2020 UK Trip Pt 6 - London

April 13, 2020 by Jonathan Chow in London, Trips, UK

Final post of the trip. The whole day was dedicated to stomping around old favorites as well as exploring some areas that we haven’t really seen. We started off going straight to our old neighborhood and favorite area, Shoreditch.

If the previous day seemed quiet, this was even quieter. No surprise that many businesses ended up closing down after the week had ended.

A great spot that I never managed to visit before was Bike Shed. They now have a location in SoCal as well, but I couldn’t imagine it looks as great as this under-bridge lair.

Since we were so close, we decided to swing by the old building that we stayed at several years ago. It’s since been renovated to a much nicer apartment complex, but the streets still look and feel the same as they did back in the day.

Finally saw the infamous “MI6” building.

And so we end the night and trip grabbing one last order of boba (of course) and head back to the hotel for an early flight the following day. We were VERY fortunate that not only had the flight back been mostly empty and without any issues, but that we didn’t experience any symptoms the following weeks when we were home. \

As I mentioned in the beginning, it was a very strange trip. With our previous Asian trip we made a relatively-last minute pivot from Hong Kong to Tokyo due to the protests and looking back that was clearly the right call at the time. This time wasn’t quite as clear, but a lot of it had to do with pure luck in timing. The experience was incredibly smooth and easy, but the stress of the world shutting down around us ensured that this was something we didn’t want to experience again.

2020 UK Trip Pt 5 - London

April 07, 2020 by Jonathan Chow in Trips, UK, London

One last day of driving. Waking up in Lake District and grabbing a quick breakfast, we eagerly got back on the road.

Finally in London, the last stop (and close to the airport). With two nights to spend here, we mainly focused on dinner for the first night and taking it easy, especially after the string of days on constantly traveling. We also tried to stay mindful of the number of times we would take public transportation, so we tried to stick with one area, and this round we chose to hang around Covent Gardens.

One thing for sure, it was really REALLY quiet during the whole stay here. With exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas day, I don’t think we had ever seen the city so empty.

2019 UK / London 2

February 07, 2019 by Jonathan Chow in London, UK, Trips

Our second and only full day in London, we first traveled to our old stomping grounds around Shoreditch and Brick Lane. Later we went to Mercato Metropolitano to meet with Marcel and one of his owners while wrapping up the day at the nearby Tate Modern museum. Gonna try to cram everything in one post, so early apologies for the length of this one.

One thing I really appreciated about London was the popularity of traditional neon signage. I do wish they were more common here in the States, though some of the language that was used should probably stay in UK…

Some good ole guerilla marketing along with an amazing book store, will definitely need to remember it next time I go back.

VIDEO / London Winter 15/16

May 08, 2016 by Jonathan Chow in London

Video from my trip to London back in mid January.

FILM / Patiently Waiting

March 17, 2016 by Jonathan Chow in Film, London

Just waiting for the train to arrive...

FILM / Big Ben

February 25, 2016 by Jonathan Chow in Film, London

Just some touristy film photos from my past visit to London.

London / January 2016 Pt.2

January 21, 2016 by Jonathan Chow in London

Picking up from after grabbing some breakfast, we head towards the pebbly beach and its frigid waters.

A little Cappuccino would probably be perfect for puttin' around town during the busier summer.

Michelle is patiently waiting for a subject to shoot...

...and here he arrives! No close ups though.

And that's pretty much it. As I mentioned earlier though, most of the still images I took were using my film cameras so look forward for more footage from those rolls in the near future.

London / January 2016 Pt.1

January 21, 2016 by Jonathan Chow in London

We're back! Kick started 2016 with a week trip to London. Unfortunately, it also happened to be the worst week for British celebrities with passing of the iconic David Bowie breaking out while we were on flight to Heathrow and the beloved Alan Rickman passing later that week as well. But while the world of celebrities and news may be dim and grim, at least the weather turned out a lot sunnier and drier than we had anticipated. And we happened to have come to London during the same week the Lumiere Light Festival!

For the most of the week we were working and either visiting places we never got a chance to see during our previous trips or going back to our old favorite spots. Most of the stills taken during this trip was done on film, so expect to see more of London later when I have those rolls developed and scanned. On Saturday though, our only real free day during the whole trip, we decided to go back to the wonderful seaside town of Brighton.

The great thing about Brighton is how convenient it is to get to from London. Taking the National Rail, trips last from an hour to an hour and a half depending on delays and which station you were coming from. Once you arrive though, the Brighton station is close enough to all of the main features Brighton has to offer that you don't need to worry about any other transportation solutions. Everything is within a few minutes of walking.

My car spotting game this trip was pretty weak overall, the biggest highlight being a super mean black 2015 RS6 Avant that roared by outside the cafe I was working from. This VW T2 with a thorough rust treatment matched up its owner pretty well, who's business was selling variety of discovered antiques, usually made from iron.

Maybe it was the rare sunny winter weather, but there were so many dogs out that day, much to Michelle's delight. And yes, the dog on the left was a young Irish Wolfhound, one of the few if only dog breed that can grow larger than a Great Dane.

If you're ever looking for goods from the popular Finnish book series Moomin, this store probably had it.

We returned to the same cafe we originally went to back on our first visit to Brighton, the Cafe Coho. If you plan to visit Brighton, we highly recommend it mainly because the food is great, the prices are fair and the atmosphere was nice, not too busy. Important to note though, there are two locations. We prefer this spot which is away from the station and nestled within the narrow streets, closer to the beach.

English Breakfast (Brighton Breakfast in this case) is always a safe bet for a great way to start the day. Pt. 2 of our trip will be posted by tomorrow.