Quarterly Travel Update: Athens, NYC and London x 2

For the last quarter of 2017, I stayed in Vancouver, which is very unusual for me. So it’s no surprise that I’ve already visited Athens, London x 2 and NY since the start of the year.

I usually post a separate entry for each city – but not this time (probably because I feel like I’m running out of time to write before my next adventure). I’ve decided to do quarterly travel reports this 2018.

Athens

Athens came as a surprise as my friend was going to be there working and visiting her friend and I thought I would tag along. Check out the Athens City Guide I curated for BELLA LA here. I was very much into Greek mythology when I was in elementary and I’m a huge fan of the food so I was sold.

Since it was incredibly last minute I purchased a bunch of one ways. Just getting to Athens was painful (Vancouver to Calgary to Toronto to London to Athens!) but once I was there I settled in at the CocoMat Athens hotel just fine.

Nestled in a great location of Kolonaki, the CocoMat Athens has a concept bespoke mattress (CocoMat) store below an ultra modern boutique hotel. It was everything I always ask for in a hotel: clean, design savvy, great water pressure with excellent drainage (you may laugh – but have you seen my hair?) yummy drinks in the mini bar and a bed to top all hotel beds I have ever slept on. I live for breakfast, and CocoMat’s spread was incredible. Although the coffeemaker was slightly intimidating the fresh yogurt was fantastic (Greek yogurt is just yogurt in Greece 😉 ).

Athens has a great mix of the quintessential European charm (small boutiques, lovely cafes with al fresco dining). Behind the Akropoli Metro station was the hidden gem, Froots Juice Bar. A warm ‘Almond Lover’ (almond milk, cacao powder, cinnamon and brown sugar) was the perfect way to recharge.

Beyond the sporadic cafes and cobble stone streets, there is a mix of Athens street art areas (Exarcheia and Neapoli) with the occasional riot police spotted after hours. Walking along the Acropolis and the Agora, the same place where Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle was a great honour. Besides checking out the obvious ruins, I also went to the Museum of Cycladic Art which antiquities were housed in a beautiful mansion. I fell in love with the cafe and Vancouver Emily Carr artist (who was of Greek descent) had a piece of modern art that really caught my eye. The National Archaeological Museum had the largest collection of Roman ruins outside of Italy, but my favourite was the Acropolis museum by far.

We had the pleasure of making a traditional Greek meal with Melina Selalma. A former TV cooking show host, she was so delightful and informative. We learned a lot about the origin of ingredients and a few recipes we could replicate at home. Whenever I’m away, I always like to do some sort of cooking class because of the fresh ingredients that you can find based in the area you are in. Visiting Athens only made me love olives and yogurt more.

New York

Initially I went for NYFW to check out some shows. It ended up being a few impromptu meetings, a fashion show (Mac Duggal), a catch up birthday brunch with my East Coast friends and my biggest media appearance to date – an NBC NEWS BETTER segment on Valentine’s Day about The Love List.

I stayed at a great new hotel called the LIFE Hotel. It was the original building where LIFE Magazine was published. It is my new fave and it’s in such a great NoMad location, easy enough to get around and The Henry restaurant (the hotel restaurant) is so great. The pizza, the drinks, the breakfast – its all so great.

As per usual, I got my nails done at Paint Box (Rihanna was there a day prior) and shopped at Drew Barrymore’s new shop called Dear Drew that is across the street.

 

The NBC NEWS BETTER segment was a Facebook Live video taped at 30 Rockefeller Center. It was an amazing experience. During one of my first visits to NY, I went to the NBC studios to take a tour. I remember walking through all the halls and such and wondered if I would ever return. Almost ten years from that moment, I was filming a segment in the same building. Check it out here.

After the taping, I lined up for a Magnolia cupcake and then took a taxi to the airport to head home.

London

After Athens, I went to London for a weekend in January and then I was back in early March.

During the weekend, I stayed in Notting Hill at the Laslett. It’s a cute boutique hotel in a renovated mansion. I went to Harrods for the first time ages. I forgot how huge and how insanely busy it is. I picked up my new notebook from Smythson with the saying “Make it Happen” stamped on it.

The next day, I quickly visited The Shard and had yummy lunch at the Shangri-La and realized that I somehow wanted to visit the building again. The trip to see the view from the bathroom was spectacular – although it was cloudy. I thought about visiting the Natural History Museum, but the queue was so long that I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum for the Balenciaga exhibit instead. I’m a fan of Balenciaga so it worked perfectly. After, I went to the Ginstitute at the Distillery on Portobello Road and made my own concoction of gin. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to sample my bottle.

In early March, I had the opportunity to visit London again. I attended two workshops at The Shard with Warwick Business School for the first two days of the trip. I was getting accustomed to taking the tube as I was staying at the Hoxton Shoreditch. East London is a very different area from Notting Hill for sure.

A good majority of my meetings were cancelled so I went to visit the beautiful Sky Garden to check out the view and made a stop at Hearst UK.

On the weekend, I visited DryBy get some cool nail art done before heading to the Tate Modern. The last time I was there, I was 23 (?) so I definitely needed a refresher. Finished the evening with drinks at the Corinthia and then dinner at the Lido Restaurant at the Curtain. Its’ always great to visit a city and have the ability to walk around rather being always driven.

The next day was a full on shopping day starting with lunch at Mortimer House (with a quick stop at the British Museum) and arrived back at the hotel unable to feel my feet (ha!) and then it was back to the hotel to pack and get ready to go home. Although I couldn’t wait to head back home, for the first time in my life – I miscalculated my travel time and ended up having to be rerouted to Calgary instead of Toronto.  It actually worked in my favour as it got me home earlier.

Until next quarter….

ELENA:)

NBC BETTER Segment for The Love List

Here is the piece I filmed yesterday at NBC NEWS BETTER. In addition to the live taping there was a great accompanying article that lives on the site as well. Check it out here.

A big thank you to Style Verify who shared this piece on Apple News: Why every female should have a Love List. 

 

ELENA:)

Tokyo: August 31 – Sept 6

 

 

Tokyo. To me, it will always be New York’s Asian cool cousin. And those that know – I love NYC.

Same busy vibe. Great food. Architecture, design and fashion. Now, on the cusp of the 2020 Olympics – I’m finding less of a language barrier than I did 5 years ago and even less than 10 years ago.

This time, the journey surrounded a climb of Mt. Fuji, which engulfed my focus two months prior. I had no idea what I was getting into. And there were really no expectations – I even forgot there was a possibility that I wasn’t going to see the sunrise. (Note: For the record, I saw it).

The arrival day was spent getting organized at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo (Roppongi Hills) and checking out the touristy spot Gonpachi (known best for the Crazy 88 fight scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill) for some izakaya.

The next day was a ‘lazy day’ having a tour of the beautiful Grand Hyatt Tokyo, eating a traditional bento box lunch and indulging in some beautiful nail art at the house spa. That night we attended the amazing artist collaborative, teamLab. The sensory art installation was nothing short than amazing. It was a true feast for the eyes with so much interaction. Music, lights and a huge disco ball were just a few of the highlights.

Bright and early we travelled to Mt. Fuji (which was a long 3 hour bus ride). I bought my walking stick and we were on our way starting the actual climb at noon until 5pm where we rested in a mountain hut for 5.5 hours. We had a hamburger and rice dinner and rested. In all honesty, the rest area was so cramped that my friend and I had to go out in the open common area and reorganize our bag and eat some cup of noodles before we ascended at 10:30pm. We got to the summit at 4:45am by taking a detour – the mountain was so busy! By 5:12am we caught the sunrise and I got my last logo on the walking stick. And then we were on the descend and 3 hours later were waiting for the bus to take to drive us back into the city.

The day after the climb was a hard one. I had no idea the effects of a downhill climb would be on my thighs. They burned. So much so that I wanted to avoid anything that involved walking; which is hard because that’s what exploring a city like Tokyo is all about it.

That same day, I checked into the stylish and pretty Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills for the remainder of my stay. After indulging in some pastries from the Pastry Shop, we had another informative hotel tour.  After we checked out an Owl café in Harajuku (yes – I felt bad after). We had dinner at a secret shabu shabu restaurant with the best beef I have ever tasted in my entire life. The beef was melt in your mouth great!

The last full day, exploring the city meant checking out the 4 level Gucci store in Ginza, having lunch at Aoyama Flower Market cafe and indulging in a sake tasting at a hidden spot in Kappabashi called Sanwa 720. I learned that sake from the north is quite dry and sake from the west is sweet. After, we headed to the store that sells everything under the rising sun – Don Quijote. It was the perfect spot to grab souvenirs and packs of milk tea (my favourite!).

Before heading to the airport to leave we made a stop to the Nikon museum. It was cool to see the vast history of the world famous camera company.

It was great to be back and this trip made me realize that Tokyo still remains my favourite bustling big asian city.

ELENA:)

 

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