LONDON!

Yay! First solo trip is in the books for me! This past weekend I spent my time exploring around London. This was my first time ever being in London. I prepped for this trip by exploring the must see tourist spots as long as the best eateries and cool areas to check out.

I was able to fly out of Shannon which is a half hour away from limerick. My flight left in the late afternoon so I was able to go to all my classes on Friday. From Shannon I flew into Gatwick, Gatwick is about an hour train ride out of town from London. I landed in London around 9 PM, the flight went by superfast and I was able to catch the sunset from my window seat. Next obstacle was trying to figure out how I was going to get to my hostel from the airport. I first looked at how much it would be to get an Uber, $120 in US dollars. I laughed out loud and knew I had to figure out quickly best way to get to my hostel would be by train. I was just staring up at the arrivals of trains from the Gatwick station and it looked like a foreign language to me. Thankfully I found someone who worked at the station to ask how to get to my hostel downtown. Turns out I needed to take the Gatwick Express to the underground. I quickly bought a train ticket and I was on my way.

I finally got to my hostel, called Wombats around 10:30 PM. This was my first time ever staying in a hostel so I didn’t really have any idea of what to expect. The staff there was super friendly and the rooms were clean. I shared a room with 8 other people. The hostel room reminded me of camp. Everyone had their own bed bunk and locker. I threw my backpack in my locker and headed down to the bar in hopes to meet some other solo travelers. I was able to meet a man from Australia who has been traveling over the past month all around Europe and a woman from Mexico. Their insight and experiences they shared with me left me in awe. I couldn’t believe how much of the world they have seen. From the conversation with those other solo travelers, it made me catch the travel bug even more. By the time I left the bar in search of dinner it was almost midnight! I looked up what was still open and saw Papa John’s was closet option to get food at. I shared a small pizza with myself and headed off to sleep before my big day ahead.

I woke up around 8:30 in the morning to go for a walk around the neighborhood I was staying in. It was super cute and there was a waterway amongst the apartment buildings and houses that led to a marina. The area I walked around in was just south of tower bridge. I wanted to go walk on the glass at Tower Bridge and ended up getting it over with right away in the morning when it first opened. This was the only tourist attraction that cost money on the trip for me, it was nine pounds. I beat the crowd of tourist and was able to not only walk across the glass over the road and waterway but was able to take in the great view from the top of the tower. I wandered around the tower bridge area and found numerous cute coffee shops amongst the board walk. I headed back to my hostel to change into clothes and shoes I’d be comfortable walking around in. I left around 11:30 AM to see if I would be able to catch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I took the underground train for 15 minutes and walked 5 minutes to get to Buckingham Palace. The area around the palace was filled with tourist groups! I was able to find a spot amongst the gate and take pictures of the guards and the palace. Besides the guards, there were police men with huge guns guarding the palace, they went around the gate to let the tourist know the changing of the guards didn’t happen on Saturday’s. After hearing that news I was disappointed but headed towards the next touristy area. BIG BEN! Big Ben was not as cool as it was hyped up to be. I couldn’t even see the clock because of the renovations they are completing on it. This area was so hard to walk around because it was filled with tourist. I walked over the bridge next to Big Ben and headed towards the museum and the London Eye. This area was cool but still super touristy feel. I felt the need to get away from the tourist hot spots and headed toward the Camden Market recommend by a friend.

I was able to take the underground train to Camden. The walk from the Camden train station to the Camden market was filled with street vendors selling fake Gucci belts, fake purses, and tattoo shop at every corner. I finally arrived to the Camden market this area was one of my favorite part of the trips. There were tons of stands selling a variety of crafts and homemade pieces. The food at the market smelled so good. The market had an organized area for street food, there was so different ethnic food options available! There was Greek, Indian, Italian, and more! I ended up getting coconut chicken from a food truck and it was the best Indian food I ever had. I found a place to sit right on the canal the Camden market is on, it was really nice just to take in the moment and enjoy the view while eating delicious food.

After the Camden market I headed towards the Soho area in London. This was around 3 PM that I needed to find some caffeine to keep me going. The Soho area was tucked away from the tourist areas filled with great shopping and amazing food options. I ended up picking out a super “instagramable” coffee shop to get off my feet and enjoy some espresso called EL & N. I was able to get ahold of one of my dear friends that I grew up with who is studying in London for the semester! We met up at her apartment and headed toward the Southbank area to catch sunset at the Tate modern art museum. This view was amazing and would recommend to anyone who is visiting London. It was free too!

From catching the sunset over London we realized we were both starving and wanted to pick out somewhere nice to eat! We ended up heading back to the Soho area and was just going to walk around until we found something we both liked! At this point I was DRAINED from walking around all day long and needed something in my stomach. We ended up picking a place called, Beast. This was a shareable dish restaurant and their specialty was steak and seafood. This restaurant was SO COOL! From the street it didn’t look like much, we entered and found out the restaurant was in the basement. We took the elevator down and was amazed by the vibe and décor the restaurant captured. Lucky for us, they were able to seat us right away. We ordered drinks and shared 3 dishes for the two of us which came out super-fast from the kitchen. My brother-in-law was in London for two weeks on a business trip and he was lovely company to catch up with and shared a beer with us at the restaurant too. Made me very happy to see two familiar faces this weekend in London. After dinner I was completely exhausted and headed straight back to the hostel to get some sleep for my flight at eight in the morning. It took around thirty minutes by train and walking to get to my hostel but was fast asleep by midnight.

I headed to the Stansted airport in London at 4:30 in the morning. It was an hour and half away from my hostel so wanted to make sure I had enough time to make it to the airport. I got to the airport just before 6 in the morning and breezed through security and waited around grabbed some breakfast before my gate was assigned. 8 am rolled around and I was on the plane ready to take off and would get back to Shannon airport just before 10 am. To be honest, Sunday morning I felt like a zombie the whole time trying to function. I was super happy to be getting back to Ireland early and still had a half day to recover from the short weekend trip!

Overall I loved London and wish I could’ve spent more time in the Camden market and Soho area. On Saturday, I walked 37,000 step! I can’t believe I had that many steps. I am super thankful the subway system was super well organized and easy to understand. If it weren’t for the underground I probably wouldn’t of been able to see as much as I did in my short weekend trip. I have friends visiting in less than 2 weeks and I can’t wait to show them all around Ireland! After their visit I will be going to Madrid! The time seems to be flying by here! Cheers.