Fashion Friday: European Vacation

Today I’m heading to Europe, where I’ll meet Trisha to enjoy a whirlwind 10-day trip through London, Paris, Amsterdam, and a bit of Dublin!

This is the collage I created to plan my packing.

And here is Trisha’s packing collage.  Yes, we are planning nerds.  :-)

Everything is good for walking and bicycling comfortably while (hopefully!) looking chic.

We’ll be taking many trains and riding lots of bicycles.  And we’re shoving everything into carry-ons, so wish us luck!

How do you pack for trips?  Do you have any traveling tips to share?

 

See you in London

So as I mentioned a couple of months ago, Dottie and I will be traveling to London, Paris and Amsterdam together this fall. London readers, would you join us for the Very First LGRAB Overseas Happy Hour at The Harp Bar in Covent Garden* for a pint on Sunday, October 14? We’ll be there between 5pm and 7pm, most likely on some sort of two-wheeled conveyance.

:)

 

We’re so excited to have the chance to meet more of you in person! Let us know in the comments if you can make it! Cheers.

 

{ Related: our post on the NYC reader happy hour last summer at Adeline Adeline. }

* Thanks to reader Liz for the rec! Pint on us if we like the place.

We’re crossing the pond again!

Sorry for the slight lapse in posting lately. Dottie and I are devoting a lot of mental energy to planning our next trip.

Yep—that’s a London-Paris-Amsterdam itinerary you’re looking at. We will be there in mid-October (and I’ll be in Wales and Dublin before that).

Since we have so much time to dream and plan, we’d love to get suggestions from you on what we should see—especially when it comes to Amsterdam, as neither of us has been there before. Please share in the comments! And let us know if you’re interested in a reader meetup. Tea and Topshop in London??

Tweed Ride and More British Fun

Mark your calendars for Chicago’s Winston Tweed Ride this Saturday, September 12. Everyone should come! I didn’t know anyone on the first Tweed Ride, but I still had a blast. The kind of people who dress up in tweed and ride to bars on bicycles are bound to be friendly.

Leaving from The Globe Pub @1pm, we’ll make our way at a genteel, civilizing pace to the 89th Annual German-American Festival in Lincoln Square. And of course we’ll be stopping in some damn fine bars representing British allies during that unpleasantness in the 30s & 40s!

In celebration of the British, here are some images from Trisha’s and my trip to London in April. Previously, we posted on London cycle chic, cycling infrastructure and tea time.

Bringing the Batavus Home

There is a beautiful bike in my living room today and it’s all due to my fabulous parents.

You may recall my riding the Batavus in England and then heading off to Russia. Since I wasn’t going back via the UK, there was no way I could bring the bike home myself. Luckily, my brother and I had bought tickets for my parents to visit Prague and London last fall, for their upcoming 30th anniversary — and they generously offered to take the bike back for me. I arranged to have it delivered to their hotel, and they would simply take it to the airport on a shuttle, check it, and take it to Alabama. Easy peasy? Not so much, when you’re talking about a fully assembled Dutch Bike. Anyone who thinks they might be traveling with a bike in future, read on!

Mom and Dad decided to take the bike from the box and transport it in the cardboard sleeve, since the box was so unwieldy.

A Batavus packed in a cardboard sleeve for transport.

When they came rolling up to the check-in counter, the United Airlines people at Heathrow looked at them like they were aliens. The woman at the counter asked my dad what she was supposed to do with it…he said, “Well, I was hoping you’d put it on the plane.” They made them deflate the tires because they were worried they’d explode. Luckily, they were too taken aback to realize they could have charged $200 for transporting the bike. Score one for my budget!

Ladies Who Tea

Forgive the non bike-related post, but I can tie it to cycling by mentioning that later today I will be riding in Chicago’s inaugural Tweed Ride, so I feel like reminiscing about how Trisha and I recently were proper ladies in London having tea at Claridge’s. Well, okay, as proper as two sailor-mouthed Americans taking digital photos of themselves at fancy restaurants can be.

Going International

You may have noticed my Batavus Day countdown ticker inching toward the finish line over there in the sidebar. Yes, folks, Let’s Go Ride a Bike will be going international in just a few days as Dottie and I head for London and then St. Petersburg, Russia. Of course, we’re planning some biking outings during our trip, and hope to be able to share them all with you.

In London,  we’ll be checking out the new Cycodelic product line at Topshop.

And of course, on Saturday, we’ll be visiting Littlehampton Dutch Bike shop to have tea with Paul and test ride my long-awaited Batavus…as well as every other bike they have in the shop. :)

Russian bike plans are a little more ambiguous, but we plan to rent bikes at least once: either on Krestovsky Island or during a day trip to Vyborg.

Anything we’re missing? Leave us a note in the comments! I’m especially interested in whether anyone’s used London’s Oybike rentals.