May 2026 Travel Adventures: London Nights, Afternoon Tea and Regent's Park

May has been a month in which we've started to feel a bit of summer in the air - well, actually a lot of summer during the last week of the month! This has given us a good opportunity to enjoy more time outdoors, which is something that both Claudio and I love. Though we didn't visit any new towns and cities last month, we had some great experiences in and around Reading and London.

Here are some highlights!

Madejski Stadium and Green Park

We've ended up spending a fair bit of time in the Green Park area of Reading recently. At the beginning of the month, we went there to check out a café that Claudio's colleague recommended, and took the opportunity to check out the Madejski Stadium, the home of Reading F.C., while we were there.

The café, the Street Bakeshop at Lime Square, turned out to be a great recommendation. In fact, we ended up going back later in the month! The cakes and drinks are great, and the setting by the water is really lovely. It's definitely our favourite café that we've been to in Reading.

We enjoyed walking through the Green Park Business Park, an area which is surprisingly full of nature.

Green Park Village is always a super nice place to explore. Its lake and its North American architecture make you feel like you've stepped into a Hallmark movie!

We tried out the café in the village, Esquires Coffee. I hadn't heard of it before, but apparently it's a Canadian coffee chain, which feels appropriate for the setting. We enjoyed an iced coffee there, sitting in the sunshine next to the lake.

Friday night in London

One Friday, I received an email about a promo at Côte restaurants. We really like Côte, and feeling spontaneous, decided to take advantage of the promo, but in London rather than at home in Reading. So we ended up spending our Friday evening drinking great wine and eating delicious food next to the river with views of the City and Tower Bridge.

Going to London on a Friday evening feels completely different to going at the weekend - it's much less touristy and more relaxed. Given that we're only 25 minutes away from Paddington, we're going to try this more often in the future!

Afternoon tea at the Pantry, Reading

Who doesn't love a good afternoon tea? We certainly do!

When my parents visited us recently, we tried out the afternoon tea at the Pantry, which is the café located in Reading's Town Hall & Museum. At £18.50 per person, it's around half the price you'd usually pay for an afternoon tea in this part of the country, but was up there in quality with more expensive ones we've had in the past. The setting of the café inside the grand old building also gives it a really nice atmosphere. Would definitely recommend!

Reading "Beach"

A few weeks ago, there suddenly appeared a sort of beach bar type set up next to the river in Reading town centre. We went there a couple of times for a drink during the recent heatwave. It's quite nice to have a sort of beach to spend time at when it's hot and you live far away from the coast!

Regent's Park, Primrose Hill and Camden Town

We decided to spend the last day of the late May bank holiday in London, enjoying some outdoor spaces. One place we'd never explored together was Regent's Park, so we headed there first of all. Even though it was busy, the park is so huge that it still felt very tranquil.

London's second biggest park has plenty of attractions, including a beautiful little Japanese garden, complete with a waterfall.

Another highlight is Queen Mary's Rose Garden, which is so colourful and smells amazing.

We also went to look at London Central Mosque, a very impressive building.

After exploring Regent's Park, we moved on to Primrose Hill, climbing up to the top to enjoy the incredible view of the city's landmarks.

The final place we visited was Camden Town, which was somewhere we'd been meaning to visit for a while, not because we were especially interested in going, but because it's a famous area we hadn't visited yet. As expected, we didn't really like the vibe of the area (it smells a lot of both cannabis and body odour, and is very chaotic) but at least we can now say we've been!

That's all for our May travels, but June has already brought some very exciting travel adventures for us, in two foreign countries! Check back here soon to read all about it...

Year Abroad: My Travel Highlights

For today's post, I'm looking back at my Year Abroad (which I can't believe was 8-9 years ago!), and specifically showcasing my travel highlights from those 15 months.

During that time, I travelled to eight countries across Europe and South America, and visited some of the world's most famous tourist destinations, like Paris, Vienna, Venice and Florence. I used my weekends to take various day trips and mini breaks to places in the countries I was staying in and in neighbouring countries.

Though I had a great time in every place I visited, these were the trips that left the biggest impression on me...

Travels Around the South of France

Following a difficult start to my Year Abroad, when an au pair placement I took on in the south of France turned out to be a nightmare, I returned to the UK after just 10 days. However, just a matter of days later, I was back in the same region, this time spending a few weeks at a language school in Montpellier. Fortunately, this experience was completely the opposite, and I had a wonderful time. I stayed with a really nice lady and her cat in a lovely flat and had the opportunity to travel to various places around the area on weekends and Wednesday afternoons. Those weeks were one of my favourite memories from the entire year, and gave me confidence after the initial setback to keep going with my Year Abroad plans.

Read more here!

Udine, Italy

The second part of my Year Abroad took me to the south of Austria, where I worked as an English teacher in two secondary schools for four and a half months. As I was living pretty much right in the centre of Europe and worked four-day weeks, I had amazing opportunities to travel all around the continent, without even getting on a plane. I visited four neighbouring countries, including Italy on three separate occasions. The first trip I took was to the small city of Udine, close to the borders with Austria and Slovenia. It was a city I'd never heard of before seeing it on a train map, but it turned out to be one of my favourites - it has so much beautiful architecture and none of the crowds you get in the better-known Italian cities.

Read more here!

Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia

The following month I, along with the other British Council English language assistants in Austria, was invited to an afternoon tea at the British Embassy in Vienna. The event was nowhere near as fancy as it sounds - it was literally just us passing round packets of Mr Kipling cakes and making tea from a hot water urn! However, it was interesting to visit the embassy and hear from the ambassador about what it's like to work in diplomacy. Of course, I used the event as an opportunity to stay in the city for a few days and see its many sights. I also took the train over to Bratislava in Slovakia (a journey of less than an hour), which was a great experience. The two cities are very different, but there's a lot to like about both, from Vienna's grand palaces and elegant streets, to Bratislava's fairytale castle and quaint streets.

Read more here!

A Weekend in Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Later on in the semester, I went on a trip that incorporated destinations in three different countries: Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. First, I took the train to Innsbruck for one night before travelling to the small town of Sargans in Switzerland, which I used as a base for exploring the tiny country of Liechtenstein, before stopping off in Innsbruck again on the way home. This was a long weekend filled with mountains, castles and a real feeling of adventure.

Read more here!

Valparaíso, Chile

In February 2018, I headed over to South America to start the third part of my Year Abroad: a semester studying at a university in Santiago, Chile. This was the most daunting but also the most exciting part of the year. During the first couple of months, I got to know my new city, but didn't travel much outside of it, other than a trip to a vineyard with the university and a weekend at the beach in a group. Before going to Chile, I'd been given a lot of warnings not to travel around Latin America on my own, but when my plans for one weekend fell through, I spontaneously took the bus to the coastal city of Valparaíso by myself and joined a group walking tour, taking in all the sights of the city. Valpo is full of steep hills, colourful buildings and street art, and has a Bohemian atmosphere that really draws you in. Almost five years later, I had the chance to go back, this time with Claudio, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

Read more here!

Huilo Huilo, Chile

The first three months of my time in Chile were filled with ups and downs. While I fell in love with the country, its landscapes and culture, I also invested myself in an unhealthy relationship, which ultimately ended in heartbreak. In the days that followed, I was strongly tempted to book the first flight back home, but forced myself to stay by booking a spot on a group tour to the south of the country towards the end of the semester. By the time the trip came round, I'd unexpectedly met Claudio (my now-husband!) and life in Santiago was better than ever. Though Claudio wasn't able to join me on the tour, he did turn up at the bus station to see me off, which was a lovely surprise! After an entire night on the coach, I emerged into a landscape that was much colder than Santiago, but also much more tranquil. The following two days were spent visiting lakes, volcanoes, waterfalls, forests and thermal springs. It was an incredible experience and one of my favourite memories from the year.

Read more here!

The Year Abroad was a big project for me and something I felt really nervous about beforehand, as I'd never done anything like that before. Though I experienced some difficult moments, it also changed my life in the best ways.

In terms of travel, it helped me leave my comfort zone and become more confident about living in and travelling to different places around the world, often by myself. It inspired me to seek similar experiences in the future, starting with 10 days teaching English at a summer camp in Poland after graduating from university, and then moving back to Chile for 15 months after the pandemic, followed by a three-month internship in Malta. 

We're now settled in our life in the UK and plan on staying here for the foreseeable, but I have to admit that part of me still craves the prospect of spending a few months, or even longer, in a different part of the world. Maybe sometime in the future!

That's all for my Year Abroad Series for the moment. But please check out the other posts in the series right here:

Year Abroad: Dealing With Problems

Year Abroad: The Best Bits

Planning a Year Abroad

Year Abroad: The Most Popular Destinations

More April Travel Adventures: Battersea Power Station, Japan House, and the Thames Lido (300th Post!)

Here are a few other April travel adventures I'm yet to write about - as usual, in and around Reading and London!

Battersea

Battersea Park is one of our favourite London parks, and on a recent visit there, we decided to see a bit more of the area, by visiting Battersea Power Station. This is a prime example of the regeneration that has taken place in certain areas of London, as it was once a coal-fired power station spitting out smoke, but has now been converted into a very fancy and modern shopping mall.

When we visited, there was an art trail of painted elephants, and we had fun trying to spot as many as possible in and around the mall!

Kensington and Chelsea

Our next trip to the capital took us to the other side of the river, where we started our day out in Kensington, visiting Japan House. This cultural centre is a museum, shop, café and restaurant all in one, and is a beautiful space to visit. Japan is a country we'd love to visit at some point (I'm interested in the temples and cat cafés, and of course Claudio would love to see the cars!), so we had a great time looking around and enjoying a matcha. One weird thing that I would recommend doing there is visiting the bathroom, as they have authentic Japanese toilets with heated seats!

As the tube to Kensington from Paddington had been absolutely packed, we decided to walk to our next destination: Chelsea. We passed by this interesting building called Michelin House, which used to be the headquarters of Michelin (unsurprisingly!) but now has other uses. The actual building was closed, but in the entrance there was the most beautiful flower market.

Our final stop of the day was Claudio's choice! We went to the exit of the Salon Privé car event to watch some of the supercars leaving. We got to see a large range of cars: Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and even a Bugatti in the distance, so Claudio was pretty happy!

Thames Lido

We're planning on moving away from Reading in the coming months (though we're not sure where to yet!), so have been making a list of all the places we want to visit around the town and making the effort to visit as many as possible before we leave.

One of these places was the Thames Lido. We've had our eye on going there for ages, as we both love swimming, but it is rather pricey. However, the prospect of moving away from the area convinced us to finally go one Friday evening in April.

The building looks quite unassuming from the outside. You could easily miss it when walking past.

However, the inside is something else entirely! The lido is so beautifully decorated and contains a swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. The ticket gives you access for two hours, and we had a really enjoyable and relaxing evening there, finished off with a drink at the poolside bar.

While the tickets are expensive (£25 from Monday to Thursday and £30 from Friday to Sunday), you definitely get a very different experience to what you'd get at a standard leisure centre swimming pool - it's a much more picturesque and relaxing environment and much less crowded. We really felt like we were on holiday at a fancy hotel in a warmer country during the few hours we were there.

Staines-upon-Thames

We've been looking at various potential places to move to over the last couple of months and recently visited the town of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey. Though we didn't particularly like the town centre and don't see ourselves moving there in the future, there were some nice areas, particularly by the river, that we enjoyed exploring.

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon with more travel content, right here on this blog.

I want to finish off this post by marking the fact that this is actually my 300th post on Charlotte's Travel Adventures! I've now been posting here for well over seven years and don't plan on stopping anytime soon, even though I don't post as often these days as I did in the past. 

Since my 200th post three years ago, a lot has happened in my life! I spent three months living in Malta, before returning to live in the UK in late 2023. In 2024, Claudio and I got married in Chile (with a later celebration in the UK), and after successfully applying for a spouse visa, we moved into an apartment together in Reading in 2025, and are now working in Surrey and London.

Over the last three years, I've travelled in 11 countries, 4 of which I hadn't visited before. Our travel highlight definitely has to be our honeymoon in Thailand; it was our first time visiting Asia, and we had an absolutely brilliant time.

Hopefully, we'll have lots more exciting adventures to post about between now and post number 400!