TRAVEL | Part II | Lithuania x Latvia x Estonia

The long-awaited second part of my Eurotrip adventure is finally here!

In part one, I shared all the amazing scenery, sights and food from my visit in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. In addition to sailing from Helsinki to Stockholm, we took another overnight cruise sailing to Lithuania, and began our adventures in the Baltic region. Check out the most memorable, bucket-list moments from my time road tripping around Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia!

LITHUANIA |

All aboard! Sailing to Lithuania

Driving down the Curonian Spit, a 98km long, 4km wide UNESCO sand dune peninsula

Blurry but a goodie - my dad posing at the Lithuania-Russia border

Did a U-turn at the border and stopped by the quaint town of Nida

14th century Kaunas Castle, the oldest stone castle in the country

Sunset arrival in the beautiful capital city, Vilnius

Akropolis - a massive shopping center with ice skating, casino and cinema

Tranquil stroll through Bernardinai Garden

In the heart of Old Town

Art display

Traditional Lithuanian lunch in a cave at Forto Dvaras

Feast fit for a king

Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul in Šiauliai

Beautiful interior of the cathedral

The legendary Hill of Crosses - a pilgrimage site symbolising faith, healing and devotion

Hundreds of thousands of crucifixes and crosses

Quick lunch stop in the city of Joniškis before crossing into Latvia

Lithuanian Cepelinai - tasty stuffed potato dumplings

Just frolicking in a Lithuanian field

LATVIA |

8:05pm dinner in the capital city, Riga

Pleasing to the eye and stomach 

Strolling through Old Town

Inside Riga Central Market, Europe's largest marketplace

Spices galore!

Flower market outside Central Market

Enjoying the beauty outside the Sigulda Medieval Castle ruins

Gutmanis Cave - the highest, widest cave in the Baltics with 17th century wall inscriptions and spring water said to have healing powers 

Another blurry but a goodie - Latvian sunset from the Vanšu Bridge

ESTONIA |

Old Town in the capital city, Tallinn

Town Hall Square

Master's Courtyard - home to local master craftsmen and the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted from Pierre Chocolaterie

A local painter in action along Pikk Jalg Street, the oldest street in Tallinn

Art displayed on the Walls of Tallinn

Medieval tombstones in St. Catherine's Passage

Dinner at Rataskaevu 16, #1 ranked restaurant in Tallinn (and rightfully so!)

A beautiful sunset to cap off our last night

And that's a wrap for my two week trip to Northern Europe! It was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience and I will treasure the memories forever. Can't wait for my next adventure..

HAUL | & Other Stories

I was pretty excited to say the least when I found out that there was an & Other Stories store conveniently located just down the street from my hotel in Stockholm. So on the day of the Stockholm Marathon, I snuck away from cheering on the sidelines for a bit to see what goodies I could bring home with me.

I've seen countless clothing and beauty hauls online from this brand, but never had the chance to visit a store in person. Since our hotel was located right by the running route of the marathon, and the course involved lapping the hotel twice, I timed my shopping trip perfectly - I waited for my dad to run past the hotel the first time (and took awesome pictures of him in action), then made my way down to the shop and gave myself a good two hours to browse and look around before heading back for his second lap. Right when I walked in, I zoomed straight past the clothing racks and made a beeline for the beauty section.

Since I am not the most patient person when it comes to trying out new products I've just hauled, I took these pictures in our apartment in Copenhagen just the day after so that I open these bad boys up and use and wear them for the rest of my trip. I didn't do too much damage in the store, as I kept reminding myself of my very limited luggage space.

I couldn't resist picking up two silver jewellery pieces to add to my collection - a pair of thin bar stud earrings and an dainty open ring. Delicate, minimalistic jewellery is my jam, and although the store had quite a large selection of both silver and gold jewellery, these two were an instant favourite as soon as we locked eyes. 

My go-to, holy grail nail polish for years has been the Revlon Nail Enamel in Vixen 570, a gorgeous deep wine red (that can be layered until it looks almost black), so naturally the Miniver Wine Nail Colour screamed out to me. It's a lighter burgundy shade with more red undertones, and would look pretty on the nails all year long. The most exciting part of this haul has to be the Sunray Pleat Pearl Crème Highlighter that is just one of the most stunning highlighters I've ever seen! Mind you, the packaging is pretty lackluster, however the product inside is truly mesmerising - it gives off an iridescent, silver-pink-lavender pearlescent sheen that looks almost holographic. I don't have anything like it in my makeup collection! There was only one left on the shelves, so I snatched it up in a second.

& Other Stories Sunray Pleat Pearl Crème Highlighter

Pictures don't do this highlighter justice but I shall try - just look at that holographic sheen! Absolute magic. I will say that this isn't your typical, natural, glowy highlighter, but if you want to up your highlighting game and make a statement, you have to give this a try.

My first haul from & Other Stories was a definite success! And might I mention that the prices are also quite reasonable - this haul came out to be a total of 370Kr, which is around 43USD. For two beauty products and two jewellery pieces, that's a pretty good deal in my books.

TRAVEL | Part I | Helsinki x Stockholm x Copenhagen

Another year, another adventure in Europe!

At the start of June, I took two weeks off of work to accompany my dad on yet another one of his marathon expeditions - last year, it was to the Netherlands for the Rotterdam Marathon and the states for the Boston Marathon, and this time around we were flying to Sweden for the Stockholm Marathon, and decided to use this opportunity to embark on an epic road trip across northern Europe and the Baltic sea.

We flew on Finnair from Hong Kong to Helsinki, and boarded the Viking Line cruise that same afternoon that took us straight to Stockholm. All in all, it was two weeks of jam-packed adventure exploring Finland, Sweden, Denmark, as well as the Baltic countries of Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania. In this first part, I'll be sharing the highlights from my time in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen!

H E L S I N K I |

Market Square

Old Market Hall

Tasty seafood and beef soup from Soppakeittio inside Old Market Hall

Our accommodations on board the overnight Viking Line cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm

View of Helsinki from the cruise

Bundled up with my Manu Atelier Mini Pristine

Buffet and a sunset

S T O C K H O L M |

Heading to the Stockholm Marathon Expo

Checking out the finish line before the race

My dad and his friends having fun inside the Expo

Inside Östermalm Food Hall

Stockholm Cathedral

My first visit and haul at & Other Stories (stay tuned!)

At the 40km marathon checkpoint

Pops in action! I'm obviously taking my role as official photographer very seriously

The 39th ASICS Stockholm Marathon finisher medal

Celebratory seafood dinner at Sturehof

Fresh seafood and oysters

Driving down the 16km long Øresund bridge connecting Sweden to Denmark

C O P E N H A G E N |

Apartment views in Copenhagen

Cozy balcony

The famous Little Mermaid statue

Me and pops

Walking down Stroget, one of Europe's longest pedestrian streets

Did some damage at Céline (also stay tuned!)

Visited the amazing Tortus ceramics studio

Checking out the workshop upstairs

Breathtaking aesthetics inside the Tortus boutique

Stay tuned for my hauls from & Other Stories and Céline, as well as part two of my adventures in the Baltic sea!