Exploring London in 6 Days: Part 1
The tail end of 2018 was hard. I wasn’t in the best mental state. I was feeling trapped and life just wouldn’t get any easier. I had been wanting to get away and recuperate before taking another go at life.
I’’d say I have traveled a fair share, but still hadn’t set foot in Europe. After falling into a YouTube hole of travel videos of London and Paris, I got a little too adventurous and I proceeded to do something irrational but I figured it would all pan out. A few clicks later, I had secured a return flight from Toronto, Canada to London, England for just over $400 CAD— $412 to be exact — departing a week Friday from that night. First thing next morning, I reached out to my boss letting her know that I needed 10 days off, in the middle of a busy season. Let’s say they agreed to my request but reminded me what not to do in the future. Phew…
So here I was, two weeks before a 10-day trip to two cities I hadn’t planned on visiting. The questions started to pile up: What was the itinerary?, Where was I going to stay?, What was my total budget?. You name it.
I ended up deciding on partially planning my time in London and just winging Paris, if it happened.
This was the final itinerary:
Day 1 to 5: London
Day 5 to 8: Paris
Day 8 to 9: London
Arrival in London, England.
I woke up from my red-eye flight to a rainy morning in the skies over Gatwick Airport. I knew I needed to get an Oyster card (this pay-as-you-go card allows you to use most of the transport options in the Greater London Area) to catch a train to the city. The multitude of people heading for the exits at 9 a.m. was incredible. I managed to get an Oyster card and hooked up to the airport WiFi to figure out the best way to get into the city.
Yes, that’s how unprepared I was.
Fast forward to my arrival at Victoria Station. I looked up at immensity of this station, which looked quite familiar, I’d say some TV show is to blame. I grabbed myself a coffee and headed towards the iconic King’s Cross station, a few walking minutes away from Generator London, my stay for the first few days.
I had never stayed in a hostel before while traveling, but that wasn’t stopping me from making the most of my escape at a minimal budget.
My arrival at Generator London quickly made me feel like I had made the right decision, the vibe of the place was super energizing. The staff were super helpful with the check-in procedure and guided me to the luggage lockers as I was early. I had booked a bed in a 4-bed dorm, some might have found that scary but I just thought "more travel buddies!”.
I had an hour to spare and decided to go pick up an portable WiFi device from Tep Wireless. This was going to be my primary internet source for the whole week. The Europe Unlimited pack cost me $97.45 USD, including the mail-in drop off. Even though it was slightly pricey to get an all Europe plan (I wasn’t sure on Paris, remember?), their uninterrupted service was really worth it!
I was meeting my awesome friend Conor, who had worked with me in Toronto for a year. AND off I was, headed for the streets with barely any sleep the previous night. We met at Waterloo Station and proceeded to walk towards Westminster Bridge, with the sole goal of getting to a pub and grabbing a few pints. Our walk took us across the bridge onto Parliament St. and slowly towards Buckingham Palace.
Here are a few photos from that walk:
We continued exploring towards Piccadilly Circus (not the only time I went there on this trip!), had a couple of pints at a bougie bar in the area and ended up at another one watching a game of football: Chelsea vs Tottenham. It was exactly what I had imaged the London pub experience to be like haha. Remember how I had mentioned that I planned this trip last minute? Well, Conor had to head back to Uni outside of the city so we had to part ways. It was great seeing him, check out his Instagram!
Day 2 in London
London has A LOT of things to do, so where do you get started when on a budget? You plan out your trip by the location you are staying in. I decided to make the most of my stay in the center of London by exploring everything close to me. Also, I was moving to an Airbnb I had rented for two nights the next morning, so I would have a new area to explore soon.
The day started by exploring London’s iconic King’s Cross Station, which is home to the famous Harry Potter Platform 9 and three quarters! I know it’s touristy and cringe-worthy to some but hey, I was there! I stood in line for a photo holding the cart heading into the magical platform and the opportunity to explore some Harry Potter memorabilia in the shop.
I had reached out to a couple of Instagrammers from London to meet up and hopefully head to some cool locations. Teo replied and mentioned that we should meet near St. Paul’s Cathedral. I got there before him (had started to get a hang of the Tube) and took some shots of the cathedral before we met up.
St. Paul’s Cathedral has a really unique vibe to it, its likely a result from its architectural design and the fact that it has stood the test of time — now situated in between a lot of modern office, retail and residential buildings.
Once I met Teo and he parked his bike, we proceeded to walk across the cathedral to take some shots at a well known spot: One New Change. I didn’t know this at the time, but this 560,000 square feet location of retail and office spaces is the only large shopping center in the City of London.
As we explored the surrounding areas to St. Paul’s Cathedral, Teo mentioned that we should check out the Barbican Estate if I’d like to see some cool architecture. This location is also home to the Barbican Center, a space that hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theater performances, art exhibitions and much more.
Next on the list, Teo recommended we check out Tate Modern, one of four museums that house a collection of British, international modern and contemporary art. Some of the photos below were taken with my iPhone + Wide Moment Lens.
The bonus: Tate’s observatory, located at the top floor with views of the Thames River, St. Paul’s Cathedral and a 360 degree view of the whole city. We spent over an hour at the observatory, taking the view in and talking about photography before we had to part ways. I ended sticking around much longer to capture the city lights as they started to take over the skyline.
The night ended at the Generator London pub, where I met fellow Canadians and Argentinians among many other amazing humans. There’s definitely no photos from that night, for good measure!
Day 3 in London
After a late wake up call at Generator London, I had to check out and head to my Airbnb. I wasn’t sure on what the hostel experience was going to have in store for me so I had booked two nights in this impressive new listing that put me in Southwark, close to the Elephant and Castle tube station.
Later that day, I was going to meet Sofia, a friend from back home who has been playing lawn hockey since our middle-school days. She has played professionally in Spain, England and now Belgium. We met near the Oxford Circus tube station and were joined by two of Sofi’s friends and instantly got talked into a BBC Channel 3 interview that we weren’t prepared for!
We ended up getting some food before further exploring West London, making our way through Bond Street towards Buckingham Palace. This evening was a highlight of my trip, we talked about life, and really connected on some personal issues we had both experiences in our lives away from home. Some of the things Sofi said to me changed the following days of my trip and my subsequent return to Toronto. We talked to each other about our experiences living away from home, how it affected our experiences and how she had navigated some of the feelings that had made me feel trapped in my life at the time.
This reminded me that we often consider our problems and struggles as issues that only affect us, but that isn’t the case. We need to talk to our closest friends and family to get out on top!
We ended the night at Rekorderlig Cider Lodge on South Bank. This spot was full of Christmas decorations and great music.
After we parted ways, I headed towards Piccadilly Circus. I had been here earlier with my friend Conor but I wanted to capture this busy spot at night, including some long exposure shots. Here’s how they turned out:
[add in when part 2 published] Continue reading about this trip in the next post in these series: Exploring London in 6 Days: Part 2.