Feeling local in London
I love going to London. It is one of those big cities which has a very different vibration to some other places I have been to. London is energetic, vibrant, open-minded and it feels safe. People are friendly towards tourists and spontaneously strike a conversation with you or ask where you are going to when you look a bit lost.
There are so many things to see in London; history, architecture, social life, restaurants, events, people, royalty, museums. You could spend weeks and weeks exploring everything there. End of April, I visited London with some friends and we spent four wonderful days just hanging out and doing what locals would so…well, excluding the walking around touristic attractions maybe. During my previous visits, I have not felt that “local” because all I have done is shopping, and going to the very touristy places in London. The biggest thanks for this experience goes to my friend who lives in London and showed us around.
The highlights of the trip included South Bank, Pubbing, Mexican Street Food restaurant, Indian food at Khans of Bayswater and going to the Science Museum and visiting Long Tall Sally shop. I also really liked our walk in the city and seeing Buckingham Palace, Westminister and Big Ben, Millenium Bridge, Tower of London, London Bridge and using the London Black cabs.
When choosing a hotel in London, it’s always a bit scary. Good thing there are sites like TripAdvisor and Bookings.com, where you can read other traveler’s experiences of the hotel you are going to stay, or even choose your hotel based on the reviews. No matter the hotel I’ve been to, there is one thing that sucks every time, and it’s the water pressure. You can’t take a quick shower because it takes about 10 mins to get wet.
This time we stayed in one of the hotels near Earl’s Court, which was perfect. Location Location Location!! The hotel was only 2 mins walk away from the tube station and there was a nice selection of pubs, grocery stores and other restaurants in the area. It also felt like a very friendly neighborhood.
The weather was also cooperating with us, two days were fairly good weather, and only one day it was raining. I liked London this time of the year. I think that I have only visited it in February and November previously, and I was informed that those are the worse months in London. I can agree with that.
April in London is so much more vibrant, energetic and beautiful. It is like the city is waking up from a long dark night. I can’t wait to go there again!
