James hotel soho is nestled in the cutest part of soho. Even though there is many to do around the hotel I didn’t feel like I even needed to leave. They have an upstairs bar called Jimmy at the James. In the winter the bar opens at 5 pm. During the summer they have pool parties Saturday and Sunday’s which I’ve been to before and are super fun on the perfect summer day.

The rooms have huge windows which give you perfect views of NYC and you can watch those stunning sunrises and sunsets.

I was able to see the penthouse offered in the James Soho and it is nothing short of amazing. If you could book this room I highly recommend !

Can’t wait to return this summer as they are renovating the rooftop!

Sometimes I just need to skip the plane ride and just do a staycation. My fiancé is home from Med school for a few weeks and I wanted us to get away for Memorial Day weekend. I booked a room at The William Vale In Williamsburg Brooklyn and it exceeded my expectations. I booked on Cheaptickets which gave a better rate then directly through William vale. If you do live in New York they do have staycation rates on their website which is helpful to know!

I wanted a chic hotel with a pool and nice views which is definitely what I got. We upgraded to a Gotham corner suite with a wrap around Terrace that was to die for.We ate dinner at west light which is their rooftop restaurant/bar. The food was really good and the views were 😍😍.

If you live in New York or visiting I would highly recommend the William Vale. They have an nice gym, huge pool for Manhattan, two restaurants and a rooftop lounge.

Tips/ Recommendations:
1. UPGRADE– the views are worth it
2. Make reservations ahead of time at Westlight
3. Go to the pool early since its first come first serve.
4. The pool is open to the public certain days of the week.
5. You cannot use the pool after you check out ( ask for a late checkout)

And I’m back! I decided to stay at Eden Roc Miami Beach again and it definitely did not disappoint! On arrival my friend Sara and I asked if there were any upgrades and they were amazing enough to give us a two floor loft overlooking the pool/beach! I never wanted to leave the room!

Sunset Vibes at Eden Roc

We decided this time to venture out to different hotels for breakfast and lunch. We went to breakfast at Plnthouse at the One Hotel for some delicious Acai bowls. The one hotel south beach is probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever seen. I will definitely be looking into staying there next time!

One Hotel South Beach

Overall, I highly recommend Eden Roc. They are always accommodating, always give upgrades and it really is a gorgeous classy hotel. They just opened Malibu Farm in the hotel which is a bonus. Read below for my other trips to Miami at Eden Roc, Loews, and Fontainebleau.

December and March Miami Trips:

Ive previously stayed at Eden Roc, Loews and Fontainebleau :

EDEN ROC:

I had a blast at Eden Roc. Basically the entire hotel thought  it was my birthday all weekend and let’s just say I’ve never held so many sparklers in my life! We got a free upgrade to Ocean view room, $150 credit, and the waiter on the beach gave us the hook up! The hotel is really nice but there is no sun past 11 am at the pool so make sure you are aware before booking!!

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FONTAINEBLEAU:

I more recently stayed at Fontainebleau which was a much younger cooler vibe than Loewes and Eden Roc. The hotel is stunning and had a bunch of pools. If you’re looking for a younger crowd (20-30s) this is the place for you. The service at the beach isn’t the greatest but I think its because its a huge and popular hotel. It does have advantages because if you like to have a good time during the day there is an adult only pool that basically is a giant pool party over the weekend. It also doesn’t hurt that LIV nightclub is at this hotel which saves you a cab ride if you’re into nightlife!

Here are some places I recommend in Miami and the list will soon be growing so stay tuned 😉

1. Baoli Miami- we had a blast, waiters were friendly, gave us a ton of free shots and after 11 the restaurant basically turns into a club where the waiters are dancing on the bar filled with fire and the rest of us dancing on the couches
2.Sea Spice- Food at the restaurant was really good and then when you’re finished you can go party with the DJ for some fun vibes
3. Kiki on the river
4. Prime One Twelve
5. Jaya at the Setai
6. Zuma Miami
7. Nobu Miami
8. Miami Juice
9. Hakkasan
10. Matador Room at Miami Beach Edition
11. Malibu Farm Miami Beach
12. Stubborn Seed

Tips for Miami:

1. Take Ubers/lyft around
2. Find a promotor to get you into the clubs
3. Make reservations to restaurants before hand!

I decided this year it was finally time to see what the hype of Coachella was all about. The hype was real but I definitely learned through experience some tricks and tips for the future!

My friend Stephanie and I patiently waited for tickets to go on sale via the Coachella website. It made it easier to pre register separately and both of us to be on different computers and attempt to get tickets. Since I was away in Grenada weekend 1 we decided to go weekend 2 which does have its differences. The only tickets left were the 3 day pass (which you must get) with a shuttle pass included which was about $504. In the end it was extremely helpful to have a shuttle pass that picks you up from a list of hotels and takes you to and from Coachella each day. If you want to buy it later/day of like my other friend did it’s $75 for all 3 days.

We flew from JFK to LAX and rented a car and robe to Palm Desert. I highly recommended renting a car but the Coachella website does have an LAX pickup pass if you did not want to rent anything. The drive without traffic is about 2 hours aka it took us about 3 hours. I refuse to go to the west coast and not stop at In N out so that was exactly the first thing we did.

We stayed at Marriot Shadow Ridge Villas which highly exceeded my expectations. The resort was beautiful but ginormous. There were shuttles that constantly run and bring you to your rooms but if you had a car like we did you can just drive yourself. The views at this hotel were surreal; all you saw was mountains and palm trees which is absolutely not the type of views New York has.

During the day we hung out at the hotel pool since it was about 100 degrees each day and made our way to Coachella in the late afternoon. I highly recommend leaving your hotel/air bnb early so you can enjoy the festival and walk around to check out the cool things they have to offer.

I thought the lineup this year was pretty sick and I hands down day 3 was amazing. Cardi B, French Montana and Eminem killed it. I’ve always been obsessed with Eminem so it was nice to see he’s still got it. He brought out 50 cent and Dr. Dre which was a nice surprise he performed for almost 2 hours and I could have listened to him all night.

Weekend 1 vs weekend 2

While I’ve never been to weekend 1 I did some research on some differences and I’ll give you some insight Incase it’s on your mind also. Weekend 1 is definitely the more popular weekend when all the celebs go. While I did spot some people in the crowd and or saw on social media that some celebs were there weekend 2, majority go weekend 1. Sets can be slightly different— they may not bring out the same special guests. Overall you’ll have a fun time regardless of the weekend but if I were to go back I would try to go weekend 1 next time for a new experience.

Tips/Recommendations:
1. Get tickets when they go on sale or you will over pay on websites like stub hub
2. Book flights ASAP to either LAX or Palm Springs
3. If you’re a big group you may want to look into air bnb because hotels are not the cheapest in Palm Springs/ palm desert
4. Choose a hotel that’s on the shuttle list (or one that’s walking distance to a hotel on the list)— I think it made life easier
5. I would book a place with a pool because if you don’t want to go to the festival ALL day you can at least relax while it’s 100 degrees out
6. You are allowed to bring empty plastic water bottles to the festival to fill up
7. Download the app and favorite the performers you wanna see
8. Bring a Bandana to wear around your face because you will get sand in your face
9. Be mindful the weather during the day was about 100 degrees and then goes down to 60 at night
10. If you don’t mind carrying a bag I would bring a blanket or towel to sit on in between performances
11. All the vendors are credit card friendly
12. Wear comfortable shoes because you will do ALOT of walking from the shuttle drop off and at the festival itself from stage to stage
13. Mentally prepare yourself for long lines to food vendors and beer gardens for alcohol
14. Go early if you want to be close to the stage, but I will say towards the back the vibes are so fun— you won’t be squished and you can jam out with your friends
15. Have fun 😛

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London is like a cooler version of New York literally and metaphorically. We went for the weekend in June and luckily it was the warmest its been in a while (high 70’s and plenty of sun).

I found London to be pretty pricey especially if you want to stay in a good hotel in a prime location. We stayed in Park Plaza County Hall. This is a really good chain of hotels all around London and I highly recommend them.

There are a lot of things to do in London, so if youre thinking of doing a lot of tourist attractions I recommend buying the London Pass. You can choose how many days you want it for and you basically pay a one time amount and it gives you access to majority of the most popular attractions.

Some places I recommend visiting are:

1. The British Museum
2. Tower Bridge
3. House of Parliament
4. Westminster Abby
5. Churchill War Rooms
6. Big Ben
7. London Eye
9. Victoria & Albert Museum
10. Platform 9 3/4 for any Harry Potter Fans
11. London Zoo
12. Regents Park
13. Buckingham Palace (look at the schedule prior to see when there is the changing of the guards)
14. Kensington Palace (after the palace make sure to walk through the stunning garden)
15. St. Pauls Cathedral
16. Hyde Park (reminded me of Central Park)
17. Harrods of course if you’re into shopping like I am

Although I had all of those things on my list I didn’t get to do some of those things because it was the Royal Ascot that weekend and we spontaneously got tickets through family who live there and had a blast!! It was an all day thing of basically having a giant picnic with food and drinks and betting all your money on horses.

Going out recommendations:
1. Radio Rooftop Bar at the Strand
2. Project Club London

Food Recommendations (I would reserve ahead of time whenever possible)
1. Sketch – for lunch
2. Hutong at the shard (gorgeous views perfect during sunset)
3. Duck and Waffles
4. La petit Maison
5. Hakkasan
6. Novikov- highly recommend was delicious
7. Wagamama
8. Mad Hatter tea at the Sanderson
9. Choccywoccydoodah
10. Bob Bob ricard- you can press a button for more champagne!
11. Sushisamba London
12. Madison Restaurant