Now I'm recently back from a trip to London. I staid there Monday to Friday, which was a good amount of time. Of course i didn't get to explore the whole town because it's huge, but i think i saw some of the most important stuff at least =D
To get from the airport i took the easyBus option, which was the cheapest option, but took longer time. There are also trains you can take for a faster and more comfortable option.
I read a bit on the bus, and after a while i napped a bit, until we came into town where the traffic was slow and unsmooth. Then i took the underground to Edgware Road and walked to the hotel.
My hotel was Winrose Hotel in Sussex Gardens near Edgware Road underground station. I had a nice small room at the top floor with a single bed and a sink. The toilet was in the hallway, shared with the other residents which was totally fine for me. Outside my room was a road with traffic, so it was noisy when the window was open. In London there are many cars and sirens, so not so fun with all that noise xP The hotel had horrible WiFi, so the first few hours i just tried to surf on the internet, but it was really annoying when the internet fell out every 5 sec for two minutes. I ended up buying WiFi access from the hotel next door for my stay to be manageable xD (ssssh don't tell them i told this xD)
The street outside the hotel was a middle eastern street with lots of middle eastern shops and restaurants.
A friend came with me to London. We went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. The food there was disappointing. Just some small potatoes with some kind of filling. So we bought some snack in the shops and went back to the hotel for the night.
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The next day we went on exploring trip headed towards Big Ben. We started down the middle eastern road, through Hyde Park, then somewhere we went the wrong way and ended up on Piccadilly Circus xD I was the map reader so we can blame me xD
From Piccadilly Circus we found the national gallery. Then we found Big Ben finally after the detour!
We then went over the bridge to the other side where London Eye was. We also found London Dungeon that some people had recommended to visit, although we didn't enter this day =p
At this point we were hungry so we looked around for a place to eat (and got fascinated by a street artist so we stood looking at him for like half an hour xD). I found a Latin American place on happycow where i wanted to eat, but i couldn't find it in real life, so we ended up eating at Wagamama. We ordered some curry soup with tofu, noodles and veggies (yes both ordered the same without agreeing on it beforehand xD). It wasn't my favorite meal, but it was ok. Wouldn't order it again though xP
After eating we headed back north, somehow ending up in Chinatown and some other places, before finding the hotel. I was tired from walking so i chilled, watching 13 reasons why on Netflix, which is a very good and interesting series about the reasons why a girl on a high school took her own life.
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Next day i walked a bit around before my friend woke up. Seems i found Paddington not too far from the hotel. When my friend was also awake we headed to Madam Tussaud where we looked at the wax figures and took pictures with them. I met very many famous people that day haha xP The place was crowded with people x) I was surpriced how many different sections there were. Moviepeople, musicpeople, politicians, historic people, sportpeople, marvelpeople, starwarspeople, etc =D kept us busy for quite some hours xD
After Madam Toussaud we ate at Zizzi's, which is a pizzachain. There they had vegan pizza with vegan cheese =D I also wanted dessert but the pizza was too big and filling so i didn't order. Sadly i didn't make it to a Zizzi's again before i left so i never got to taste the dessert =(
After eating my friend wanted to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum. I'm not that into Sherlock Holmes, and i was tired, so i decided to go back to the hotel to rest a bit. After resting for a while with netflix and 13 reasons why i went back outside to the park. There i read a bit in the book i brought, Linnea Myhre - Hver gang du forlater meg, and walked around in the park. It was a very large park, and i only saw a little part of it. Then it got dark and i went back to the hotel for the night =)
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This day i also had time to walk around before my friend woke up. It was beautiful sunny weather =D We then went with the underground to London Dungeon. It was a lot of people in there, so we had to wait like an hour to get in. After going in we had to wait even more xP Then we walked with a large group of people and saw/experienced different settings. It was interesting, but a bit crowded xP
It was kinda nice to get outside again after it was done. The sun was still shining. I wanted to see tower bridge so we headed east along the river. Getting hungry, i started scouting happycow for a place to eat. We had found a greek place when i notice Big V on the app not too far away. Burger was more tempting so we went to try to find it. We found more or less the location with many sale stations on Borough market, but no Big V. After searching the place i found out it wasn't there, so we might as well move on, so we continued walking. Then i found a little street that seemed tempting to check out, so we went in there. There we found Big V, but they were closing down and sold out, so we couldn't buy burgers =( luckily they had some left over veggies we could eat, so we didn't have to walk around hungry anymore! =D
We then continued to Tower Bridge and finally found it!! =D I also found some cool looking buildings xD
Next stop on things to see was Buckingham Palace in a different part of London. I kinda wanted to take a double decker bus, so we jumped on the first that passed, not knowing where it would take us xD All i knew was we needed to go to the right. The bus turned left after a short while, so kinda wrong direction. We went off the bus, and i looked up on google maps how to get to the right place. We then took a normal bus to Victoria Station and walked from there =)
Then double decker bus back to the hotel and chill =D
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Next day was the day to leave London. I woke up at 5 local time and couldn't sleep again, so i watched the rest of 13 reasons why. After some hours my friend woke up too. My friend left London first. My plane was in the evening so i walked around in the warm sunshine, dragging on my luggage, doing the last bit of exploring London.
I took the underground to Kings Cross Station and went to Vx, a vegan shop/cafe!! =D There i ordered wrap, round donut filled with jam, and a cupcake that i ate outside in the sunshine =D everything was super delicious!! =D i also bought some food to bring with me to Norway.
Then i went to Tesco and bought 18 packages with Bourbon cookies!! xD Luckily they fit into my luggage xD
Because it was so nice weather and i was kinda tired i went to some small park and rested/napped. I then went to another park and listened to music. Then i went back to the Kings Cross Station and found platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter and a Harry Potter shop!! Kinda cool, but didn't buy anything xP
I then went to yet another small park and chilled for a bit and tried to recharge my phones using my laptop xD After a while i remembered i needed to get to the airport. My plan was with easyBus again so i rushed to Victoria station and tried to find the bus stop. With no luck. I called my parents in panic since it was 8 minutes to the bus went and i couldn't find it! The conclusion was to take the Gatwick Express train instead so i would have better time and didn't have to stress =p It was cheaper than i thought also, and very easy to use, so I'm kinda happy i didn't find the bus xD
After arriving at the airport i checked in, found some food to eat, and went to the gate. Then flying back to Norway, to the cold, dark, rain. And to my family who had missed me =)
