I hope that this entry is going to be one of MANY on the different places I have visited….wish me luck.

I’m positive I developed my travel bug during college when I went up to New York for the first time with my new roommates and some friends I had just met. Everything about the trip was new, unfamiliar. Experiencing a whole new city with new people in my life was simply…an awesome and broadening experience. Afterwards, I saw how easy it was to save up and take trips throughout the States, that I was hooked. I made it a point to take something from each trip- an intangible souvenir so to speak, a lasting memory, or a lesson about myself. It became pretty obvious to me that a source of happiness for me came from the new and unexpected. Novelty requires us to exert more thought and energy, and in doing so, we experience more intense emotional responses. It’s not an indication to me that I get bored with my situation at home, but that I crave and require some variety. And the thirst is satisfied through traveling.

So these entries are not meant to claim me as any type of travel expert, or to be an exhaustive description of a city and what it offers. Honestly, it’s just my recollection of the trip and what I ate, what I saw, what I liked, and what I want to remember. I have a pretty weak memory sometimes, so I want to make sure to get it all I writing to remember. To those that might stumble upon and read my blog, my goal is to inspire you to find something you love doing…and do it! Life is short, why delay gratification? Also, maybe to learn a little bit about traveling to these specific places and to gain more insight into who I am.

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OK, moving onto LONDON! We were there for about out a week a half and saw a ton of famous tourist sites; ate what we thought were the quintessential English meals (e.g. fish&chips); and even had the opportunity to get a glimpse of a couple special events held in London during Summer 2012.

ACCOMMODATIONS

We found that it was actually just as cost-effective to stay in hotels vs. hostels in London. Since I work out-of-town for a large majority of the year, I have the ‘absolute pleasure’ of racking up Hilton Honors points. My boyfriend also has a Hilton Honors credit card, which automatically moves him up to Gold Level Status and earn hotel points as a part of his card benefits. So between us, we had Diamond and Gold status, and a good amount of points to start. This is why we stayed at these nicer hotels during our travels – for cleaner accommodations that were more cost-effective than a hostel for our situation!

At the Hilton, we found out while staying that they will not hold your luggage at concierge if you would like to travel and return to their hotel without a confirmed reservation. Even with a future reservation, if you want to leave your bag for more than a couple of days, they won’t let you do it, which is strange to me. We went to Paris, with the intent of returning to London in 4 days. We wanted to travel lighter, but the hotel refused to hold our luggage. The Paddington metro station had a hold luggage station, where we stored our excess luggage. 8 GBP per day, per bag.

Although we had a unique advantage of staying in these super nice places, if I had to choose an alternative, I definitely would have chosen a hostel with high reviewer ratings (for cleanliness, accommodations, etc.) From talking with other travelers who book these tours through agents or some travel website, you end up staying in these “mid-range” hotels from 3-4 stars. The rooms end up being more expensive (but larger) than hostels, but might not even offer free wifi, free breakfast, and the social aspects of a hostel. You’re in a secluded hotel with other families and really have to work to find out where to go, what to do, and you don’t really meet anyone new.

GETTING AROUND

Mind the gap!

We found the Metro was the best way to get around, and managed to use this almost the entire time except for a couple of occasions. You could get a single pass to a specific destination or a day travel pass – it’s better to get the day pass since the it only was 1 £ more.

London is mapped out in zones (e.g. Zones 1-5) and depending on where you wanted to travel you’ll need to buy the appropriate zone access. A day travel pass for Zones 1-3 was around 7,70 GBP which allowed for unlimited day travel. The metro was really clean, too. Point for London.

You can also take the train to areas outside of London, but that requires a different ticket. Another point- The unlimited travel pass is also valid for the buses within the city- those famous red double deckers.

ACTIVITIES

London Eye

England vs Barbarians Rugby Match at Twickenham

David Guetta, Nicky Romero, and Nervo at Alexandra Palace

The show was held in a huge palace north of London’s city center. Some interesting observations we made there were that people don’t really dress up and go in fun costumes to these shows and there were people of all adult ages there. Usually in the States, it’s just younger adults you see there. It just goes to show how new Electronic Dance Music is in America I suppose.

Big Ben and Red Phone Booth

Concert setup in front of the Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration

The Diamond Jubilee festivities were pretty neat. There was a boat parade, a derby, and a huge concert held specially for the Queen’s celebration. There was even an extra holiday on the Monday during the events to take a free day off! Although we didn’t actually get to see anything (I’m not particularly a fan of crowded areas), we got to experience all the love for the Queen shown by pretty much every person there.

Olympic Park under construction- London is the first to host three Olympic Games

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge’s smaller counterpart, London Bridge

NIGHTLIFE

There are pub crawls that I am sure you can go on with the hostel you stay with or find online. That’s very typical for most big European cities I’ve visited. We just wandered the streets near Green Park, Leicester Square, and Soho and found places with good beer and a good atmosphere. There are a ton of pubs around, but nothing really makes one stand out to me over another. We went to this one hole in the wall bar in Soho called ‘Garlic & Shots’ that pride themselves on having 100 shots or something. There’s a restaurant upstairs that seemed pretty normal. The bar is downstairs, and the change in levels changes the scenery drastically. I felt like I was walking into Rob Zombie’s dungeon (sorry for those who don’t get my reference to him) and it was very cold, dark and…a little creepy. The server was super nice, but it did little to compensate for the fact that a number of shots were crossed off the list. So much for 100 shots. The couple we tried were actually delicious though. We had the signature shot, called Bloodshot. It had vodka, chili, spices, garlic and tomato juice in it. Tasted like an ultra spicy bloody Mary. Then we tried the Black Death with vodka, kahlua and some italian liquor. Not bad, but a little too sweet. It would have been nice to try more shots, but the atmosphere coupled with the loud, heavy goth metal didn’t do it for us and we left.

FOOD

Fish & Chips near Olympic Park

Sausage & Mash near Big Ben

Grilled Scallops in Soho

If you take a closer look at this pictures, you’ll notice that the scallop has its ovary attached to it. We had no clue what it was, but it was delicious. It has a soft and buttery texture, and tastes just as amazing.

WASABI SUSHI- we also stumbled upon this place in Chinatown. It’s a fast-casual restaurant where you get all of your sushi in these pre-made, individually wrapped pieces! You pay by the piece and can mix and match whatever you wanted from what was available. We also noticed that very same concept sold in local grocery stores, too.

Beef and Meatball Pho

We finally found on Vietnamese restaurant in London and had to try the pho. The noodles are a lot fatter than I’m used to and the broth had no soul.  In other words, it tasted like they cooked it for only about 30 minutes and it lacked the distinct, savory taste of being cooked with all the right ingredients. Nevertheless, it was refreshing to eat some pho after eating fried fish all day.

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS

I finally learned where these posters originated from! It was produced by the UK government during WWII to boost morale.

LAST THOUGHTS- Some things to definitely NOT forget if you travel here: rain/water-resistant jacket, umbrella, sweater, scarfs

Thanks for reading!