London and Austin share a deep love of music, ingenuity and technology – the perfect traits to host Mashable and British Airways' #CurioCity contest winners.
To celebrate the airline's new direct route between London and Austin, Mashable and British Airways challenged the Austin community to tweet their most groundbreaking ideas for how to explore a new city. Five lucky winners were invited to join us in London to tour the most up-and-coming sites of one of the most historic cities in the world.
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Our winners traveled to London in style, with exclusive Club World seating aboard British Airways' new 787 Dreamliner, and kicked off their day with breakfast at the British Airways Arrivals Lounge.
Our #CurioCity tour starts out in a lovely Club World seat courtesy of @British_Airways - very luxe and friendly! pic.twitter.com/dxHtnyj4IQ
— Kaycee Holmes (@kayceeholmes) November 6, 2014
They later attended a startup pitch event called “Don’t Pitch Me Bro,” where entrepreneurs pitch early-stage startups to get advice on their next business steps. The event was held by 3 Beards, a London-based content and promotion group dedicated to furthering the success of the local tech and startup community.
Several solid London startups at the #dontpitchmebro event with @mashable and @British_Airways #CurioCity #ATX pic.twitter.com/hgI1lidt3F — Eric Webb (@soulfoodz) November 6, 2014
On Friday, our winners took a private Alternative London tour of Shoreditch on London’s East End, led by a local street artist. They learned about the history of graffiti, saw examples of significant pieces around the city and immersed themselves in neighborhood street art.
A photo posted by @tejasrockstar on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:57am PST
Street art by Space Invader. #starwars #london
A photo posted by DJ Mike Swing (@mikeswing) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:34am PST
The visit was followed by the Mashable and British Airways London Bash, which brought together the best of London’s tech and music communities. The Austin-themed party featured an Instagram booth decorated with whiskey barrels and cattle skulls, a set by DJ Vanessa and activations by Phototonic and Sympler, featuring LSTN headphones. Special thanks to Spredfast for the beautiful social curation displays throughout the venue. There was also an onsite Instagram contest where partygoers could post their photos of the event in order to win a pair of round-trip tickets to Austin.
Dale que ganamooo #CurioCity #Promo ✈
A photo posted by @aguselidd on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:55pm PST
Our winners explored the city on Saturday, followed by dinner at Tramshed – one of the city’s trendiest local restaurants. During cocktails and canapés, they were treated to a private tour of the restaurant’s in-house gallery, which included an installation by famed English artist Danny Fox.
Dinner was served in the restaurant’s private library, where they watched executive chef Kevin Gratton create a bespoke dinner that included red-legged partridge, curly kale bramble salad and Glenarm Estate chateau steak with baked bone marrow.
being wined and dined at the chef's table at @The_Tramshed #londoneats #curiocity pic.twitter.com/0UWL9nbtN9
— jamie lynn (@the_jamielynn) November 8, 2014