Firstly—I want to thank whoever left me the comment to bring a journal and write down my thoughts about our trip each night. I forgot to bring the journal, but I used hotel paper to write my notes at night and I am SO thankful I did that because it really did help me remember specific memories and observations. So thank you to whoever suggested that—I HIGHLY recommend jotting down notes when you travel somewhere. It doesn’t have to be a journal entry—mine were all point form notes that were quick and simple.
Where to start? Gosh, there’s so much to say, so many pictures to share. I’ll have to categorize my posts because there’s just too much to pack into one post. I will say this though—we had an amazing time in both Paris and London—but we loved London just a bit more and wish we would have budgeted more days there. Now we have a great excuse to go back!
I thought it might be helpful to write a post on my packing and what I wish I had brought and what I could have lived without.
As you can tell, the Michael Kors jacket that I bought last minute, was an absolutely must-have for the frigid Paris temperatures. Oh, and of course, I always managed to find a Starbucks. It’s like a shining beacon of hope in any city. Yep, that’s a true Starbucks addict talking right there!
- All of my boots—I wore the cognac boots, the Hunter wellies and the UGGS all of the time. I’m thrilled I didn’t bring any heels or other shoes because they never would have been worn.
- Black clothes (and lots of them!) I wore black everyday. It was easy and looked chic at night when we went out for dinner.
- Tights— I can’t be more thankful for Lulu Lemon’s wunder under tights—I wore them everyday (layered over 2 pairs of cheaper tights) for the entire Paris portion of the trip. I loved that because they are so stretchy and comfy I never felt uncomfortable when we walked ALL DAY long.
- My own soap—I know it sounds silly, but I use Dove sensitive skin bar soap and love it—it doesn’t irritate my skin and I’m glad we brought a bar to use on our trip.
- Velcro rollers— believe it or not ladies, I didn’t bring a flat iron, curling iron OR a hairdryer on our trip. I took my chances and was blessed with a glorious hair dryer in my hotel room that was almost as good as the one I have at home (almost). I just did a blowout with my round brush, set my hair in velcro rollers as usual, and voi-la, my hair was pretty decent (uh, except when I wore a hat all day and my hair got massive knots in it).
- My GAP skinny jeans—those were my London staples—wore them everyday we were there.
- Mousse. I cannot emphasize this enough. Mousse mousse mousse. I didn’t pack mousse because I was all “ohhh I won’t need it I’ll just do a blowout without it.” Here’s a little secret ladies—it turns out, mousse it a key ingredient to keeping your hair from gettting greasy. Let me explain. I always use mousse before a blowout. It helps to create volume at the root and gives hair a little hold. I only apply it to my roots. So in Paris I didn’t use mousse and the next day my hair was already limp and greasy. It was like I had different hair or something. It was odd. Let’s just say I bought some mousse at a drugstore the next day. It’s a must-have for my hair type.
- Nail polish/remover. I know this sounds awful, but my nails just go so gross on this trip and I wish I could have just repainted them and cut them and stuff. It was okay though because I always wore gloves. Nail polish was super pricey in Paris so I just passed (yep, even the drugstore stuff was like $6.50 euro minimum)
- A hairdryer—our London hotel for some odd reason didn’t have a hairdyrer—it was no biggie because I didn’t have to wash my hair there (I washed it the night before we traveled there) but I hated not being able to heat my eyelash curler like usual (yes, I know).
- Dressy clothes—I didn’t wear any of my dressy clothes, including the blazer I thought would be a go-to item… I rocked the black Target tunic sweater everywhere—it was chic and worked for both day and night.
I was underwhelmed at the way people dressed in Paris. I think I had it all built up in my mind that it was going to be a fashion show everywhere I looked. When it comes to fashion—the girls in London take the cake. London was like a fashion show everywhere I looked, and it was incredible. More on that in a coming entry.
I’ll leave you with some additional pics from our trip:
I was always always always bundled up!
The view from our hotel room and our hot pink modern Paris hotel room
(a coincidence, I swear!)
Veronika.
Woohoo!!! Welcome back!!! Sounds like it was an amazing trip and now you've got me so curious about London (I've been to Paris 6 times but never London – not once!!!). Looking forward to hearing and seeing more from your trip!!
anh—you MUST go to London—you BELONG there, seriously. It's amazing.
Welcome back! Sounds like an amazing trip. What is the name of your hotel in Paris? It looks awesome!
Welcome back! Sounds like an awesome time! I think the Parisian fashion is known as being chic without effort, and I think to see true Parisian fashion, it's best to go to a district that's not as touristy.
For me, I felt like Milan was driping with fashion. Even teens riding the metro looked so chic to me, even if they had oversized pants. I can't explain it.
Did you try a french macaron? Those are my fave!–T
Welcome back – I look forward to reading all your posts about your trip – it sounded like so much fun! I agree about London people being so very stylish – on our recent trip I remember "people watching" on the tube – loved all the tailoured coats and nice shoes and bags….and spotting many Bayswater bags in person.
What is is eyelash curler heat thing you mentioned? A beauty trick I do not know of? do share! 🙂
I love LONDON!!! I always wanted to move there!! Glad you liked it!! It is an incredible place. When you go back there is always something new too see and the people are sooo nice!
Looks like a great trip! Awesome post too about what you packed after the trip and your thoughts. Looking forward to future posts about the trip!
Awesome post and pictures! I love both Paris and London, beautiful gorgeous cities everyone should visit at least once in their life times! :))) Happy New Year! 🙂
Welcome back! Oh how I missed your posts 🙂 I am so excited to hear all about your trip and see all of the pictures!
I have never lived in London so maybe this would be true there also, but I have gone to school, worked, and vacationed at different times over the last 4 years in Paris and although it is the number one tourist destination in the world there are still ordinary people living in Paris doing ordinary jobs and therefore wearing ordinary clothes. While working in Paris I wear the same clothes (a lot of Club Monaco) that I wear to my workplace in Houston- my colleagues in Paris also wear ordinarily nice business-casual work clothes to the office and there are no people dressed up in any special fashion-show/just off-the-runway type outfits. I'm sure that people in Paris working at the fashion houses are expected to be more with the trends of the moment, although I know people who work at fancy-name companies and dress even less exciting than me. There are just a lot of people going about their normal lives, I walk around in sneakers and jeans all the time to be comfy- it's really just a normal (very expensive!) place to live. There was nothing exciting about my life when I was living in Paris, although one could certainly choose to have a more exciting life if they wanted. Also I will say that I have a hard time finding good quality but not ridiculously expensive business casual clothes- I miss Club Monaco A LOT. I can find nothing like this in Paris- good price + good quality + very cute :(. Missing Houston!
You're back great. BUt you didn't wash your hair the whole time you were there? V that is pure NASTY!
Glad you liked your trip in my part of the world 😉 Were you staying at Le Five hotel in Paris ? It looks a lot like it !
Oh and yes, I pay 13,50€ for a bottle of OPI nail polish ! Ugh.
Glad you had fun on your trip! I am looking forward to hearing more about London – I'd love to travel there someday!
Monika I washed my hair twice while I was away sorry that was not clear to you I wrote about washing my hair in this entry!
Glad your back safe, I've missed your blog! What a nice hotel! That looks awesome.
Can't wait to see your post about London! I love London and the atmosphere of the city! I just did my third trip to London a few weeks ago with my girlfriends. It was so cold there that time that I didn't get any use of my dressy clothes either. I STILL plan to travel back to London, maybe in the summer next time. Luckily I live only a three-hour flight away from London 🙂
And I must say wow your hotel room in Paris was so chic and girly! I wonder if your husband laughed about the room 😀
omg INSANE when i was reading this was like reading something that i wrote. Gap skinny jeans ( they are the only ones that fit right ), Velcro rollers; you know they are my ultimate hair tool and last time i went on a long trip i was going INSANE over nail polish remover… it might sound silly but when you don't have the little stuff that you take for grated it can be a nightmare. lol
All your pictures look fabulous and so much fun! I'm so glad you guys had such a great time!
~M
Classy & Fabulous
hotel room looks divine! great images!
Happy New Year!
You looked like a snow angel! I love the pic of you outside Starbucks, so cute 😉 I can't wait to read about London and all the fashion girls there! I know you must be totally exhausted though. Welcome back!
Welcome home! Glad you had most of the essentials you needed. I know what you mean about needing a vacation from your vacation—I always plan a couple days off after I return from vacation.
Oh and that pink room is more than adorable!!
Welcome Back! Love that Hotel in Paris. Do you mind sharing which one it was? We are planning a trip there this year and that hotel looks really nice!
Glad you had a great time. Welcome back and rest up!
xoxo,
Natalia
@natalia—it's the hotel sublime eiffel in paris 🙂
@cmae—you just blast your lash curler with heat from your hairdryer for a few seconds and then curl your lashes—the curl lasts ALL day (and night!)
I lived in London for four months when I studied fashion abroad during undergrad. I loved every second! It's my favorite city (outside the US) hands down! We also took a short trip to Paris while there and I was not the biggest fan. Don't get me wrong it, it was great to visit and see, but compared to London, I found the people were just not as nice, and the transportation was not as clean at the tube, etc.
I'd love to live in London but I just don't think H or I could be that far away from our families on a long term basis. I can't wait to go back and visit and glad you loved London!
Wow Paris looks so beautiful even in winter, I am glad you had a great trip.I cant wait to see what you got when you went shopping!
Hi, quick question about the Love Culture t-shirts. How do they run size-wise? They don't have a size chart on their website, and I don't have a store nearby to try them on. What size do you usually get in their long t's? I've been looking for some long casual ones to wear over leggings, and theirs are super cheap! Thanks!
@backy—I wear a size Medium and I'm 5'10
Sounds like an amazing time!! Happy New Year!
Michelle
xx
I remember thinking London was super fashionable when I went as well! Everyone looked so stylish!
Thanks for sharing with us all your pictures and memories from your trip. It looks great, regards from hotels in London