I've wanted to do this for a long time - my travel diary, but laziness got the best of me. It just takes too much time to upload all the photos and go through all the details lol.
I guess, I'll just write as much as I can remember one year later today and maybe add to it whenever some things comes to mind.
I recorded some day trip details using my phone and facebook, all is not lost (yet).
I spent my first day and the last three days of my EU trip in London. I missed a lot of things and all my electronics were out of charge on the day I did the most of my London tour (major attractions like the Parliament building). London is one of the city I would definitely have to go back and visit again.
First day, when I landed in London, I honestly ...
was scared. I suddenly realized what a huge (mistake) deal it was for me to go to Europe by myself. Alone, for the first time, knowing no one there. I did a lot of research about London, but really, if you've never been to Europe, you don't know shit about it. Good thing I started in London, where English is the official language. I can't imagine if I had chosen Amsterdam as my first city...
Before I embarked on my trip, I did a lot of planning, especially for the France and Italy (first month). I started to go astray from my planning as it was hard to keep up and that led me to missing out some things. - No regrets, though. Will go back again with others, someday I am sure.
I underestimated how HUGE London actually is... I decided to walk on the bank of River Thames to see all the bridges (and partially because Oyster/London subway fare is extremely pricy).
The walking route was recommended on wikitravel.org. Last year, this site was NOT as complete and good as it is now. However, it was a valuable, downloadable resource ( There's an offline app).
**Be ware, ALL London attractions that needs entrance fees are pricy and crowded. It is advisable to buy the London Pass to skip the line or at least save money. Each building can cost 10 pounds or more to enter.**
Must sees/goes in London:
- Big Ben (duh... this is iconic, if you don't see it, why are u there?)
- Tower bridge (again, iconic - it wasn't bombed cuz it was a landmark for the pilots to drop the bombs LOL ironic...)
- Westminster Abbey (this is the church where the royals wed. No photos permitted inside).
- British Museum (HUGE museum, one of the best in the world, and it's free entrance - why not?)
- London Eye (can see all of London, why not. Expensive though)
- Camden Town (SERIOUSLY! GO! Before you buy anything anywhere, look here. Lots of cheaper than all Europe stuff and very interesting market. Somewhat like Asian markets lol - maybe why I love it. Feels like a fair around here!)
- Buckingham palace ( Changing of guards happen in the summer season. Go early in the morning to secure a good spot. It's hard to get one if you go late, and if you're short like me, you'll see almost nothing. Research to know where the best spot is ;) ).
- Kingscross station (if you LOVE Harry Potter like me, you should go see the 9 and 3/4 platform. I missed it. Will go again to see this).
- St. Paul's Cathedral ( The hours are too limited. I need to go back and see this one as well) & Millennium bridge
- Trafalgar Square (not a huge deal, look on Google map lol)
- Tower of London ( I didn't go inside because of the stupid hours- will need to go! - but I heard from the review that it's not worth the price.... hmm... )
Parks in London, hmm... I honestly have no interest in parks, maybe because I live in Vancouver, Canada where parks are huge and everywhere. Some even with beautiful gardens. After I saw almost all the parks that are famous in the countries I visited, I don't know, I just don't think they're as worth visiting as the other sites.
I also went to Tate Modern. For art lovers, this might be a huge deal. For someone like me who knows nearly nothing about art aside from art classes in elementary school. I don't know. I can't really rate them as must sees :P
London deserves a good visit. A long one. It's a huge city with a lot of diversity. There are too much to be seen in 3-4 days. If I go back again, I'll have to plan a more extensive UK trip schedule.
London is one of the cheapest to fly to place from Canada in Europe. Although it is harder (geographically) to get to other countries in mainland Europe. The passage to Paris helps to bring the transportation cost down. There is the train option (Eurostar) you can purchase ticket in advance to get to Paris in a few hours. There are also buses like the iDBus that I took which can take you to Paris cheaply. Megabus is another big bus company that I see is quite good for EU bus travel.
Book early, you can save a tonne of $$.
I'll write about the rest of my trip (hopefully) later. When I have more time... I have a feeling that my next rotation is going to be very easy :P. Fingers crossed!
See ya~
Bye Bye ~ ★
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