London for Free

London is one of my favourite cities in the world - there's always so much going on you can never get bored! Being a student, one of the best things for me is the amount of things you can do without spending a single penny. Here are some of the places I've visited this summer:

Sky Garden

Nearest tube: Bank/Monument

Situated at the very top of 20 Fenchurch Street, or 'The Walkie Talkie' as it's probably better known, at 34 floors and 155 metres up Sky Garden is London's highest public garden. It's completely free for anyone to go up and experience some sensational views across the capital, with the key landmarks subtly marked out for you on the glass panels. On a sunny day, the roof terrace is also open so you can even experience the garden in the open air.

While it is free to enter, there is also a reasonably priced café to grab a coffee and a croissant with a friend. If you're pushing the boat out and have a slightly larger budget, the Fenchurch Restaurant, Darwin Brasserie and Sky Pod Bar all offer culinary delights or cocktails to be enjoyed alongside London's glittering skyline.

Top tip: Book in advance. You can book up to three weeks in advance, however places fill up instantly so keep an eye on the website for when slots come available. Try booking out of season - the summer months are always busiest.

Tate Modern

Nearest tube: Southwark/Borough

The recently redeveloped national modern art gallery now boasts a 360 degree view across London on the 10th floor. While you're there it's also worth exploring the public exhibitions throughout the gallery, taking a walk through the Turbine Hall, and engaging with interactive video and art installations in The Tanks. As with all national galleries and museums, there is no admission fee, although visitors are encouraged to give a small donation and tickets can be purchased for major exhibitions.

Top tip: take the stairs from the 4th floor to the viewing platform otherwise you'll be left waiting for a lift for hours.

V&A

Nearest tube: South Kensington

This is quite possibly my favourite London museum! There are always exciting modern and relevant exhibitions on, especially based around fashion and popular culture - Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty was a personal highlight. While these exhibitions are usually ticketed, it's worth investing in a membership card that gives you unlimited free entry for you and a friend throughout the year - definitely worth if for the £35 card if you're under 26. You also get a load of benefits including a 10% discount in the renowned V&A shop. Otherwise, feel free to roam the free exhibitions and admire the impressive architecture. What's more, it's right next door to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum so you can be a real culture vulture for the day.

Royal Academy of Arts

Nearest tube: Green Park

Similar to the V&A, become a friend of the RA (or just make friends with someone who is) and for £40 for 16-25 year olds you can enjoy a year of free exhibitions for you and a family member. It's a must visit this summer, with the Summer Exhibition and David Hockney at the top of my list to go to.

Borough Market

Nearest tube: London Bridge

Ok, so with Borough Market having such tempting delights on offer this trip probably wouldn't end up as entirely free (the doughnuts at Bread Ahead will make you weak at the knees). However, it's not exactly going to break the bank and we do need to eat after all - it's definitely worth a visit at lunchtime. Most of the stalls hand out free tasters too and if you are looking for a bargain then try visiting at the end of the day.

The Gardening Society at John Lewis

Nearest tube: Oxford Circus

Up on the roof of the John Lewis Oxford Street store from 27th May until 4th September 2016 is a delightful rooftop garden, a beautiful quiet and green haven to retreat to after a busy day navigating through the shoppers in Oxford Circus. It's free to go up and relax in the Secret Garden or you can buy a coffee or a lobster roll from one of the pop-ups. There's even yoga sessions there run by Fat Buddha at £10 a session every Thursday morning.

If you've got a MyJohnLewis Card, make the most of your monthly coffee and cake voucher and enjoy the view over London with a scone and a cup of tea one floor down after exploring the garden.

One New Change

Nearest tube: St. Pauls

The views up the top of this shopping centre opposite the famous St. Paul's Cathedral are some of the best in London. The panoramic view encompasses old and new London, looking across at everything from the Shard to the Tate Modern to St. Paul's Cathedral, which allows you to admire the original architecture. On the 6th floor there is also Madison's Restaurant and Cocktail Bar for after-work drink or a special occasion. Downstairs there are also a host of affordable chain restaurants such as Pho and Zizzi's.

Drinki

Free Singapore Slings for me and my friends in London last week

If you're looking for a free drink in the capital, this app is definitely one to download. The concept is a very simple one: open the app and select a participating bar nearby. Check in to the bar through Facebook then show the barman who will confirm this and make you a free drink (pre-decided by the bar). This gives them publicity, brings in the crowds and allows them to try out new cocktails on the menu - which you get to enjoy for free!

The only downside is that you're only limited to one bar and one drink a night.

London's Royal Parks

I'm so lucky to live in a city with so many beautiful green spaces. London's Royal Parks are some of my favourite places to hang out for a cheap day out in the city with my friends - we normally bring along a picnic and catch up on the grass. It's also amazing how much wildlife there is in London of all places - Richmond Park is famous for its deer and you can even spot the odd Kingston Parakeet (rumoured to have escaped from London Zoo and made their dwelling in London's green belt). Meanwhile it's also fun to watch the geese and swans strolling around St. James's Park.

Lemon Polenta Cake

I'm having a bit of an obsession with polenta at the moment. It's dirt cheap to buy and really versatile - you can make everything from savoury chips, creamy polenta as an alternative to mashed potato, and even use it in cakes as I've done here for a lemon polenta cake. It gives this cake a lovely almondy crunchy texture so is worth giving a go if you want a change from a standard fluffy sponge!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients: 

• 125g soft margarine  (Stork)
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 70g polenta
• 100g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 lemon
• 50g granulated sugar

Simple Steps:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C
2. Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl.
3. Mix in the eggs one at a time until combined.
4. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder and polenta.
5. Grate the lemon and add zest to mixture.
6. Squeeze half the lemon and add juice (save the other half for the glaze).
7. Pour the mixture into a lined 7" cake tin.
8. Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
9. Leave the cake in the tin.
10. Make the glaze by juicing the other half of the lemon and mixing together with the granulated sugar and pour over cake in the tin.
11. Allow to cool then put onto a plate and serve.

Tips and Tricks:

• Make the glaze while the cake is cooking to save time so you can put it on as soon as it's out the oven - the lemon juice will infuse in the cake better to give it a fruiter taste.
• Try other alternatives such as orange instead of lemon for a citrusy twist!

Banana Bread

This was a semi-made up recipe I came up with in order to use up the black bananas that were sitting in my fruit bowl. Always use over-ripe bananas when making banana bread, they seriously add to the moisture and flavour.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients: 

• 5oz Plain Flour
• 4oz Caster Sugar
• 2oz Butter
• 1 Egg
• 2 Extra-ripe Bananas, mashed
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• Splash of milk

Simple Steps:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
2. Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl.
3. Add the egg, mashed banana and milk and mix together.
4. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder.
5. Pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin.
6. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.
7. Allow to completely cool on a cooling rack before eating.

Tips and Tricks:

• Banana bread keeps for days and can actually taste better the day after baking. Keep in a tin and enjoy!
• You can also add things to the recipe to add more flavour. Try a handful of chopped dates or chocolate chips.

Hong Kong

When I booked my Australia trip I thought I'd make the most of the fact I was travelling across the world by extending my stopover in Hong Kong by a couple of days to see the sites and visit friends and family. It really is an incredible place like nowhere else I've ever been to; an urban jungle where everything is built on top of each other so you're always moving about different levels through a contrasting mix of traditional markets and luxurious hotels. Meanwhile, outside of central the city is by no means all concrete skyscrapers, but a sea of greenery with gorgeous views of the surrounding bays.

I arrived late on Monday night and took a taxi to my cousin Mike's apartment in the beautiful Repulse Bay. His wife, Jane, took me out in Central the following day and was an excellent tour guide, taking me up Victoria Peak where there were amazing panoramic views (we were very lucky with the weather as it was a clear day for HK) and we took the tram back all the way down which was really steep - like taking a funicular in the mountains. She took me to a cute local restaurant for lunch then we had a very pampered afternoon with traditional massages and foot rubs before we picked the kids up from school and relaxed by the pool at the country club for the afternoon (it's a hard life).

Later I met up with my uni friend, Anthony, for cocktails at the famous Captain's Bar in the Mandarin Oriental, where we had a quick catch up before supper. Mike, Jane and my other cousins very generously took us out to The China Club, which had the most beautiful interiors and a very impressive art collection. We watched the daily Hong Kong light show from the rooftop then headed down for a delicious meal of Chinese delights: Peking duck and pancakes, spring rolls, dumplings, sizzling beef and of course fortune cookies. We definitely had the best table in the room, positioned right in front of the stage where all sorts of acts were performing throughout the evening, including a tea dancer and a noodle-making display!

Jane took me to Stanley Market the next morning to stock up on souvenirs and presents for everyone back home, then it was Anthony's turn to play tour guide and he was keen to show me the true local experience: lunch at Macau restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui for fried rice and China tea, a walk around the gorgeous tranquil spot Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill, fortunes read at the Won Tai Sin Temple (apparently I am going to meet a nice man in November at a party), ate famous 'cheese tarts' despite being so full from lunch (when in Hong Kong), took the Star Ferry to central for dinner at Joy Hing in Wanchai, arguably the best barbecued pork in Hong Kong. This place runs out every day is always packed. We were lucky to get probably the last two portions of the day!

Next was time to check out HK's vibrant nightlife. Anthony booked us a table at Scratch in Wanchai where a huge group of his friends joined us for a few games of stack cup, a game I'm definitely going to take back to uni with me! Afterwards we jumped on a tram to Lan Kwai Fong where we hit up a few clubs, Levels and Play, in an amazing multi-storey building. The 7/11 also pretty much turns into a bar at night, with everyone buying drinks and chatting in the streets. The atmosphere was absolutely buzzing and everyone was so friendly, was really gutted to be leaving having just met some wonderful people! HK, I'll be back!

After a flight that felt like forever I finally touched down in London Heathrow. It's good to be home, see friends and family and chill out back in my own bed (although I'm also secretly planning my next trip)!

Melbourne

My final stop in Australia! During my travels I met so many people who had already been and had a list as low no as my arm of places to visit (mainly brunch/dessert restaurants) as well as a handful of places I'd seen on Instagram. Melbourne really is the brunch capital of the world!

I spent my first day with a visit to the state library which had an impressive dome and a couple of interesting exhibitions about Melbourne's history. As I left the museum there was a free walking tour going on so I joined the tour for about an hour as the guide led us around the city, eventually peeling myself off to meet Jack, Theo and Astrid for souvenir shopping at Queen Victoria Market followed by Nutella-filled doughnuts at Doughnut Time, which seemed to be the busiest/most popular place in Melbourne! Afterwards we went around the film museum and had fun with the interactive exhibits, filming ourselves in bullet time predicting we were in The Matrix. Later we ticked off another place on my list, the Ponyfish Island Bar, a really cute bar on the river where we properly experienced Australian winter with mulled wine and outdoor heaters. Harry, another Exeter friend studying at Deaken this year, came in to meet me and we all went for dinner together in Chinatown. That evening I went to see what Melbourne's nightlife had to offer and a group of us went to the famous Revolver (or "Revs") on Chapel Street for a rather edgy night out. 

The next morning I met up with Harry again who gave me a personal city tour - it always helps knowing some locals! We explored the street art in Hosier Lane, visited the National Gallery of Victoria then went over to Fitzroy in the afternoon where we browsed the adorable Rose Street Market and had ice cream at Messina (another one crossed off the list)! That evening my friend Meijke who I'd met on Fraser Island hosted a drinks party at her house to celebrate her birthday. It was fun to catch up with her and meet some more Aussie (and Dutch) locals!

On my last full day I managed to tick off the one place I'd been desperate to go to before I'd even got to Australia. I saw an Instagram from The Naughty Boy Café before I flew out and knew I needed to visit when I got to Melbourne. Turned out it was just round the corner from Meijke's house and she also raved about it so it was a no-brainer. Breakfast that morning was an 'instashake' - brownie, Nutella and freeze-dried fruit - that was so impressive the man sitting opposite me insisted he took a photo. Probably just fast-tracked myself to type 2 diabetes and was in a sugar coma for the rest of the day but it was totally worth it!

Harry had tickets to watch an Aussie Rules match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that afternoon so we went along with a group of his uni friends to watch Collingwood get thrashed by Port Adelaide and tried to grasp a concept of the rules. Afterwards we explored the shops for some final souvenirs and said our goodbyes and I packed my bags, ready to leave for Hong Kong.