Unique, quirky and full of love: a small business gift guide.

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? If you are a blogger who doesn't write a gift guide, are you even entitled to buy rose gold accessories?

Obviously, I'm joking, but having never written a gift guide in the 5 years that I've been blogging bar my annual charity guide (an updated version to follow shortly, don't worry) I felt that an essential tool in my blogging arsenal was lacking deployment.

9 Lessons I Have Learnt In 3 Months As A Freelancer

Freelancer. Freelancer. I still can't quite believe that I'm a (MacBook wielding, coffee drinking, flatly photographing, stereotype embodying) freelancer, running my own business and helping other professionals market their wares.

It's still only early days yet - I set myself 3 and 6 month markers to look at how I was doing in my venture, but I'm pleased to say that things are looking fairly healthy at the 3 month mark. I'm establishing my portfolio with some brilliant clients (*waves*) and every day I get out of bed looking forward to coffee crunching through my to-do lists.

10 things to do in Wellington, New Zealand

The capital city of New Zealand is my spiritual heart (I fell in love whilst at university there) and with more cafes per capita than any other city in the world, it always feels like home. Walking down Wellington streets, my mind overlays so many memories - and I'm always amazed at how after a decade I still know how to get around without a map. I suspect it is indelibly etched on my heart.

I could actually suggest a zillion different reasons to visit Wellington, but for me, the most important ones are my brother, sister-in-law, two rosy cheeked nephews and my best friend (who I managed to also get to see up in Auckland!). Even if you don't possess such filial ties, Wellington is a brilliant city.

That time we went out for brunch and accidentally hiked the Rangitoto volcano crater

Nothing seems to surprise my husband anymore. I must come out with ridiculous scenarios so regularly now, he doesn't even lift an eyebrow. Case in point, when I video called him from New Zealand. (He knew I was in NZ by the way, my whereabouts haven't become that surprising. Yet.)

"How was your day?" 'Good thanks, we went out for brunch with Ginni and Alice, and then hiked up a volcano crater.' "That's nice dear. It rained in London today" (sic)

The Luxury Brunch Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Hotel (warning: this is not a typo)

Brunch is somewhat of a religion in New Zealand, and Afternoon Tea is rather a genteel worship of tinkling tea cups in England. They are both altars that I spend an inordinate amount of time at, both in London and away, and more than once I've declaimed them to be my favourite meals.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Le Meridien but all thoughts, 

flavour sentiments and brunch chants are entirely original.

Somehow, the stars aligned to not only find an afternoon that both Becca (of Runaway Kiwi infamy) and I had free, and coincide with an invite to try out the Brunch Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Hotel in Piccadilly. Living our best lives indeed.

Expat Life: Giving my London home a touch of New Zealand #travellinkup

How on earth do you define home as an expat? I've said before that London has my heart but New Zealand is my soul (whereas my appetite is totally multicultural) as a throwaway Instagram caption, but actually it's more true than I gave this unconsciously summoned phrase credit for.

I guess this post could be subtitled 'how to make home a home, when you move your home to a new home a really long way away'. Which would be an achingly long subtitle.

So, I decided in a moment of New Zealand caffeine fuelled inspiration to share 5 of the ways that I celebrate my New Zealand roots 12,000 miles away from where they began. Putting the Kiwi into London effectively!

ANZAC Day, Lest We Forget.

Pre-dawn on the 25th April, families gather around the world. Quietly they huddle in their jackets, their antipodean accents muffled by the chilly air.

Slowly in the darkness the crowd begins to thicken, take shape, many around weatherworn memorials thousands of miles away from their birthplaces.

Legging it to Land's End, Cornwall

According to ancient Maori mythology at the northernmost tip of New Zealand - Cape Reinga - the spirits of the dead travel on their journey to the afterlife to leap off the headland, and climb the roots of the 800-year-old pohutukawa tree and descend to the underworld to return to their traditional homeland of Hawaiki, using the Te Ara Wairua, the 'Spirits' pathway'.

In true British style, Land's End (or in Cornish: Penn an Wlas or Pedn an Wlas) is a headland and holiday complex near Penzance where tourists flock to witness the Western most point of the UK and enjoy a cream tea.

Roux at the Landau, Langham Hotel - a luxury brunch.

Recently I've been dreaming of our honeymoon in the South of France. I think I can firmly blame my friends who have been planning their post-wedding dream holidays, jetting off on their own honeymoons and starting their families (join the thought dots for that one.)

We spent 10 days sampling the markets that French gourmets take for granted and inside the 150+ year old Victorian bastion of British luxury that is the Langham hotel, the opulent flavours of the Farmhouse Brunch served in the Roux at the Landau evoked our honeymoon all over again.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Roux at the Landau, Langham Hotel but my (very many) opines on eggs benedict and champagne are only ever my own.

Instead, a hashtag of bloggers settled in for a balmy Sunday in the shadow of the iconic BBC building, to enjoy an elegant weekend meal in the magnificent Langham Hotel. (Well, I actually spent 24 blissful hours there, but more on that another day.)

A Louisiana bayou swamp tour - our incredible experience.

"C'Mon Gators! COME AND EAT US" screams our captain as he lobs chunks of meat over the side of the boat.

Mr Kiwi and I swap uneasy looks with each other, both wondering if going on a swamp tour was such a brilliant idea after all. Miles from New Orleans we were floating on a glorified tin can, surrounded by rusting steel structures wrapped in mangroves and very little else as far as the eye could see.

We wait a just a little bit longer in apprehensive silence*. The smooth surface ripples, two prehistoric eyes appear before an elongated snout rises out of the murky waters. His** jagged back sways through the water as he gets closer and closer to eating us, sorry, start nibbling on the scraps of treats our captain threw in the water.

Hello, it's me. That @londonkiwiemma lady.

Hello there, Kia Ora! Thank you for visiting Adventures of a London Kiwi, and welcome. Grab a cup of tea or a flat white (depending on your country of origin), sit yourself down, and settle back. It felt like time for a mini-refresh whilst the world is changing and with an influx of new readers in the last few months, a reminder chat about the things that fire my writing passions seemed apt. New Year, New Me, right? More like New Year, Same Old Me With A Slightly Worse Rambling Habit, but what can you do.

Hi. Lovely to e-hang with you. *awkward half hug and air-kiss on each cheek*

My name is Emma (aka London Kiwi Emma as I seem to have become known), and this is my personal travel experience and culinary adventures blog where I share my escapades as a long term expat, living in one of my favourite cities in the world. Though you probably won't tell from my developing English accent, I originate from New Zealand, also known as Aoteoroa, hobbitland or Land of the Long White Cloud. Us New Zealanders are known around the globe as 'Kiwis'; not necessarily the small furry brown fruit, but named after a small flightless bird who lives in our forests.

Kazan, a Turkish Restaurant near Victoria Station

It began with a simple Tweet, and ended in prosecco studded with pomegranate seeds and a platter of Baklava. Life doesn't really get much better sometimes.

  Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Kazan but all of my wandering musings and admiration for beautifully slow-cooked lamb are only ever my own...

A couple of months ago searching out a few personal Turkish restaurant recommendations from the coterie of food bloggers that gather around London's tables, there was one restaurant that came up again and again - Kazan in Victoria.

A perfect... birthday and a #travellinkup

30 years old. I am now officially 30 years old.

I'm fairly sure I'm the only person on the planet who isn't freaking out about reaching such a milestone at the age, but there we go, I'm not.

Instead, I used the excuse to extend the usual week of festivities around my 36-hour birthday into a fortnight (along with an amazing 2 week holiday we have coming up shortly!). It's 36-hours long with the time difference in New Zealand - an exclusive benefit to the expat lifestyle - but with the lovely, lovely friends and family around me, what can be a homesickness trigger was actually a whirlwind celebratory champagne, fantastic meals and a secretly organised long weekend in a beautiful European city.

Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal - one of the world's most insane castles

Around about this time last year, I scampered off for a long weekend in Lisbon. Not telling anyone that I was off on a solo adventure for the first time in years (the husband was on a boys weekend in Madrid – hilariously in the adjoining country) I girded my loins, arming myself with a tome of printouts + backups on my phone + backups emailed around the world, and settled in for a chilled out break entirely on my own terms.

Solo travel isn’t for everyone – it can be stressful, alarming when you’re left with your own thoughts and a bit lonesome when it comes to meals, but I really loved the change of pace (not that I don’t adore travelling with people). I simply tried to bear common sense in mind (not walking alone once night fell), made my journey to & from the airport as simple as simple as simple (a couple of metro trains) and booked in a couple of day trips where I was collected and chauffeured around.

Pan Chai, luxurious sushi in Harrods

As little Kiwi kid, my parents taught my siblings and I to leave the tastiest part of our dinners until last. They wisely figured out that we'd otherwise leave behind the healthiest part of our meals in favour of filling up on tastier forkfuls.

Even now as an "adult" (no-one I know can possible claim that title in full and without air quotations) this thinking is ingrained in the way that I eat. Exotic meat, freshly caught battered oysters, Brussel sprouts (yeah, I was weird but you've never tasted my Mum's). The only problem we found with our afternoon at Pan Chai recently, was that everything was so delicious that deciding what to leave for last (and best) was almost impossible.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Pan Chai but all of my very, very many thoughts (and rambling childhood memories) are only ever my own... 

Found in Harrod's famous food court opposite sister restaurant Mango Tree, after I wandered halfway through London (realising I had an hour and 10 minutes rather than a panicked 10 minutes to make my way over) my globetrotting, sushi loving lunch date Sam and I made our way through the labyrinthine halls of the shopping mecca.

Rock and roll, quirky art and cherry cocktails - Duke of York Square

Living in a city as large and sprawling as London (really it's an amalgamation of long-ago villages that have merged into the tube map) you often find yourself skipping over suburbs unintentionally for lengths of time, only to rediscover them leaving you wondering why you ever left them out.

Lately I've found myself gravitating to Kensington and Chelsea (it was Shoreditch for awhile - to the point that my husband accused me of becoming a hipster and my accent altering towards Clapham for an age - more easily explained by antipodean brunches). I'm usually lured to the beautiful streets for the art and architecture exhibitions at one of the museums, via Instagram shots of stunning Mews' or just to walk through the beautiful parks.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Taschen and Manicomio Chelsea but my (very many) opinions are only ever my own (and my love for Taschen has been years in the formation)

And this is no hyperbole - in the course of 3 weeks I visited for a ladies dinner near Gloucester Road, surprised my husband by taking him to the Saatchi Gallery (before nipping to The Ritz for dinner), took in a dim sum and wine date at Harrods, sipped a glass of wine or two in our favourite bar, wandered through the beautiful V&A Museum (my favourite place in London ever), meandered through Hyde Park in the sunshine, enjoyed a blogger night out learning more about Taschen and Manicomio and a fair few coffee dates between rambles.

15 more secrets of London that the tourist crowds miss

If you happen to be planning on a London staycation this Easter, or even a London visit, there are a plethora of quirky places to while away an hour or two in between brunches and afternoon teas.

Following a post of 15 London secrets that the tourist crowds miss, I decided it was high time to lasso another selection of my favourite secrets that most tourists might miss. Some of these places are free, some have cats, a few have suits of armour, several have excellent coffee, none of them are sponsored and they will all surprise even the longest serving London addict who hasn't visited in years.

Discover a tropical oasis inside the ugliest building ever
Free to enter, the Barbican Conservatory is allegedly the second biggest in London and is home to exotic fish and over 2,000 species of tropical plants and trees. The residential estate itself was originally built to replace housing destroyed in the Second World War and also houses a labyrinthine layout of “art, music, theatre, dance, film and creative learning events”.

Friday figments and photos - the globetrotting festive edition

The last month has been wonderful. Full of chaos, sunshine, excitement, watching the rain from a comfy seat, Christmas Jumpers, making friends with camels called Sheila, too much cake, skyscrapers, wild dolphins, champagne, cheese and crackers on the beach, a family wedding and so many more memories.

We skipped away to New Zealand (well, I say skipped, but it involved an 8-hour flight to Dubai, a 15-hour flight to Brisbane that should have been 13 which is bad enough, a much delayed 3.5 hour flight to Auckland and an urgent call over an airport tannoy which was pointlessly stressful) but upon landing it was worth every second.

Why do we eat Turkey at Christmas?

Some days I feel like I could burst with questions. How does this work? Why does that happen? What on earth is that meant to be? My poor husband not only has to put up with the moniker Mr Kiwi, but attempt to explain centuries of British traditions. On top of that he's often used as a consultation resource for several of my expat friends - the questions posed over the years has often bamboozled both of us and we turn to the Google to hopefully explain.

The Whats, Whys and Where for art thous (or if you are Welsh it's 'where for to you goin'?, nope I don't understand how that translates to 'Where are you off to?' either) are often just shrugged off as a lovely mystery that we enjoy just 'because'. And why not, it's Christmas.

Why are brussels sprouts so reviled but always make the festive dinner table?
I love brussels sprouts. Yes, I know I'm foreign which puts me slightly in the bizarre camp anyway, but I genuinely like those little green cabbage spheres - especially cooked just the side of crisp and served with a drizzle of honey, chestnuts or cranberries and bacon. Yum. All the more brassicas for me then...

Friday figments and photos: Time

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
― Marthe Troly-Curtin

 

 “Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.”
― Dave Eggers