After arriving in France and being here for about three weeks I was so overwhelmed with the language and communication bearers with the people outside of the Abbey grounds that I knew it was time to head to London (where they spoke a language I actually understood without having to put much thought into it). I had already decided, before I left for France, that I wanted to travel to London. My great-grandmother was born there and lived in London until she was 24, and after hearing stories about it all my life I knew I wanted to see it for myself. However, the fact that they spoke English just made it that much more appealing to me. Now do not take this the wrong way, I loved being exposed to the French language and culture, however, after three weeks immersed in it I needed a break. I ended up going to London with Jay, Amanda, Jenny, Elizabeth and Charlotte. We decided to take the Chunnel so we didn't have to worry with the craziness of airport security, however, turns out the security for EuroStar is nearly as bad as airport security. When we arrived in London it took us FOREVER to find our hotel. Make sure to bring a map from wherever you are going into in London to your hotel, it will save you tons of time and money. We literally walked around for 2 hours and when we finally decided to ask someone for directions it turned out we were right where we were suppose to be in the beginning, we just didn't go down the street far enough. When we finally made it to the hotel we had even more problems. We h
ad booked a room for 4 people and had planned to just put more than 2 people per bed. We had done this before when we traveled but it turned out that this hotel wouldn't allow us to do it, so BEWARE and make sure you check all of that information before you leave the Abbey. You can try sneaking in which is what we did before but be prepared for the design of some hotels to make it impossible to sneak people in. I wont put the hotels information on here because it was an awful hotel. Anyways, Amanda and Jay set out to find another hotel room (they volunteered) and were only able to find one that cost about 50 euros a person per night. It also turned out that they could only get that hotel room for one night....and we were staying for two nights. After all of that I decided I would stay with Jay in the hotel. By this point we have been in London for half a day and had hardly seen anything so I just wanted to get into a room, set my stuff down, and go out and explore. Jay and I decided we would worry about finding another room for the next night later. We ended up being able to get a hotel room at the same hotel that our original reservation was at so we were in the same hotel as the other girls. I definitely recommend that if your traveling in groups that you try and stay at the same hotel because it will make it easier when you want to meet up and go do stuff. We stayed in Westminster, which is like a suburb of London. IT WAS AMAZING! If you go to London make sure you stay in Westminster or Nottinghill. (We ended up in Nottinghill during the search for our hotel and it was really nice there to) It is not that far from all of the sights and there were tons of cheap little shops and restaurants all over the place. The subway in London is really easy to navigate but make sure you get an Oyster Card. An Oyster Card is a tube (metro) pass and you put some amount of money on it (I recommend 10-15 pounds for a weekend) and it charges you by the amount of time you are in the tube. It knows how long you are in the tube by you swiping your card so make sure to swipe your Oyster Card when you enter AND EXIT the tube otherwise you will be charged for an hour even if you only spent ten minutes on it. Some places I you have to see in London are Buckingham Palace (I Would not recommend the changing of the guard. Personally I did not like it felt like it was a waist of time, however, the girls with me really enjoyed it so I suppose it just depends on if you like that sort of thing.), The Eye, The Tower of London, St. Pauls Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Big Ben And The National Gallery. We did not go into Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral or The National Gallery but they were all really pretty from the outside. It is, however, absolutely necessary to go on The Eye and go inside The Tower of London. Here is the website for the Tower of London. http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/ It is well worth the money and make sure you wait around and take the Beefeater Tour. The Beefeater's tell you lots of interesting information about the tower but they do it in a funny way. Oh and just so you know the Tower of London is where the crown jewels are located and they are pretty amazing..... Also make sure you use your International Student Card (ISC) at the Tower of London because you get a discount, but it was the only place we were able to find in London that gave discounts to international students. The Eye is also well worth the money (you don't get a discount with your ISC so no reason to try it) and I would also recommend going on it at night because London is really pretty when it's all lit up. You can see St. Paul's in the distance, the modern art museum, and of course the Parliament building and Big Ben. We did not have the time or energy to go out to clubs or bars so I don't have any recommendations for y'all in that department. I do, however, have a recommendation when it comes to shopping in London. We didn't do that much shopping but I did buy the most comfortable shoes I have ever had in my life at a shoe store called Dune. lol It is in the mall in Westminster. They were a little pricey but I did not get one single blister during Paris Week because I wore them everyday, and as you will find out you do A
LOT of walking during Paris Week. I was one of the very few people who didn't have blisters. We also found a Pizza Hut in London which was pretty exciting because it reminded us of home, especially with the workers speaking English. My main advice for anyone traveling to London, at least for a weekend trip like we did, is do not expect to see everything. As a group decide what you want to see and what you want to go in (because you will have to check the hours and see when it's open). What we did was let everyone pick one place they just had to see and we went to those places first and we would either see other things on the way there or, if we had time, would go see them after. Also make sure to just walk around and explore. We found so many neat streets just by walking around and exploring even just the area around the hotel. London was probably one of the most amazing trip I went on while I was in France and it had a lot to do with the people I traveled with. Therefore, make sure and pick your travel partners very carefully because they can either make or break a trip......no pressure though....oh and Enjoy London!!!
ad booked a room for 4 people and had planned to just put more than 2 people per bed. We had done this before when we traveled but it turned out that this hotel wouldn't allow us to do it, so BEWARE and make sure you check all of that information before you leave the Abbey. You can try sneaking in which is what we did before but be prepared for the design of some hotels to make it impossible to sneak people in. I wont put the hotels information on here because it was an awful hotel. Anyways, Amanda and Jay set out to find another hotel room (they volunteered) and were only able to find one that cost about 50 euros a person per night. It also turned out that they could only get that hotel room for one night....and we were staying for two nights. After all of that I decided I would stay with Jay in the hotel. By this point we have been in London for half a day and had hardly seen anything so I just wanted to get into a room, set my stuff down, and go out and explore. Jay and I decided we would worry about finding another room for the next night later. We ended up being able to get a hotel room at the same hotel that our original reservation was at so we were in the same hotel as the other girls. I definitely recommend that if your traveling in groups that you try and stay at the same hotel because it will make it easier when you want to meet up and go do stuff. We stayed in Westminster, which is like a suburb of London. IT WAS AMAZING! If you go to London make sure you stay in Westminster or Nottinghill. (We ended up in Nottinghill during the search for our hotel and it was really nice there to) It is not that far from all of the sights and there were tons of cheap little shops and restaurants all over the place. The subway in London is really easy to navigate but make sure you get an Oyster Card. An Oyster Card is a tube (metro) pass and you put some amount of money on it (I recommend 10-15 pounds for a weekend) and it charges you by the amount of time you are in the tube. It knows how long you are in the tube by you swiping your card so make sure to swipe your Oyster Card when you enter AND EXIT the tube otherwise you will be charged for an hour even if you only spent ten minutes on it. Some places I you have to see in London are Buckingham Palace (I Would not recommend the changing of the guard. Personally I did not like it felt like it was a waist of time, however, the girls with me really enjoyed it so I suppose it just depends on if you like that sort of thing.), The Eye, The Tower of London, St. Pauls Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Big Ben And The National Gallery. We did not go into Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral or The National Gallery but they were all really pretty from the outside. It is, however, absolutely necessary to go on The Eye and go inside The Tower of London. Here is the website for the Tower of London. http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/ It is well worth the money and make sure you wait around and take the Beefeater Tour. The Beefeater's tell you lots of interesting information about the tower but they do it in a funny way. Oh and just so you know the Tower of London is where the crown jewels are located and they are pretty amazing..... Also make sure you use your International Student Card (ISC) at the Tower of London because you get a discount, but it was the only place we were able to find in London that gave discounts to international students. The Eye is also well worth the money (you don't get a discount with your ISC so no reason to try it) and I would also recommend going on it at night because London is really pretty when it's all lit up. You can see St. Paul's in the distance, the modern art museum, and of course the Parliament building and Big Ben. We did not have the time or energy to go out to clubs or bars so I don't have any recommendations for y'all in that department. I do, however, have a recommendation when it comes to shopping in London. We didn't do that much shopping but I did buy the most comfortable shoes I have ever had in my life at a shoe store called Dune. lol It is in the mall in Westminster. They were a little pricey but I did not get one single blister during Paris Week because I wore them everyday, and as you will find out you do A
LOT of walking during Paris Week. I was one of the very few people who didn't have blisters. We also found a Pizza Hut in London which was pretty exciting because it reminded us of home, especially with the workers speaking English. My main advice for anyone traveling to London, at least for a weekend trip like we did, is do not expect to see everything. As a group decide what you want to see and what you want to go in (because you will have to check the hours and see when it's open). What we did was let everyone pick one place they just had to see and we went to those places first and we would either see other things on the way there or, if we had time, would go see them after. Also make sure to just walk around and explore. We found so many neat streets just by walking around and exploring even just the area around the hotel. London was probably one of the most amazing trip I went on while I was in France and it had a lot to do with the people I traveled with. Therefore, make sure and pick your travel partners very carefully because they can either make or break a trip......no pressure though....oh and Enjoy London!!!
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