February 2014- London, England
I planned for London a year in advance. I wanted to do something spectacular for my 25th birthday. I had never been to Europe before and I thought that England would be an awesome and a good introduction into European life. So after doing extensive research and deciding where I wanted to stay and what I wanted to do; my friend and I booked our trip to the rich city of London, England...
I flew Virgin Atlantic from Orlando, FL to London Gatwick. The journey was about 7 hrs. 35min. I flew into Gatwick because it was significantly cheaper from Orlando than to fly into Heathrow. What I didn't realize was that Gatwick was about an hour and fifteen minutes out of central London...so, I had to get a green tomato private car hire to take me to the hotel. I was so jet lag upon arrival (I got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane), I sleep the entire car ride and that was nice LOL. So, an hour fifteen minutes later, I arrive at my hotel in CENTRAL LONDON! My friend was already there (she flew into Heathrow from Houston). We stayed at the Intercontinental London Westminster. This hotel was ahhhhhhmazzzzze balls! Totally five star! All of the staff was extremely nice and super helpful. The room was gorgeous and the bed- ahhhhh so comfortable. Oh- and not to mention the FREE HOTEL WIDE WIFI! #Winning!
So after we freshened up- it was onward to see the city of London! Our first stop was to go to an authentic London pub located around the corner from the Intercontinental. Here we found out that Londoners definitely take their time with food service LOL. The food at this particular pub was okay but we later found thee best one (which was located right next to our hotel- why we didn't think to go here first is baffling). After eating, we walked about two more blocks and boom- there's Westminster Abbey! The beautiful cathedral Prince William and Duchess Kate got married here. Guess what famous guy we saw shortly after just by looking slightly left??? Big BEN!!!! We continue to walk around acting like tourists snapping hella photographs of literally EVERYTHING. We walk through Trafalgar Square- find ourselves in Oxford circus and end at the British museum. This place was so great and fully of so many different cultures all bottled up in one big building! FYI: ALL MUSEUMS IN LONDON ARE ABSOLUTELY FREEEEE yes FREEEEE ADMISSION! So, when you visit London, there is absolutely NO EXCUSES as to why you can't visit one of their wonderful museums! Oh yes- we also went shopping this day at... TOPSHOP!!!! London's best clothing store (in my opinion)! Ugh, I'd probably be bankrupted if they had a TopShop here in Orlando LOL. Love that store!
The next day we head to Stonehenge (I believe this is a wonder of the world... but I can't find that fact anywhere online to be true- but I swear it is so I'm going to go with it! LOL). Stonehenge is approximately an hour west out of central London. It was so breathtaking to see all of the green pastures along the way. Seeing Stonehenge was speechless because for YEARS I've seen these random stones in a middle of a field, only via textbooks and now I get to see it in REAL life! HELLO! AMAZING! Totally loved going here! Once we got back to the hotel we got ready to go out for some NIGHTLIFE London partying...anddddd lets just say- USA does that better LOL. I had fun though... we went to a place called Penthouse in Leicester Square... and it would have been A+ if 1. They played more recent music and 2. People wore deodorant. LOL.
Helllo-You can't go to London without riding on the iconic red double decker buses... we were lucky enough to go on a tour of the city of London on this bus. FYI: There are really double decker city buses that are in use- I didn't know this before I came LOL. I'm so glad we did this tour; I saw so much of London including the Tower Bridge, Financial district, Piccadilly Circus (Theatre town), a ride on the Thames river andddd BUCKINGHAM PALACE! One thing I would like to do when I go back is to see the Broadway play of Thriller in Piccadilly Circus. Anyway, after the tour we went to ride on the LONDON EYE to see London from different heights- this was so cool!
London is one of my favorite cities now. It's full of tradition and culture and FASHION!!! Oh- best of all- they speak ENGLISH! Lol. I am sure I will be back here numerous times and I'm sooo glad I was able and blessed to come here! My number one things to do when I return are: attend afternoon tea at Harrod's (I bought a nice stripe cocktail dress to go to one- but since my flight was delayed 3hrs, I wasn't able to go to tea :(- still haven't put that dress back on either- smh- someone invite me to your tea so I can wear it!), to see Thriller, go to the London Science and History museum, and of course- SHOP!
