NEXT STOP, ANTWERP

It's amazing to think that in the same time it takes me to travel to my hometown in south west, England, I could also be out the channel tunnel and half way across Europe; via the Eurostar, not only do you not have to go through all the rigmarole of weight limit baggage issues, but its also greener and faster than flying. On Tuesday Alexxsia, Matthew, Michael and I boarded the first Eurostar to Brussels filled with excitement, with the all stations ticket you can connect from Brussels to over 200 other destinations - and we were headed straight to Antwerp, my favourite city! We had a pretty extravagant journey, celebrating Michael's birthday with champagne and stocking up on ham and cheese croissants, whilst Lexxi snapped away on her iPad. I love that last shot of Lexxi and Michael struggling with all their excess purchases, haha, I can't wait to share the rest of my holiday with you!

A huge thank you to Lucy at Eurostar for making the journey possible!

It’s easy to reach Antwerp with Eurostar. With one easy connection in Brussels, passengers will arrive in Antwerp less than three hours from London St Pancras International. Eurostar offers return fares to Antwerp from just £80. Eurostar also offers connecting fares from more than 200 stations in the UK. For more information or to book, visit eurostar.com or call 08432 186 186.

JUST ANOTHER WAY TO DRESS IN FUR

On our last Friday night in Brussels the shops stayed open for the Modo Parcours, each shop had its own entertainment and drinks led out onto the street. It was sort of like Fashions Night Out but much cooler and less structured. Michael and I headed to Icon, where we'd been earlier that day to see the Piece of Chic exhibition, featuring giant animal heads reconstructed out of vintage furs, on top of printed silk shift dresses. That night the animals came alive in the form of electro pop Belgian sensation Hong Kong Dong; the most exciting live performance I've seen in a long time.

 See more of me dancing like a mannequin and the night rounded up here...

ELISE VISTE

Elise Viste is a young Belgian fashion designer, recently graduated from La Cambre in Brussels. Her work has been hailed as 'clever and focused' by Mr. Raf Simons himself! Her latest collection is about contrasting fabrics and techniques, using real beetle wings, leathers, knits and silks. It was a pleasure to meet her in Brussels this year for the Modo Parcours, she said she's even thinking of moving to London! I'll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for what she does next.

HOTEL BLOOM

Whilst staying in Brussels for the Modo Parcours, I was lucky enough to stay in the Hotel Bloom; from only 69 euros a night the rooms were beautiful, each room had a unique hand painted design of it's own by a young european artist and overlooked the city centre. The trip was pretty full on, so I was happy to be able to kick back and relax with a bath and a new copy of Encens magazine on the final night. The breakfasts were out of this wold too, you got to poach your own eggs to avoid any of those rubbery disasters you spy at most breakfast buffets, also a range of fruits and yoghurts as well as pastries and cereals; seriously the perfect start to every day.

Thanks Hotel Bloom for having me and to Elke from Modo Brussels for organising the trip!