Afternoon Tea at the German Gymnasium London

For me having Afternoon Tea is a quintessentially British thing to do. And something I do like to indulge in every now and then.

But how about fusing the traditional Afternoon Tea with the German tradition of coffee and cake at 4pm? Well why not… merging British and German has worked well for me all my life (it basically is the story of my life, being half British and half German).

I’ve been meaning to go and try out the German Gymnasium for quite some time now, but somehow never quite gotten round to it. So when a friend recently visited London, it was a good enough excuse for us to have a girly catch up over tea and cake and finally give that Afternoon Tea experience a try.

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London in the Rain – Things to do in London when it rains

With summer well and truly over, it is time to come to terms with the idea of autumn. But what a summer we have had, surely we can’t complain … other than that it was far too hot obviously and the grass was all brown and burnt because we didn’t have any rain – I mean we wouldn’t be Brits if we weren’t moaning about the weather. So, for the coming weeks we will have to deal with London in the rain.

Back to the topic on hand. Autumn is coming and with it comes the inevitable rain. This last weekend was a prime example of that, as we pretty much had constant rain from early Saturday until Sunday afternoon.

Yes, I hear you say, doesn’t it rain in London non stop anyway? Well, while this seems to be common knowledge to EVERYONE and no one is ever tired of pointing it out to me, let me tell you that London averages 106.5 days of rain a year. And whilst this is quite a lot, it is less than New York with 122 days and even less than Orlando Florida that comes in at a whopping 117 days. Who would have thought?

But anyway, who are we to let a little rain dampen our mood? There are lots of things you can do in London in the rain. So get your wellies on, grab your brolly and off we go.

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What to Eat in New York City

New York City is great and I absolutely love it (but you knew that already). And as we are preparing for another trip to New York next week, I decided this was the perfect time to share with you my favourite food destinations in New York City. So, if you are wondering what to eat in New York City, this is for you.

Obviously New York has an array of delicious, cool, unusual and sometimes rather pricy restaurants. And if you are a regular on Instagram and Pinterest, I am sure you’ve seen all the pretty foods showing up in your feed. From crazy unicorn shakes to flower shaped ice-cream, pink lattes and weird burgers.

But whilst these for sure are all great and the perfect addition to your Instagram grid, this is not the food I am talking about (doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try some of it if I happen to come by). What I am talking about are my personal favourite foods in New York City. Tried, tested and approved by Mr T and I over several trips to New York (and all paid for with our own money, so whilst this is advertising by mentioning the places, I did not receive any payment or even freebies for said mentioning).

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A brief sightseeing tour through Budapest

Earlier this month I managed to add yet another city and country to my travel map, bringing my country total to 24 (some of you might remember my ’40 before 40’ post, where I calculated the number of countries I had visited up until then. Since then I have managed to add 3 more countries to the list: Poland, Israel and now Hungary).

After it had been on the radar for a long time, I finally got to visit Budapest for the first time.

Only for one night during a business trip, but I intended to make the most of the few hours I had and see it ALL (or at least try, after around 25.000 steps, I eventually gave up). But – SPOILER ALERT – I did like it a lot and I definitively will be back for more (hopefully for a full weekend at some point). So let me tell you all about my brief sightseeing tour through Budapest in just one afternoon.

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Beginners Guide to First Time Flying

Last week my goddaughter and her mum were finally visiting us in England for the very first time. They both live in Germany, in the village I grew up. And although both have been outside Germany before, neither of them had ever travelled by plane. My goddaughter is 14 and visiting London was her birthday / Christmas present. So ever since she’d been making plans of what she wants to see and do. Busy four days this were (more on that here). With the flights booked already, I decided to write them a little beginners guide to first time flying, since they were rather nervous (or at least mum was) giving step-to-step advice on flying as a first timer.

And since I figured they might not have been the only first time flyers out there, I decided to share my Beginners Guide to First Time Flying with you all, just in case there are other anxious first-time flyers out there.

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Berlin in One Hour

Recently travelling back from Görlitz, I found myself with an hour or two to spare when changing in Berlin. So I wondered what to do and came up with a list of things you can do in Berlin if you only have an hour (or maybe two).

Don’t get me wrong. I am not claiming that you only need one hour to see all of Berlin. Far from it. You should allow at least 3 to 4 days if you are visiting for the first time. Or even more, which would give you a chance to also explore the surrounding areas, like the Spreewald and lakes.

But surely I am not the only one that might occasionally find herself at Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main station) with an hour or two spare before heading to the airport or taking a connecting train to somewhere else in Germany.

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Visiting Tel Aviv for the First Time

First Time Tel Aviv

I can’t believe it has been two months and I have only just managed to get this post ready. End of May finally saw me visiting Tel Aviv for the first time (well if I say me, I mean me, my colleague and one of our clients).

And whilst I was really looking forward to it (after all, a trip to Israel had been on the radar for a full year now, so expectations had been building up high), I was a little uneasy at the same time. Not really sure what to expect.

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Visiting Bern for the first time – A brief sightseeing tour of Switzerland’s capital

I’ve been to Switzerland a couple of times for work already, yet I have never actually visited Bern, Switzerland’s capital. So when two meetings nearby showed up on my itinerary, I was looking forward to finally getting a chance to go and visiting Bern for the very first time. But to be honest, I had absolutely no idea what to expect, I didn’t even bother googling Bern before going. So to save you from making the same silly mistake, here a brief overview of what to see in Bern if you have limited time.

There is a load more to see, so take it as a teaser of Bern, not a full itinerary for a weekend in Bern for example (which I would totally recommend and would love to do if and when I get the chance).

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My Travel Bucket List – 50 places yet to visit

I travel a lot for work and I love exploring new places. But travelling for work is usually limited to travelling within Europe and it does not always leave enough time to actually explore the cities / areas I visit thoroughly.

Growing up, we usually went on a 2-week holiday each summer. Alternating between visiting my family in England and camping somewhere in France. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it (I still love England and have moved here for good and I do still love going back to France, although nowadays I rather book a hotel or holiday home than go camping), but it meant the number of countries I explored was fairly limited.

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April Travels

April has been an usually slow month. Both for the blog (I do apologise and promise to better myself going forward – at least I will try) and in terms of travelling.

For the first time this year I’ve taken a breather from my weekly travels with not just one but actually two consecutive weeks on the ground and in the office.

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