Need Christmas gift ideas? Go abroad!

My favorite time to go on vacation is the fall (well, technically my favorite time to go on vacation is any time, but you know what I’m getting at). The reason for this is not the lovely crisp air and possibility of a sample sale, but so I can do all my Christmas shopping in destination. It’s great. Combine that with Christmas shopping (my other excuse to go wild – within budget, of course – shopping time of the year) and it’s the best combination since cookies and milk.
What better way to cut down on costs? I always call vacation shopping my “get out of jail free” shopping – I’ve technically already spent the money buying the currency, now it’s just trading it for goods. So as long as I don’t overspend what I’ve brought with me and have to break out my debit card, I’m golden. It’s a second layer of protection to make sure I stay on budget. With exchange rates being what they are, the dollar goes farther in many countries, so you can also get bigger, better, more awesome gifts for your loved ones. And you can plan for this in advance, too. A couple of years ago I knew I was going to bring back Costa Rican coffee for everyone for Christmas (plentiful, not too heavy to carry, and world-renowned while not being budget-busting) but the guidebooks said that the quality was best in the whole roasted beans as opposed to the grounds. So all year I covertly checked with every coffee-drinker I know whether or not they had a coffee grinder. If they didn’t, they got one for their birthday! That year was great, I got built-in ideas for birthday gifts, too
Speaking of more awesome, instead of yet another scarf or gift card from Sears, I can guarantee your Aunt Mil is not going to get two of those hand-carved Guatemalan wine bottle holders from that tiny stall on the side of the tiny winding mountain road. That is going to be memorable. And knowing that you were thinking of them while on your great adventure, they appreciate the gesture more (in my experience, anyway). Plus, even if they don’t like it, they’re not going to return it (the airfare is too expensive) so you don’t need to worry about keeping the receipts.
The coolest thing, though, is that you can essentially get your loved ones anything, and it’s still special, because it’s from wherever. Seriously. Anything. “Yeah, it’s toothpaste, but it’s from Ecuador, so you don’t pronounce it Colgate, you pronounce it ‘Col-gaaat-eh’.” If someone gave you a couple of small pieces of wood tied together at one end with a string from the local Wal-Mart, you’d be thoroughly unimpressed. But if the same thing came back from Spain and were called castinets, now that’s cool.
So, if you’re having trouble coming up with Christmas gift ideas, just go on vacation between now and the holiday season, and everything will all fall into place for you. Simple, really.

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, Christmas., coffee, gifts, shopping, souvenirs

Zipping over Whistler

           Get this: I work in travel.  I’m all about travel.  I live and breathe tourist destinations.  And never once in my 26 years had I visited Whistler/Blackcomb, the world-class tourist destination that’s only two hours away up the Sea to Sky highway. 

             Oops. 

           What can I say, I put all my energy into far-flung locales, and completely overlooked what was right under my nose in the process.  I’d been to the nearby town of Pemberton once in grade six for a school trip, but that doesn’t really count.  But this past April I finally made up for all the years of neglect and the BF and I took a long weekend mini-break up to the soon-to-host-the-Olympics village.

             The drive up alone was spectacular, the panoramas compelling me to take lots of pictures (that I got home and was like, “oh, look, another picture of a mountain with some snow on it”).  There’s a good reason why the British Columbia tourism slogan is ”the best place on Earth” (and I’m not biased at all, of course).  The highway itself is interesting, two lanes most of the way.  They’re working on that prior to the Olympics, and there’s lots of construction where they’re widening it, but there will always be some bottlenecks where they can’t go more than two lanes due to the giant rock face on one side and sheer cliff drop into water on the other.  This highway is actually the main reason why I hadn’t visited Whistler earlier, as most of my immediate family was not comfortable driving it (the “highway of death” nickname wasn’t helping things any), but I found it smooth, scenic and effortless.   Granted, I was free to gawk at the scenery while Eric (who’s only lived here a year and had already been to Whistler multiple times) could focus on the road without being distracted, so that helped.

              We went in April because I don’t ski (the one time I went cross-country I sprained my ankle and had to be evacuated on the back of a ski-doo), and more importantly, I don’t do cold.  I live in Vancouver, people!  If it drops below zero schools close, and it takes far less than that for my sensitive hands to turn “oh my God, are you okay?” white.  Turns out that by total fluke we hit the final weekend of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard festival, so the place was packed and free concerts/free promo stuff from the suppliers’ booths/free extreme sports demos/free-wheeling drunk Australians hanging naked out of their hotel rooms at 10am.  I’m not sure if that last part had anything to do with the festival, but when I go back I’ll compare and let you know.

             The village itself is adorable, in that perfect, Disney-does-a-ski-village way (I know, I compare everything that’s cute and clean to Disney, deal with it ).  I had booked us into the Delta Suites because it was the only hotel I could find decent last-minute space at, and even then I had to use my “I’m a travel agent” card to get us in (*sigh* membership does have it’s privileges.  They’re few and far between, but I’ll take what I can get).   Our suite had two fireplaces, a full kitchen, a bed you could loose yourself in and a mountain view, way nicer than I thought I’d booked, but very sweet.

            Most of our time was spent wandering the village, exploring and checking out the shops and events that went with the festival.  Our personal favorite was the dog day, where they had dog agility performances and – love this – a dog costume parade.  There was a woman in a Hawaiian shirt pushing a stroller with two pugs wearing leis and grass skirts, while the other three identially-dressed pugs followed behind, it was so cute!

             But the highlight by far of the weekend was the Ziplining.  Whistler Ziptrek  has a great setup, and, since I had ziplined before in Costa Rica and knew I loved it (the BF just went with it, he luckily had no fear of heights), we went for the higher/longer Eagle tour, as opposed to the beginner Bear tour.  We marched, in full harness-and-helmet glory through the festival crowds from the Ziptrek office to the van that took us up Whistler mountain, past the Olympic bobsled track en route.  The platforms and equipment was impressive (there was none of that ”I don’t trust this to hold all our weight” feeling), but nothing really mattered as we flew back and forth over the river to end right back in the village.   On the longest line if you made it in under 45 seconds you were going more than 80km/h, and the heaviest guy went so fast the  guide’s leather gloves literally caught fire as he tried to apply the breaks!

           It was a short journey to Whistler, but I finally get what all the hype is about, as the atmosphere in the village is buzzing and, if you’re a skier, you couldn’t ask for more options to be right at your fingertips.  It was still a lot of fun, and not once did I have to don technicolour ski pants (I mean, really, do all these people get dressed in the dark?  Or is it so they can be found by rescue crews in case they get lost?)  or waddle through the crowds in non-flexible ski boots.   We really do have a jewel right here in our backyard.  And I got another pin on the map!

Tags: BC, BlogSherpa, budget, Canada, dogs, expensive, money, mountains, scenery, ski and snowboard festival, Whistler, zipline

Wedding Bonanza

            Weddings and travel go hand in hand.  Be it destination weddings where we arrange everything from the resort to the decorations, building dream honeymoons, groups where we transport all the guests/photographer/bridal party for a special rate (assuming there are enough people to qualify) , or just flying individuals from point A to point B so they can attend someone’s nuptials, weddings are huge in the industry.  Normally I tackle a few a year in some capacity, but for the last few weeks I’ve been all weddings all the time.

                 Destination weddings can be a great way to save money, as only the people you really love will usually drop the chunk of change to fly to your exotic locale, making it not only more personal than the standard giant shindig, but cutting down the price per guest that you have to pay.  In financial times like these, the bottom line is always a concern, but few people are going to forgo the whole “wedding and lifelong commitment to the person of your dreams” concept just to save a few bucks, so they’re looking for some way to make their budget go farther, while still getting a wedding that looks spectacular.  Consequently, my company has chosen to focus on this as one of their fall promotional campaigns, so we’re all getting additional wedding training to make us even more qualified than we already were to make your wedding spectacular.         

               On top of the training, I suddenly found myself with not one but two detailed honeymoons to arrange, a wedding registry to facilitate and a destination wedding group to send to Liberia, Costa Rica for a springtime ceremony.   I’ve never before been surrounded by so much happiness combined with so much pressure to make the perfect day all they dream it will be. It’s challenging and interesting at the same time. I’m breathing cakes and dresses, watching Rich Bride, Poor Bride on TV for tips, repeating the laws of maiden name versus married name travel (whatever your passport says has to match the name on the ticket.  I don’t  care, and neither does the government, what your name is going to be) and learning what it takes to get your marriage license translated into Spanish.  The running joke with my bf is “no, I’m not hinting at anything.  It’s just work,” and luckily he’s cool with that.  Besides, he knows I’m not that subtle. 

             Maybe it is the economy sending more people abroad.  Or maybe it’s the pressures of daily life making us all need to get away from it all.  But whatever it is, my clients sure have wedding fever!

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, destinations, economy, honeymoons, legal restrictions, specialists, training, travel agent, weddings

Packing List – or, as I like to call it, Yoda

          You listen to Yoda.  He is all-knowing, wise, and look what he did to make Luke Skywalker’s journey a success.  For me, the one thing I can’t argue with and it always helps my trips go smoother is my packing list.  Call it 81/2 x 11 piece of mind, but once you have the packing list checked off, you know you’re not going to be stuck in Rio de Janiero while your bathing suit is happily in it’s drawer back in Calgary, and the options to buy in the local stores are nothing but dental floss and a small triangle of fabric that wouldn’t even cover one nipple.

           I find that the best approach to the packing list is to start with the little things, like toiletries and batteries.  For the most part, you’re not going to forget to pack a pair of pants, and even if they’re the only ones you’ve got, you can still survive that two-week vacation without it causing you too much panic.  But if you forget that charger cable for your digital camera, guaranteed you’re going to be spending all your free time hauling your kids to yet another electronics store because “Daddy hasn’t found the right adaptor yet, honey”, and then you know you’re going to pay a fortune for it, and get it home only to discover it only works on European current. 

              My Achilles’ heel are razors.  For some reason, I managed to continuously forget a razor on every vacation for something like five years, forcing me to buy a pack of disposables at the closest drugstore so I didn’t have to worry about hamster-grade armpit  fur every time I wore a tank top.  The catch with these things is that you can’t just buy one.  Nooo, you have to buy them in the packs of six or eight.  I am going to still be using my stunning collection of English, French, American and Costa Rican disposables for the remainder of my 20’s.  On the upside, the french ones are really nice and sharp   Now on my packing list they’re the number one item, double-sized, bolded, underlined and in itallics.  So far so good, two trips to Asia and not a single addition to my razor collection.

           And for God’s sake, put TICKETS, PASSPORTS and MONEY on the list.    I know how ridiculously elementary this seems, but do it anyhow.  They are the make-or-break parts of your vacation, and because of that it’s too easy to assume that “I’d never forget those“.  It can’t hurt to double (or triple or quadruple) check, and it sure as hell beats waiting in line for an hour at the airport, only to discover your ticket is back at home and there’s no way you can drive back and get it in time to make your flight.  I know, in this digital age, that airline e-tickets are more of a formality than a necessity, as all your info is in the airline’s computer system anyway, but if there’s some kind of technical problem and they “loose” your booking (this has happened to me and I’m the freakin’ travel agent), you need that ticket number to prove you’re supposed to be on the flight. 

        All that being said, here’s my Yoda, the guiding force that has saved my ass more times then I care to admit.  There’s no clothing on this list, as your wardrobe can vary drastically depending on the climate/time of year/if you’re feeling fat/etc., but the rest of the items are pretty general-vacation-ish.  It’s always better to have too many things on the list and take out what you won’t need than to forget something important, like razors.  Also, it’s geared for a woman (we pack more crap anyway), but guys, just take out the makeup, use a little common sense and it applies to you, too.  I hope this gives you a few ideas for your own list, and remember when packing to always use the force of Yoda and you’ll have the best trip possible.

Packing List:

RAZOR

Hand Lotion/Moisturizer

Deodorant

Toothbrush/paste

Brush/comb/hair accessories

Shampoo/conditioner

Makeup

Nail polish/remover/non-metal file and cotton balls

Calomine Lotion

Prescription medications

Asprin/Advil

Q-Tips

Travel Curling Iron

Soap/washcloth

Antibiotic Cream/Polysporin

Imodium Pills

Feminine Hygene products

Bug spray

Sunscreen/ sun glasses/ sun hat

Glasses

Cameras/cases/batteries/charger/film/extra memory card

Books/magazines

Playing cards

Trip journal

Moneybelt

Snacks

Maps

Drinking cups/cereal bowls/plastic utensils

Tickets/vouchers

Money

Passports

Backpack

Folding reuseable shopping bag

Voltage converters

Gloves

Umbrella

Exercise bands

Wet wipes

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, easy, money, Moneybelt, packing, shopping, snacks, tickets, Yoda

Insurance – why you want it, but don’t.

              It was embarrassing.  I was in highschool, looking forwards to going down to Seattle with my first able-to-drive-without-adult-supervision friends for a little outlet shopping, and Mom refused to let me go unless everyone going had travel medical insurance.  So we all paid the CAD$2.00 for one day’s coverage, went, and grumbled about how we didn’t even need to use it.  But now, looking back, I see how right she was.  That’s the whole point of having insurance, to have it but not use it.  If you do have to use it, it means something horrible has happened, and nobody wants their vacation ruined.  Plus - and take my word on this, I see it every day at work - all those unused insurance policies seem like a bargain the second you actually have to make a claim.  

            Here in Canada, we take a hell of a lot for granted.  With our free medicare we can go the doctor or hospital any time we need to and only have to pay for the prescribed medication.  But the second you cross any international boarder, all those luxuries are gone.  Years ago we had a client who drove across the boarder to play golf in Blaine, Washington, when he had a heart attack. You could practically see Canada from where he was, and since he wasn’t going to the US for long, he didn’t worry about insurance.  Then he got the bill for the medical treatment and ambulance transport back to Vancouver, and he had to mortgage his home to pay it off.  Granted, that’s an extreme case, but no one wants to go into serious debt in exchange for their health.  You shouldn’t have to trade one necessity for another.

                Then there’s cancellation insurance, the most underrated of all policies.  Nobody plans to cancel their vacation, if they did they wouldn’t have booked it in the first place.  But nowadays pretty much everything in the travel world is at least partially nonrefundable, so if you do have to cancel, you’re going to pay for it.  For the most part, cancellation insurance covers you if a serious medical condition pops up prior to your departure.  Just deciding not to go is not covered.  Some policies do offer “change of mind”, where, a certain number of days prior to departure you can cancel for any reason and claim back a percentage of your travel costs, but it’s never, ever, 100%.  If you break up with your boyfriend or get into a fight with your roommate and just cannot imagine traveling with them anymore, the change of mind clause would kick in and you could at least recoup some of your costs.  Once I had a honeymoon couple who called off their wedding right before it was supposed to take place, and were no longer speaking to one another.  They had opted not to take the cancellation insurance because they figured hey, it’s their honeymoon, there’s no way they’re going to cancel.  The bride ended up going on the vacation alone (most packages don’t allow name changes, so we couldn’t substitute a friend instead at that late date) while the groom stayed home and sued her to get his money back.  Last I heard they were still in litigation. 

                   Oh, and not getting your passport/entry visas in time is not covered by insurance.  Ever.  It’s considered your own fault for not getting the paperwork in sooner.  If you find out you can’t get your passport in time enough days prior to departure the change of mind clause in your cancellation policy may help you get some of your cash back, but for the most part, you’re hooped. 

             And please, God, do not assume your credit card will cover you.  Yes, some credit cards offer cancellation/medical insurance, particularly the higher-end platinum cards, but whatever you do, call the credit card company and double-check what coverage you have before you decline the optional insurance offered by the travel agency.  Sometimes the credit card coverage is all that you need, but they’re notorious for having low limits on how much they will pay out in case of emergency, or restrictive age limits.  One of my clients had relied on his Avion card for years without a problem, but when he did need to make a claim, he was told that, while his card did offer full coverage, he was a year older than the age limit, so he got no coverage at all.  So please, please call your credit card company and make sure you know all the details before you rely on their insurance.

         It hurts to add that extra CAD$200.00 or whatever to your already expensive trip.  I know.  But in comparison to the money and heartache that not having insurance can cause, it’s a small price to pay.

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, Canada, cancellation, health, insurance, medical, USA

Grocery stores as a tourist attraction?

              Think about it.  Have you ever walked around your local supermarket and stopped at the ”international food” section, looking at all the different uses for rice or the cool/odd/disgusting/unpronounceable sauces on offer?  It’s fun, right?  Or at the very least, interesting.  Possibly even enlightening.    Multiply that by fifty and you get why I always try to swing by a grocery store in every country I’m in.   

             Doing  a bit of your own cooking (and by “cooking” I mean mainly buying bread and meat and making sandwiches or pouring your own bowl of cereal, unless you have a kitchenette) is always a great way to save money.  Even if it’s just snacks, bringing your own granola bar and water bottle can easily save you $5-$10 a day, depending on your destination and appetite.   That’s valuable souvenir money!  So while you’re at the grocery, you might as well take a few minutes to walk the aisles and see what culinary treasures you can unearth.  You never know if that brand of beer you had once ten years ago and could never find again is hiding around the corner, or if the chili lime chicken bouillon you find in aisle four is going to become the centerpiece for your new signature dish back home.  And when someone asks you where you got it, you can be all mysterious and say “it’s imported.”

           When in London, I’m all about finding the cool flavours of crisps.   We have your standard salt and vinegar, ketchup and nacho cheese in Canada, they have roasted lamb and mint, chargrilled steak, pickled onion, seafood mayonnaise, crispy duck in hoisin sauce, turkey with paxo sage and onion… if you can braise, boil or bake it, they probably have chips to match.  Southeast Asia is also good for this, though they have substantially more seafood options and their packaging usually involves more google-eyed animated characters.  One of my coworkers in Spain said the prawn cocktail is great, though I’ll have to take their word for it.  On one trip I actually kept a list, and found no less than 25 different flavours in one country in the space of a week.  Think I tried two of them.  And these flavours are, for the most part, incredibly accurate.  The chargrilled steak I tried smelled like nothing, but once on the tongue, you were just looking for the side of mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.

            I’m always drawn to snack-type foods, like chips, gum (oooh, there’s this applemint Dentyne in Thailand I loved so much I brought like 10 packs home with me) and candy, mainly because they’re cheap and small, so you can try something really experimental and, if it’s totally revolting, you can throw it out and you’re only out a buck.  Meat always intimidates me (especially since you can’t always read the label), but one day I’ll have a place with a stove in some far-flung destination and I’ll go for it.  It’s all about embracing the local culture.  In Singapore this past march we discovered pea cheezies (for lack of a better comparison).  They were made entirely of peas, green and shaped like a pod,  but puffed up, deep fried and lightly salted to the cheezie consistency.   Sounds strange on paper (hell, it looked strange in the bag, too, that’s why I bought it), but these were surprisingly good.   In Costa Rica, tamarind drink, once you get past it’s industrial-waste brown colour, is incredibly sweet and yummy.  I got all excited here when, on a day trip across the boarder to Seattle, I found some Tamarind Kool-Aid, but when I tried it back home it tasted kind of like cardboard.  Total let down.  Oh well, it’s a reason to go back to Costa Rica! 

            Also in Costa Rica I discovered my beloved coco pops (there is not a breakfast buffet worldwide that doesn’t have coco pops) are endorsed there by a space elephant named Melvin.  That was just funny.

            International grocery shopping can be a fun thing to do if you’re traveling with kids, too.  While you’re picking up the necessities, you can challenge young Jimmy to find the craziest looking fish in the seafood department or weirdest-sounding product name (this one can be particularly fun if you can’t speak the language).  Kids usually seem to gravitate to the gross, or what they think is gross, anyway, and this is where the cheaper options like candy come in handy.  Treat them to one small thing, but make it the grossest they can find, and hear the giggles start.  This can also be done locally, just check out the various ethnic food stores around your area and keep the kids entertained on a rainy afternoon.

          For me, I think this all stems back to my Grandparent’s travels when I was a little kid.  When they’d come back from driving across the US or touring Europe they’d bring me something we couldn’t get in Canada, like Barbie breakfast cereal, or Swiss cow-shaped chocolate, so now I always want to see what other surprises the world has to offer.  This can also be a good way to buy a gift for that impossible-to-shop-for person on your list.  Nobody ever turns down food, especially if it was brought into the country especially for them and you know it’s something they’ll like.  The one exception to this was when my BF got a bag of dried bean and anchovy trail mix from Hong Kong.  It’s been months and that’s still sitting unopened on his desk, but I can’t really blame him, the fish are dried whole in there, complete with the little dried heads and eyes.  But still, because we got it at a grocery store as opposed to a souvenir place, the cost was low enough that I don’t give him a hard time about *sniff* rejecting one of my gifts.

            Ever found anything spectacular/weird/memorable in the food aisle when on vacation?  Let me know.  But if not, try spending an hour of your next vacation at the supermercado and see how much culinary trouble you can get into!

Tags: Asia, BlogSherpa, budget, chips, coco pops, cooking, Costa Rica, Food, grocery stores, Hong Kong, kids, London, odd, souvenirs, Spain, tamarind

London – Shopper’s paradise. New wardrobe anyone?

              I buy almost all my clothes while on vacation.  Mainly this is due to the fact that when I’m home I’m saving up to pay for that vacation, but there is something really cool about going through my closet and being like, ”not that Bangkok shirt, the pink one” (and before you ask, no, all my clothes do not have the tacky ”I went to LA and bought this shirt” slogans on them, though I do love my tacky souvenirs).  I have this theory about ”vacation money” : anything you spend in the local currency while on a trip is free money, more like trade really, as you’ve already spent the Canadian money by buying the foreign currency.  I’ve allocated that much money for spending, and if I burn through every penny, it’s fine.   As long as I don’t go over budget and dip into the credit cards (unless it’s really, really, really incredible and worth it), it’s game on.  And when I go to London, I know I have to make sure I budget enough, because, while I can shop anywhere, London fashion and I just click.  We’re talking pack-an-empty-suitcase good shopping here!

               The biggest thing I love about London shopping is that their “high street” (mass market) stores have great styles at great prices.  It’s as if the English approach to shopping in general is to make sure it’s accessible to the masses.  Affordable and easy to find.  Now you’re talking my language.    You’ll also notice here I’m not going to talk about Harrod’s or Selfridge’s, London’s uber-famous and uber-expensive department stores.  This is because, honestly, regular people do not go there to buy.  They go for the spectacle of it.  I always go and look at the GBP$10 000.00 dresses, entire rooms full of nothing but purses and Egyptian-themed escalators, but the only thing’s I’ve ever bought there are magazines, because they have the prices printed right on them, so they’re the same price there as they are at the corner newsagents.  But I still got the cool Harrod’s bag to wave around.

              Naturally, the place to start is Oxford street, otherwise known as the big awesome and freaking crowded street of all things good and wonderful.  You can’t throw a stick without hitting a clothing store.  But all of these stores are pretty much everywhere around the country, so if you don’t want to battle the crowds, it’s not hard to still find great fashion.  The suburban shopping malls offer huge selection without having to face the weather running from store to store.  Smack in the middle of Oxford St. is the English institution that is Marks and Spencer’s, where you can get pretty much anything, the focus being wardrobe basics and career wear.  They’re a touch on the pricey (for this focus-on-cheap blog, not compared to DKNY) and middle-aged side, but everyone can usually find something there.   Oh, and you can’t miss their awesome food hall, where you can pick up a great selection of groceries or ready meals for good prices.   Love their wine gums.

             If you’re angling for something on-trend while not being too “oh my God, is she wearing a duck on her head?” over the top, some of my favorites are:

 Dorothy Perkins - Aside from the adorable designs, their 2-for tank top deals will be my wardrobe staples forever.  Their “tall” line, aimed at those of us over 5 foot 7, keeps the fashion world open to everyone.  Their shoes and accessories are hot for a steal, and they have a new organic/free trade/eco-chic line geared for the environmentally conscious amongst us.

New Look – Bright colours and wild patterns mark this store as probably the most funky on the list, but don’t let that scare you, they have everything from sexy/sweet dresses to career wear to teeny-bopper tween styles.  I got one of my most professional looking dresses (that I just so happen to be wearing today) there for under GBP$30.00.

Next – More classic and stylish while not being old or boring, this is a great mix of business casual and weekend chic.  Not too over the top, but far from boring.  Also with an excellent denim section – lots of cuts in tons of lengths.  One of my favorite pairs of jeans is their bootcut.

Topshop – More pricey than the other three, this is where you go for trends.  On occasion, they do have the “oh my God, is that a duck on her head?” over the top styles, and they wear them with pride.  Partnerships with top designers and exclusive lines from the likes of Kate Moss makes sure they are always on the cutting edge.

             And then there’s Primark.  You want cheap, shop here.  Period.  End of story.  For what you’re paying (GBP$6 for a hoodie? Sweet.) the materials are not top of the line, but they look way more expensive than they are, and the quality is better than average. The aforementioned hoodie I’ve lived in for three years, and it still looks perfect.  Be prepared to carry a big bag, because with their prices, you’re not getting out of there with just one item.

            When traveling to London, make sure you have some room in your suitcase, are under your luggage allowance and have time to shop, because you’re gonna need it!  Last time I had to leave some things behind in order to squeeze all my new purchases in!  And it’s soooo worth it.

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, Dorothy Perkins, exchange rate, London, Marks and Spencer's, money, New Look, Next, Primark, shopping, Topshop