London's calling! Xx

This past weekend I headed to my new favorite place on earth- London again. I am in love with this city, i love the anonymity- how you can walk down the street in a super hero costume and everyone would just assume you were going to a stag or hen party, then forget about you completely the 2 minutes later, i even love the weather & don't mind the stairs. This time i was going to meet Rochelle before she goes back home to Arizona & I can't even fully describe how amazing the weekend was! When I first arrived at the hostel I knew that Rochelle's flight had been delayed by an hour and that once she landed in London her phone wouldn't work, so I quickly ran to the co-op (mini supermarket) to grab some snacks, figuring she would be hungry and knowing it would be too late to get any decent food by the time she got settled. When she arrived she seemed a bit overwhelmed by the traveling experience due to the fact that she had 3 very heavy bags with her (I can tell you from experience, that's THE worst). So it pained me to tell her that our room was in the 3rd wing of the hostel, on the top floor... And there were not lifts in the whole building. Yikes. At that point she opted to check her largest bag into the luggage room and just use what was in her carry on, carrying a 60 pound bag up 8 flights of stairs. Hell no.

After the initial set backs we freshened up and headed over to Bodo's Schloss, a super posh alpine themed club on high street Kensington. I was told by everyone I spoke with that the chances of getting in were slim to none- even if you managed to get on a promoters list (which I did thanks to twitter), so I was prepared to wait in a massive cue, or be turned down all together. While we did have to wait it only took about 15 minutes- maybe that's because we didn't make it there until 1 am. As far as London clubs go Bodo was massive, each room leading to yet another room, the music was from 2 years ago but I'm beginning to think that England is just in a time warp when it comes to the media (I'm going to start fucking with people and predicting the future). Rochelle and I danced the night away, making friends with the only other New Yorker in the building (go figure) until 3 am when we decided it was time to get McDonald's and a taxi home. On the walk to McDonald's we asked an attractive stranger if he knew where the nearest cash point was, he directed us towards the nearest one and we realized that he was French, Rochelle and our new friend Jean-Baptiste got to chatting about life in Paris and he then joined us on our quest for McDonald's. Turns out, you can make friends pretty much anywhere in Europe.

The next day our first stop was Primark. I HAD to show Rochelle this store which is basically a broke yet fashionable person's heaven. The store is MASSIVE and you can get everything from dresses to throw pillows, shoes, exercise clothes, tights, beanies and everything is under £20. I've bought beanies from there for literally £3. In love. The draw back? They don't sell their clothes online & it only exists in England.

Next up we headed to check out covent garden- we wandered through the street art market and tried to grab a table at punch and Judy's but there weren't any so we walked over to the Essex serpent and got a table for 3 (Rochelle's from Alex from high school in California was meeting us for lunch- he has been stationed at the Air Force base in Cambridge). We tried to order some ciders while we waited and I was ever so rudely told that we couldn't order until our friend got there and we couldn't take up a table that fit four people with just the two of us. I tried to explain that he was on the tubes coming to meet us and we just wanted to grab a drink while we waited for him and would order food once he arrived. I was rudely ignored and I went back to the table, unsure of whether our ciders were on their way or not (they came 15 minutes later). When Alex arrived he got a lager and Rochelle proceeded to ask me if I was going to get any lunch (we were going to afternoon tea shortly afterward and I had mentioned that I might save my appetite)-- the server then exclaimed "if you're not ordering food you can NOT sit at this table!" Rochelle and I looked at her in shock and told her that Rochelle and Alex planned on ordering food, I just wasn't that hungry. No idea what we ever did to her, but I now understand why Americans started the tipping system- if a server treated me like that back home I'd just leave a crappy tip... Here you don't tip anyway, so they can say and do whatever they want. Anyways, on the plus side the food looked delicious and the company and atmosphere was great!

Next on our agenda was high tea at the Kensington hotel, where Jean-baptiste was also meeting us :). Upon arrival we were greeted by very pleasant staff who took our coats and directed us to a beautiful table by the fire place. We were served champagne, our choice of teapot, tons of yummy finger sandwiches, followed by a gin and tonic sorbet, scones with lemon curd, clotted cream, and strawberry preserves, as well as about 1000 mini desserts. It was the fanciest thing you could possibly do on a cloudy day in south Kensington. It was elegant and super posh but not in the awful "you're not good enough to be here" kind of way. It was great conversation with great people.

We then went back to the hostel to change into some casual pub-hopping attire, but before we went out there was one thing we HAD to do. Kings cross station, platform 9 3/4. Yes, it exists and if you don't know what I'm talking about then you've never seen or read Harry potter & you need to stop reading the blog immediately and go read those instead.

After platform 9 and 3/4 Rochelle, Alex and I went up to a little train station Mexican place for some corona and guacamole while we waited for Alex's friends Andrew and Angie to meet us, I had no idea what the night had in store but I was ready for anything. We started at a pub in Piccadilly Circus, jäger bombs started flowing, followed by some becks lager, then on to the next bar. We wandered down into Soho and I pointed out a busy bar with no line, a full liquor well and good music, we went in ready to dance and have a good time when Rochelle and I looked around and she whispered to me "I think this is a gay bar" it only took me a second to look around and see that she was indeed correct. We waited for the guys to order drinks before telling them-- Andrew and Alex are american Air Force, in my experience- many military men are not pro-gay bar haha, but these two guys?? LOVED it. They started dancing their butts off ordered more drinks and made friends with just about everyone in the building. Amazing.

Next our friends that we met at Le Pop in bar in Paris came to meet up with us as the gay bar was closing and we went over to a random place called Madame jojos. We were instantly transported back in time in the best possible way. Everyone was dancing to Elvis and doing the twist and our crew happily joined in the fun. Go finally got to use my random ballroom dancing talents from my time as an apprentice teacher at Arthur Murray in Scottsdale! Ha!

When we headed back to the hostel Aaron (incredible Australian guy we met in Paris who lives in London) and I sat up in the hallway talking to random people from all over the world until I eventually had to head to sleep.

On Sunday it was time to see the sites, and we couldn't have picked a better day to do it, it was 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) and sunny!! We started with a full English breakfast at a local pub in earls court then took to the tubes to see buckingham palace, went over the embassy to see the royal guard, walked through Hyde park and chatted with a lovely British couple who had the cutest little doxen puppies. They informed us that it was black Sunday a day where the retired members of the royal guard come home and there's this big gala. We tried to follow the marching band music to actually get a photo with a member of the royal guard but we just missed them (I WILL get a picture kissing one on the cheek before I leave the UK). We then kind of just wandered, we saw Westminster abbey, Big Ben, the London eye, parliament buildings, looked over the Southbank bridge on the Thames.. Then caught a double decker bus to Waterloo where we stumbled upon the alchemy food market. I'm not sure how often this market is there but I'm so happy we found it, we tried some samosas and pakooris and had the best homemade chai tea ever! Heavenly.

Next up was Camden town, we stopped and met Alex for a drink at the bucks head pub, and then Rochelle and I explored the Camden Lock which is my favorite place on earth. You can get everything from fancy teas to fur coats, vintage books, a giraffe burger, there's ice cream, riverboat rides, pubs, clubs, vintage shops, local designer shops.. If I ever moved to London THAT is where I'd live (not so shocking fact that's where Aaron lives, go figure.. Lucky bastard.)

As the day was coming to an end we met Rochelle's friend from Australia (that she met in Barcelona) Lauren at the hostel and went over to nandos for dinner. We had heard amazing things about this popular British/Australian chain and the critics were not wrong-- amazing food!

Then it was time for me to catch a coach home to Bournemouth, but it was definitely nice to sleep in a large comfortable bed and shower in a private bathroom.

I will miss every single person I spent this fantastic weekend with, but the way all of us enjoy traveling, I'm sure I will see you in some part of the world! One thing is for sure-- you are all welcome to come and stay at my place wherever I may be.

Till next time London. Xx