We stayed at St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord, which is just a short 3-minute walk away from Paris’ Gare du Nord international station (where you alight if you come to Paris by train from London).

Room

As you can see from the picture, our 10 Bed Mixed Dorm was pretty clean and also had a personal cage for you to put your belongings. I liked that there was a curtain to every bed for some privacy.


There was also a sink in the room for easy washups.


St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord also provided a reading light, two plugs and two USB ports for charging. Super useful for those travelling with phone, portable charger, camera etc which are required to charge daily.

Toilet

I don't have photos of the toilet but it was a shared toilet located outside of our room. Each floor has its own toilet of 4-5 cubicles. I didn't have to queue to use the shower cubicles when I was there but if it's peak season, I guess you can always try going to the toilets on the other floors.

Common Area

St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord has ample lockers in varying sizes for all their guests. You'll have to bring all your luggages two storeys down to a basement where the lockers are located so remember to pack light!



St Christopher's Inn is a chain hostel across Europe so their common area was very well furbished. They also have a myraid of activities planned so if you're looking for a hostel to build your social life, St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord is perfect for you.

If you're a lightsleeper, take note that St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord is located beside a club so it gets a little noisy at night although it shouldn't pose much of a problem. I'm a lightsleeper myself but I found it managable.




St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord's breakfast spread (not free-of-charge). The breakfast spot is located in the nightclub so it evitably smells a little like stale alcohol. You can grab the food and sit on the outside section, which is a bar slash burger joint at night, so it's not a problem.

Service

I have to admit I was blown away by St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord's service. Their staff always had a smile on their face, no matter how busy the hostel was. Tarek chatted with us a little and asked how long had Cheryl and I been friends (almost a year at that point). He then told us he'd present us a little surprise if we could prove that we've been friends since 2017 (not too difficult considering I had more than 20k photos in my phone wtf).


We got two free breakfast vouchers! That's the story of how two budget travellers got to enjoy free breakfast in Paris.

Safety

Google autocompletes 'Gare du Nord' with 'safety' and 'safe at night' so that's obviously a huge concern. I found it managable in the day — a few scammers loitering around the station but that's how Paris unfortunately is and since St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord is located within the proximity of a major train station, that's unavoidable. Just ignore anyone who approaches you and you'll be fine.

I have to admit it's a whole new different ball game at night. Pardon me, maybe I'm speaking from an ignorant perspective since the streets of Singapore are safe to roam at 4am, even as a girl. I found Gare du Nord station intimidating at night. I spotted someone wearing knuckle dusters when we were exiting the station at around 11pm. Whether it was an fashion accessory or worn for other purposes, I'm unsure but the fact remains that big groups of people hang out outside the train station at night.

Just be smart and vigilant when walking around the area (and throughout Paris) and I think you'll do fine. Cheryl and I are both petite Asian girls and we survived so safety shouldn't be a big issue.

Will I return to St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord?

Yes, definitely!

St Christopher's Inn Gare du Nord

Address
5 Rue de Dunkerque, 75010 Paris, France

Contact
gdnreception@bedsandbars.com  |  0044 2086007505

Price
€26.90 (S$43) on Thursday, €32.90 (S$52.60) on Friday

Booking
I made my hostel booking on Hostelworld, where they have a free cancellation policy so you can change your mind anytime.

I stayed at Destinations at The Rose & Crown, a short 5-miute walk away from London Bridge station for three nights in April 2018. Roads leading to the hostel are a little quiet but the hostel located above a pub, also named The Rose & Crown, so there would always be people around even if you're returning to the hostel late at night.

Room

We stayed in the 6 Bed Mixed Dorm. The room was clean throughout our stay there. Each bed came with a plug and there was a cage below our beds for our luggages or personal belongings. Padlocks aren't provided (and usually isn't throughout Europe) so remember to bring your own if you wish to utlise them.


Every room in Destinations at The Rose & Crown was named after London's tourist attractions, how cute!

Toilet

Destinations at The Rose & Crown has a shared toilet with two showers which, admittedly, isn't enough during peak season but we worked our way around it by waking up earlier and showering later so it didn't pose too much of a problem. The toilet was clean throughout our stay as well.

Common Area

Destinations at The Rose & Crown is situated atop a bar so it's pretty happening at night but in the morning, the space is converted into a common area with a wide array of breakfast items. Destinations at The Rose & Crown is one of the few hostels that provide free breakfast!




We made full use of the free breakfast everyday LOL.

Service

The owner attended to our worries and made small talk with us. I don't have anything to complain about.

Safety

I felt that Destinations at The Rose & Crown was located in a safe estate. Although it doubles up as a bar at night, we did not witness any uncontrollable drunkard or drunk fights.

Will I return to Destinations at The Rose & Crown?

Yes!

Destinations at The Rose & Crown

Address
65 Union Street, Borough, London, England

Contact
destinationshostels@hotmail.com  |  (44) 02074079717

Price
£22.40 (S$40.30) a night

Booking



I found and booked a room with Destinations at The Rose & Crown on Hostelworld. (Not a sponsored stay, in case you were wondering.)

We grabbed a quick dinner at Pret A Manger (and also leeched onto their free wifi) while waiting for our Jack the Ripper tour to start. I got a chocolate hazelnut croissant and Scottish smoked salmon sandwich.



There are LOADS of Jack the Ripper tours in London, ranging from VIP tours to free walking tours. As Cheryl and I are into dark tourism, we decided on splurging a bit and booked a £10 (S$17) per person tour on Discovery Tours Original Jack the Ripper Tour.


Our Jack the Ripper tour guide, Angie Norman, had wicked hair and her passion for the topic of Jack the Ripper was palpable. Her words were filled with emotions, and were even dripping with anger at some points when she wondered why were the cases dismissed by officials initially and pondered if it was because Jack the Ripper's victims were mainly prostitutes.

At one point, when Angie was telling us the significance of a place, she slammed her hand against a steel door, scaring all of us. She then laughed and mentioned that was her favourite part of the tour LOL f our lives.


Ye Frying Pan was a pub in the 19th century that was popular with prostitutes, and it was also the place Mary Ann Nichols was last seen alive, having a few drinks, before she was brutally murdered and her body was discovered mutilated in Bucks Row. Several of her teeth were missing, her throat has been slit brutally so many times that the vessels on both sides of her neck were severed, and more.

Although it is entirely impossible to pinpoint Jack the Ripper's first victim, Mary Ann Nichols was widely believed to be his first murder. She was roaming the streets at night because she had been evicted from her lodging for not having enough money to pay for her bed.

While Ye Frying Pan closed down in 1991, you'd still be able to catch a remininent of it if you look up. The brick sign reads 'Ye Frying Pan' with a craving of two frying pans. This is probably what I love most about London — that every corner is filled with rich history and culture for us to explore.


Ye Frying Pan has since been converted into a grill and Bangladeshi restaurant. If you're interested in visiting on your own, you can google "Shaad Grill & Bangladeshi Restaurant". The whole stretch of Brick Lane houses many Bangladeshi restaurants, many of which belong to immigrants so I supposed their food would be pretty authentic.

Shaad

Address: 13 Brick Ln, Spitalfields, London E1 6PU, UK


Hanbury Street, where Annie Chapman was found mutilated and murdered by Jack the Ripper. Annie Chapman was thrown out of her lodging house, where prostitutes stayed, because she couldn't afford to pay rent for her bed. Some reports claimed that she has a few drinks at The Ten Bells pub until 5am.

The only confirmed sighting of Annie Chapman was her talking to a man at 29 Hanbury Street at 5:30am. Later, at 6am, John Davis, a resident of the 29 Hanbury Street estate, found her horrendously mutilated body. Annie Chapman's body was ripped open and her instestines were allegedly scattered across her face and shoulders. Her throat was slit to her spine, and her womb was missing.

Christ Church Spitalfields, a church located opposite The Ten Bells, where Annie Chapman was allegedly drinking. The church might have well been one of the last things she saw before her gruesome death.

The Ten Bells, where Jack the Ripper was believed to have stalked his victims, is still operating to this date so you can still grab a drink at the iconic spot.

The Ten Bells

Address: 84 Commercial St, Spitalfields, London E1 6LY, UK
Opening Hours: 12pm to 12am from Mondays to Thursdays | 12pm to 1am on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays




Providence Row Night Refuge was used as a night refuge mainly or homeless women and children from 1860 to 1999. It was believed that some of Jack the Ripper's victims stayed here. The refuge has since been converted to lodging for students of London School of Economics (LSE) and is known as Lilian Knowles House today. Pictured here is what used to be the door for the women's entrance.

Lilian Knowles House

Address: 50 Crispin St, Spitalfields, London E1 6HQ, UK


Opposite Providence Row Night Refuge on Crispin Street is Millers Court, where the last, and perhaps most brutally murdered, canonical victim of Jack the Ripper was found. Mary Jane Kelly's clothes were found folded neatly on a chair in the room while she laid naked on a mattress. I don't think words can ever adequately put across the horrors of Mary Jane Kelly's body when it was found. If you're curious, you can do a Google search for the image of her body.


Jack the Ripper left a clue in the form of a blood-stained apron and a chalk graffiti on Goulston Street, where Happy Days Fish and Chip now stands. Our tour guide also showed us copies of Jack the Ripper's allaged letters to taunt the police. As his spelling and grammar were terrible, it was suspected that Jack the Ripper received little to no education (but I can attest to the fact that education ≠ good English).

I'm missing out a lot of details; if you're interested in dark tourism, I suggest joining a tour since the tour guide would naturally be more knowledgable. I can't speak for other tours, but the tour I joined showed us exclusive photos of the crime scene and photos of East London in the past — both of which are extremely important if you want to picture the true horrors of it. Even though we visit the areas of the crime scene, it's essential to note that a lot of changed since then. East London itself flourished and is no longer known for its prostitutes, bar fights and constant murders.

The tour guide also showed us a photo of one of Jack the Ripper's victim during post-mortem which showed the doctors piecing her body together and hanging her against the wall so her body stood up. It broke my heart when our tour guide asked, "Why was her body hung like a piece of meat? Why was she made to suffer humiliation even in her death? Was it because she was a prostitute that she did not deserve the respect?" Her words would haunt me for months to come. Admittedly, to this date, we treat people differently due to their occupation.

Tip: to fully immerse in the experience, I recommend joining the tour after dark. My tour started at 7pm but because I was in London in late April, the sun only set around 8pm to 9pm.

I wished we visited the Jack the Ripper Museum, although I could see why was it controversial considering we are essentially commemorating a murderer, a misogynic one at that too. In case you're interested in Jack the Ripper Museum, here are the details.

Jack the Ripper Museum

Entrance fee: £10 (S$17) for adults, £8 (S$14) for children
Address: 12 Cable St, Whitechapel, London E1 8JG, UK
Opening Hours: 9:30am to 6:30pm daily


Walked past The Shard, the tallest structure in London, on our way back to the hostel and it was a pretty grand reminder of how far London has come.


Hastily took this photo as we were hurrying back to the hostel because it started raining. London's beautiful city skyline is even more remarkable at night :') In hindsight, I supposed that's what tourists might think of Singapore too. You develop a blind spot to the beauty of a place when you're living there.

This scaffold site, unveiled in only September 2006, is a memorial that commemorates several famous historical figures executed in that very spot in the Tower of London, although some critics believed the execution happened nearer to the Waterloo Barracks. Some of those executed include Lady Jane Grey and King Henry VIII's two wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

I was strangely obsessed with Henry VIII as a kid, and still am today. I went to the school library and national library religiously every week to dig out whatever nuggets of information there was on him (pre-internet age sucks) because I was confounded by his numerous marriages. Looking at his marriages from an adult's perspective, I am especially enthralled by his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII was most definitely one of the most prominent figures of Tudor history, and his love story with Anne Boleyn was arguably the most famous in history — one that caused numerous deaths too.

In an attempt to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, he declared his independence from Rome — risking political instability — renounced the pope's power above him and declared himself supreme head of the Church in England (I'm sure his ego played a part as well, but that's another story), resulting in a schism between the Catholic and Protestant faith.

Despite tearing the country's faith apart for Anne Boleyn, she couldn't bear him a male heir that could succeed Henry VIII's throne. She was later executed on grounds of treason.



Behind the memorial was Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, where Anne Boleyn's head and body was brought to after the execution.

I gingerly stepped down the stairs that led to the entrance Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula. Its heavy wooden doors were wide opened, beckoning me in. No photos were allowed but I'll try to describe the place as well as I can.

The chapel was a lot less grand than any English — or European, in fact — church I've been to, fitting only an estimated congregation size of 150. Chandeliers hung precariously from its wooden ceiling, lighting up the place. Wooden chairs were arranged in an orderly manner of 4 x 10.

Looking straight in, six individual golden candelabra with unlit votive candles stood atop a table covered by a gold table cloth. Fresh flowers adorned the altar, which was. Above them, diamond-grilled windows prevalent in the Renaissance period allowed the rare London sunlight in. Equally enormous windows lined the walls of Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula.

Most of all, beneath the unsuspecting, modern beige and grey tiles of Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, is where Anne Boleyn was allegedly buried. Her final resting place after her execution in 1536.

The eerie silence in the chapel was only broken by hushed whispers — a stark contrast to the animated visitors I bumped into before, or the bubbly kids running around the open area just outside of the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula. Only once did the security found the need to inform a man that he shouldn't be taking any photographs in the chapel, and he put his camera down immediately with an embarrassed smile. The visitors in the chapel were solemn, if not respectful.

Without the distraction of getting a quality photo, I found myself being truly immersed in the moment. While tourists like me were awed by the chapel, the staff patrolling the area was less than amused, having grown accustomed to it. That's probably the beauty of travelling though — you get to see places you only ever read and dreamt about.

Before I left, I muttered a short prayer. May Anne Boleyn, and all who were executed in the Tower of London, find eternal peace. I don't believe in God, but the prayer only felt right at that moment.

After Cheryl and I successfully hauled our dumbasses back to our hostel to get our printed tickets (why is it that such a progressive city like London insists on a physical ticket when we can easily show the QR code is beyond my understanding), we headed towards the Tower of London, which was about a 30-minute walk away.



Europe's extensive history never fails to amaze me, keeping in mind that I'm looking at this as a Singaporean whose country only has a century or two of history (and that's stretching it — we were taught predominantly only about the events leading to our independence and the policies implemented after). It blows my mind that European history traces back to millenniums back.



We regrettably, but unsurprisingly, didn't have enough time in Tower of London because we seriously underestimated the tremendous area Tower of London conquered so we had to skip some structures and towers since we were running out of time.

If I were to travel to London again, I'd definitely go back and allocated three hours (or even more) for it. I would also recommend getting the guidebook if you want to truly understand the importance of Tower of London to English history.

I was blown away by the Korean lash lift at BrowMeister recently. A lot of my friends have done eyelash extensions or eyelash perms but I was never tempted to until I had to attend an event recently. I never knew how a simple lash lift could make me look so much more awake but now I'm sold!

My lashes before the lash lift

I personally have pretty short and sparse lashes so I was honestly a bit apprehensive that the lash lift can show a difference.

Another photo of my lashes before lash lifting

The whole proceedure at BrowMeister was painless — and this is coming from someone with extreme low pain tolerance. My eyes are hyper-sensitive after LASIK but even so, the entire lash lifting felt only intrusive. It also helped that Kim Min, the beautician, was very gentle. She checked with me from time to time and kept reminding me to let her know if I felt uncomfortable.

I later checked with my friends who also did lash lifting before and they told me some horror stories about their eyelids being inflamed at some of the salons they went to, and theirs even more expensive than the price BrowMeister is offering)! I'm glad mine was just slightly uncomfortable and I even almost fell asleep.


Placing the before and after side by side really amazes me because I never expected such a huge difference.


BrowMeister is a home salon opened just this year by Kim Min, a Korean who  relocated to Singapore more than a decade ago. Not only is her English fluent, she even speaks fluent Singlish(!!!), so you don't have to worry about communication issues.

I love that Kim Min found the perfect balance between chatting with me and giving me some time to rest. Some of the beauty salons I've been to have chatty beauticians who never stopped complaining or hard-selling. On the other hand, I had a nice chat with Kim Min regarding relationships, the relations between the two Koreas etc.

She also shared that recently left her high-paying job to pursue her passion in beauty and got her certification in Gangnam, Korea so y'all can be sure that you're getting the full Korean experience with a certified Korean therapist who uses professional products and equipments strictly from Korea.


I still can't believe that these are my natural lashes! I don't even have to put mascara on a daily basis anymore.


I was extra vain the whole week and whipped out my blue mascara, which has been tucked away for quite some time. It's difficult to capture the colours with my phone's front camera but you can definitely see a difference.


I didn't even have to apply eyeliner anymore since my eyelashes create an eyeliner effect, especially if I use black mascara. I'll super recommend trying lash lift in Singapore at least once if you're still toying with the idea because you can really see the difference.

BrowMeister (Instagram)

Address: 562 Upper East Coast Road
Contact: 90212357 or minimin82 on KakaoTalk

Promo for first time customer

• Barbie doll lash lift (the one I did)
$68 → $60

• Barbie doll lash lift with tint
$78 → $70

• Barbie doll lash lift package
5 times → $290
5 times with tint → $330

• 6D eye brows embroidery
$488 → $388

• Touch Up (valid for 3 month)
$200

• 6D eyebrows embroidery + 1 time touch up (valid for 3 month)
$688 → $550

• Natural Eyeliners
$488 → $388

Follow @brow_meister on Instagram to enjoy additional 10% discount from the listed rates (*Lash lift is not included*)
Note: Although this post was sponsored, I was under no obligations to say it's good if it's not so everything written here is based on my personal experience.

It was 2015 — the age of photographs; before the rise of Snapchat and Instagram Stories, before short videos were popularised. Like how I never thought I'd ever lose you, the thought of recording my life down in videos never crossed my mind. When you left, so did the traces of you.

Now I'm left with photographs and impersonations of you made from our memories. I've already forgotten how smelly your farts were, how frustrated I was with your long showers, your gentle and comforting touch as I sobbed my heart out. Soon, I will forget your quivering voice thick with Malaysian accent. Then your quiet love. Eventually, maybe, even you.

I miss you grandpa. Guess I always will.