Inside My Bag: Michael Kors Travel Edition

Hello my lovelies! As anyone who follows me on Instagram or Twitter may have noticed, I’ve spent the past month back in Australia (via Bangkok) seeing all my favourite Australian people for the first time in two years (which explains my absence on here; I’m sorry!) and living out of a suitcase in the process.

After hundreds of flights and countless visits to far-flung locations in my lifetime, I’ve got the act of packing down to an art form (although my boyfriend – who points out that my shoes alone weigh as much as his entire luggage every time we travel – would beg to differ).

So when Michael Kors asked me to be a part of their new Instagram campaign (#WhatsInYourKors), it felt only appropriate to share the secrets of my travel bag (the contents of which are still scattered around my living room). Because I want something I can carry on the plane with me (and actually lift into the overhead compartments), but which is still chick enough to land a seat upgrade (if you’re lucky), an oversized handbag is perfect, and this Michael Kors Hamilton tote is about as luxe as travel can get.

I fret at the thought of being without any creature comforts for the duration of a long-haul flight, so my bag is packed with: a paper, book and magazine (a long-haul flight is good for one thing: finally having time to catch up on my reading!), two passports (in a glittery Jimmy Choo cover), tickets and a Luxe travel guide for my destination, a notebook for offline inspiration and scribbling, my iphone (in a Lulu Guinness case) and ipod, Miu Miu sunglasses (for disembarking in style), Jimmy Choo metallic pink purse and Anya Hindmarch golden coinpurse, business cards, spare jewels, Jo Malone perfume, Chanel nailpolish and lipstick, Clarins concealer pen, Aesop face mist and hand cleanser, snacks and a few random souvenirs collected from my travels.
(Not pictured, but also essential: a Louis Vuitton leopard cashmere scarf for snuggling on chilly planes, lip balm, baby wipes, body lotion and a packet of beauty samples for in-flight hydrating and pampering (because cabin air is horrid), water, sleep mask, ear plugs and socks.)

Win a Michael Kors bag!

To be a part of the #WhatsInYourKors campaign yourself, just snap a picture of your handbag and its contents, share on Instagram and tag @MichaelKors. The team at @StylistMagazine will be hosting a gallery of all their favourites on their site, and the best picture will win a gorgeous Michael Kors Selma handbag.

Michael has also selected his favourite spring essentials for the season, and they could be yours; just sign up here for a chance to win (because after all, a girl can never have enough bags). Good luck!

I’d love to know what you all take with you when you travel? Do you have any savvy tips to make packing and flying a more glamorous affair?

Love, Miss B xx

Disclaimer: this is a sponsored post in partnership with Michael Kors

Christmas in Edinburgh, Scotland

The summer holiday gets all the attention, but really there is something so charming about a wintery escape. As a warm-blooded Australian, come-November my default inclination inclination is to hibernate indoors for weeks on end until, before I know it, December has been and gone. But a wintery mini-break really is the most wonderful excuse to leave one’s cosy cocoon and explore an entirely new place through the glittering lens of the Christmas period.

Besides, I firmly believe that some places – particularly the grand old European cities – are best suited to the grey skies and moody nights of winter. And Edinburgh is just such a place. Despite the Clever Boyfriend and I both having a strong Scottish heritage (dancing a mean highland fling is even one of my secret talents), neither of us had ever set foot in the regal land, so last December we hopped on a plane for an impromptu festive weekend in the Scottish capital.

And truthfully, it couldn’t have felt more perfectly wintery and wonderful. We set off early one Friday morning, had landed and checked in to our chic, nautical suite at the Mailmaison beside the harbour (giant marshmallow beds and whitewashed walls) before lunchtime, and then spent the afternoon exploring the docklands, the teeny-tiny boutiques and the cosy Scottish pubs (nothing like the smell of whisky and the sound of barely-decipherable Scottish accents to make us feel like we were in Edinburgh) before tucking ourselves in for a feast in the hotel’s restaurant (marvellous traditional fare, such as local game and Guinness and treacle tart).

The next day, we relocated to the old town and checked into the Hotel du Vin (think tartan, dim lights and classic highland chic) for a day spent meandering along winding, cobbled streets, popping in and out of cosy little sweet shops and bookstores and tea houses, buying Scotch fudge and tartan scarves as souvenirs along the way. As night fell, we made our way to the wonderful German markets that appear each year for hot apple cider, bratwurst, ice skating and ferris wheel rides to the soundtrack of bagpipes in the distance somewhere. It couldn’t have felt more like Christmas!

Given the eerie grandeur of the old town, we could resist signing up for a midnight ghost tour, so, after supper at the hotel, we set off at the witching hour for a moonlight adventure into the vaults that crisscross deep beneath the city, into ancient cemeteries and down haunted alleyways as the sounds of church bells echoed across the still, dark night.

On Sunday, we climbed up to Edinburgh castle for ancient histories and crown jewels and the most magnificent sweeping views across the whole city, took a trip to the museum, walked the length of the grand Royal Mile, dashed back to the airport and still made it back home in time for bed. What a wonderful, wintery weekend in Scotland it was!

I’d love to hear your recommendations for marvellous wintery weekends away!

Love, Miss B xx

Mailmaison is located at 1 Tower Place, Edinburgh EH6 7BZ and Hotel du Vin is located at 11 Bristo Place, Edinburgh EH1 1EZ. Briony was a happy guest of both hotels.

Sleepy Hollow, New York

I’m just back from New York, and it was nothing if not an adventure! The unexpected arrival of a certain Hurricane Sandy may have put a stop to the majority of my plans (instead, my NYC BFF Nicolette & I basically had a four-day slumber party in her perfect Williamsburg apartment), but we did manage to cram in a few adventures on either side of the storm.

Top of my list for this trip had been an autumnal day trip somewhere on the East Coast; I didn’t mind where, so long as the leaves were orange, the scenery picturesque and the activities centred around idyllic American ‘fall’ fun. Which is how we came to spend the weekend before Hallowe’en in the town of Sleepy Hollow in upstate New York.

I hadn’t actually realised that Sleepy Hollow (of the Headless Horseman legend) was an actual place until Nicolette suggested it as the destination for our roadtrip. Now, I’ve always been practically obsessed by Hallowe’en (given it is barely recognised in Australian and England, I’m rather fascinated by the American-centric tradition), but when we pulled into the town I got so worked up in excitement I actually squealed.

The little town of Sleepy Hollow needs none of my rose-tined romanticising, for it was so hauntingly charming all on its own. Every surface seemed covered with the confetti of fallen flame-coloured autumn leaves, each lampost and wooden porch decorated with scarecrows and spiderwebs and candlelit jack-o-lanterns, while costumed trick-or-treating children criss-crossed the little streets.

We visited haunted cemeteries, and the house where Washington Irving (author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and some say the founding father of American fiction) spent his days, and watched dramatic performances of haunted tales, and threw ourselves in giant piles of crunchy leaves (that someone had so kindly raked into leafy mountains that were practically begging to be jumped in), and picked pumpkins from the patch, and drank apple cider and ate s’mores and candy corn and stroked black kitties that crossed our paths in the garden – and generally relished in all the wonderful Hallowe’en traditions I’ve ever wanted to try – until the stars twinkled in the dark sky overhead.

Thank you Nicolette and Sara and Sleepy Hollow for fulfilling all my autumnal and Hallowe’en fantasies!

Wearing: Opening Ceremony cat sweater (the best gift from Nicolette which I’m completely obsessed with; now sold out, but similar style here), Uniqlo Oxford shirt, Camilla and Marc dress (worn as skirt), Chanel handbag, Marc Jacobs chain belt, Ash boots, Mimco necklace, ring and cuffs, Zara sunglasses, bow headband from Tokyo (similar style here), MAC ‘Ruby Woo’ lipstick.