The Long Weekender's guide to an amazing shopping day in LONDON:

Start your day early at the famous Portobello Street Market in Notting Hill (yes, as in the same Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant) which is open on Saturdays from 8am to 6pm. The earlier you get there, the better! It starts getting really crowded after 10am. It's London's biggest market, and stretches more than 2 miles down Portobello Road. The market is split up into sections: antiques, fashion, produce, new goods, and second hand goods. If I had a spare Saturday in London I could and would easily spend the whole day there. 

After Portobello Market make your way to Camden Town, and attempt to take in it's 1000+ stalls and shops (most of which are open daily from 10am-6pm). The lively and colorful Camden Markets has a unique atmosphere (much different from the rest of London) and there's no shortage in things to do. I loved all the clothes and shoe stalls/shops, but I have to say that my favorite purchase was a Banksy replica art piece. If you're not familiar with Banksy, he's an internationally known British street artist that isn't shy about conveying and combining his political views with dark humor. I'm a fan of his stenciling technique, and always keep an eye out for his work in any big city that I go to. 

The canal in Camden

Next stop is Oxford Circus. Oxford Street is one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe, it features many internationally known stores like H&M and Topshop. Make sure you find your way to Primark. Just a heads up, it's a jungle in there! There's always a ton of people and long lines but their prices makes it worthwhile. Think of H&M and Forever 21 type clothes but even cheaper! 

Finish your day in Knightsbridge, where you can find the famous Harrod's department store. Sure, it's ridiculously expensive and I can barely afford a Harrod's keychain but it's still worth a visit even if you just window shop. Personally, I can spend a number of hours here (without even buying anything) to just browse through their many displays/exhibitions, word on the street is that they'll have a Harry Potter exhibit soon (I'm a fan so I'm super excited), take pictures, or go to one of their 32 restaurants, ice cream parlors, tea shops. Harrod's motto is: "All things for all people, everywhere," and with 330 departments it seems fitting. 

Christmas in Harrod's

The Princess Diana tribute, one of Harrod's many exhibits

If you find yourself with extra time during the day, other shopping areas of interest are Covent Gardens and SoHo. 

If you're in the exact opposite situation and ran out of time before getting rid of the shopaholic bug, London Heathrow Airport has a decent selection of stores that you can get your last minute shopping fix at. They even have a mini Harrod's store, and their prices are the same if not slightly less than the original store. I know you're probably thinking that airport shopping is expensive…but most stores at Heathrow are actually cheaper because of duty free. 

For example, Longchamp…if you've read some of our previous blogs, you'd know that we are huge fans of their foldable totes (they make perfect travel bags). With a 4 hour flight delay, we ended up sitting in front of the terminal's Longchamp store, which for us is bad news bears. Surprisingly, they had the cheapest prices we've seen (gotta love that duty free price), and of course we jumped at the opportunity. Talk about the "ripple effect" in motion, once one person bought a bag, everyone else followed. Our group of 17 each bought at least one purse (many bought multiple). It's safe to say that their next commission check is going to very pretty, so you're welcome Longchamp employees!

And if you're interested in London's fall trends, here are the top 3:

1. Wellington boots aka "wellies"

2. Infinity scarves

3. Colorful tights worn under shorts 

We LOVE to shop til we drop, so you can expect more of our international shopping guides soon. Cheers!

3 EASY DAY TRIPS FROM LONDON

As I'm sure you all know that the Royal Wedding is this week, and instead of doing a blog on Royal London, which I'm sure is the subject of all travel articles this week, we've decided to suggest a few interesting day trips outside of London that you might fancy on your next trip to jolly ol' England.

1. OXFORD-The City of Dreaming Spires

Located about 60 miles northwest of London, it's most famous for its prestigious university (which also happens to be the oldest university in the English speaking world), I swear just being here made me feel smarter and if time permitted I would've applied at one of Oxford's 36 colleges during my day visit. My first choice: Christ Church College, reason being that I'm a big Harry Potter fan, and I instantly recognized the Great Hall of Hogwart's Castle was the same hall found in Christ Church College, so that was a deal breaker. Oxford offers a number of guided tours, some having specialized themes (inlcuding a Harry Potter themed tour) like children's storybook tours. Did I mention some of the most popular children's books of the 21st century were written here? Does Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Northern Lights Triolgy (filmed as the Golden Compass) ring a bell? Oxford City itself is a charming place, make sure to take note of their architecture, and shop at the plethora of boutiques for all of your Oxford parafanailia needs. Also, visit the Carfax Tower (for views of the town), the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera (it's not open to the public unfortunately, but the outside is worth a visit too). If you want to get to Oxford on your own, there are direct train services from London Paddington that leaves approximately every 30 minutes, and takes about 58 minutes to get there.

2. STRATFORD-UPON-AVON-The hometown of William Shakespeare

Stratford-Upon-Avon is Shakespeare's birthplace and home of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Shakespeare Theatre; it lies on the River Avon in the Warwickshire countryside. Even if you don't care too much about poetry or plays, it's still worth a visit. It's as pretty as a postcard, and still gives the vibes of an Olde Medieval England. Full of beautiful parks and gardens, its a perfect place to just take a stroll. It takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Stratford-Upon Avon by train from London Marylebone Station. Trains leave about every 2 hours. Want to be a little more comfortable? There are several day trip coach buses that run from London's Victoria Coach Station.

3. STONEHENGE-A place of mystery and myths

I'm sure your wondering what's so interesting about some slabs of rocks in what seems to be in-the-middle-of-nowhere-England? Well, even with science and technology this prehistoric ruins are still a mystery today! Of course there's myths, legends and educated guesses on what the actual meaning/purpose of building this monument was but none have been confirmed. Who did this? Why? And how did they move these massive stones? It's even been associated with Merlin and King Arthur; legend has it that Merlin brought the stones from Ireland to serve a burial ground. Others think Stonehenge served as a sacred place of worship, or was as a type of calendar, marking prehistoric events. But you can decide for yourself when you visit these ruins. If you have an extra day to spare in England, you may as well make your way to this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The best way to get to Stonehenge is to take a coach bus that leaves from London's Victoria Coach Station directly to the site. You can also take a train from London Waterloo Station to Salisbury (which is 9.5 miles away from Stonehenge) and take a bus or cab to the site.