I used my last weeks working in West London as an opportunity to explore more of the area. Other than that, Claudio and I took a fun weekend day trip to the coast. Here are a few highlights!
Japan Centre
I recently saw a YouTube video about this Japanese supermarket located in the Westfield Centre (Europe's biggest mall) and knew I had to visit it for myself. Japanese food is one of our favourites, so it was awesome to have a browse of all the different products. I really love visiting supermarkets when abroad, and this was like having that experience, without having actually travelled to Japan.
Obviously, I bought a little haul of goodies to take home. My favourites were the sakura donut, mango mochi and the tonkotsu ramen kit!
Paddington
Paddington is known as one of London's biggest transport hubs, but it also has some interesting sights to see within minutes of the train station.
So, a couple of evenings after work, I explored some of the canalside attractions of the area, including restaurants in boats and unusual bridges.
One of my favourite parts was the Floating Pocket Park, which is a park on a little artificial island on the canal.
Southampton
One weekend, we both fancied a trip to the coast, so decided to go to the city of Southampton for the day, as it is only an hour and two train journeys from our home.
Although it's not known for being a beautiful city, it has a lot of history to discover, being the place from where the Titanic set sail, as well as having many old buildings and monuments.
The centre has some shabby areas, but is scattered throughout with various historical attractions, some of which date back to medieval times.
The centre has some shabby areas, but is scattered throughout with various historical attractions, some of which date back to medieval times.
On the day we went, it was a Heritage Open Day, so we were lucky enough to get to go inside the medieval Bargate for free!
Of course, one of the highlights of the day was when we met an adorable cat in the street!
After finding some lunch in the mall, we went down to the port to look around. We expected to see more references to the history of the Titanic, but all that was there was the former post office, where the mail for the ship was sorted.
We then visited what turned out to be our favourite area of the city: Ocean Village. This is the marina where all the fancy yachts come, and it definitely gave us a bit of a Monaco vibe. One of the coolest parts was the Harbour Hotel, which is designed to look like a massive yacht floating in the water. We'd love to stay there someday in the future!
Overall, we had a fun day out in Southampton. However, the journey back was certainly not fun at all! There were awful delays to both parts of our train route, and what should have been a one-hour journey ended up taking three, which was a real pain.
On the plus side, we ended up getting a refund for our entire ticket, meaning that we went to Southampton and back for free.
And once we were finally on the train going back to our home, we met and had a cuddle with a lovely golden retriever named Cinnamon. A nice end to a stressful trip!
Chiswick Business Park
I recently saw a reel on Instagram about free things to visit in London, and Chiswick Business Park was one of the places mentioned. So I went there one day after work to check it out.
Although a business park might not sound like the most exciting place to visit, this is actually a bit of a hidden gem and a scenic and peaceful place to walk around. It has these cool pods that workers can have meetings in, as well a lake, and even a little waterfall.
Afterwards, I had a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood, which is a picturesque and quintessentially London area (Chiswick is turning out to be one of my favourite parts of London). I then got the tube to start my journey home, and found that even the tube station (Chiswick Park) was a tourist attraction in its own right, with a cute retro style of decor.
London by night
At the end of the month, I completed the last day of my contract. On the same day, Claudio took the day off and went to take his driving theory test, which he passed first time! (Although he drove for many years in Chile, unfortunately he has to take the UK test, as his Chilean licence isn't valid here.)
So he came and joined me in London afterwards, and we celebrated together with a meal out, followed by an evening walk through the city.
So he came and joined me in London afterwards, and we celebrated together with a meal out, followed by an evening walk through the city.
Sometimes London can be a bit exhausting, but there are times like this, on a normal weekday night, when you see the iconic sights of the city all lit up, and realise why so many people dream of visiting or living here. And now that we live in a quieter area, after over a year right in the centre of Reading, I think we appreciate our days in London even more.
So, overall, September was a fairly chilled month for me in terms of travel, but October has been a lot more exciting so far! Check in back here soon for some adventurous travel content...
