A Whirlwind Tour of London

When I arrived in Heathrow, the first thing I wanted was a HUUUGE glass of water. Planes are so dehydrating, and sleeping half upright while squished in a tiny little seat is super uncomfortable. Which taught me the first very important thing about London: EVERYTHING IS SO EXPENSIVE. Seriously, a liter bottle of water is like £3 which is basically $6. It’s outrageous.

After I got over the shock of paying that much for something that should be free (hello, Boston water fountains!) and grabbed a sim card for my phone so I could let my parents know I was alive, I went to the meeting point for our tourist group. It was, handily enough, at a place called “The Meeting Point.” We waited for everyone to get there and then went to our first hostel! It was pretty nice, only three people to a room, but we couldn’t check in yet because it was only 10am so we went to our first destination! At this point everyone had been up for at least 18 hours and we were all exhausted, so we bonded over that. The tourist group was mostly Americans, but a few Australians, some people from Taiwan and Canada and one guy from Singapore.

Over the course of the next four days, we saw the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye (which we actually got to ride!), the monument to the great fire of London, which is called the Monument, and dozens of other famous historical places. Of course, here are some highlights (my personal favorites):

Big Ben on the first day

The view from the London Eye

The Tower of London as seen from a boat on the Thames, which was pretty cool. It was more of a ferry than anything else.

Platform 9 and 3/4, in King’s Cross Station- I HAD to see it!

The 311 spiral stairs in the Monument- my legs were shaking by the top!

The actual monument from the outside.

After the four days in London, we went to Oxford for a day, and toured the Oxford New College, which was beautiful, but by then we were all ready to stop living out of our suitcases and settle down, so we headed to Leicester! More on that tomorrow, though- have to go to class!

xx Michaela

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