I first visited London in 2012 with a few buddies – we were on our first European trek (my second actually) together, and to be honest, we made A LOT of mistakes. We under-researched, over-planned the wrong parts of the trip, and was basically not ready for a lot of what we encountered. We over-payed for hotels and rental cars, not thinking about the simplicities of things like insurance or the cost of gas – and a couple of the guys didn’t bring enough money to survive a week on, so to say the least, things were a bit stressful at times.
The worst part was that London was the last destination we had all planned together – I decided to extend my trip by three days, to visit Amsterdam. By the time we hit London, they had a total of about £20 (about $33.00 USD) between them. But luckily, I made them pay for the hostel ahead of time by booking online, so we wouldn’t have any MAJOR issues. We didn’t research anything about London, we just thought we’d wing it and roll in without a plan – plus, the hostel we booked was a dingy place located in a rough area. Needless to say, we ended up having a bit of a tough time in London, seeing very little, and actually disliking our experience so much that we vowed not to come back again.
However, being a travel writer, I can’t just mark off one of the most iconic and largest multi-cultural cities in the world. So in 2013, as I was finishing up my nearly eight month trek around Europe and northern Africa, I knew I would have to pass through London on my way out to Reykjavík, Iceland, and I decided to do everything I could to make it the best possible experience for me – I even wrote an article on the subject ahead of time.
For this time around, I wanted to make no mistakes, and I absolutely didn’t want to repeat any of my previous silly blunders. I researched, and I researched, and I asked around for the all of the advise I could get my hands on, and with some help from some industry friends, I made it the best time that I could. I researched accommodations and ended up finding a wicked great short-term apartment in Victoria. I researched transportation, considering Mint Coaches, among other options, and I was able to arrange everything accordingly. I made reservations and planned fun mini trips with friends that I met during my travels, who were all based in the area. I even winged a couple of random and interesting experiences, like a helicopter flight over the city – now, THAT was cool!
All in all, now that I’m writing about this in hindsight, I can say that London is a complex place, offering SO MUCH for every kind of person, so while I admit that I had a much more lovely time the second time around, I still have a lot to see and to experience. What was your favorite experience in London? Did you also have a difficult time when you first visited the city?
However, being a travel writer, I can’t just mark off one of the most iconic and largest multi-cultural cities in the world. So in 2013, as I was finishing up my nearly eight month trek around Europe and northern Africa, I knew I would have to pass through London on my way out to Reykjavík, Iceland, and I decided to do everything I could to make it the best possible experience for me – I even wrote an article on the subject ahead of time.
For this time around, I wanted to make no mistakes, and I absolutely didn’t want to repeat any of my previous silly blunders. I researched, and I researched, and I asked around for the all of the advise I could get my hands on, and with some help from some industry friends, I made it the best time that I could. I researched accommodations and ended up finding a wicked great short-term apartment in Victoria. I researched transportation, considering Mint Coaches, among other options, and I was able to arrange everything accordingly. I made reservations and planned fun mini trips with friends that I met during my travels, who were all based in the area. I even winged a couple of random and interesting experiences, like a helicopter flight over the city – now, THAT was cool!
All in all, now that I’m writing about this in hindsight, I can say that London is a complex place, offering SO MUCH for every kind of person, so while I admit that I had a much more lovely time the second time around, I still have a lot to see and to experience. What was your favorite experience in London? Did you also have a difficult time when you first visited the city?
RSS Feed
