Up till now, whenever I've thought of London it usually brings up a few things;
- Bend it like Beckham (great movie)
- Tea, Crumpets and the Queen
- Harry Potter (Blimey Harry, didn't your parents ever tell ya, you're a wizard…)
These thoughts were of course quickly swept away as I walked the streets.
London is quite apart from other European cities. Notably, it's kept it's own currency (pounds or quid as locals refer to it), which made it difficult to pay for the bus into the city from the airport. I had to quickly dash over to the ATM to withdraw 50 pounds so I could pay the driver 10. But here's where the troubles began, I missed my stop because I had headphones on, so got off at the next one.
However, let me tell you. London is not an easy city to navigate if you're just dropped there with no clue where to go. The map of the tube looks like a child scribbled all over it with crayons. It's your job to figure out where the lines go and what grade he/she deserves. (F in readability, A+ in fundamentals)
Turns out the kid was pretty smart cause the tube is the best connected underground system I've seen yet. Sure, it has it's flaws, but what system doesn't. For Londoners there's always a way to get around. (Busses, Bikes, Shuttles, cabs etc.)
With the help of a fellow passenger on the bus, I was able get to the right stop and walk down to my hostel. (near Regent Park if anyone's familiar) As usual, after dropping off my stuff I headed out to explore the city (close to 11:30PM now) which is perfect because it's a Friday night and everybody's out and about. As I headed to SOHO I got slightly turned around and asked a group of people where I was, and turned out I was in the smack dab middle of the neighbourhood. A fellow in the group quickly offered to show me around and took me out to a bar nearby.
The rest is a giant amazing blur, as before I knew it, we went from a pair to a group of 6. We spent the entire night out, hopping from bar to clubs and exploring the city. It was an absolute delight to meet these people and they really made it a special night for me! Cheers to the whole lot of you :)
I'm going to conclude this post here, because in the next one I'll go into the thoughts that I have about London.
