To set the scene, I am sitting in my dorm room at 9am writing this. Half my hostel roomies are still in bed while the other half are gone for the day. It’s my last full day in London, and the only day I think I’ve still been at the hostel at 9am. But today is gonna be a chill before an early-ish start for a travel day tomorrow.
Upon arrival I didn’t know what to expect of London and based on my perceptions of the city, I wasn’t sure if it would be one I’d enjoy. But from the moment I arrived at London Heathrow after 26hrs of travel and I simply wandered out of the airport and got on the tube – no hassle at all, I decided that London must be doing something right. Over the last few days it’s become clear to me that London isn’t a place I’d like to live, but it is a wonderful city. It’s lively, there’s always things happening, and the extent of the history is so hard to comprehend as a New Zealander but so incredible. In discussions I’ve had with other travellers here we have all commented on how safe and comfortable London feels but this may just be because we’ve been located in touristy areas. Another reoccurring theme in these conversations is that London feels just like Melbournes bigger, older sibling.
Most of my time here has been spent visiting typical touristy sites and wandering around the city, along with a few drinks here and there. There’s just something about eating a £3.90 (approx $8NZD) Tesco meal deal (main, snack and drink) for lunch under Big Ben. Like the iconic, historic, London landmark, Big Ben.
I really enjoyed seeing Buckingham Palace, a lot of people were saying it was underwhelming and not worth visiting because it’s overrun with tourists but I thought it was really cool. The royal guards around the castle do look exactly like the pictures. As someone who has little interest in the Royal Family, I was pleasantly surprised with the whole experience. Even if you had to stand shoulder to shoulder with hundreds (more likely thousands) of other tourists just to take a photo. Another famous landmark that I thought was stunning was the Tower Bridge. It was beautiful, a real stand out feature compared to the other bridges, and the disgustingly brown Thames River below. Other landmarks we visited included the London Eye, Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, National History Museum, St Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Oxford Street.
We also visited the Borough Markets, Camden Markets and Portobello Markets (at Notting Hill). My best piece of advice for these would be to go first thing in the morning as soon as they open, and on a weekday rather than a weekend. We made both of these mistakes. At the Borough Markets it was mostly food and fresh produce – the TikTok famous chocolate strawberries are worth the hype! Whereas the Camden Market (+ the surrounding streets of Camden Town) had everything, clothes, food, souvenirs, custom items, technology, etc. The Portobello markets were a slightly different style, consisting of antiques, vintage items, and other more specialty knick knacks. Another awesome place we visited was the suburb of Soho. I didn’t spend a lot of time here, but we went out to a bar here and wandered the streets looking at all the cute shops. This is somewhere I’d be keen to spend a bit more time exploring.
Other things to note about my experiences in London so far:
- We have had amazing weather and it has been at least 25 degrees everyday, sunscreen has been required.
- The public transport network is incredible! The tube/underground train network is so easy to use, as are the buses. My only complaint is that it does seem a bit pricy.
- My time in London has been very social with much of my time spent exploring with other solo travellers. This has been facilitated by the hostel I’ve been staying in (hostel review blog post incoming).
- I may feature as a background extra waving a British flag on the London New Years Parade Music Video (don’t ask how this happened).
- Even while taking the tube, I’ve done a minimum of 30,000 steps a day since arriving here. Regardless of the shoes I wear I have sore feet and blisters.
- This might be a controversial take but I did not enjoy my trip to the National History Museum. Firstly it was really busy, there were a lot of families with young kids and strollers which didn’t make sense as the kids are too young to understand the museum. And secondly, I’m not much of a history fiend so I found the whole experience boring and underwhelming. I wish I could have appreciated it more.
I have spent a total of 5 nights in London, so 4 full days and one half day and I’ve found that to be the perfect amount of time for me. I’ve had enough time to do and see all the things I really wanted, as well as some extra exploring. I haven’t felt pressed for time at all, and have had the time to just appreciate and enjoy being in London. For those who enjoy history, you might want a couple of extra days to really get involved but on the flip side, you could definitely do everything I did in less time but it may feel a little rushed.
That’s all for now!!! Gotta cook some dinner, and get some sleep before I’m off on to the next country tomorrow. Stay tuned!!!
~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 