DAY ONE OUT OF 11 OF BACKPACKING took me to London!!
London was one of my favorite cities in Europe, it was very easy to use the public transportation, the food was good and I didnt have horrible sickness like some other cities (:
I stayed in a hostel (that I learned after staying in a few more after) that was mildly horrible. I was in a all female room with nine bunkbeds, I happened to be the middle bunk in the stack of three. Its quite hard to get into the second bunk, between using the ladder but not all the way and swinging yourself in. My hostel was above a pub and bathrooms were shared for almsot 30 people and were not the best. BUT it was a 15 min walk from Westminister abbey. This was a plus for me and while it was the second worst hostel I stayed in it was only $19 a night. I did have to share the bathroom (3 showers 2 toilets) with men and women which led to some awkward moments. Key to getting to shower in hostels, do it when people are at dinner!
After my one hour flight to london and setting up the hostel I went out for dinner neat the Thames and walked through a market. Then I got mildly lost and walked back and fourth across bridges and looked at the city lights, big ben, and the London eye. Each night I retired early since I was solo traveling and being outside at night was scary to me. I took red double decker busses and always rode on the top. My first bus experience had some hiccups. I was getting ready to leave the top floor and the bus stopped and I lost balance and fell down the 7 stairs to hit the bus wall. IT was a loud bang and I ran off the bus in embarrassment. Was not hurt except my ego.
Day 2
Getting up I got breakfast and had a very traditional breakfast of baked beans, hashbrowns and not so baconlike bacon. This being said beans on toast was not bad but it was too much after about 10 bites. This fueled me for a busy day! I walked to the tower bridge and took lots of pictures even asking someone to take one of me! I ended up walking across the bridge to see the tower of london from the outside. I continued to walk until i made it to Garden on 120 a free viewing platform in a skyskraper. I stayed up there and looked at the city from above. Next stop on my now designated walking tour was St Dunstown of the East, an old burned down church now garden! It was so quiet here I ate a snack and relaxed my hurting feet.
I forget to mention I had a HORRIBLE blister issue starting on the backpacking portion of my journey. It wasnt as bad in London but got worse and worse through my time in Europe. So I needed rest and comfy shoes.
This day was so full I did almsot everything I wanted all at once!
Next I traveled to a FLOATING BOOKSTORE, its a boat full of books all organized and amazing and I even bought one because why not? Since I still had time in my day, I guess thats what happens when you wake up at 8 am I went to Camden Market. This is very touristy and had lots of shops and I did buy souveniers here. I thene was close enough to Soho and Chinatown that I did a nice evening walk and dinner with a beautiful sunset. Since I was only 30 min from my hostel I walked back through the city and saw Buckingham Palace at night. No one was really guarding it but there were a few tourists. Since I dont care at all about British royalty the best I could do was look and walk by at night.
One thing I learned by traveling London alone is how to eat alone and be comfortable. I ate in a resturant at least once a day and markets other times. It is awkward to have no one to speak to for an entire meal but this is not something to be sad about. I needed fuel to keep going on my daily journeys. No one gave me crap for eating alone and I chose more quiet resturants where the servers were always super nice!
Day 3
Waking up early again I ate breakfast at Westmisnister abbey and then proceeded to step on the dead bodies of many buried there. I thought the architechture was beautiful but I knew nothing of Westminister and found it to be basically a morgue. After my tour I went to the Burough market and ate amazing food, got fresh juice and spices for souviners. I loved the market and spent a great deal of time here. To wrap up my last day I had a solo high tea with the mini sandwiches, clotted cream scones and mini desserts it was AMAZING! I walked through Notting Hill on a quiet afternoon. My only shoes that I brought on my backpacking trip decided to break and I ended up buying some chuck taylors with stars on them. Liking the design I left those sad boots in Europe for my new kicks. The blister issues WAS NOT HELPED by these shoes until i finally broke them in in a few days. Also the shoes were white and I did a great deal of hiking in them so not ideal.
My night ened VERY EARLY becase I had to get on a train to the airport at 3 am and get an uber for the first time in my life.
I got to the airport and took the first flight to Munich Germany to meet Verena for my next part of backpacking!
Next up touring Germany and its castels with Verena my bestie from study in Korea!!