Travel Stories

My Impressions Of London
By Daniel Scrivner

I absolutely love London! I love the public transportation, the ideals and the attitudes of the city. I love all the gardens, parks and public areas of the city - something seriously lacking in the United States. And I love the sound and look of the people of London.

You can't help but be amused and envious of their accent - especially as a U.S. citizen. All of my life I feel as if I've heard English drawled and butchered. In the U.S. (especially where I live) I often feel as if I'm listening to people who couldn't put a coherent, intelligent sentence together with a fill in the blank book! But in London, I got to hear English spoken as it really should be. And it's beautiful to hear!

I also love the feeling of diversity in city. There's a great mixture of people and cultures in London. You get that feeling on the Tube, walking around the city and even stopping for coffee. From a tourist's point-of-view, there's so much to see in London. And you really get the feeling while touring the city, that there's people all over the world in London that are just there to explore the city's beauty, art and history. It's a great feeling! One I truly enjoyed.

What I Did In LondonBefore my trip was to officially begin with Contiki, I stayed for three nights in London. This was my time to explore the city on my own - without anything or anyone holding me back or adjusting my itinerary. And I had an incredible time!

I checked in with Contiki as soon as I arrived. And then promptly dropped all my baggage off at the hotel, to begin exploring the city. I checked out the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Tower of London, Big Ben, House of Parliament, Royal Palace, and many, many of the cities parks and lakes. And I really took my time to explore each location - stopping for coffee whenever I wanted, eating wherever I wanted, and even purchasing a few books along the way.

What I Liked MostThe thing I like most about London was not any one single attraction, but the general feeling and experience of the city. London is a great city to explore. I remember at one point, trying to navigate from the Tower Bridge over to the Millenium Bridge. And I thought, "This looks so easy! All I need to do is walk down this side of the Thames, along the water, until I get to the Millenium Bridge."

And that turned out to be much easier said than done. But it gave me a great opportunity to find my own way, and explore that part of the city. Along the way, I came to a pitchfork in my path. I could either continue to take the major roads (which seemed to be leading me further and further from the Thames), or take a side alley which appeared empty, but had several people walking out of it. So I took the alley!

And down the alley I ran into a whole, secluded shopping and dining section. The alley was packed with cool wine and cheese shops, pubs, restaurants, and small clothing shops. It turned out to be the best thing I did all day! I ended up stopping at EAT to grab a milkshake, and then just sitting on the side of the Thames, at the end of the alley, just watching the people and soaking up the experience of the city.

It was an awesome day! And I would definitely like to visit London again in the future, and stay for longer than three days.