We Flew to London With No Plans—and Less Than 24 Hours' Notice | Spin the Globe | Afar - video Dailymotion

AFAR

Would you take a trip with less than 24 hours’ notice—and no idea where you’re going? Afar’s Spin the Globe series gives travelers less than a day to pack for a surprise trip. In our debut episode, we sent interior designer Genevieve Gorder and her husband Christian Dunbar on a last-minute adventure across the pond with their Chase Aeroplan® Cards—and zero plans. Join them as they venture off the beaten path in London, visiting the city’s oldest umbrella shop; a Michelin-starred restaurant, where every dish is a work of art; and a legendary street with deep roots in music history.   Learn more about the Chase Aeroplan Card, which earns cardmembers 3X points at grocery stores and on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services: Chase.com/AeroplanCard/Afar  Locations visited: 1:23 - Treehouse Hotel 2:02 - Leadenhall Market 3:05 - Kew Gardens  4:52 - Kona Afternoon Tea 7:38 - Richmond Park 9:11 - Ikoyi 1:01 - James Smith & Sons 13:12 - Hanks Guitars 14:54 - The Design Museum 16:31 - The Cheese Barge  Get our full guide to London here: https://www.afar.com/travel-guides/united-kingdom/london/guide  ---- CONNECT WITH AFAR  Afar is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com   Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from Afar by signing up for the Afar newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters   Follow Afar on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfarMedia Follow Afar on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afarmedia Follow Afar on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@afarmedia  Follow Afar on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/afarmedia

Transcript

00:00Hello sir. How do you do? Is that normal? Oh my gosh. That's a grown man.

00:17I'm Genevieve Gorder, interior designer, TV host, traveler, professional full-time doer.

00:23I travel all the time for work, for design, for deadlines. This is Christian, my husband,

00:29my best friend, and also a designer. We've logged a lot of miles together and he's my favorite excuse

00:34to go off script. This challenge from afar is different. No itinerary, no to-do list, just 72

00:41hours to be spontaneous and rediscover a city I've been to more times than I can count. Christian.

00:47Yeah. Remember I told you about that potential project with afar? Yeah. It's happening in London

00:54and you're invited to come with me. Can you do it tomorrow? Yeah. Let's just make it happen. Let's

01:01just go. I haven't been to London in 25 years. And we've never done it together. Let's go.

01:09We packed our bags, ditched the schedule, and flew into London with nothing but curiosity

01:13and our Chase Aeroplan cards. We're following instinct instead of an agenda because sometimes

01:19the best design happens when you don't sketch it out first.

01:33First stop, finding a place that doesn't feel like anywhere else.

01:36Hi guys, good afternoon. Hey Claire. Welcome. We have a reservation for Gorder. Wonderful.

01:41We were a little jet-lagged, so naturally we went looking for coffee. And maybe a little magic.

01:58No schedule, just a loose plan to follow our instincts and see where London leads.

02:03This is how beautiful the markets were in 1881. Yeah. I feel like we had a cement strip or a brick strip.

02:23But just, you know, all they sold here was meat and fish and they built this temple. It's pretty

02:28spectacular. Like 150 years ago. Oh yeah, did you look at us? Very cool. I did a little research.

02:34Coffee? Yeah. Coffee. You've looked here before. I've been here a million times. But I haven't been here

02:41in a long time. I know it's been forever. I think we, I think we definitely forget to do new things

02:47without being super planned out. I think we do forget that. But travel forces you to do it. Yeah. We need

02:53to do it more at home too. But I think travel forces you out of your comfort zone. I completely agree.

02:58And out of like, this is what we do. Yeah. Let's see and do beautiful things.

03:05London's full of beautiful chaos. But sometimes you need to press pause. So we follow the plants.

03:13I mean, we've been to so many greenhouses, but this is spectacular. I mean, just like just the

03:18proportions for Victorian times. Like they didn't really have. How did they build all this? How did

03:23they do this? It's a church of plants.

03:36Oh, this is all cast iron. This is stunning, right? Yeah. This was them like kind of showing off their

03:42industrial flex. Yeah. They don't make glass houses like this anymore. If you walk around,

03:50just look at the exterior. You know, it's fantastic. Lots of art, lots of love put into this place.

03:55Trust your heart. Trust your eyes. Just, just wander around and see where you end up in this beautiful

04:00labyrinth. Oh, you're one of us. Yeah. Wander and lead with your heart. Have an adventure. Yes. Be

04:05spontaneous and have an adventure. This feels healing to me. It absolutely is. I think people

04:16come and they leave a bit of their energy here in a good way. And when you enter Kew Gardens,

04:19always say there's something in the air here. What do you think of this?

04:35Yeah. That's clean. Yeah. Okay. And with no foreign transaction fees,

04:41I just can't help but do a little shopping.

04:52From wild greenery to golden tea cups, I wanted to make a special surprise for Christian.

04:56Have you been to a formal tea service before? No. Never in your life? Never in my life. Growing

05:07up in the South. Never. Only at my grandmother's. This is your first time? Completely new to me.

05:11Aww. So cool. But this is even more interesting for me because this is an Indian tea service,

05:18which I haven't done before. So I'm expecting great food. What's unique about it? Do you know? I will find out.

05:24So as you know, the opportunity started in England and way back in London, in fact, in 1800s,

05:29late 1800s. So we being the Indian company and the Indian tradition, we've blended together and we

05:34presented the service in front of you. I think cheese, you've said many times,

05:37quite possibly the world's most perfect food. It's up there.

05:40It's good.

05:46Hello. I hope you enjoyed the first course. Here is the second course for you guys. So the first thing

05:56that you see on your lettuce is called Kima Pinwheel Sandwich. So it's a sandwich, but it has like

06:01mutton inside. The second thing that you see is called Tokla Sandwich. The next thing that you see to

06:04yourself is called Khandwi tart. It's a tart, basically an English thing, but we mix it with Khandwi.

06:09Then you moved on to paneer. It wrapped up in a fillet and then we have the Indian version of American

06:15cider. We call it Bhandas. It's compressed into two buns. That's great. That's great.

06:20Now for the grand finale, we have the Charlie. Who all is coming over? Jeez.

06:25So these, again, desserts mixed of Indian and European desserts fusion together. So the first

06:30dessert that you see is called Chum Chum Eclair. It's an eclair, but it's filled with an Indian

06:34sweets called Chum Chum. The second dessert that you see is called Carrot Halver Cotta Cake. It's

06:39Carrot Halver is an Indian pudding made up of carrots and we blended with the cake in England.

06:43Then the third dessert you see is called Gulab Jamun Malfoy. I think it's one of the desserts that

06:47have been very popular. One of your favorites.

06:48And then we have a raspberry cheesecake, so on Papri Floss. Everyone loves cheesecake. And then the last one

06:53that you see on this is called Shri Khandan Mothichur cup. So basically it's sweetened yogurt. On top

06:58of it it's Mothichur Rattu. After desserts we go for scones. Of course, England is very famous for scones. So

07:03these again, Indian flavor. These are flavored with saffron and cardamom with clotted cream and mixed

07:08berry and rose jam. And then it's served with rasmalai, which is an Indian dessert mixed in as a trifle.

07:13We did that. We did it.

07:17This one's on me. Oh. This was your first tea service. It was a pleasure to do with you. Well, thank you.

07:23Biggish, thank you so much. Well, it's been a pleasure to have with you.

07:28That was incredible. I'm officially a tea time guy.

07:39Woke up with a little jet lag and a lot of inspiration.

07:53It's always my favorite day when we have a bike day somewhere.

08:00Oh yeah. Bikes and boats. You know how we kept hearing about Hyde Park before we came?

08:05Hyde Park is beautiful. I mean, it's great. Don't get me wrong.

08:08It's their central park. But this is huge.

08:10No. It's just, it's a painting. Like you're biking for a painting.

08:15Yeah. You see the deer?

08:18No, do you?

08:24Look at him, look at him.

08:24I mean, we see deer not in the middle of the city.

08:31No, not just like right there.

08:33We're in the middle of London.

08:34Yeah, it's incredible.

08:35This is so incredible.

08:53Hello, sir. How do you do?

08:55Is that normal?

08:58Oh my God. That's a grown man.

09:11After a morning in the wild, weaving through trees and dodging deer,

09:15we were ready for something a little more refined and a lot more flavorful.

09:20I don't really want to touch it because it's so beautiful. But I'm so...

09:28I'm okay with touching it, even though it's so beautiful.

09:31Let's do it.

09:32Hello, how are you?

09:32Hello, how are you, sir?

09:33How are you?

09:34Good, thank you.

09:35Oh, I smell the salt.

09:35Oh.

09:36We have some rice. It's a smoked rice with lobster custard.

09:41Some fermented pickled carrots and some seasonal bread frilled mustard.

09:46Yes.

09:46Hope you enjoy it.

09:48Thank you so much.

09:49Thank you so much, stunning.

09:49Beautiful.

09:50What an experience.

10:03Did you have a hand in the design?

10:05100%, yeah.

10:06Well, the cuisine is meant to be timeless, almost cultureless.

10:11Something simple, but with many memories and ideas and theories and concepts

10:16like compressed into a dish.

10:18Right.

10:19And so the space follows the same ethos as the cooking.

10:23So there's no artwork, there's no...

10:26It's pure.

10:26It's decoration.

10:27Very pure, very minimal.

10:28It's all about materials.

10:29So the food is the art.

10:31The food is the art.

10:32It's the framework.

10:32But also like the space is meant to be like a sculpture.

10:36We appreciate the details very much.

10:38And when food becomes this theater of sorts with our world, we get really excited.

10:46What I really love though is that with our Chase Aeroplan card, we get three times the points for every

10:52dollar spent on restaurants like this.

11:01It was one of those rare sun-soaked London afternoons.

11:04So naturally, we went umbrella shopping.

11:11So you're taking me to look at umbrellas?

11:13Yeah.

11:14It's like we're in London.

11:15Why wouldn't we?

11:16This is like what they do best.

11:18I want a beautiful umbrella.

11:19Oh, this is special.

11:21Hello.

11:21Good morning.

11:22Look at all these beautiful walking sticks.

11:25Incredible.

11:26I think we're just more curious about umbrellas.

11:29I need something kind of magical.

11:31I do like this one, but I don't want to open it inside because I'm a little...

11:35I mean, is that a superstition?

11:36Well, we've got a lot of people who say about that.

11:38So we have horseshoe hanging from the ceiling.

11:41So it's just over the other side up there.

11:44Nice.

11:45May I?

11:45It's huge.

11:46Okay.

11:47I don't know what that superstition came from.

11:48I love all the details.

11:49Well, a lot of people say it.

11:51The salesmen used to say that.

11:53So when the canopies were made from silk, they say it was bad luck.

11:56Then you let it...

11:57They didn't want them to ruin the silk.

11:58You leave it rolled up, the silk would rot.

12:00This is beautiful.

12:01Then you come back and buy another one.

12:03It's a little, it's a little lady too.

12:04She's not a big...

12:05So traditional, the ladies would be for one person.

12:08Right.

12:09And the gents would be for two people.

12:10Oh.

12:11Oh, okay.

12:12But this one, I'm going to show you...

12:14I love that one.

12:15Yeah.

12:16Inside, we do it all the traditional way.

12:19So...

12:20And it's maple.

12:21So this is maple that's been stained.

12:22All the way up.

12:23So we've got the slotting done downstairs.

12:25The springs are made by hand.

12:27And the umbrella makers will know who made this because the springs are formed around their thumbs.

12:33So each one's made the traditional way.

12:35Incredible.

12:36I think this is the one, Phil.

12:39Beautiful.

12:39The tassel, and you had me.

12:41You had me at tassel.

12:42I think the colors really suit you.

12:44Thank you so much.

12:45This is going to be a good memory.

12:46Amazing.

12:50All right.

12:52Let's do it, Phil.

12:54And no foreign transaction fees.

12:57Really appreciate it.

12:58Have a wonderful day.

12:59Take care.

12:59Thanks, Phil.

13:00I don't know if it's stopping, but if it is, we should get on.

13:04I think we should take it.

13:04Of course.

13:06Oh, let's do it.

13:09All right.

13:28Turns out you don't need a time machine to hear echoes of the past.

13:31Sometimes you just need a good guitar shop.

13:34What did we just walk into?

13:44What is this?

13:45I mean, it's a guitar shop.

13:46It's guitar heaven, I think.

13:48Wow.

13:48I'm Genevieve.

13:49Nice to meet you.

13:50Nice to meet you.

13:50I'm Noah.

13:51You're just playing casually, like all day?

13:53This is the end of the day, so yeah, I'm playing a little bit now.

13:55It's been a guitar shop here for about 40 years.

13:57We've had it for about 15.

13:58But the street's been the music street since about the 19th century.

14:01Everyone you can think of at some point has probably been through the door, bought a guitar.

14:04This used to be all the record company offices in the 60s, so they probably signed record deals

14:08on the street or publishing deals.

14:10It's always been the music business, not even just guitar chants.

14:12It's like their son records kind of thing.

14:15We don't play, but we have a friend who is obsessed.

14:19So as a guitarist, what would you say is a little piece of here that we should take home?

14:25Well, I think you should get something that you can pretty much only buy here,

14:27which is one of these guitar straps, which is handmade by our friend Rupert,

14:31just down the road in South London.

14:34This is great.

14:35There we are.

14:36And we're earning points everywhere.

14:38Nice.

14:39Thank you, Noah.

14:40Have a great day.

14:40Thanks, man.

14:41Have a great day, guys.

14:43I like this guy.

14:45A hound dog.

14:46Oh, yeah.

14:47That's totally your style.

14:54New day.

14:55Fresh eyes.

14:56We're chasing ideas now.

14:57Big ones.

14:58Small ones.

14:59And the ones hiding in plain sight.

15:00This is always one of my favorite things to do wherever we go.

15:04Look at the building.

15:05So cool.

15:06Yeah.

15:06This is beautiful.

15:07I had no idea how magnificent this was going to be when we walked in,

15:11so it's very unassuming.

15:27When the Design Museum moved to this building, we wanted to do a free exhibition for anyone to enjoy.

15:33So to come to the museum and experience our collections of 20th and 21st century design,

15:39and we thought the most immediate way of doing that was to focus on the designer,

15:42the maker, and the user.

15:44I love it.

15:45That's how most people experience design from one of those disciplines.

15:48Either they are the designer, or they are a manufacturer, or they're the end user.

15:53Right.

15:54Normally, we find ourselves as the end user.

15:56Yeah.

15:56But of course, those other steps are super important.

15:59Design is an important profession.

16:01It's something that touches all of our lives.

16:03Everything we do.

16:04Exactly.

16:04And it's something that needs to be invested in,

16:06that needs to be proper education, and it needs to be proper appreciation for it.

16:11Exactly.

16:11The toot is cute.

16:22That's really funny to me.

16:25And for Babel.

16:26Oh, yeah.

16:27That's cute.

16:27She'll love it.

16:28She would love that.

16:31After all that design talk, we needed something simple, comforting,

16:34and preferably served on a boat.

16:36This is so nice.

16:37This is beautiful.

16:38I know.

16:39Boat days.

16:40We've had boats and bikes.

16:40Boats and bikes.

16:41Our favorite thing.

16:42Here we go.

16:43Here we go.

16:44Your cheeses.

16:46This is going to be one of the highlights of my life.

16:48This is the cloth-bound cheddar with the pickled cucumber.

16:53Whoa.

16:54That cheddar.

16:56Wow.

16:57And then we have the driftwood.

16:58It's an ashed goat cheese from Somerset.

17:02That's the best goat cheese I've ever had.

17:04And then this is one of my favorite British cheeses.

17:06This is caffili, and it was a cheese that they made for the miners to eat when they went down

17:10mining.

17:11And then this, this is made by a Stilton maker, but it's a little bit of a twist on a classic

17:15Stilton.

17:15It's more kind of going down the route of like a gorgonzola.

17:18Yeah.

17:18That board never had a chance.

17:20I'm not with you.

17:20I'll say a salad.

17:23It's obviously with cheese.

17:25Yeah.

17:25We're going to top round one.

17:26And then we put the burrata with the heirloom tomatoes and a pepper salsa.

17:32The burrata is super fresh as well.

17:33It's made up in North London every morning, so.

17:35This is all I really ever need in a meal.

17:40I love that I can just pay yourself back and redeem the points and help cover the cost of this.

17:43This trip flipped my whole idea of travel on its head in the best way.

17:58Just spontaneity, curiosity, and our chase aeroplan cards that made saying yes ridiculously easy.

18:05This trip changed more than how I travel.

18:07It changed how I see.

18:09When I let go of the plan, London opened up in ways I never expected.

18:13Points from teas and taxis.

18:15Basically, this trip is going to help us pay for the next one.

18:18Nice.

18:19And those points?

18:20They're already helping us fuel our next adventure with access to over 1,300 destinations

18:25through more than 45 global airline partners.

18:28Can I just say, I think this is the best thing we've done in a long time.

18:31You like the spontaneous stuff?

18:32Yes!

18:33It's way more fun, isn't it?

18:34We got to do things like we were kids again.

18:39Where do you want to go next?

19:04Where do you want to go next?

19:05Where do you want to go next?

19:07Where do you want to go next?

19:09Where do you want to go next?

19:11Where do you want to go next?

19:13Where do you want to go next?

19:15Where do you want to go next?

19:17Where do you want to go next?

19:19Where do you want to go next?

19:21Where do you want to go next?

19:23Where do you want to go next?

We Flew to London With No Plans—and Less Than 24 Hours' Notice | Spin the Globe | Afar

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