Weekend in London day 1

About 10 days after I got back from Canada, we'd booked a weekend to London (mainly to visit the Harry Potter studios) and here's what we got up to on our first day there. We got the first eurostar that left from Lille to London at 8:30am and got to London at 9:30am which meant we had an entire day ahead of us before going to the studios on the next day.

Immediately started annoying my mum on the train lol 

After an hour we made it to London!!!! I always forget how fast it takes from Lille to London on the train!

We got a hotel that was literally a 2mn walk away from the station so that was perfect. We dropped off our lugagge at the hotel and immediately went out to explore. 

We had booked the David Attenborough exhibition for 12. After a 30mn tube ride we made it to the National History Museum but we only had like 20mn to eat so we found a bakery (Paul, we have some in France!), had a quick sandwich and a drink and then we went in!

I mainly took videos during the exhibition so here's one of the only pictures I took. I love jellyfish!!!!!! The exhibit was cool, it was fun but a bit underwhelming, but my sister loved it so that's the main thing as she asked to go! 

 Booking the exhibition gave you an immediate entry for the museum so that's what we did after. 

I saw this cool crystal.

Obviously saw the blue whale skeleton which is way bigger than I thought, it was really impressive. I love whales!!!

Saw this cool window of stained glass!

Saw the animated dinosaur which I still find cool even as an adult lol!

We ended up staying at the National History Museum for a couple of hours. 

Here's what I ended up buying at the museum! I've loved collecting crystals for as long as I can remember! I have a big collection of them and these are the perfect additions to that collection! :)

We then walked towards Harrods because we thought we'd hit the shopping for my brother because we could tell he was bored of the museum lol!!!!

I remembered seeing online that they sold Jellycats in Harrods and I was right!!!!!

Here's the two Jellycats I bought!!!! I'm very happy and excited about these. I can add these to my collection too now hehe :)

After a little rest at the hotel, me and my mum decided to go to Weatherspoons for dinner. My brother and sister weren't hungry as we'd had a little snack when we came back from shopping.

I got a vegan sausage wrap which was very very nice, it tasted exactly like real sausages! And my mum had a backed potato because she's always asking me to make them at home but they never taste the same so she was very happy about this!

And of course I couldn't go to Weatherspoons without having the cookie dough sandwich!!!!! It's still as delicious all these years later !!!!

And then it was time to go back to the hotel because we were waking up early the next day for another exciting day....!!! 

Solo travelling to Canada day 10

On my last day in Canada, it was Canada day so I had to wear my Canada football shirt I'd bought!!!!

My plane was technically at 9:30pm (you'll see after why I say technically lol), checkout was at 11am but I got bored of waiting around at the hotel so I thought might as well wait around at the airport so I got a lyft there. My driver was really nice, he was morrocan and the day before Morroco had qualified itself for the next round of the World Cup so he was all excited lol!

Made it to the airport after a 25mn drive.

Saw this cool mural.

Had a roam around the shops, I saw there was supposedly a shop that sold sonny angels so that's what I was on a mission to find. Didn't find them but I found a book and some Canadian sweets I wanted to buy. I also saw Heated Rivalry in the wild lol!!

Made it to my gate!!!!!!! Never thought this would happen. I was fed up of pushing all my luggage around everywhere I went so I checked in my luggage and just as I did that, I got an email saying my flight had been cancelled... NOT good. So I went to tlak to a person that worked for Air France and they told me my flight wasn't cancelled. I was told I was put on the 9pm plane ON THE NEXT DAY!!!!!!!!!!! I totally panicked (and cried a bit I admit, it was the only time during my 10 days there that I actually stressed). I ended up bumping into a group of boys my age who were in the same situation as me and they told me how to reschedule my reschedualed flight. Which I did. I was put on the 5pm plane today. I dropped off my lugagge but was convinced I wouldn't be going home that day. 

I did end up making it on the plane in the end!!!!!!!!!!! My next worry was that I'd be landing at 5am French time and my train to Lille was at 1:30pm. In the end when I landed I managed to reschedule my train for 8am which was perfect because I got through customs and baggage claim within 30mn. I had time to grab a drink and a snack for the train ride. The complications didn't end there....... my train was cancelled lol. I then asked my mum to meet me in Lille and her train was delayed. Then my train from Lille to Dunkirk got delayed. Then my train left Paris and we got stuck for an hour so we were even more delayed. I honestly thought I would never make it home. In the end I made it home at about 2pm and I was honestly exhausted but I couldn't sleep. Then I slept for almost 12 hours and got totally jet lagged but after the next day I was fine!

Loved the way these clouds looked.

The advantage of landing at 5am was that I got to see the beautiful sunrise. 

More pictures from the sunrise.

Anndddddd then I was home!

Solo travelling to Canada day 9

On my last day in Canada (well my last full day) I started packing all my stuff and I quickly realised it would never all fit in my two suitcase so I went to buy another suitcase lol.

On my way back from the shop I saw this lorry that made me laugh and I knew it would make my mum laugh lol.

I wanted to buy a quick drink as well as a ginger ale to drink during the day so I went to the depanneur and thought the sign was very pretty.

On my way to the old port, I saw this shirt and it made me laugh a lot!!

I love the street signs in Montreal they're very pretty in my opinion!

The marina was very pretty, it reminded me of the one in Dunkirk and made me realise I didn't want to go home!!!!!!

Obviously had to have one last poutine again at the food stand at the old port. I miss this so much, I could definitely eat one right now. I bought the brown sauce they use to make it, so I'll be making one at home but it'll never be same as the potatoes taste different and I won't have the cheese curds! 

I was told by one of my friends from Dunkirk that one of the restaurants near the beach is owned by people from Quebec and that they have the real cheese and everything so I'm looking forward to trying that restaurant when we have time! My expectations are high now but I've had poutine in Lille with the real cheese and it was very nice so I'm hoping it'll be as nice!!

When I was planning my trip, I'd seen online that you could book a boat tour that went along the Saint-Laurent river and I'd packed all my days so much that I never took the time to do it so I thought my last day in Montreal would be the perfect time to do it. I booked the 90mn tour!

Here's the boat we took, it was way bigger than I'd imagined. I immediately spotted seats on the decking and that's where I wanted to sit to have the best view and I managed to get a seat so I was very happy about that! I was chilling on my own on my seat and someone sat opposite me and she was being really chatty and was asking loads of questions about me but not in a 'I want to be friends' way, it just felt weird lol.

Here's a view from the river just as we were leaving the port.

Here's the pont Jacques-Cartier, the guide told us it was 2,7km long which it very impressive!!! 

They had waiters come and ask if we wanted food / drinks and thought I'd make the most out of the experience and ordered an alcohol free cocktail! It was very nice. Bonus : the picture I sent my mum from the river cruise lol.

We saw lots of little boats.

We could see the old port and the big wheel from the pier and it looked tiny.

Then we saw this clock tower and it looked a lot like Big Ben and the guide told us that it was actually built by the people who built Big Ben!!!

I'd had my poutine quite early so I thought I thought I'd get a little snack, I wanted to stay in the old port so I went to the place Jacques Cartier and went to the place I had cookie dough and this time I had two scoops LOL!!!!

Saw some cool magnets but I'd already bought loads so I thought I wouldn't get any more.... WRONG!!! I got two mini magnets for my mum!

Had a ginger ale while I was writing in my journal and writing my postcards!

By then it was nearing the end of the afternoon and I was walking back towards my hotel and walked past these fountains again which I still found cool.

Took a different route to my hotel - I was very chuffed as I knew my way to and from my hotel to the old port without using a map. I didn't want to go back so I stayed on a picnic table, wrote more in my journal and chilled a bit while listening to the new Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo album which were the soundtrack of my trip. My sister and two of my best friends made me playlists to listen to on the plane and while I was there so I also listened to them. 

Decided it was time to go back to my hotel and had one last ginger ale which was still as nice as the first time I had it. I even started buying some at home as I loved it so much lol!!!