A simple day in London

After 3.5 hours of sleep in a hostel room full of twelve people, I awoke just as I was supposed to meet Sam in the lobby and so I took a shower as fast as I could and ran downstairs. I met him at breakfast which was one of the worst excuses for a breakfast I’ve ever seen, but we ate it so we didn’t have to spend more money and headed out for King’s Cross Station.

The first thing we did was go to buy an Oyster card as I had learned the previous night that you shouldn’t be in London without one. It’s initially £5 for the card, but after that, you can just refill it. We took a train to London Bridge and when we got off, I could not stop complaining about how bad my foot hurt… every time I took a step, it was like torture. I came across a shoe store and went in to buy some soles for my shoes hoping that might solve the problem… unfortunately, it did not.

We continued on to London Bridge, then stopped in a coffee shop situated underneath and had some coffee while recharging our phones. After coffee, we walked across the bridge and to The Tower of London. We then passed by All Hallows-by-the-Tower, which is the oldest church in England, founded in 675. William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was baptized here in 1647 and John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. president, was married here in 1797.

We then continued to walk on and I was probably about to cry from the pain in my foot. At that point, we stumbled upon a running store, which obviously had better shoes than the (too big for me) Dr. Martens that I was wearing. I normally don’t like running shoes for day-to-day wear, but at this point, I didn’t care. I knew that I couldn’t leave that store and walk anymore with the same shoes on so I caved and bought some new Nikes, also discovering once I took my shoe off that I had a blister the size of a quarter on my left foot. I know that may be too much information, but the lesson here is that when it comes to traveling and walking for extensive amounts of time, many day in a row, wearing the same shoes (because there wasn’t room to bring more), you should sacrifice style for comfort… for sure. I learned the hard way and it’s a week and a half later that I’m writing this, and the blister is still healing, but finally getting better.

Anyways, after my shoe dilemma, we decided to get sim cards so our phones could be relevant and we could function properly in 21st society again. I’m exaggerating, but really, smart phones can be quite useful when lost in London or trying to figure out the underground system. We went to vodaphone and purchased a basic package that includes 500 minutes to UK numbers, unlimited texts in the UK, and 1GB data plan for £20. It’s really awesome because it’s only pay as you go, which in the states, is a lot harder to come by so next month, we can choose a whole new plan… and we probably will, because vodaphone isn’t the best on picking up signal.

After getting our phones set up, we felt like we were finally living in the UK, and we went to a nearby coffee shop. Yes I know, more coffee… While I was trying to pay for mine, and fumbling through my various types of coins, the barista asked my name and told me today’s coffee would be free for me. I told the guy he made my day, and he really did, because I was broke at this point.

We sat in this coffee shop for about an hour, finally getting in touch with family and friends back home through iMessage and Whatsapp. I also downloaded the London Tube app which is one of the most useful apps ever. Wherever you are in London, you put in your location and where you’re trying to go, and it’ll give you the directions for the tube which seriously makes life 10x easier.

We took the tube back to King’s Cross and went our separate ways because Sam had plans that evening with his friends, and I had plans with my friend, Alex, who had just moved to London earlier that morning. I took the tube to Stoke Newington, where she was staying, and we met at a Turkish restaurant, which had amazing food. We caught up and talked about our experiences thus far in London, then went to a convenience store and bought cider which we drank on the walk back to her place because there’s no law against open containers in the UK. We finished off our evening at a local bar, down the street, and made plans for breakfast the next morning. Then I hopped a bus back to King’s Cross and went to bed, ready to take the final step to my new home the next day… Newcastle!

Forever wandering and wondering,

Brianna Leilani