5 Things To Do In London*

I love London. It’s less than 2 hours away from where I live and like a whole different world. I love the business, the fact there is so much to do. I haven’t been to London for ages and would like to plan a trip soon so I can often be found browsing the web planning my itinerary.

I’ve put together a list of the top 5 things I would like to do when I next visit London, and I hope this gives you some ideas If you’re planning a visit.

 The great thing about the Natural History museum in South Kensington is that it is free to visit. You can kill loads of time looking around the museums and even though I have been many times before, I always seem to find things that I don’t recall seeing before. They currently have a Coral Reef exhibition until September 13th where you can immerse yourself in the underwater world of tropical coral reefs, some of the most bio-diverse environments in the world. Tickets for this particular event start at £4.50.

London has so many shops that we don’t have in Norwich and I always take the opportunity to head down Oxford Street and visit them all. Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London and is Europe's busiest shopping street. I must end my shopping trip with a Krispy Kreme Donut – delicious!

This is somewhere I have never been but I have heard so much about and really want to visit. I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to things like this so I’m not sure how I would react. The London Dungeons have recently had a bit of a revamp and claim to be bigger and better than before. The experience is approximately a 90 minute journey through 1000 years of London's shady past. You can save money by booking in advance online which is recommended as it is one of London's most popular attractions.

To get a full view of London, I would love to go on the London Eye. I have been on here before but think it would be great to go on as the sun is setting and watch the city look beautifully lit up from the view that is high above the River Thames. Standard adult tickets start from just £19 if you book online and the experience will last just over half an hour so great if you're trying to kill a bit of time before dinner.

How nice would it be to end your evening watching a show at the English National Opera. I can picture myself having dinner then heading to get some Opera tickets in London. I really want to see The Barber of Seville which runs from 28th September - 11th November 2016 and aims to have you smiling from the moment it begins. There are even some tickets available under £20 so an evening at the Opera will not break the bank. The ENO's productions are sung in English so are great for those just getting into Opera. If you are looking for Opera tickets in London then I definitely recommend an evening at the ENO.

Let me know where you love to go in London?

*In collaboration with English National Opera. All opinions are my own, please see my disclaimer for more information.

The lazy girl’s guide to getting up early!*

I hate mornings. I’m good at waking up, but I literally wake up in time for me to get ready and rush out of the door for work. There’s no time for messing about, no time for extravagant breakfasts or wardrobe malfunctions. I decided to take the #EarlyBirdChallenge with the team at Free Office Finder. I set myself the task of waking up earlier than usual for a whole week to see what benefits it would have on me. I knew this wasn't going to be easy. As someone who usually does not get up earlier than midday at the weekend I wondered how I was going to cope. 

We face around 25000 mornings in our adult lives, so what is the harm in making the most out of them. Think of all those extra hours I could use being productive and getting things done. This is the goal for Free Office Finder #EarlyBirdChallenge which aims to get everyone up a bit earlier than usual and doing a bit more in the mornings than normal. I never have time for anything in the morning and I rarely have free time in the evenings as I try to work 2 jobs and fit in a social life as well as blogging, so I was looking forward to giving this a go.

I set my alarm for 6am on day one, and hoped that I wouldn't snooze through it. 
I woke up and ran myself a bath. I popped in a bath bomb and had a good long soak. After having a bit of a pamper session, moisturising, cleansing, toning, face masks etc I decided to get ready for work. It was so nice to take my time and pick out an outfit instead of grabbing whatever is on the washing pile. I also seemed to have loads of motivation. I don’t think I've ever been so productive on a Monday! 

Day 2 I woke up again at 6am. Today's shift patterns were 8:30am-17:00pm and then 18:00pm-22:30pm so I knew I had very little time for tea. I took the opportunity this morning to prepare all of my meals for the day so I could grab them on the go. I felt so organised! And I made much healthier choices by pre-planning my meals as opposed to grabbing something quick - which admittedly would have probably been crisps and chocolate.

On day 3 I was motivated and ready to go. Up I got at 5:30am and went to the gym. I couldn't believe how dark it was! It was really empty, I loved it. I did just over an hour in the gym and managed to get on every machine without having to wait for anyone to finish. It feels great to be this productive before work, and something I am starting to enjoy. Exercise in the morning really energizes you for the rest of the day, as well as being really good for your body and mind. Even when I left the gym at 7:45am to walk to work the city was so calm, and there were a lot fewer people around which really gave me a chance to soak up the atmosphere and really experience the culture of Norwich. the air was crisp and I was very much awake.

Day 4 saw me waking up at 7am. I didn’t have work until 10am so I got myself ready and decided to take my dogs for a walk once it was light outside. Ruby (pictured) loved her walk and not only did I benefit from the fresh air, I also got some exercise and my dogs did too. The dogs are usually a bit hyper so it was nice that they were relaxed for the rest of the day after a nice morning walk. It’s not only me benefiting from this early morning business!

I wasn’t really sure what to do today on day 5 of the challenge so I woke up early anyway and slowly got myself ready for work. Once I was ready I still had an hour before I had to leave so I used my time to read on my kindle. I’m currently reading Safe Haven but have had very little time lately to read so it was really nice to catch up this morning before work. I would love to have more time to read books and waking up early has given me the opportunity to do so!

Day 6 I knew was going to be the hardest. A Saturday. If I’m not working, I rarely leave my bed on Saturdays and I have been known to roll downstairs gone 2pm and I am not exaggerating. Technically waking up an hour earlier today would have been cheating, so I decided to stick to my weekday plan of getting up at around 6am.This gave me an extra 6 hours of the day! I got up and prepared a good breakfast to start the day. I've been browsing recipes all week and wanted something more challenging than the usual toast or cereal so I made myself Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon. They were delicious, and a lot more indulgent than what I usually go for. These were so easy to make, I followed a Jamie Oliver recipe (here). I might even do a whole separate post on these, they were THAT good!

Day 7 I made plans to go for an early morning breakfast to end the week, something I lack the motivation to do usually and also something that I had hoped would motivate me to wake up and to congratulate myself for finishing the challenge. I got myself ready and headed to a local cafe not far from where I work called ‘Bond Street Cafe’. I went for the All Day Vegetarian breakfast. I usually struggle to make some toast in the morning but here I was at 7am eating a full breakfast. I was so happy - it was absolutely amazing. The breakfast kept me going all morning until lunch and I was full of energy.

Overall, after taking the #EarlyBirdChallenge I have really reaped and discovered the benefits of doing so and can confirm that waking up earlier really has its positives. I feel more refreshed throughout the day, I even feel like I want to carry this on, the extra hour in my day really helps me to relax and get things done. I've loved having the extra time to fit in exercise and I feel more awake than before. Having a good breakfast each day has also been really beneficial to my energy levels and I have found myself snacking a lot less during the day. My mindset is a lot more positive, I feel like I have wasted so much time in bed in the past!

I challenge you all to get up an hour earlier, see what it can do for you and let me know in the comments how you feel!

*This post was sponsored by www.freeofficefinder.com. The views and opinions expressed are my own and I was not influenced in any way.