We’ve picked five expert travel and style bloggers to go to London and Glasgow,  from Jan 27th to Feb 1st, and report on some of the in-the-know things shops, destinations, hotels.  This isn’t just a stodgy bus tour press trip, we’ve given them time to discover their own interests and let us know, and you, what’s worth visiting.

Plus, we’ve organized a meet’n'greet tip off with 5 London based bloggers that are currently powering the New York meets London destination guide, Metrotwin.

Look out for hash tag #BloggingUK and updates from our own Jeremy Viray on @BritainInUSA in the next few days to follow these five:

Sarah Menkedick

Sarah Menkedick is a freelance writer and editor currently based in Oaxaca, Mexico. She is a contributing editor at Matador Network, a contributing writer at Change.org (she blogs about women’s rights), and she maintains a website called Postigres devoted to creative nonfiction and photography inspired by travel. Sarah has been traveling, teaching and exploring the globe for five years.  She has lived and taught in France, China, Japan and Mexico, and traveled to more than fifteen countries. She speaks fluent French and Spanish and can amaze Mexicans with her capacity to eat devastatingly spicy chilés.

Where to check Sarah out and follow her:
www.posatigres.com
matadorabroad.com
@Matadornetwork

Andrew Hickey

Andrew is a travel writer/blogger for his own Brooklyn Nomad and the Social Media guru at CheapOair.  He has visited numerous destinations around the world and never gets sick of traveling. Some of his favorite spots to hit up include Dublin, London, Zurich and San Francisco.  His work has appeared in USA Today, New York Times, MSNBC, AOL Travel, Yahoo! Travel, and more.  Andrew is also the mastermind behind the blog of CheapOair.  You can look to his blog, Brooklyn Nomad for tips on deals but also food, nightlife and music when he travels. You’ll likely find him writing about curry and pubs while on the trip.

Follow Andrew:

www.thebrooklynnomad.com
blog.cheapoair.com
@BrooklynNomad
@CheapOair

Connie Wang

Connie is the associate editor at fashion, style, and shopping website Refinery29. Refinery29 is the ultimate online destination for discovering the newest and best in style, shopping, and emerging trends from the runways to the streets. Every day, Refinery29 delivers up-to-the-minute insider reports on the designers to know and the coolest global street style, breaking fashion news from sample sales to boutique openings, along with the best local shopping reports from experts who know their cities best.  She has also been published in Teen Vogue, Vice Magazine, Radar (RIP!), Fashion Week Daily, and Chictopia.com.

Get more on Connie:
www.refinery29.com
@Refinery29
@conniewang

Annie Scott

Annie Scott is a freelance writer slash editor in New York City. Writing for AOL websites including StyleList, Gadling, Luxist, Slashfood, and Holidash, and editing for Tonic, she has traveled the globe and covered everything from New York Fashion Week to Singapore’s Grand Prix, and interviewed everyone from oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle to fashion world darling Tim Gunn. Annie specializes in travel, luxury, style, honest product reviews, humor, and living the good life wherever you go. She has a personal blog called The Annie Scott Experience.

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See what Annie’s up to:

www.luxist.com
www.gadling.com
@luxist
@gadling
@AnnieScott

Lee Carter

Hint Magazine

Lee is the founder and editor-in-chief of the New York fashion site Hintmag.com, a Webby Award winner and original online fashion magazine. Hint Magazine takes an edgy look at the fashion industry and the media. It features the latest reviews of fashions and emerging designers and takes a peek at the new stars in the modeling scene. He also contributes to a variety of international fashion magazines.

Read up on Lee:
Hintmag.com
@hintmag

You can track their trip, send suggestions, and and chat with us when you follow #BloggingUK and updates from our own Jeremy Viray on @BritainInUSA in the next few days to follow these five.

Think you know, Britain?  CheapOair is hosting a contest, today through Friday, where you can use your knowledge to win a trip for two to London.

Simply answer the daily question on the official CheapOair blog each day between 8am EST and 6pm EST Monday January 25, 2010 through Friday January 29, 2010 to be entered into the drawing. Two entrants will be picked each day. Then check out the CheapOair blog on Tuesday February 2, 2010 for the big announcement! A winner and their guest will be flown round-trip to London, where they will enjoy 3-nights at the hip base2stay hotel. They are even throwing in two Oyster cards so that you can see more of this great city!

Two entrants are picked each day for the final grand prize trip- so be sure to check out CheapOair daily for the next week.  Go Now >

CheapOair offers one of the largest selections of airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages and travel deals obtained from multiple sources, including three of the most respected and widely used reservation systems.

Usually, in winter I get a hankering for a dark rich porter.  But this winter, I find myself craving cocktails.  Maybe it’s the hidden bars, or rash of artisan infused liquors springing up, but I’m longing for that nostalgic bootlegger era when virtually all of the classic cocktails that we now drink are named. “I’ll take a Tennessee Williams and Gibson for the Misses, barman, and make it snappy” 

With my at home martini experiments, well… failing (pepper spiced pickle brine does not a good “artisan” martini make), I’m think it’s time to travel for my next drink.  If cocktail tourism is the next big trend – one item on my travel list would definitely be Rick’s Bar in central Edinburgh, Scotland.

This cocktail bar with rooms was voted by Conde Nast Traveler as one of the coolest hotels in the world.  I’d think their 20 page drink menu would have something to do with that.  It is inspired by some solid research and classic cocktail havens like prohibition-era Havana, Manhattan, New Orleans, and interestingly, the outposts of the British Empire (The Pegu Club cocktail was invented in the 1920s in Burma).  There’s even a fascinating section on Punch Bowls-evidently the earliest form of cocktail.

My favorite from the list has to be the Alamagoozlum Punch (try saying that three times fast after a few cocktails) or as it’s known by it’s full name, J.Pierpoint Morgan’s Alamagoozlum; the Personal Mix Credited to that Financier, Philanthropist & Banker of a Bygone Era” (or that!).

Stories about vampires, werewolves and alike have been around for hundreds of years. But,  there is only one mystical series of movies and books you care about- the Twilight Saga.

The hysteria around the movies has been helped by the fact that two of its very attractive leads (British actor Robert Pattinson and American actress Kristen Stewart) are rumoured to be dating. Although they have never confirmed their relationship, tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic went crazy this week with the news that both actors were photographed outside a supermarket by at 13 year old fan on the Isle of Wight, on New Years Day.

Robert and Kirsten are clearly in the know when it comes to picking hip destinations to celebrate a new decade. The Isle of Wight is a small island off the south of England, and home to two of the hippest summer music festivals in the UK- the Isle of Wight Festival  and Bestival. The Isle of Wight Festival started in the 1960’s and The Who, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Coldplay are just a few of the many acts to have played there. The 2010 festival is happening in early June and will feature Jay Z and P!ink, amongst others.

Bestival meanwhile happens in late summer and is more alternative and diverse, and has featured acts including Amy Winehouse and the Beastie Boys in past years.

contributing editor – Phillip Underwood

Are all the good vintage duds at your local thrift store gone?   Fear not, soon you’ll have a whole new decade to reference and pick through.   Now a mere 11 years into the history books, a fresh movement is afoot to declare the venerable 1990’s, “vintage.” 

Are we ready to ascribe the likes of Nirvana,  Pearl Jam, Wayne’s World, and the Spice Girls,  to the venerable “Vintage” label?  Or is that wine just too young to take from the barrel?  Would our Eat My Shorts T-shirts not benefit from a few more years in the closet, taking up the subtle aromatic nuances of the moth ball.

The British department store Selfridges is boldly leading the charge to say, “Damn Skippy, the 90s are Vintage!”

The concept store, The 90s Are Vintage, (running Jan. 11th – 29th only) will commemorate that fly decade in Selfridge’s history with some in-store highlights that are downright dope:

• Rellik presents essential designerwear and accessories, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaia, Vivienne
Westwood and Comme Des Garcons
• Beyond Retro present the authentic 90s uniform
• IDEA present their edit of the 90s most seminal style publications
• Francois Nars exclusively presents his book, 15×15
• M.A.C presents key 90s looks, including the iconic Spice lipliner and Twig lipstick
• H.M.V presents the top 50 films of the 90s
• Other Criteria present an exclusive YBA collection, including Damian Hirst’s iconic spots
• Dalston’s original 90s night “Work It” present their soundtrack to the era with DJs in store

 What do you think? Are we ready for this comeback? Are these looks dank or what?

Thanks to the recession, art spaces in London are coming in at a great discount for some.  Namely, free for the taking.  Well, not exactly.  Making headlines for taking over a disused language school in Waterloo, another building in Mayfair, and on Oxford street (and being occasionally evicted), Oubliette Arthouse  is a project by creator Dan Simon that illegally occupies vacant buildings and invites artists to create installtions and performances.

The goal is create an artistic community, even movement, that isn’t shackled by the pesky demands of subsistence costs. Vagabond as it may sound, the group of resident squatters does provide the benefit of fixing up and securing a disused property. 

The vacant buildings, or “redundant space” in Arthouse parlance, serve as a showcase for emerging and experimental artwork, some of which has gone on to critical acclaim – as is the case for The Case, a show by a fringe theatre group Donkey Work, who was later approached to produce the piece for a mainstream, rent-paying theatre. 

You can catch their upcoming project and locations on their facebook page and website.

Scottish craft brewery BrewDog has taken on the challenge of creating the strongest beer ever, Tactical Nuclear Penguin.  It’s 32% alcohol.  BrewDog’s owners Martin and James, who started the brewery when they were only 24, innovated a process that involved ageing an imperial stout for 14 months in whisky casks, then freezing it repeatedly, all while wearing a Penguin suit (ok, maybe only sometimes).     

Produced in small batches and at 32%,  Tactical Nuclear Penguin isn’t intended for chugging but rather sipping like a fine whiskey. Like their other beers, the offerings are more about enjoying craft beers and educating beer drinkers than getting ridiculous.  Thought when it comes to marketing the beers – ridiculous is the only appropriate term.

There’s word afoot that BrewDog plans to open pubs throughout the UK .  Martin and James recently bought the vacant Marischal Bar in Aberdeen and are hoping to have bars in Glasgow and Edinburgh by the end of 2010. However,  the best way to taste this brew must be at the original Aberdeenshire brewery (they do welcome visits) - because, who wouldn’t want to hang out with these guys:

Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.

Let’s face it, we need a fix of our fave British celebrity fashionistas every now and again. Be it Victoria Beckham, Twiggy or new kid on the block Alexa Chung, we have a hunger for it.

But where do we track down such wonders? Well, look no further. Today I give you the funkilicious (I made that one up!), hip-happening, trend setting, Gaf!

Yes, my Brit junkies this is the store for you. Gifts, clothes and accessories, Gaf has 2 locations, Tynemouth and Gosforth (Newcastle) and is sure to satisfy any hunger for quirky fashion and have you rockin’ it British style. On the subject of Newcastle, with it’s reputation for buzzing nightlife, Newcastle Football Club and of course, the MetroCentre (shopping GALORE!) on its doorstep, is worth a visit!

 I’m particularly digging these military jackets at Gaf, not too dissimilar from the one Cheryl Cole (star of Girls Aloud, X Factor presenter, and wife of Ashley Cole) showcases in the video of her debut solo single, Fight for this love. Ps, this superstar is one to watch.

Moral of today’s story? Check out Gaf! online or in the flesh if you’re planning a cheeky trip over – what a treat that would be! And a special thanks to Pip @ Gaf for her help on this one. Loveage!

Danielle McKinlay – contributing editor