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Pop Brixton

Feeling restless one Sunday afternoon, having spent the entire week killing aliens on PS4 games, Jonathan suggested going to Pop Brixton.

I’d seen it mentioned in the usual places, Time Out, every hipster I follow on Twitter, and had concluded that it was probably going to be an over-hyped shipping container crammed with top-knotted men and girls in fedoras where I’d pay a tenner for the honour of having a slightly undercooked burger by a brand with a Helvetica logo. Unusually for me, I told him I’d rather give this one a miss, and can’t we just get a takeaway instead?

Well apparently killing aliens is tough business and he needed to stretch his legs, so two sweaty bus rides later we were swanning through the streets of Brixton with low expectations and a plan B (go get drunk at Kaff Bar) firmly in place.

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I was really pleasantly surprised. The area feels roomy, colourful, and there is a lot happening. Shipping containers crammed with ramen bars, vintage shops, and wood-smoking burger joints flogged their wares to a pleasantly tipsy crowd, with a pared-back vibe and the occasional Justin Timberlake booming from a tinny speaker. I mean, it was as hipster as a bearded architect ordering a soya single-shot latte , but it didn’t feel pretentious.

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With wide-eyes, Jonathan and I resolved to eat all the food, and set about our little task with frankly inappropriate levels of dedication. For starters, jerk coated sweet potato chips from Mama’s Jerk. For second starters, hot pork gyoza from Kai Ramen Bar. For third starters, gin.

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A little frazzled from sitting upstairs in the Greenhouse (true to it’s name, it was properly mafting in there), we pottered into real Brixton to give the market a once over. We stopped off for a few rounds of Connect Four and cocktails at Seven.

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Jonathan and I are far too competitive to stay friends around boardgames for too long, so we shuffled back to Pop Brixton for round two after a good telling off about the rules of Connect Four.

The main event of the food, for me, was this bad boy. The geniuses behind Bhangra Burgers, an Indian fusion streetfood joint also known as Baba G’s, have reinvented the humble nacho cheese dish with poppadoms and tikka chicken pieces.

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Imagine every good nacho dish you’ve ever had. Now imagine every good tikka dish. Now imagine they’re all the same thing. You’re getting close to how good this was.

For dessert, we picked up some Pimms Cider and a Yumi-Tub (weird Thai ice-cream, with brownie chunks all crushed up in) and felt proud of our decisions, but also awfully, awfully full.

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On we rolled back to the tube station, as the sun set, the Brixton market traders were packing up and the Pop Brixton hipsters were filing in for an evening of (presumably) house music, feeling smug, happy and a little Pimms-headed.

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We been drinkin'

A photo posted by Farrah Kelly (@farrahkelly) on

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One day on Khao San Road, Bangkok

I’d been warned that Bangkok was an excitable city, that it might be a little overwhelming. For me, it was the perfect opportunity to see the cultural sights, and for the guys I was with, the perfect place to get a taste of Thai nightlife. A great blend of calm and chaos that would keep everyone in the group happy.

We were staying at Dang Derm Hotel, which boasts the address Number One Khaosan Road. Khaosan is famed for the cheap hostels and embodiment of the word ‘bustle’, as well as where Richard, from must-read novel The Beach, starts his lethargic journey to paradise/hell island (stop what you’e doing and go read it. I’ll wait here.)

Dang Derm

Dang Derm

The hotel was perfect. Pretty, quiet enough (considering the honking road outside), cheap, and with the ultimate bonus of a rooftop pool. It doesn’t quieten down until really late (or early, depending on your perspective), so if you’re after a good night’s sleep you might need a night cap and ear muffs to help you on your way.

We dumped our bags, and elbowed our way through the men offering us a tuk-tuk ride, and refuelled at the first cafe we passed with a working fan (three uncomfortably warm Yorkshiremen, what can you do). After sweating off the red curries, I urged us along to the top of Khao San Road with every intention of finding one of the nearby hot spots- the Grand Palace or Wat Phra Keow- when we were ambushed by a kindly Thai dude.

After drawing up a list of temples for us to visit, he flagged down a tuktuk for us and in we clambered, shrugging off our scepticism. He whipped us round the streets of Bangkok, turfing us out every half hour or so to go explore a temple.

 

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We checked out a few different temples, unfortunately we were given the wrong names so I can’t be 100% sure I have accurate deets, but one of them was Wat Indrawiban, fo sho.

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It turns out after a cursory Google that this was a failed scam attempt- with several reports of the exact same thing happening to others, but other than a few awkward exchanges in tailors we didn’t want to go to, it didn’t cost us a penny as our driver abandoned us after a while. Thankfully our scammers were only half-hearted, lesson learnt. Stay safe, kids and fellow idiots!

After a few hours of pottering around temples, the jet lag hit us, so we flagged another eager tuktuk and head back to Dang Derm to lounge the rest of afternoon off with a cocktail by the rooftop pool, feeling pretty freaking fancy.

Dang Derm

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24 hours in Copenhagen: Day Two

Read Day One here: Torvehallerne, Tivoli Gardens, Parks and Peanut Butter…

Day Two

Mornings in Copenhagen

With such a short trip planned, there was no time for long lie ins or a slow unfurling of the day. Instead, we hopped out of bed and straight into the fresh air, heading for our new favourite place, Torvehallerne. We had to pay a visit to the v. well respected Coffee Collective- recommended to me by Will, the Head of Coffee for Pact (and boy can you trust this guy on coffee suggestions). We picked up a couple of freshly baked Danish pastries and sat sipping our flat whites with Copenhagen’s finest hipsters.

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Day in Copenhagen

Unusally for Jonathan and I, we hadn’t been to a single gallery or museum yet. Not wanting to waste our precious minutes on hunting down the further out spots, we settled for the marvellous curved tower in the centre of Freideriksberg, Rundetårn. The entire 17th century tower is built on one swooping ramp that twirls around the core of the building, stopping off at art galleries, historical exhibitions and an observatory, which we dutifully explored.

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Rundetårn

Rundetårn view

No trip to Copenhagen is compelte without a saunter down Nyahaven port…

Weekend in Copenhagen

A photo posted by Jonathan Frost (@frost_jm) on

Lunch in Copenhagen

With a good amount of time to kill before worrying about getting back to the airport, and our minds ever on the next meal, we found refuge in the cosy cafe Big Apple Juices With the super simple, stripped back wood, white walls and artfully strewn dried flowers, this was a great spot to curl under a blanket and fill up.With the chorizo ryebreads on their way, I snapped up the deck of cards and we slurped our juices as Jonathan mercilessly defeated me at each and every game…

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It’s a good job he’s handsome, because I’m a sore loser and he’s no gracious winner.

Having been so healthy for lunch, we needed to fix that and sought out a top quality pub to keep us entertained. Enter, the Taphouse.

61 beers on tap, you could sense Jonthan’s giddiness escalating all the way from the ladies restroom. I poked around my gin and tonic while he ‘sampled’ every beer on the list, expertly describing the tasting notes of each as I nodded blankly and tried to place the accents of fellow pubgoers. Would highly recommend.

 

New favourite pub in the whole world. 61 beers on tap. #taphouse

A photo posted by Jonathan Frost (@frost_jm) on

taphouse

And so, unfortunately, to the airport.

Our whirlwind trip- to Copenhagen was perfect. I was worried we’d spend most of our time struggling to find things to do, places to eat, that kind of thing. Instead,. because Copenhagen is so compact and so full of character and of amazing independent places, you can set off in almost any direction and turn a corner to an unexpected gem. Absolutely perfect for a short trip.

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24 hours in Copenhagen: Day One

Valentine’s Day this year, Jonathan and I decided to not bother with presents or cards. We wanted to save the money and maybe go for a lovely country pub instead. But then, all of a sudden, we’d booked a trip to Copenhagen. Oops.

We came up with the idea while cooking breakfast on V-Day, and by the time we’d licked our forks clean, we’d booked a twenty-four hour trip to Denmark. It happens.

Day One

Lunch in Copenhagen

We arrived at the Copenhagen airport at 10am. The airport is SO well connected to the city centre- we took a tram into Christianshavn, which takes 15 minutes and costs 36 krona (about £4)

By the time we walked through town to get to our AirBnB on the edge of gorgeous park Ørstedsparken, jumped up and down on the bed and freshened up a little, our Pret breakfast was beginning to fade into the background and we had our hearts set on some lunch. We stumbled across Torvehallerne, which blew our tiny foodie minds.

Torvehallerne Champagne

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While there were plenty of options at this bustling food market, the choice was pretty easy for us. We wiled away our lunchtime tucking into the incredible smorgasboard open sandwiches, watching fresh ones made in front of us by busy hands, and pondered our next move. Of course, we gave the market’s two halls a thorough browse first, and picked up an epic dessert to take on our travels with us.

Afternoon

Afternoon in Copenhagen

We took our peanut butter chocolate slice for a walk round the parks. Exploring the parks and architecture of this city, it’s easy to see Copenhagen’s beauty, even in grizzly weather.

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We wandered the parks, got upfront with the lions and marvelled at the regal, smooth style of the buidlings (and the people!). Come mid afternoon, both Jonathan and I were pooped, and being the grannies we are, retreated to our AirBnB for a mid-arvo nap.

Evening in Copenhagen

Feeling like we had a whole extra day in Denmark, we jumped out of our nap and straight into our finest walking shoes to see the city by night. We’d heard so much about the famous Tivoli Gardens, so donned our umbrella (which was suitably useless, I abandoned it after a particularly bolshy gust of wind) and head to one of the oldest active fairgrounds in the world.

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Tivoli Gardens are an absolute must if you’re visiting Copenhagen. In the earlier evening you could see very cute Danish familes gleefully spinning around in teacups, and towards the later evening they were replaced with swathes of teenagers and adults enjoying the screamer rides, many bars, and idyllic scenery. The famous Peacock theatre hosts a ballet with the slightly terrifying clown Pjerrot  which attracts big crowds, even in the rain. We didn’t go on any of the rides (it was raining- we were going for a nice meal afterwards and didn’t want to show up soaked wet through), but we had a good go on the traditional games- where, instead of winning me a teddy, like all films say he should, Jonathan won himself a toy motorbike. What even.

For dinner, we went to the highly rated TIGHT, where our waitress, Maria, was literally the best waitress ever. For once in my snap-happy life, I put my camera away and didn’t take a single snap- this is a holiday after all…

Read Day Two here: Views, Exhibits, Perfect Coffees and Long Lunches.