Lost in London

I prefer traveling in cities over doing only a beach vacation or hiking tour. This is especially true with solo-traveling. To go alone to the beach means I worry about my personal stuff when I go for a swim, and hiking in an area I don’t know and to have an accident while doing so is my personal nightmare. That is the reason why I prefer city tours when traveling and for that London is perfect!

I’ve been alone in London two times and this two trips differ a lot from each other. The first time was in 2009 and it was my second time traveling alone. Again I decided for an accommodation a little bit more outside, but with a way better connection to the centre of the city. It was also my first time using a hostel because London is very expensive and I couldn’t find any hotel in my budget. Fortunately for me the room was empty except for me, unfortunately they made a mistake with booking and when I arrived they told me, that I couldn’t stay the last night there. Since this was the time when most of us still were offline during traveling I went to some tourist information for help. They found me a room in a hotel and since it was only for one night, I was okay to pay that ridiculous price they wanted. When I went to the hotel I was quite surprised, it was in one of the most expensive neighborhoods and let’s say… I didn’t looked like I belong there at all. But they let me in and I spent my last night of that vacation in a room which reminded me of the bed chamber of Harry Potter. Yes, the one at the Dursleys. Under the stairs. It was a single bed and I was lucky that my suitcase fit between the bed and the wall.

During that trip it was all about theatre. I found out that you can buy reduced last minute tickets for the theatre at Leicester Square. I went there and had three plays on my list which I thought about to see. I thought that I will have problems to get a seat on such a short notice at all and then they told me that I actually can have a ticket for every show I had on my list, I just have to decide when I see what. And it was much cheaper than I thought, so of course I decided to see them all. I saw Chicago, Les Miserable and Spring Awakening. Chicago was good, but didn’t impress me much. But I still remember the stage of the other two plays and how much I loved them. I knew the story of Spring Awakening because the origin is a german play I read in school and it is one of my favorites (yeah I know… it’s kinda disturbing), but I was surprised to see it as a musical. And since the story is kinda dark I had some problems with that, especially the rape scene irritated me (even more when after the break they repeat it). But I also have to admit, the songs are catchy, I still like to hear some of them. Les Miserable was more like I remembered it and quite impressive. The stage was rather empty so the focus was more on the persons and their story.

The rest of the trip I spent walking through the city mostly. I got lost very often because there are a lot of tiny streets, which weren’t always on my map and I think the left-hand traffic influence the structure of the city. But I am not sure about that. If everyone knows more about if and how the left-hand traffic influence orientation or city structure tell me! At one point I put away my map and focused on enjoying what I see. Several times I found out that I missed sensations because I was too early or to late on a spot and didn’t know about what happened there. One of the biggest regrets of mine was that on one evening I decided to see Piccadilly Circus “tomorrow”. Because (as I found out the next morning) on that evening they filmed on Piccadilly Circus one of the scenes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Every time I see that scene in the movie my heart goes heavy again. I was such a big fan to that time, it would have been amazing. However, I couldn’t change it and all in all this vacation was really nice and surprisingly very sunny!

About my other trips to London I’ll tell you another time. So, follow me for updates!