I can’t believe that I finally did it! I really made my solo-travel dream come true. It’s been on my mind for more than a year now to go back-packing through Europe solo. My original plan was to go on a month long trip across 4 countries spending a week or so in each country. It’s really ambitious now on retrospect. I’m glad I changed my plan and made it a two-week trip to London and Ireland instead. I chose London because I wanted to visit one of my best friends there, and also because it’s an English-speaking country. I figured I should make things easier for myself to be at a place where I can communicate if I need help. I chose Ireland because it looked like a beautiful country, and Irish people are known for their friendliness. This trip turned out to be the trip of a lifetime for me with a lot of stories, challenges, and adventures. Not everything was smooth, but I certainly learned a lot of what I’m capable of physically, mentally, and emotionally. My goal for this trip, beyond my love for travel, was to challenge myself and be truly independent. Every trip that I’ve gone on prior to this, excluding work trips, I’ve gone with family or a partner. When I went on my first work trip solo, I realized how over reliant I was when I didn’t know how to get around. With this trip, I was forced to figure out everything myself. I felt a lot more confident and capable now that I am able to prove to myself I can handle things on my own.
On the day of departure, sis dropped me off at the airport early. At the airport, I remember trying to download Harry Potter so that I could watch on the plane. I wanted to refresh my memory because I knew I was going to visit film locations and the HP Warner Bros tour. That didn’t work out so well, and before I knew it, I had to board. As luck would have had it though, Harry Potter was on the selections of movies to watch on the plane. I think I remember not sleeping much and just binging two or three Harry Potter movies all the way to London.
Arriving at London, I had to make my way to my friend’s apartment by train, or as Londoners call it “the tube.” Getting there wasn’t too hard, but I had over packed for my trip to prepare myself for anything I could’ve possibly need, not knowing that getting around the stations required taking a lot of stairs. To my delight, strangers were more than willing to help carry my luggage every time I had to walk up or down a flight of stairs. And this is why I think traveling solo opens your eyes to seeing the world as it is and not as the media portrays it. I truly think there is a lot of small kindness that never makes for catchy headlines. Arriving at J’s house, his mom made me some noodles and laid out my bed. I waited for J to come home to talk for a bit before I dozed off to sleep.
The next morning, there was some light rain. J’s mom recommended that I go to central London to have breakfast as there are more options there. But after reading a lot of good reviews for Black Cat Cafe in Hackney, I decided to walk there instead. Despite the gloomy weather, I was filled with so much excitement. Europe is so different from America. Everything looks so elegant and charming that walking to somewhere is never boring. At Black Cat Cafe, I had tofu scramble and bread. Everything was delicious, and I love the ambiance, peaceful, earthy, and just perfect for a rainy day.
After breakfast, I made my way to my first stop, the Tower of London. Tower of London is the oldest castle in Europe. Unlike many castles, it was also a fortress and held prisoners as well. Walking the interiors of the castle, I was amazed at how cramped the spaces royals used to live. The stairways and rooms were very narrow and small. Exiting Tower of London, I was immediately greeted by the Tower Bridge right outside. I took a few pictures and made my way to the River Thames. On the way, I grabbed a cup of coffee at a nearby stand. One thing I love about Europe is that they have a variety of milk options so I didn’t have to worry about not having vegan options. The cruise from Tower of London to Westminster lasted about 30 minutes or so. Starring out the window, I remember feeling awed at the blend of ancient and modern structures in London. Both are beautiful in their own ways.
From the dock, I walked alongside the road passing by Big Ben (which was still under construction), Westminster Abbey, and stopping for a few quick snaps at Buckingham Palace.
Having walked for quite a while at this point, I saw a few rickshaws standing idly by Buckingham palace and asked them for their fare. They were going to charge me 20 euros for what would have been a 12 minutes walk. Of course, I chose to walk instead.
Before heading to the Victoria Theater to watch Wicked, the musical, that night I stopped by Wagamama for a delicious bowl of ramen noodles. It felt like the perfect choice in the cold and rainy weather. Wagamama was very hard to find because it was located at the top of a shopping mall and gps kept taking me around the area instead. After finishing dinner, I window shopped at a few nearby places while waiting for the show to start. I love the fashion in London, it is very simple but classy and elegant. London people are also much more fashionable than Americans. On the trains, I would frequently see people so well dressed they looked like they were going to a party. But I know this is normal for them. It was fascinating and nice to see so much eye candy.
Reaching Victoria Theater, J quickly joined me outside. I’ve always loved watching musicals and I’ve heard a lot of good things about Wicked. I was ready to watch an amazing show. To my disappointment though, Wicked failed to keep me engaged. I was literally sleeping halfway through. The storyline and dialogue just didn’t connect with me. I found it shallow and uninspiring. We decided to leave during the intermission. As luck would have it though, I dropped my phone underneath my seat and before I could pick it up a stranger found it. The person in front of us told us he saw a woman picked it up and said that she was going to turn it in. But at this point, I was panicking. How could someone see a phone dropped underneath a seat and didn’t think to ask the person sitting there if it was theirs? We went back and forth asking the guards if someone had turned a phone in. Initially, they said no and I was so worried that whoever it was went away with my phone. If this was in America, it would have been a different story because phone stealing in general is pretty rare as almost everyone has an iphone. But Europe, I’ve heard a lot of horror stories. Fortunately, one of the guards said someone did turn a phone in and I was able to retrieve my phone. What a climatic ending to my first day in Europe indeed. At least it was a good one though and my faith in humanity was restored. 🙂
London Day Two
On my second day in London, J was able to join me as it was a Saturday. We had originally planned to go to the Harry Potter Warner Bros tour this weekend. However, I couldn’t get any last minute tickets so we improvised our plan. We decided to go to Platform 9 3/4 in King’s Cross instead. I remember that it was a rainy day that day. When we reached King’s Cross, there was a long line for taking photos at the platform. We were told that it would be an hour. I thought it was a long wait but worth it since I won’t get a chance to do this anywhere else. Turns out though that the HP Warner Bros tour actually have three replicas haha.
After we took our photos we went to the Harry Potter souvenir shop and took lots of pictures holding various characters’ wands. That was a lot of fun.
Our next stop was the British Museum. It was a huge and beautiful place with many interesting artifacts. I think the most interesting area for me was the Egyptian history. It was very intriguing. By this time, we had done a lot of walking. J and I found a bench to sit and we talked and talked like how we always do. J talked about his difficulty and stress at work and his desire to focus on his spiritual development. I’m glad that our online camaraderie translated to offline as well. Although, I find J to be much more than what I knew of him online. We must have talked for an hour or so. The time quickly flew by.
After the museum, we were both really hungry and decided to grab some dinner. Our top picks of restaurants were booked out so we settled for an Indian vegetarian restaurant called The Sagar. We had some dal soup and thali, I remember the food was delicious but J remarked that he liked the food at his first choice restaurant better. haha
After finishing dinner J took me to Covent Garden. This is apparently where all the expensive shops are at. We watched a live performance there but didn’t do any shopping. Instead, we decided to go to a few clothing stores on the way back.
London Day Three
It rained quite a bit the morning of the third day. Nevertheless, J and I made our way to Kensington Palace. It was such a beautiful place, so big, grand and green. There were also a lot of swans on the lake. Walking around the gardens we heard some marching music playing nearby. To the right, there were a lot of joggers or marathon runners. It was surprising to see that they would still run in such rainy weather.