Skip to main content

Harry Potter and the family holiday to London!






 



I made a decision last year to travel more. That started off with my solo trip to Paris in the summer and followed up with a Harry Potter themed adventure in London last week with my brother. 

Having waited 16 months we were finally on our way to see Harry Potter And The Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre. We had a full week planned; trips to Camden to explore the markets, Leavesden to re-visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour and of course the two shows that make up The Cursed Child. 

Day One

We arrive at Gatwick and jump on the express at Crawley; my only regret is not booking our train tickets in advance to get the cheap prices. 
After dropping our bags off at the hotel we headed straight to Camden Market for a spot of shopping and a hot chocolate lunch at the infamous Chin Chin Labs

FYI: We were staying just off Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road at the Hotel St Giles, if you're looking for a ridiculously central location then I do recommend it as we were 2 minutes from the tube and 5 minutes from soho. 

 
 



Never one resist the shopping in Camden I snapped up these beautiful tortoiseshell sunglasses for £6. I do love a butterfly wing frame!

homemade marshmallow hot chocolate
Chin Chin Labs homemade marshmallow hot chocolate. So messy and divine it comes with its own bowl!
 
A banana torch in Cyberdog.... definitely doesn't look like a magic dildo. Nope. 

 


Dinner was at East Street just off Oxford Street. If you're looking for a pan-Asian Hipster wagamamas then this is your choice. The service was lovely and the Singapore Noodles were yummy! 

 
 



Day Two

The nerdiness starts! 


Previously when I've visited the WB Studio Tour we have had a car and drove out from London. This time I decided to do something different and get one of the official Hogwarts Express tour buses. We got to watch the movies on the way and I was able to grab some Itsu sushi for lunch. Any excuse for sushi. 

deluminator
     
You might think it's unnecessary to visit the studio tour for a third time but with new exhibitions opening regularly there has always been something new. We were really excited to go on the hogwarts express and explore inside the Dursley's house! 


  
"Up!"
 

Another addition to the tour was the Dobby Experience. Multiple mini exhibits throughout the tour exploring the character from concept to creation and motivation! It was a nice wee bonus in what was clearly a transitional period between the winter wonderland ending in January and the new Forbidden Forest opening in March. 

 
Hogwarts castle under construction 
 

My favourite part of the tour. Every time. This giant model of Hogwarts is mind blowing although it lost a bit of its impact with the scaffolding. It was interesting to see them working on the model and removing the snow from the winter display. If you want to see it at its prettiest though then I would suggest going during December and January!

  



On the way home I couldn't resist some more shopping. As well as our gift shop spoils I popped in to HEMA. Think of it as the Dutch version of Tiger (now known as Flying Tiger UK. A design chic, budget friendly dimestore perfect for those with a kitsch obsession. Of course I picked up some notebooks and stationary. Of course!

 



Dinner was Bodean's BBQ Smoke House in Soho. We chose the sharing platter with a side of poutine. You can take the girl out of Northern Ireland but you can't take the cheesy gravy chip out of the girl. 

 

Delicious!

 



Day Three

I went full Hufflepuff on wednesday in my new sparkly New Look sale trousers and official Quidditch Hufflepuff Scarf. Today was the day we saw both Part one and two of The Cursed Child. I knew I would be in good company by dressing for the occasion! I also made an effort with the makeup by wearing my Sleek Matte Me in Velvet Slipper, I have a renewed obsession with matte lip colours but I rarely wear bright lips anymore so it was a nice change. 

  



  


Lunch was a ridiculously amazing Baileys Malt Milkshake from Ed's Diner in soho. Since coming back home I've discovered that my local Ed's has shut down so I'm glad we got to go for a last meal of sorts. RIP milk shake.

cursed child play 



  



Of course I can't tell you what happens but I can tell you that both plays were brilliant and worth the sixteen month wait. I genuinely wasn't expecting them to be as funny as they were and the special effects and magic were crazy! I really hope this show runs for a long time because if you're a Harry Potter fan you need to see it!

 



Day Four

Our last day! This was no excuse to rest though. After checking out of the hotel we dragged our carryon to The O2 arena to see the Star Wars Indentities exhibit recommended to me by my friend Claire. If you read my Carrie Fisher post you'll know my feelings on Star Wars. To see the costumes and models in real life was a dream come true. Star Wars Indentities allows you to go through the universe and build your own character through a series of questions. It was good fun although the fairly harsh psych eval half way through was something I could have lived without. 

Disney gave us some psychotherapy realness that Thursday morning! 

 
 
bb8
BB8!
han frozen in carbonite
Princess Leia costume
A pretty bang on personality profile!

  



Can we do it again? 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Matcha Madness: The Body Shop Matcha Tea Face Mask Review

My name is Bex and I am a mask addict! I love masks. Cream, clay, mud, peeling, sheet, cellulose, nourishing... you name it and I love it! I recently spent an evening with the amazing staff from The Body Shop Belfast learning about all their key products and celebrating their cruelty free status and at the end of the night I was very kindly gifted their Japanese Matcha Tea pollution clearing mask - I was delighted!  We all know that the world has gone Matcha crazy but beyond an occasional frappe from a well known coffee house my main experiences have been with Matcha flavour cakes from my local asian supermarket. They are seriously amazing and the lightest sponge I've ever eaten but it doesn't exactly scream "good for you". Thankfully, apart from being seriously tasty Matcha is ridiculously good for you. Traditionally brewed as a simple green tea it is packed full of antioxidants - 10 times the amount in normal green teas as you are consuming the precious groun

The Wedding Journal Show returns to Belfast (competition) *CLOSED*

Ladies and Gentlemen do I have an exciting opportunity for you and your wedding planning friends. We at FaeriWood.com have teamed up with The Wedding Journal to offer 5 pairs of tickets to this years show in Titanic Belfast. No idea what the show is? Well here's what they say... "The Wedding Journal Show returns to the  Titanic Exhibition Centre , Belfast on Saturday 1st & Sunday 2 nd  October with an action packed all-new show! With over 300 of Northern Ireland’s top wedding suppliers and businesses under one roof, this really is a wedding show not to be missed. Couples will have the chance to  Win a Honeymoon like a Celebrity  at the show; a life-changing prize for anyone. The lucky winners will go on a once-in-a-lifetime luxury honeymoon to Scrub Island in the Caribbean. Visitors to the show can enter this incredible competition for free, with the winner being revealed during the exciting live final on the main stage on Sunday. Couples can celebrate their u

The Ordinary by The Abnormal Beauty Company (or how I dipped my toe in to Deciem)

  The Ordinary by the Abnormal Beauty Company ; If you haven't heard about this cult brand yet then you might not know they are hot shit right now and with their parent company, Deciem , being bought up by Estée Lauder they're only going to get bigger.   The internet has been a buzz for months now with beauty gurus far and wide raving about these high end products for low end prices. I couldn't believe it myself when I saw that there wasn't a product in the range that cost more than 8.00 quid!  So I joined the cult. I have to say that I was really impressed by the counter staff in House Of Fraser Belfast , they were friendly, knowledgeable and able to point me in the direction of the products I needed with just a short chat about my skin. I bought the Hyaluronic Acid 2% and the Niacinimide 10% Serums. If you have no idea what these mean then basically the Hyaluronic is for hydration and, whilst The Ordinary say that Niacinimide combats blemishes, I would actua