LONDON!
On Friday I went to London for the day! I had to get up at 6:30am but for some reason I woke up at 5am and then couldn’t get back to sleep. So I got up at 5:30am in the morning, after going to bed at midnight and not falling asleep until about 2am. I was exhausted. This was the first thing to go wrong in a very short amount of time. I then discovered that I had an allergic reaction to either the moisturiser or the shaving cream I used the night before in an effort to make my legs smooth and hairless for the day. This hasn’t happened to me in years. I was so pissed off. I thought that finally, as I was growing up, my skin was becoming less sensitive. Clearly I was wrong. I got ready, putting on my new clothes despite the fact my legs were now decorated with a lovely red rash. I was determined to wear my new outfit, thinking I would like to look pretty once and that it was going to be a hot day and I didn’t want to cover up too much. Upon seeing my outfit my dad remarked that it looked like I was still in my pajamas, and any remaining confidence I had was crushed. Arrived at the station, tired and feeling quite self conscience. Decided to wear my hair loose, though typically the one time I wear it down it is all flat and hideous.
All those little things put me in such a bad mood and made me anxious for the day. I was already nervous going all the way to London by myself and by that point I had come to the conclusion that either the day was going to continue to suck, or after a horrible morning it would pick up and become a nice day.
Arrived in London a few hours later. Had to text my father my location so I played a small game. Texted him:
“Agent C has been spotted at London Euston heading towards the underground.”
to which my father replied?
“You have given me a problem. I am supposed to eat all secret messages.”
I laughed out loud. Weirdness clearly runs in my family XD
Now came my first challenge: navigating the underground. I managed to work out which line I needed to be one and then I had to find out where I was bound. I sat down on the train and clutched my bag to me, feeling anxious that I’d made the wrong decision. After a while I relaxed as I realised I was heading in the right direction, and as I got off at the right station I couldn’t help but smile, feeling a little proud of myself. I walked up to Trafalgar square, in search of the South African embassy. The main point of this trip was to go the embassy and pick up some documents for me and my sister. It was quite early in the morning and the subway had been relatively empty, and Trafalgar square was also surprisingly quiet. I took out my map and managed to find the embassy without any wrong turns! Another success, and by this time my mood was picking up. My biggest fear was getting lost but I could totally do this. Had to queue for quite a while at the embassy but that went smoothly too.
After that it was nearing lunchtime. I didn’t feel hungry and I decided to head towards the South African shop in search of goodies. I had to make my way from Trafalgar square. I followed the signs and ended up on a street I vaguely recognised as the right direction. It was really quiet, so I just ambled along at a reasonably slow pace, drinking in my surroundings. Not that there was much to see. I ended up at Covent garden market as I wanted. Another success! I paused to watch a street performer but he was taking forever building up to his performance and I didn’t have the patience to wait. I by passed the Covent garden market, checked my map, went down what I thought may be the right street- and found the South African shop. Bought £10 worth of delightful goodies for me and my family : )
So I was feeling pretty good at that point. I was petrified of getting lost but I had managed so far. The weather was lovely, a little too hot but reasonable. My new clothes were very comfortable and ideal for the weather (and by this point I had stopped caring about how I looked. So what according to my father I looked like I was in my pajamas. I was comfortable and I liked them. That was all that mattered to me).
I decided to head to the Natural History museum then. I had a day pass for the underground that would run out at 4pm, and the museums were reasonably far from everywhere else I needed and wanted to go and I didn’t want to be stranded there by going too late. I once again managed to get on the right train and got there in one piece. The weather was getting even warmer, bright and sunny and beautiful but fucking hot. I found an empty bench and sat down, opening a can of orange Fanta I bought from the South African shop. I sat and people watched. There were quite a few school groups, lots of tourists, lots of kids. As I was finishing my Fanta a large group came towards my bench. I thought that I better move, that I was being selfish hogging this bench to myself. So I mumbled something along the lines of “You want?” and picked all my stuff up. The woman I was giving the bench to seemed horrified that I was moving for her, so I turned to tell her it’s OK I was going anyway and then walked smack bang into another group of tourists as I turned back in an effort to escape the awkward situation I had created. Smooth, real smooth. I felt so embarrassed…I practically ran toward the entrance queue.
Inside the Natural History museum was hot and stuffy and overcrowded. I wanted to check out the dinosaurs so I followed the signs and found myself shuffling along with everyone else through the exhibit, barely having the chance to take pictures or stop and look because there were just too many people. Also T-REX was undergoing repair so I couldn’t go upstairs and view the exhibit from above, which took away half the fun. After looking through the dinosaurs I headed towards the mammals, decided it was too hot and too stuffy and too crowded and too many kids and realised belatedly never to go to major tourist attractions at lunch time. I headed back to the entrance and made the decision to head to the Embankment and walk along there.
I went back to the Subway and as I was waiting for the train this Chinese women comes up to me and says in broken English something about parliament. I assumed she wanted to go the houses of parliament and told her she needs to go to Westminster. She asked me which side is the right side for her train and I gestured, telling her that the train coming to the left is the right one. She showed me this Chinese handbook and pointed at a place on a little map and asked me if that is where she is going. I resit the urge to go “WTF woman your handbook is in Chinese. Do I look like I a speak Chinese? And you know I barely understand the subway in English- how do I know if that is right?” so I smiled instead and repeated that she wants to go to Westminster and this was the right train. The train came and I get on and women does not follow. idk if she ever found her way to wherever she wanted to go. And this was the second time I’d tried and failed to be nice to tourists ;__;
It was so hot by this point. I felt all icky and sweaty. Thankfully my clothes were mainly loose so they didn’t stick to me and I wasn’t wearing anything too heavy to make me feel to uncomfortable. I got off at Westminster and decided to look at the Houses of Parliament as I have never before. I walked half way across Westminster bridge then headed back and wandered along the embankment, taking lots of pictures and admiring the view. From Embankment I decided to walk back to Covent Garden and Leicester road and try and find Chinatown. It was a long walk and it was much busier than earlier. I was hot and my feet were beginning to hurt and I was beginning to feel hungry. The most interesting thing I passed on the was there was a Korean culture center, which for some reason I decided not to go into. I eventually found some shops with Chinese writing on and assumed I was in Chinatown. But what I was looking for was the section with the red gates. After much wandering around and going round in circles and back on myself I found it!
Chinatown was disappointing :( It was mainly Chinese restaurants! I thought there would be some nice gift shops or something more interesting. There were some lovely bakeries which I eagerly looked through the windows of and this awesome pancake place which sold pancakes with some bizarre filling like red bean paste and ice cream. I wandered through and looked in all the windows, admired some of the architecture and stuff, and I went into this little market selling Hello Kitty goods and even some anime stuff which was quite nice. Bought some adorable stickers there (even though my goal this year has been to cut back on how many stickers I buy. I am so obsessed with stickers and I never use them). There were some Korean restaurants close by and I was tempted to get lunch there, as I was quite hungry, but I felt too scared. In my opinion it’s best to try new food when you are with someone, so if you don’t like it they can help you eat it, so they can suggest what to eat hopefully etc etc.
I was really hungry though. I searched around for some place to eat but there were just expensive pizza places and sushi bars and Chinese restaurants. I decided to head back to Covent garden market and see if there was a good place there. Feeling lazy I hopped on the subway. I did not realise Covent garden subway is very far from anywhere I recognised. I ended up on a high street. I wandered in one direction and didn’t find anything so wandered back, trying to find a place to eat and also somewhere I reconsidered. I found a subway store. The guy serving me barely understood English -__- Making my order was awkward. Also I was wearing my phone in a pouch round my neck and he asked about it. Actually I have no idea what he asked but I said yes anyway. I was hot, tired, my feet hurt. I was lost. I just wanted food and to sit and rest. I sat down and texted my dad, for once not using the agent C thing I had been determined to use all day (and had been using all day, telling him where I was and where I was going because he wanted me too). He phoned and I complained to him then I guzzled my food, had a long drink.
I had no idea where I was so I found the nearest subway and headed to Tottenham court road, figuring I might as well head back to Euston. My dad said Tottenham court road was really interesting but I saw nothing there. Then again I was concentrating on battling the heat and dragging myself forward. I was growing tired and moody and totally fed up by this point. I had enough of all the people and the heat and dragging my stuff around and aching feat. I found a Tesco express sand bought an ice lolly, but it was so hot the stupid thing ended up melting and drizzling all over my hands -___- Eventually found a nice cool place to sit and just rested, people watched, looked at my photos, recovered. But it was only like 4pm and my train was at 6pm. :( I got to Euston way ahead of schedule and wanted to take an earlier train, but my ticket was an off-peak and I wasn’t sure I was allowed to go on it. I bought some coke and sat down, feeling thoroughly shitty.
I realised belatedly that there were certain things I should have done: looked around Covent garden market, Stayed longer at the Natural History museum and visited the Victoria and Albert museum afterwards, visited the Korean cultural center, be more adventurous in China Town and less cheap. There were many things I could have done that would have saved me that long long wait in Euston. Though to be honest I was not feeling well, I was a little dizzy and nauseous and so so tired. I’d been up since 5am of course, and on the go constantly. Long train rides, lots of walking in the heat. It takes a lot of energy and I was drained. So I found a seat and I read the book I had brought with me and I waited.
Turns out because I have a rail card I could have gotten the earlier train =__=
I arrived home only an hour and a half later and my dad treated me to McDonalds. I wasn’t feeling very well when I got home and ended up going to bed at 22:30pm. I never go to bed before 23:00pm but I felt dizzy and ill. So I lay down and read until midnight.
All in all there were some fun bits to the trip and some not so fun bits. It was worth going, and I am also glad I picked up those documents from the Embassy and of course got the nice things from the South African shop. I have however come to the conclusion that I am going to die in Tokyo. I barely handled London on Friday, how will I cope in Tokyo? It is going to be even more crowded, and even hotter, and in Japanese. HELP.
Also I found out yesterday that I chose the hottest day of the year to visit London. 30 degrees- no wonder I felt so hot!
PS. If anyone is interested the images are uploaded here and you can also find a couple more there : )