This past weekend I was able to take my first trip to London! Some friends I know from U of I were going to be there for the weekend so I decided it would be fun to go explore the city for the first time together.
So, basically nothing about this trip went as I had planned, but it was still an amazing experience to be in this city I have been dreaming about visiting for so long. Even the planning started off a bit bumpy because I wasn't able to stay in the same hostel as the people I know. I did A LOT of research on hostels in London and eventually found one that was available, in a good area, and didn't give me the creeps. Then I booked my bus ticket and I was ready to go. Ideally I would like to take a 2 hour train ride every time I go to London but the bus is ridiculously cheap in comparison so I settle for a 4 and a half hour bus ride.
My bus was at 11am on Friday so with my packed duffle I caught a public bus to the Manchester city centre and waited for my bus. Let it be known that I am an anxious traveler, I am in constant fear of missing my transportation or getting on the wrong bus. So of course, I rushed to the bus station not bothering to eat breakfast and arrived way too early. Luckily I had stopped to get a muffin at a cafe on the way, which saved my life on this longer-than-expected journey.
Evidence of the muffin that saved my life.
The bus departed the station right on time and I was no longer starving, so I was optimistic about the journey. Then we hit the traffic. I'm talking bumper to bumper for 2 hours straight kinda traffic. Needless to say my optimism had deteriorated. So after about two hours and an approximate distance traveled of 2 inches, we were finally free. Good news: I finished my book in this time. Bad news: My other book was in the luggage compartment under the bus. After about 5 more hours of travel, an empty stomach, and two new bus drivers (they had to switch because we were so behind schedule they were missing the busses they were supposed to be driving back), we finally made it to London.
Some views from the bus.
As someone who has never been to London before, I was a little disoriented and had no idea where in the world I was. Having a phone that only works with WiFi can be a little stressful at times. After finding the nearest Starbucks, ordering a panini, and using the wifi to figure out where I was and get in touch with my friends, I caught a cab to my hostel. The driver thought Chicago was in California, but he pointed out all the London landmarks to me on the way, and warned me against ever going to Philadelphia and eating a philly cheesesteak, so all in all the ride was pretty interesting. We got to the hostel, which was above a pub, and I made my way through the groups of drunk old people to check in. This was my first time staying in a hostel so I didn't really know what to expect, but the people were friendly and the place was nice. What more can you really ask for in a hostel.
My room in the hostel
After somewhat settling in, I went to meet my friends at Big Ben which was about a 5 minute walk from where I was staying. It was so beautiful to see the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye at night. When I met up with my friends we just walked around a little bit and found a bar where we could go sit and chat! We went to a place called Bar One, and let me tell you, it was a GOOD place to people watch. There are some really bad dancers in London.. We figured out our plans for the next day and headed back to our hostels.
Surprisingly my bed in the hostel was very comfortable and I slept really well. Also surprising, I got out of bed at 8:30 on a saturday morning. The hostel had a free breakfast so I went and got myself some toast and cereal, it was a very lavish selection… The guy at the bar gave me directions for Victoria Coach station, where I was meeting my friends (also where my bus had gotten in the night before) and I was off! I had no idea how the bus system or the tube works in London so I decided to walk, which was definitely worth it. The walk wasn't too far, and I saw a lot of stuff on the way including Buckingham Palace, changing of the guards, and a RAINBOW. The weather was the only bad element of the walk, they aren't kidding about how awful London weather is. At one point the wind was so strong against me that I could barely walk, I could physically barely move. It was ridiculous. Not to mention the cold temperatures (nothing compared to Polar Vortex weather, but still unpleasant), and the rain.
We finally met up and made or way to Chelsea, a more wealthy and ritzy area of London. My friend Steven watches a show called Made In Chelsea that takes place there and he wanted to go to the cafe they visit on the show. We passed more nice cars than I've ever seen in my life, a Tiffany's, several other high end brand stores, and finally made it to the cafe! We all ordered a Bloody Mary like they do on the show and enjoyed Chelsea. Although we sat outside for some reason so the freezing temperature took away from the charm a bit. When we were chilled to the core, and had finished our drinks, we set off to see Buckingham Palace.
Shops in Chelsea!
Tiniest car I've ever seen.
My first Bloody Mary. Not as terrible as I expected, still not a fave.
One of several flower stands around Chelsea.
I had passed Buckingham Palace on my way to meet Steven and Lorielle so I knew exactly where to go, which was a nice change, since I had no idea where I was going the rest of the weekend. Thankfully the rain had stopped for the majority of our walk and that made it much more pleasant than it could have been. We made it to Buckingham Palace and guess what we saw, A DOUBLE RAINBOW. This was almost the highlight of my whole trip, it was so pretty! And I swear I actually saw the end of the rainbow, I unfortunately did NOT see a pot of gold there.
Buckingham Palace was beautiful, and it's hard to believe I actually saw it. It's hard to believe I've actually seen any of London. It makes me want to rematch every movie or TV show I have watched that takes place there just to see if I recognize any places I went to. Once we had seen enough of Buckingham Palace, we started out long trek to the only Chipotle in the UK. The Chipotle was all the way in SOHO which was pretty far from where we were, but we got to see a lot of London on the way!
We saw the changing of the guards up close
We saw beautiful buildings and architecture
We saw Trafalgar Square (where I got gipped out of 5 pounds by a guy who made me a bracelet)
This is seriously a mystery.. I don't know how he was floating. I have a few theories though...
He posed specially for me
AND WE MADE IT TO CHIPOTLE.
A burrito has never tasted so good!
After our hour long stay at Chipotle (don't ask me why we were there so long) we walked a block or so over to Oxford Street, the big shopping area in London. We stopped in a few souvenir shops and shoe stores before we decided it was just too cold to be wandering around when none of us had extra money to spend anyway. So we made our trek ALL the way back to Big Ben before we split up to go to our separate hostels. Because of technical difficulties and WiFi troubles, we weren't able to meet back up that night, which was a bummer. But I was exhausted and cold and kind of glad I didn't have to go back out into that London weather. I chitchatted with a study abroad student from New York that was staying in my hostel, attempted to shower (didn't work out so well, icy and boiling seemed to be the only temperature options), and read my book (The Fault In Our Stars, SOO GOOD), before turning in for the night.
The next day I once again woke up before 9 am, it's a miracle. After getting some breakfast downstairs in the pub, I started the long walk to the Tower of London. Because it was so difficult to coordinate with our wifi-only phones and our hostels being so far from each other, I wasn't able to meet up with my friends today. I hadn't planned on spending the day by myself, but it was actually a cool experience. I walked along the river from my hostel to the Tower of London and got to see a lot of things I would not have seen otherwise.
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre!
Southwark Cathedral
View from the London Bridge (the bridge itself did not live up to the infamous name..)
View of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London
Tower of London
The Shard
I am actually really proud of myself for navigating my way around this HUGE city by myself. And although I gained some blisters from this long walk (tip: do not spend all day walking around in chuck taylor converse), I feel like I saw so much and learned my way around the city. I stopped in a Starbucks to charge my phone and grab some lunch before starting the walk back.
I walked back through a different part of the city, and that walk was much quicker but not nearly a scenic. On my way back I walked over by Big Ben and the London Eye again so I could get some better pictures in the day and also to explore the Westminster area a little more.
Some signs of the London weather. Those clouds were actually pouring down hail, not rain, HAIL.
Only for about 3 minutes, but it was still not fun.
Westminster Abbey
After my little sidetracked adventure, I grabbed my bag from the hostel and made my way to the bus station. At this point I was ready to just be on the bus so I could have an excuse to sit and relax for 4 house. I once again got to the bus station WAY too early, so I had time to read my book and get something to eat because I was not going to go through the whole bus ride starving like I did on the way there. I almost got to sit in a row of seats by myself but at the LAST possible second, someone sat there. Bummer. I also had the most annoying people sitting behind me. Overall, I'm not excited to take another 4 hour bus ride next time I go to London.
The trip was a lot of fun, and I loved London (well, all of it except the weather). Even though the weekend didn't go exactly as planned, it was still the experience of a lifetime to be able to explore London. I get to go back in two weeks for "London Weekend" for all of the U of I students currently studying in the UK. I'm excited to go with a big group and have some fun planned activities and to ride the London Eye!
London was just as amazing as I had hoped it would be and I can't wait to go back!
Stay tuned for my next adventure!
Love,
Hannah
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