Sketch, Mayfair
Searcy’s Private Club and Restaurant, St Mary’s Axe
Hutong, the Shard
Aqua Shard, the Shard
Searcy’s Champagne Bar
Home House Private Member’s Club
Carluccio’s, St John’s Wood
Rivea London, Bvlgari Hotel, Knightsbridge
Inside a Michelin restaurant in Bethnal Green (though can’t remember the name)
Hélène Darroze, The Connaught Hotel
A dining hall, Brixton
It was only through word of mouth that I found out about Parliament Week in London so I made it worth my while to ensure that I go to the events hosted during this time. Originally it was for a hackathon using data but I decided that I needed a weekend off after Seedhack.
The Women in Leadership panel consisted of female leaders in science, the arts, law and media so it was a good coverage across many industries.
Recently, I spent a week in Istanbul. On the same month and just two weeks before I arrived, there was a large protest taking place near Taksim Square. It was not until the morning of my flight were I pretty much decided that I might as well go right ahead with this trip that has been in the mind since I booked my flights in April this year.
Continue reading Thoughts on Istanbul, the Biennale and the 2013 Protests
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
And that includes showing up to my own travels. You see, I find it easy to get excited and worked up over traveling but when it comes to facing the fact a part of me always wants to cave in and revert to being a homebody. What about if I just stay in bed? Not show up to the airport? Cancel my flights? Rebook? Throw a sickie? The effects of it is magnified at being a solo female traveller.
Getting lost
Part of traveling is to get lost. But then, you start developing a sense of your direction in your new surrounds. You start extrapolating certain points into a desired destination, and then recognise your tomfoolery at the thought that this particular storefront could possibly be the only marker for the right direction! But that’s OK. You use more and more of your senses and you are forced to take more consideration in where you are headed. A welcome change to mindlessly walking to the market with headphones on.
Being by yourself, being your self
When you travel you can be stripped bare of certain ‘comforts’ whether that is in tangible materials or intangibles such as the feeling of familiarity. You are just one person in a sea of money. When things hit the fan, you are really only armed with your wits and helped a bit by cash, a passport, a flight ticket home. One of the things that I am terrified of is the possibility of losing everything and having my anchor taken away from me. That’s the world for you, I guess, before you are tied to the safety of wi-fi, cash, maps, documents. It’s something that is in my mind, “what would we be like without certain things anchored to us?”. Another thing that I do is to put myself in the shoes of a local and think “What would they do?”.
The unwanted and the uncertain
One of the things that irritate me in certain countries is the unwanted attention given to female travelers. It can be verbal or even edge on to the physical. I deal with it by being deliberately rude and ignorant of these advances. The uncertain is also quiet certain as well. But, that’s life for you. That’s the world. And you can only be prepared to take whatever it is that you can anticipate.
This is one of those weeks. Four new countries in the space of a few weeks. It wasn’t really deliberate but just something that ‘happened’ due to a mixture of months-old plans and some last minute decisions.
Continue reading Current travel news – September/October 2013 edition
Described in the Standard as “face-slappingly impressive”, Hutong is the latest restaurant offering at this recent addition to the London skyline. Join and network with other global professionals for a September Saturday lunch as we discuss all aspects of global business in Australia and the Asia-Pacific.
Tell us about yourself…
I’m an Australian who has been living in Amsterdam with my partner (Ben) for a little over a year.
I’m a Digital Project Manager and have worked in a variety of different digital roles.
Continue reading Q&Amsterdam with Digital Project Manager Miranda Forwood
I extended an invite for a few people to join in on drinks at the Searcys top bar at the iconic landmark, The Gherkin. The invite was really only extended to a group of London marketing professionals and had some prompt replies back.
The increased daylight hours have prompted a lot of us to stay outdoors – whether it’s the cricket, the beach, or enjoying a cool glass of drink outside the many venues here in London. Comprehensive online resources have been invested into – from the top 50 curated by bookatable right through to word of mouth of a colleague who knows someone who dined at a particular place. Cheers to summer!
Never realised how great British sporting summer is until yesterday when we saw Day 1 of the second Ashes test with England vs Australia.
Luggage
I decided to go with check-in luggage only so that I can quickly whiz in and out of the airport. Visiting during the warmer months meant breezy clothes and therefore light packing.
I primarily went to Basel, Switzerland for Art Basel, Design Miami/Basel and Unlimited however it was great to have a brief walk around the city centre!
I don’t know if it’s just me. I have a set of principles that I go by, internally, and usually when someone doesn’t really adhere to these principles, it can leave me questioning things or even worse, absolutely annoyed.
Help for Heroes, a UK military charity, organised a Hero Ride event in central London today and this is what the main avenue leading to Buckingham Palace looked like. It was just two people who decided, five years ago, that they wanted to do something to help the wounded vets from Afghanistan and Iraq. It shows the power of what just a couple of people can do to help out! http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/
It looks like my photos from the 2013 art fair is not in my current archives. But will look for it once I have access to the photos!
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