Over the past six years, I’ve been trotting around the world calling various cities home for a while. I’ve been in and out of hotel rooms, apartment rentals, friend’s spare bedrooms, friend’s couches, and the occasional overnight layover at the airport between destinations. While apartment rentals have become a great alternative to hotel stays, there’s a luxe version of apartments I didn’t yet know about. That was until I checked in to a luxury apartment in London with One Fine Stay.
Checking in: A Luxury Apartment in London
One Fine Stay is somewhere between a hotel room and an apartment rental thanks to the genius idea to combine a curated selection of luxurious apartment rentals with the benefits of a hotel (a concierge, dedicated check-in, driver on request and meal delivery). The site is full of luxurious apartment rentals and beach houses in major cities and popular holiday spots – from London to Paris to New York and villa rentals in the South of France. For my first time using the site, I was on the lookout for an apartment to make my visit to London that little bit more special. I had my heart set on staying in Soho – my favourite neighbourhood for eating out, a happening bar scene and endless boutiques and alleyways to explore in both Soho and neighbouring Covent Garden.
The apartment was just as I had imagined, complete with a full kitchen (which mostly served to house all the take out we ordered), a comfy king size bed and an enviable location a stones throw away from Soho House around the corner, which served as the perfect spot to wander along for breakfast each morning.
The apartment rentals also come with a dedicated concierge who can book an airport transfer to the apartment, organise a fully stocked fridge or a daily delivery of breakfast from nearby Gail’s bakery.
The Neighbourhood: Soho, London
As the neighbourhood of Soho is brimming with restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs, there aren’t a great number of hotels in the area so it was a big perk to be so centrally located and be able to walk out and enjoy all the West end of London has to offer. We were located a short walk to all the major theatres (we went to see a play one evening but alas, thanks to jet lag walked out at interval), as well as some of my favourite eateries – Dishoom, Honest Burgers, Soho House, Mildreds and a new favourite: Andrew Edmunds as the perfect date night spot. You can find this exact apartment on Meard Street via One Fine Stay.A very warm thank you to One Fine Stay for welcoming me to experience my first stay with them. All opinions and photos are my own!
PLANNING A TRIP TO LONDON? CHECK OUT OUR GUIDE:
Brooke Saward founded World of Wanderlust as a place to share inspiration from her travels and to inspire others to see our world. She now divides her time between adventures abroad and adventures in the kitchen, with a particular weakness for French pastries.
![[Part 29] Like any good story, we'll take it from the top. You see, I wasn't always as willing to walk away from a man I no longer loved. There was an earlier version of myself who would have stayed, dwelled a little longer, stunted the growth of my career in the pursuit of love (or something like it). Missed opportunities, there were many. And yet what would our twenties be without a little naiveté to cloud our judgement and lead us astray. And astray it did, all the way to South Africa.
But before I get ahead of myself, an interlude of context is well overdue. Many of you might be wondering where we are now in the timeline. And many more of you might be wondering what would prompt a young twenty-something year old who appeared to have it all going on, to turn around and give it all up. She who owned a house, a business, a career. Appearance, it should be noted, can be misleading. But isn’t that the greatest gift and equal downfall of the 21st Century?
I sold everything I owned, including a bakery, and packed what was left into three overweight suitcases. Okay fine - it was four. But one of those was filled with books, mostly poetry I was really into at the time. Cliché? Probably. But if I was going to sell all my things and move to a foreign country for a guy I barely knew, you’d better believe I was taking Rupi Kaur alongside me for the ride.
Before moving to South Africa, I had dabbled in Lalaland. I had traipsed across the country to Upstate New York with my best friend in tow and drowned my sorrows in numerous bottles of cheap red wine. I had rendezvoused with a documentary film director in not one but three countries, only to find out there is more to life than organic wine and air purifiers. And before this whirlwind of misadventures came the catalyst, the turning point, the defining moment that sent me into a spiral of "try everything once, twice to be sure".
It happened on the very continent I ran away to, but much sooner than you thought. It was 2018 when I outgrew innocence. [more to the story - coming soon] 🍷](https://worldofwanderlust.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)