O the Places I'll Go

My feet literally hate me right now.  I did so much walking today it's not even funny.  Don't get me wrong walking around was really fun but after like 5 hours of it, my feet no longer want to function haha.  The reason that I walked around all day was because I was trying to find stores and boutiques to sell my boss's inventory in.  Thankfully the weather was really nice today so I didn't end up drenched in rain or sweat either. 

I got up around the same time and headed out around 10 with my instant coffee in hand.  I feel like such a Londoner now that I can make it and I bought a really cute coffee tumbler from Starbucks so now I can take coffee to work.  Anyway I made my way down to Oxford Street because that was one of the areas that she had given me to research.  Quick tip, if you ever want to go shopping on Oxford Street, go as early in the morning as possible because it actually wasn't super crowded.  That was not the case when I left but I'll get to that later.  As I walked down Oxford Street, I started to realize that this street only really has chain and department stores.  She doesn't want to sell to chain stores so it was kind of frustrating walking around and finding only chain stores.  I was really opptimistic about today when I started, but as the morning went on I just got really kinda frustrated.  I really wanted to come back with a lot of stores and contacts because I want to help her sell her stuff as much as I can.  I wandered down Regents Street after Oxford and found the same thing.  Regents is also full of designer stores and chain stores.  It was really cool getting to see a lot of this area though because I haven't ventured down there yet.  I walked all the way down to Piccadilly Circus and saw the mini New York that we had seen on the bus tour a couple weeks ago.  Here's a little glimpse...

I also stumbled upon a Starbucks sign that I had never seen before.  It was on a little side street off of Regents but I don't know why it's different.  It may be the first Starbucks location in the UK but I guess I'll never know.  Here's what it looks like...

I turned back around after I hit Piccadilly Circus and then asked for advice on where to find boutiques.  I wandered on a couple side streets behind Regents and finally found some success on Carnaby Street.  I had no idea that this area was there and it was full of little boutiques.  I found a couple but it was really hard to find a store that matched the style, price, and target consumer of her clothing.  Hopefuly some will work out but we'll see.  My time was not wasted though because now I know that selling her clothing on these streets will not be practical.  I walked all the way back to my flat to drop off some stuff after I finished up on Oxford Street which was interesting because I literally think everyone and there mom was shopping this afternoon on this street and literally walking 2 miles and hour.   I was getting so frustrated because the sidewalks were really narrow because of all the dumb construction that they are doing in that area and everyone was walking so slow.  Slow walking is one of my biggest pet peeves so I probably looked really happy walking back haha.  O well everyone looks like that when they walk around here.  I tried to go to the bank again to get money but I got denied by 3 banks again so I finally just used an atm inside and it worked.

After all the money nonsense, I hoped on the Tube to Notting Hill because that was another area that I was given to do some research.  This was my 4th time to the market so needless to say, I will not be going back anytime soon because I don't want to see that street again ha.  I did find a couple possibilities so that was uplifting but overall the day was kind of a let down.  I guess you'll have days like that though so that's a good lesson to learn.  I finally got back around 5:30 after walking ALL day and never have I been so happy to sit down.  I've been doing stuff to prepare for Barcelona since then and writing journals.  I'm really excited for Spain but I don't think that I'll calm down until we are on the actual plane tomorrow because I'm scared to death we are going to miss it.  I think we're leaving early enough though so I'm sure we'll be fine.  Once we take the air, excitement will definitely set in.  I won't have my computer with me so this will be my last post for awhile...weird.  Hopefully I won't forget anything and don't worry I'll take plenty of pictures to add to the 500 that I've already taken haha.  Anyway, time for packing and preparing so until Sunday cheerio!