front of you rather than putting it overhead. I.e. far away. I know one shouldn’t be too concerned about such things, but a tasteful bag always makes you look presentable too – even if you’re dressed in your comfy sloppy gear.

4. Pillow – I don’t know if this is a bit princessy, but these things make sleeping in cramped spaces about a million times easier. Also good for hiding your face if you happen to be seated next to one of your colleagues/the PR but want to feign sleep. Not that I’d ever be so antisocial.

5. Cashmere jumper – this one definitely is a bit princessy, but IDGAF. Plane temperatures are notoriously all over the place and you can’t rely on a crappy blanket to keep you warm now can you? This is vintage and cost me about £5 so it’s not really *that* princessy but it looks good and, being grey, goes with everything. This has joined me on every flight I’ve been on in the last six years. I know I exaggerate about everything but that’s a legit fact.

6. Marimekko bag of fun – this little pouch was a present many moons ago and while we were travelling I adopted it as my travel plug/cable/wires container. You’ve always got to carry that crap around with you when you travel, so you might as well keep it somewhere cute eh? Also, it minimises the risk of losing all those things which are generally pretty important.

7. BEAUTY STUFF!

Stella McCartney Lily – the bottle is supposed to represent English cut vases, but let’s be real it represents a pineapple. Perfume is always good – emotional comfort as well as masking stinking seat neighbours.

Eve Lom Kiss Mix – I hate having dry lips and planes are the worst for it. If you take one beauty product on a plane with you, make it a good rich balm like this which you can also multi-task with on dry skin and eyebrows.

Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist – this is a proper celebrity-on-a-plane thing to say, but I bloody love this stuff. Staying hydrated on planes is night on impossible – sure, the advice says to avoid alcohol and drink twice the water you’re supposed to, but who does that? Water or free gin at 6am? No brainer really. I keep this on my desk, in my hand luggage and in my bag when I’m travelling somewhere hot. It’s designed for your hair but it’s great on skin too – just spray on your face and you instantly feel less tight and gross.

A grotty hair elastic – in a dream world, there would be power points in the cabin and you could carry your tongs/straighteners/Big Hair with you. Until that day, a grotty hair elastic it is. I like to go with a plait or top knot while I’m flying; something that will make your hair look good instantly when you take it down. If you *really* wanted to look good, you should try Gemma’s headband curls which are THE BEST and which I do at least once a week in bed.

Barefoot Botanicals Rosa Fina – once again, I must apologise for wankery. But trust when I say a good face oil will make you look a million times better when you step off the plane. Also again with the scent/emotional ties – a nice whiff of rose always make you feel good, doesn’t it? I would in theory advise putting this on before you go to sleep, but who wants to sleep when there’s six episodes of The Big Bang Theory to motor through?

Benefit Benetint – I have a bunch of Benefit minis from when InStyle did them as a freebie I while ago and I keep them solely for the purpose of travel. I believe the full-sized Benetint is less than 100ml anyway, but these weeny things are very handy. Y’all know the benefits of this product already but it’s a quick and easy way to make you look healthy and alive rather than pasty and dead from jetlag.

Pixi Eye Beauty Kit Magic Eyeshadow Palette – I am such a huge fan of an eyeshadow palette. I mean I know that goes without saying but when we went travelling I discovered just how deep my love ran. This one in particular is amazing; it’s about 5mm wide and the array of beige shades are SO good for neutralising red eyelids. Ya know when they go a bit greasy and pink looking? This just makes you look awake and fresh-faced and mattified. This one was a work freebie an age ago and I’m not sure it still exists in store, but it’s certainly knocking around online.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain – I think I’ve raved about these on here before. I just love them – especially in Lovesick which is an extremely bright pink. The colour lasts forever, they moisturise your lips and they don’t bleed (am I getting old? Cus lipstick bleeds now). The reason I like Lovesick for travel is because the pink is just so instantly cheering and makes you look healthy and awake. God bless pink.

Passport – you need that. God bless cab drivers who make you check it before you drive away from the house.

Mirror and pouch – Las Vegas is the spiritual home of Marc Jacobs cheap goods. I keep my MJ mirror in my MJ pouch at all times to remember Vegas at all times. If you need me to tell you why a mirror is a useful thing to take on a plane with you after listing all that makeup I rely on, then you’re probably beyond help.

Opening Ceremony x Elvis

opening ceremony x elvis

As you read this, I will be winging my way back to my spiritual home of Las Vegas for another work trip. But Vegas isn’t just my spiritual home… it is, of course, one of the places that we associate with Elvis.

I have always been an enormous Elvis fan and visiting Graceland was one of the highlights of our trip for me; I got properly wobbly legs and tears – and anger at people not taking the place seriously and talking too much. Yeah, it was an emotional one.

Opening Ceremony will be producing an Elvis-themed collection this Autumn and I would quite like all of it. The lookbook, shot in and around Graceland by Jamie Hawkesworth, was posted on The Cut today and these are my favourite bits – some is on sale already, so keep your eyes peeled as I suspect it’ll be a sellout.

Best places to eat and drink in Whitby

Best places to eat and drink in Whitby

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have already been subject to my pictures of Whitby, but as so many people seem so enthralled with the place I thought I’d round up some of the best places to eat and drink in the town and on the North Yorkshire Caost.

I spent many happy childhood holidays in this fishing town, but my last visit was about eight years ago. In the ensuing time I’ve developed a brutal taste for real ale and good food – and realised that my goth tendencies are nothing to be ashamed of – and, as Whitby has plenty of all these things, figured it was time to revisit the place.

Lots of Googling went into our planning, so to save you the effort if you do end up going any time soon, here’s my guide to some nice places to eat, drink and be generally gleeful about how amazing the place is.

Best places to eat and drink in Whitby

Best places to drink in Whitby

The Black Horse, 91 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4BH

Little old man pub where we spent just about every evening on our recent visit. Really good selection of ales and interesting ~pub tapas. Which basically means a really, really good cheeseboard and lots of pork pies. The food is bloody brill and if you are a London dweller who is used to paying Southampton Arms prices for a pint and a pork pie, you will cry like a baby at the cost of your round. Fun fact: Andy lost a wallet of money, cheques, cards and train tickets here. It was handed in untouched. People, eh! Lovely bloody people.

Duke of York, 124 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4DE

Handily located at the bottom of the 199 steps, this pub has a pretty amazing location overlooking the harbour. Again, it’s Cask Marque-tastic in terms of ale AND it has free wifi – which comes in handy in a 3G blackspot like Whitby. They do standard pub grub which isn’t anything spectacularly mind-blowing but pretty good all round – sometimes you can’t go wrong with pub scampi and chips, can you? Especially not when you’re basically sitting in the harbour. Really though, you’re here for the beer and the view.

The Board, 125 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4DE

Hold on, you’re thinking. All of these pubs are on Church Street. That’s right. Whitby is small, that’s what makes it brilliant. This is a proper locals’ pub but don’t worry, this being Yorkshire everyone’s dead friendly. I’ve not eaten here but it does have food and, again, amazing views and top ales.

The Endeavour, 66 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4AS

Ale. Friendly people. Are you getting the message? Everywhere in Whitby is nice and cheap with good beer, I can’t really tell you any more than that.

Middle Earth Tavern, 25 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4AE

One for the hobbit fanciers.

Jolly Sailors, 13 Saint Anne’s Staith, Whitby YO21 3PW

Over on the other side of the harbour, this is one of Whitby’s two Sam Smiths pubs. It has a fire and beer is £1.30 a pint. The other Sam Smiths in town is called The Plough and it’s on Baxtergate – I prefer this one for its harbourside location. It also has a beer garden, apparently – bit cold for those larks on our visit.

The Shambles, Market Place, Whitby YO22 4DD

If you want to revisit your teenage holiday to Newquay with all your mates, this place goes some way to taking you back there. It’s bloody massive, there are lots of sofas and you will buy some cheap pints of lager and a bag of Mini Cheddars and you will be extremely happy. This place also has an enormous balcony which, I vaguely recall, is smashing in summer. As we were there this time in December I didn’t venture out to see if my memory was correct.

Ye Dolphin, King Street, Robin Hood’s BayYO22 4SH

If you walk from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay, this is a good pub to reward yourself at. It’s a seven mile hike over the cliffs so you will deserve the reward, trust me. Good ales and more good pub food, although we missed out on the serving times and had to make do with a bag of nuts. There are quite a few pubs in Robin Hood’s Bay, considering its population is less than 1,500. I’ve not been in any others but as you may be gathering – it’s hard to go wrong with any watering hole round these parts.

Best places to eat and drink in Whitby

Best places to eat in Whitby

The White Horse & Griffin, 87 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4BH

FANCY! This is definitely one of Whitby’s jewels – incredible historic building with lots of nooks and crannies and open fires and utterly brilliant food. It’s a tiny bit expensive (I mean, it isn’t at all – but after a few days of laughing in the face of the price of everything, this is more back to normal standards) but they do ~early bird special menus and breakfasts and all sorts of things, so make sure you visit at some point.

Trenchers, New Quay Road, Whitby YO21 1DH

Oh god, the chips from these guys. You won’t be short of choice for fish and chips in Whitby but after the Magpie, this place owns my heart. Nice art deco kind of feel to the restaurant but even if you just got a bag of chips and sat outside eating them, you’d be happy.

Magpie Cafe, 14 Pier Road, Whitby YO21 3PU

The Magpie is probably the most famous thing in Whitby, if you remove Dracula from the equation. It’s won a billion awards, got pages of rave reviews and has a queue outside every day for good reason. It is bloody brilliant. Sprawling over more floors and rooms every time I visit, it nevertheless loses none of its charm – the staff are just brilliant and keep a tight ship running at all times. You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu, frankly. I had crab pate and fish pie this time and just thinking about them now is making me salivate like a cartoon dog. Go early and book your table, then run on the spot for two hours to build up your appetite.

Humble Pie, 163 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4AS

Pie, mash, gravy, peas. £4.99.  I know what you’re thinking – Goddard’s pies are the best in the world. Nuh-uh. There’s no Henderson’s Relish in a Goddard’s pie.

The Moon & Sixpence, Marine Parade, Whitby YO21 3PR

You want a fancy bistro? Well SURE, Whitby can cater to that. This smart wine-bar-kinda hangout does a mean breakfast, quality lunches and, obviously, loads of Whitby fish for your dinner. It’s tiny, so choose your timing wisely – then sit and look at the harbour and enjoy your lunch and feel smug.

Green’s of Whitby, 13 Bridge Street, Whitby YO22 4BG

If you want more fish (obviously you do) but you don’t want to visit a chippy again, Green’s is your super fancy alternative. Chef Rob Green is a former winner of Seafood Chef of the Year and with the quality of raw materials available to him you’ve got a fairly winning combination, haven’t you? You’ll probably need to book and it’s not cheap, but if you want to experience some of the best seafood you’ll ever eat then add it to your list. Oh, and there’s non-fishy stuff too if you’re weird and can’t eat any more fish.

Sandside Cafe, East Row, Whitby YO21 3SU

If you walk from Whitby to Sandsend (the opposite direction to Robin Hood’s Bay), this is your reward. A smashing little cafe right on the sea front, with cakes and sarnies and sausage rolls and all sorts of delicious things to reward you for that bracing stroll along the front. It’s only a couple of miles, but hey! You deserve it.

Best places to eat and drink in Whitby

Best places to buy food in Whitby

If you end up self-catering like we did, you’ll be faced with the daily dilema of whether to go out and eat amazing food in all of the awesome places listed above or whether to take advantage of the brilliant local butchers and bakers and fishmongers. Tough call, I know. Here are some places we bought our supplies – there’s also a big Co-Op down by the station if you need anything else.

Fortune’s Kippers, 22 Henrietta Street, Whitby YO22 4DW

Smoking kippers in the same little ol’ hut for 139 years, this is as much another Whitby landmark as somewhere to buy your fish. Only open in the mornings, it’s worth getting up and over there before breakfast to pick up some kippers wrapped in newspaper or the pate, which is the stuff of dreams. You can smell this place a mile off and I mean that in the best possible way.

Botham’s of Whitby, locations throughout the town

You can’t beat a proper bakery, particularly one that’s still in the same family hands as it has been in for 147 years. You know when you go to a bakery and buy a loaf and toast it and have it with real butter or kipper pate and you think, I will never again buy a loaf from Sainsbos? That. See also; pork pies, sausage rolls, cakes, pasties.

Shepherd’s Purse Whole Food, 95 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4BH

Oh god, the cheeses. And the spices and the sauces and the condiments! Forget what I said about the Co-Op, just go here and smell everything.

Breckon Butchers, 6 Golden Lion Bank, YO21 3BS

There are loads of good butchers in Whitby but this is where we seemed to do most of our shopping. Best bacon I’ve ever eaten in my life. I know it’s obvious and non-London dwellers will roll their eyes to the heavens, but it’s so nice to go in a butchers and chat to them about what you’re cooking then be handed a bag of meat that costs less than a fiver for enough to feed a family of four. That bacon though, seriously.

Ellis Greengrocers, 8 Baxtergate, YO21 1BD

Again, there’s no shortage of grocers in Whitby but we liked this place.  See, there really is no need for the Co-Op, forget I even mentioned it.