11 Days in London Town

Despite having had mixed reviews about London from various people, it didn't take long after arriving there for me to form my own opinion of the city and it was without doubt a positive one. I couldn't put my love for the city down to any one thing but the combination of amazing architecture, fantastic shopping, wide variety of people and the tube system are all major contributers toward me being so easily wooed by this city.

I spent 11 days in London after Thailand and I have to say I didn't actually do a lot aside from eat, shop, catch up with friends, shop and shop some more. I did manage to fit in a few of the sights like Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, the London Tower and Tower Bridge but considering how long I was there it was quite a pitiful effort really, especially in comparison to the amount of time I spent shopping. It got to the point where I avoided leaving the house as every time I'd end up coming home with a new item of clothing. But hey, what could I do, it wasn't my fault my wardrobe needed to have some additions in order to protect me from the cold.

Over 300 languages are spoken within the city which makes it a rare occurrence to actually hear an English accent whilst wandering the bustling streets. With such a wide variety of people, it is a fantastic place to people watch and during my watching and shopping I realised why London is one of the fashion capitals of the world. A vast majority of Londoners are dressed fantastically and so they should be as there is no excuse to be dressed badly with the massive selection of clothing stores available to them.

The architecture is truly amazing. No matter how many photos or movies you see of the place prior to arriving, nothing can really prepare you for the magnificence of the city when you're standing amongst all the buildings. I think coming from such a "new" country like New Zealand makes it all the more amazing, with many of the buildings in London being older than our home country.

I made use of the tubes as soon as I stepped off the plane, getting the express into Paddington. Being from NZ, where the public transport is in all honesty, piss poor, going on the tube was a real novelty and it being so easy to use made it all the more fun. I loved blending into the crowds on the underground by being able to swipe my oyster card, keeping to the right of the escalators (or looking like I had somewhere important to be and racing up on the left!) and getting on at the front or back in order to avoid the hordes of tourists that jump on in the middle. What a loser I am.

Obviously catching up with friends was a major highlight of my time in London. I was lucky enough to be able to spread myself between three friends houses and was very grateful of my gracious hosts. As much as I love my month of solo travel, it was nice to be able to hang out with people who actually knew me so I didn't have to do the whole spell out my name thing or get the usual blank look when telling people I was a Loans Analyst or listen to any "I have an Aunty that lives in NZ" stories.

So all in all, I loved London and I'm really looking forward to moving there in a few months. Not that I'm wanting to rush my time in Scotland or Spain of course, but I do think I'm going to enjoy immersing myself into London life, provided I don't find it too difficult to find a perfectly romantic location for a flat, you know right by Hyde Park.. and of course a job that will sponsor so me I can stay in the UK for longer than my 2 year visa. Easy peasy, right?