My Business Trip To London - 3 to 18 January 2012

I get the chance to travel to London for business trip and I am so happy for that. It's also the first time I get to travel via business class. It's really a fact that rich people get special priorities....all business class ticket holders actually have special immigration exit line at London Hearthrow Airport and can beat the long queue at immigration. There's also special Agnes B pouch and Murad skincare provided. The seat can be reclined 180 degree and the duvet is so comfortable and will really be able to sleep during the long journey.

I stayed at Novotel London City South hotel, the taxi fare from airport to the hotel cost GBP83, quite expensive. The hotel is alright, although small but it's new, that's really very important. Average room cost per night with breakfast is about GBP160 per night.

Day 1 - 7 Jan 2012

We took the RV1 bus to London Bridge and took pictures. Actually wanted to visit the palace to view the Crown Jewel, but the entrance fee of GBP20 is too expensive, so we dropped the plan.

After that we visited St Pauls Cathedral, it's closed so we just took pictures from outside.

We took the tube to Harrods, just imagine on a Saturday afternoon, there isn't anyone in the tube... just compare it to Hong Kong.

We went for shopping in the afternoon near Harrods and Oxford Street, and I got to know the brand Karen Millen. The clothes and bag for this brand is really nice and I fell in love with this brand.

Few tube stations near to shopping areas are Picadilly circus (Loccitaine, Karen Millen, Yauatcha), Oxford Street (Ted Baker) and Bond Street (Selfridges, Debenham, my favourite chicken pie shop, Ben's cookie).

Day 2 - 8 Jan 2012

Someone brought this pet to Buckingham Palace for a stroll

We went to Buckingham Palace in the morning and took pictures. Scenery was nice. We actually passed by the St James Park and took pictures too.

In the afternoon, we went to Burberry Outlet. I don't find the trench coat cheap, the nicer ones cost GBP399 - 499. I only bought a t-shirt for my brother, not nice at all but its cheap at GBP20.

Day 3 - 15 Jan 2012

I went Bicester Village today. Need to take the tube to Marylebone train station and take a train from Marylebone to Bicester Village. I reached the train station at 8.45am but was unlucky and the train got delayed for 1.5 hours, so I arrived in the village much later than expected. There are a lot of good deals in the village and I didn't have time to visit all shops as it was already dark by 4pm.

Karen Millen - has a lot of clothes choices at reasonably discounted prices
Juicy Couture - Cheaper prices than high street but more expensive than US. I managed to purchase a track suit for about HK$1,300, although the sizes are not the ideal sizes.
Prada - really discounted at about 30-40% and the designs are quite nice too. I actually like a bag but it is too expensive, after discount was still GBP900. So I only ended up buying the above wallet. It cost only GBP170, 40% off from retail price.
Loccitaine - items selling at discounted price, but they do not have all products available at high street e.g their best selling Divine Immortalle Cream is not available

Must visit this outlet if I visit London again.

I went to Bond Street Selfridges after that to purchase a Karen Millen dress that was only available at this store.

Day 4 - 16 Jan 2012

We met up with Karly today and went to see Big Ben and Camden Market. We ate at the market, I tried a few stalls but didn't find the food nice. We went to Bond Street at night for shopping. Bought bed sheet set from Debenham.

London Hearthrow Airport


It is really most worth it to purchase ANY items in the airport if it is available there. Although there is tax refund in UK, the admin fee charged is really high. If you purchase less than GBP150 for example, the admin fee percentage is about 8-9% but the tax refund is only 7-8%. If the purchase amount is higher, the refund percentage may be increased to 10%. However, if you purchase at the airport, the price is tax free, meaning you don't need pay any admin fee. So items like Chanel, Miu Miu or cosmetic products are very cheap in the airport

Food

French onion soup

Duck confit

Rouge Cafe
This French restaurant serves very nice food at reasonable price. With the map provided by Novotel hotel, tourist have 20% discount for all meals. So it is really worth it for this meal. I visited the Hays Galleria shop.

www.caferouge.co.uk

Vanilla cheese cake, nice

Garlic prawn, OK only

Wolseley Cafe
It's next to Ritz Carlon, we were not allowed to enter Ritz because we did not wear proper dress code, so we just visited this cafe. Food was OK only, not much variety, but the dessert is quite nice.

The Refinery

This restaurant is near my office. This fish and chips is nice and a common dish in all restaurants.

Zucca London

This restaurant at184 Bermondsey Street serves quite nice Italian food, and this cheese raviolli is really nice. A meal for 2 including dessert cost GBP37.

Chicken liver

Carluccio

This is an Italian restaurant at Bicester Village. This restaurant serves quite nice Italian food at reasonable price.

Garfunkels Oxford Street (289 Oxford Street)

Wow, this chicken and mushroom pie is REALLY DELICIOUS. It's located along Bond Street, I must try it again when I visit London

Yauatcha

This Michelin star restaurant serves good Chinese food. If you crave for Chinese food, I think should only eat at this restaurant. The queue is very long, definitely need to reserve a table.

Ben's cookies


The chocolate cookies is quite nice....the one with triple chocolate.... praline ones are not that nice


Zizzi

My friend recommended this restaurant's lasagne, and this so called Italian restaurant is a nice chain Italian restaurant.