london news

This Week in the World: Week 18

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Happy Sunday, and Happy Greek Orthodox Easter to those who celebrate! My friend Victoria (who is half-Greek) is hosting a celebration in her garden later today for a few of us and I’m excited to embrace her culture while dining on some delicious Greek food! Being outdoors here in London is becoming nicer and nicer everyday, especially now that the beautiful wisteria is blooming!

If you’re new here, ‘This Week in the World’ is a weekly recap of content ranging from around the globe. My hope is that each week, no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to feel more connected to it: through news, travel, food & wine… really, anything that appeals to the culturally curious. Let’s dive into the content I sourced for week 18.

TRAVEL NEWS, UPDATES + INSPIRATION

AROUND THE WORLD

MISCELLANEOUS

  • It may sound silly, but I’m so excited I got a UK credit card this week! (Fellow expats will understand why this feels like quite an accomplishment!) Since I was already a US Amex cardholder, I had no issue opening the British Airways Amex here in the UK. If you spend £20,000 each year, you also receive a companion voucher (and if you apply using this link, you will receive 9,000 Avios points if you spend £1,000 in your first 3 months).

  • Are you keen to build your wine cellar but don’t know where to start? One of my favorite wine shops in London, Barry Brothers & Rudd has a great program where you can pay as little as £100 per month to have experts build and store your cellar. It’s a simple way to build a collection of wine perfectly tailored to your taste, and you can “cash out” to collect your wine at anytime. I think it’s such a smart idea and am considering starting one myself!

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That’s all for today. Happy reading and hope to see you back again next week!

xx

Whitney

This Week in the World: Week 15

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It’s a very happy Sunday here in London, because it is finally our last day of lockdown! Tomorrow, restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining, shops are finally allowed to open their doors and so much I’ve missed about London will return at long last. My calendar is slowly filling up with dinner dates to see my friends, tennis lessons to sharpen my skills, my WSET certification courses and even a few trips scheduled for the weeks and months ahead! It feels so wonderful to have normalcy breathing into life again, even if it’s in small doses to start.

If you’re new here, ‘This Week in the World’ is a weekly recap of content ranging from around the globe. My hope is that each week, no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to feel more connected to it: through news, travel, food & wine… really, anything that appeals to the culturally curious. Let’s dive into the content I sourced for week 14.

TRAVEL NEWS, UPDATES + INSPIRATION


AROUND THE WORLD

WEEKLY FAVORITES:

  • FAVORITE WINES: I started my WSET Level 2 Award in Wines certification this last week (which was so fun!) and tasted five different wines during class. There were two (very different but both delicious!) wines I loved that are worth searching for online to order yourself:

    • Domaine Bruno Sorg Gewürztraminer 2018 (Slightly sweet but such an incredible bouquet of melon, ripe peaches and indisputable notes of lychee that are absolutely outstanding).

    • Pio Cesare Barolo 2014 (A quintessential Barolo: pronounced oak, vanilla, blackcurrants and earthiness. High acid. High tannin. High alcohol… this clearly packs a punch! It has a long finish and would be great with a rich truffle pasta).

  • FAVORITE INSPIRATIONAL READ: My neighbor is a big cyclist and yesterday got me excited about the idea of a group of us biking to Amsterdam for the weekend (it’s 136 kilometers from London to Harwich, where you then take an overnight ferry to The Hague, then bike another 64 kilometers). While that’s a journey I’ll likely spend some time working up to, it was fun to dream about. So when I stumbled upon this article titled “A cyclist on the English landscape”, a recap of travel photographer who spent the year pedaling the roads around the UK and snapping photos, it was a feast for the eyes and added to my inspiration for making that journey happen!

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That’s all for today. Happy reading and hope to see you back again next week!

xx

Whitney

This Week in the World: Week 11

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Hello again, and Happy Sunday. I just finished eating some pancakes I made from scratch, which is quickly becoming a new weekend tradition (recipe below). I’m trying to drink in little luxuries like that… things I know I won’t have as much time for when life starts getting normal again (which, don’t get me wrong, I am very ready for!) It’s nice to feel like things are finally looking promising . I’ve seen a surge in travel planning inquiries (more HERE) and some more people have been watching online courses. It’s clear that travel is on people’s minds and we are all keen to get back out there!

If you’re new here, ‘This Week in the World’ is a weekly recap of content ranging from around the globe. My hope is that each week, no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to feel more connected to it: through news, travel, food & wine… really, anything that appeals to the culturally curious. Let’s dive into the content I sourced for week 11.

TRAVEL NEWS + UPDATES:

WEEKLY FAVORITES

MISCELLANEOUS

WANT ALL OF THIS DIRECTLY IN YOUR INBOX?

BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER!


That’s all for today. Happy reading and hope to see you back again next week!

xx

Whitney