Warning! Long post ahead because I was too lazy to split this into two posts 🙂

After the hassle in the Dublin airport, we made it to London! We landed at London Heathrow around 1pm and made our way to the tube. Even though most people in Ireland speaks English, a lot of their signs were in Irish still, so it was honestly a relief to finally be in a country where everything was English and I didn’t have to guess at what something said.

                It took us a good forty-five minutes on the tube to reach our hostel. We stayed in the Hammersmith area which is a little West of central London. This was cheaper than staying in the center and our hostel was next door to the tube station so we wouldn’t have an issue getting around.

                I was exhausted from the debacle of the Dublin airport, so I was ready for a nap. I checked in and the lady told me they didn’t have an elevator. No big deal. Then she told me I was on the top floor, room 404. Damn, now it was a slight problem. I was technically on fifth floor according to the US system but since all of Europe and the UK counts the ground floor as floor 0 and not 1, I was on the fourth floor. But it still meant I had to walk up a shit ton of stairs with two heavy backpacks.

                The stairways and halls were tight and there was a faint musty smell throughout the whole building. When I entered the hall on my floor and opened the door that would lead to hall where my room was, I was hit with nasty smell. Like old socks. It was tangy and not at all pleasant. Luckily the smell didn’t permeate into the room. I got lucky and also had a bottom bunk.

                I can confidently say that this hostel in London surpasses the Madrid hostel as being the worst. There was no A/C and the window in our room didn’t open so there was poor ventilation, especially since we were on the top floor. It was hot and the air tasted old. The entire place was quite run down. I don’t mind older buildings and I don’t mind the most basic bunk set up, but I couldn’t even sit down fully on the bottom bunk without hitting my head (and as someone who is short just image how it is for someone over 5ft). The bathroom smelled of mildew and mold.

                There were three showers in the bathroom. The farthest one on the right smelled the best but only the shower in the middle had hooks to place your belongings, otherwise everything would go on the floor and get soaking wet. There wasn’t an outlet in the bathroom so one morning I ended up straightening my hair next to my bed with my phone as my mirror. There was also no paper towels or hand towels or even a dryer.

                This hostel also falls in the category of no kitchen. They did have a microwave and electric kettle. Plus, there was a water bottle refill station in the little common area, so we didn’t have to keep filling our bottles in the sink and I didn’t have to take my ramen into the bathroom. Overall, the hostel was awful, but it certainly was great. If paid anymore than what we did for it, I would have been mad. Still, it was a place to sleep that wasn’t in a super sketchy area and didn’t break the bank.

                I attempted to nap for an hour or so while Chase went out to walk and find something to eat. While I have a bad habit of being able to skip meals and survive off snacks, Chase needs a solid lunch and dinner. Almost as soon as I was falling asleep though, one of roommates woke up from her nap and began watching a video with the volume up and no headphones. Rude. Then she started a really loud phone call during this. Very rude. I feel like it’s common curtesy that if you are sharing a room, particularly a room with strangers, then you should always use headphones and step out of the room to take a call if someone is trying to sleep. But maybe that’s just me.

                After ditching the plan to sleep I met up with Chase a little later on and we stopped for some groceries and then had dinner in the bar beneath the hostel. Because we were staying at the hostel, we got 25% food, special deals on drinks, and a free welcome drink on our first night. This was a pretty good deal but not enough to make up for the state of the actual hostel upstairs.

                They were having a small game night while we were down there, so we joined a game of London themed Kahoot along with others in the bar. No need to brag, but I got third place (no autographs please). Good to know my Kahoot skills from high school didn’t fade. 😉

                The next morning, Chase and I headed out to Tower Bridge. We booked tickets to go inside and this was one of the few things we actually agreed to spend money on. When talking to other people on this trip who had been to London or lived in London, they all agreed that London Tower was not worth the money, but Tower Bridge was. We took the tube into the city and walked across the bridge before heading inside. It’s quite impressive seeing it in person. A lot of people mistake Tower Bridge for London Bridge but in reality, London Bridge is just an ordinary bridge over water, not a fancy suspension bridge like Tower.

                As we walked up the inside of the bridge structure it was cool to see the history and facts about the bridge on the walls. The bridge is made from more than 11,000 tons of steel and cost around 1.184 million pounds (this was back in 1894 so it would much more today, around 143 million pounds). It took eight years to build, and the design was chosen from over 50 submitted.

                We got to walk across the glass floors that were installed in 2014 and can apparently withstand the weight of two elephants or about ten London cabs. I say we walked across the floor, but it was really just me as Chase is not a fan of heights and stayed clear of the glass in the middle of the floor. We got some great views of the city from the top of the bridge though.

                After Tower Bridge we made our way to the British Museum since we had a time slot booked around 1:30. It’s free entry into the museum which made me feel better about going because let’s be honest, most of the things in the British Museum don’t actually belong to the British and are only there because of colonialism and the fact they the Museum refuses to return anything (I will talk about this more in a little bit).

                While I can’t condone how the British Museum acquired everything, I can say the collection is impressive. The museum is massive, the map was not much help in trying to determine where you were or where to go next. Chase started on the top floor, and I started at the bottom. I tried to start in one corner and make my way down and around then back up. I managed for the most part, but it was hard because there is so much to see that you could easily waste thirty minutes to an hour in each room. And there were a lot of rooms.

                There were a lot of interesting things to see but I’ll only touch on a few that stuck out to me. The first was a piece titled “Cradle to Grave” In Sickness and in Health. The work tells the story of an average man and woman through the medications they have taken in their life. There were also photos and different objects to accompany the piece as well. The piece was two long pieces of fabric, one for the man and one for the woman. Sewn into the fabric were real pills that ranged from allergy medications (in the early years) to blood pressure and arthritis medications. I highly encourage googling this piece to learn more because it has such an interesting story to tell. The woman’s fabric is much longer because the man dies in his 70’s from a stroke, despite the fact that for five years she had cancer and took chemo medications.

                I also got to see the original Rosetta stone. This was pretty cool though not going to lie, a little overrated. It was actually more interesting to see a cast they had displayed in a separate room that you were allowed to touch. You could run your fingers over the engravings and actually feel this integral piece of history. The museum had quite a few of these different casts that allowed visitors to touch replicas of the art which was really cool.

                The main piece I wanted to see though was a statue from the Acropolis in Greece. This is massive controversy because the British Museum has only one statue while Greece has the remaining seven (as they rightfully should). The British Museum refuses to return the statue to Greece, claiming it’s “dangerous” and that the statue could be damaged. A court even issued a mandate that the British Museum return the statue and they still refuse. Because of this, I assumed the statue would be in a prominent place. No. It is hidden in a small corner in the back of the museum behind rooms full of Greek and roman statues. The statue is in beautiful condition, and she deserves to be reunited with her sisters in Greece.

                After spending a couple hours in the museum, Chase and I were both starving so we set off to find a burger place his friends had recommended to him. It was actually really good. As a rule, I typically stay away from getting things that are typically American foods in other countries, including the UK and Europe because my experiences haven’t been the best. No offense to Europe, but no burger made in Europe will ever top a burger made in the US. We split ways after lunch, I had some things to buy from the pharmacy and wanted to take a nap or find a park.

                I finally got the chance to buy some dry shampoo (praise be to God) since we were no longer flying, and I didn’t need to worry about bring an aerosol on a plane. I also got a new neck pillow since I lost my other one in the Dublin airport (RIP).

                When I got back to the hostel, I actually got the chance to talk to some of the people in my room. A new girl had moved in that morning named Marie-Jeanie who was from Canada. She is from Quebec so English was actually her second language since Quebec speaks French. The girl who interrupted my nap the other day was named Jenny and she was Italian. Her family actually lived in London for a while and now she was back, but the housing market is so bad in London right now that she was having to live in hostels.

                This was the same issue another girl in the room was having. London is having such a bad housing crisis that hotels and hostels have implemented new rules and policies that you cannot stay in the same hotel/hostel for more than seven days. After your seven days are up, you have to leave. The girl above me in our bunk (who I literally cannot remember her name for the life of me) was from Australia and had an internship in London. She had her work visa and everything, but she couldn’t find housing, so she had been in London for a month and been to four different hostels. I couldn’t imagine how hard it must be to have to move every week and not be able to have a solid place to call home for so long. Even though I am moving around a lot on this trip, I’m not staying in the same city.

                The second day Chase met up with some friends of his and I went off to do my own thing. I booked tickets to go to Kensington Palace because they are holding an exhibition called From Crown to Couture, which is about fashion within royalty and how it corresponds to fashion at red carpet events. Kensington Palace on the outside is very plain, it’s hard to realize that this is where Queen Victoria was born and raised. It honestly just looks like a mansion you would find in the countryside. The inside is much more regal, however, with murals on walls, intricate wallpaper, and a stunning collection of artworks.

                The exhibition was pretty cool though it wasn’t quite what I expected. I was hoping there would be more outfits from the Victorian and Bridgerton type eras, but it was actually most Met Gala and red-carpet outfits worn by celebrities in the last two years. I got see some cool dresses like the iconic dress worn by Blake Lively to the 2021 Met Gala, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Her dress was inspired by the Empire State Building and halfway through the carpet, her bow unfurled to reveal an oxidized copper color to represent the oxidized statue of liberty.

                After Kensington Palace I wander around the gardens for a little while before heading over to Buckingham Palace. I felt that I had to at least see the Palace if I was going to be in London. It’s honestly a lot like seeing the White House, very underwhelming behind some black gates. And lots of people. And kids. So many kids not being watched by their parents. It was interesting to see the Palace and the area though. I walked down the Mall which is the road that leads to Buckingham Palace and is the road that King Charles was driven down for his coronation. British flags everywhere. You might think Americans can go over kill when displaying the American flag but because the coronation had happened a couple weeks ago, there were flags galore.

                From the Palace I walked to Piccadilly Circus cause I was close enough and figured I should at least see it. It’s basically a super crowed square with a statue in the middle and shops all around. Kind of like Times Square in New York only way way smaller, only one big billboard, and no creepy people in fake costumes trying to get you to take a picture with them for money. So maybe not like Times Square at all but it is the big hub in London to go for shopping, food, and the theatres are only a couple blocks East.

                I wandered for a little while, checking out a few shops before I grew tired of the crowd and made my way towards Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Again, another super crowed area and I’m not sure what I expected because it’s a tourist area so of course there was gonna be a ton of people. I got some nice shots of Big Ben, the construction work that has been going on for the past few years was done so there was no scaffolding which was nice. I managed to take a picture of a plane just as it looked like it was gonna hit Big Ben so double nice.

                Now I wanted to go inside Westminster Abbey, but the price of admission was around 25 pounds. Not nice. Again, a religious space that is charging a crazy amount money for admission. If it’s a public space let the public in without paying. I almost managed to get in without paying by going through the gift shop on the side and getting into the courtyard. I lingered a little too long to take a picture though cause an employee caught me only because some lady asked if it was free entry and the guy happened to notice me and realized he never asked for my ticket. Thanks lady.

                By this point I had done a shit ton of walking and was tired so I went back to hostel to rest for a little bit before I would head out that night to see Mamma Mia! In London’s West End. I got tickets for a seat in the Grand Circle which is like the middle balcony. The seat was pretty good for the price I paid, even though to see the very front of the stage I had to lean forward. The show was amazing. Mamma Mia! Is my favorite movie and I love ABBA so getting to see the show live was a dream come true. The actors were fantastic, and the show has a couple more songs not in the movie. At the end, the cast did a sing along and encore where the audience could sing with them (they specifically had signs at the start of the show asking the audience not to sing along during the official show). I had such a great time that I was buzzing by the time it ended and I had to join the crowd of people making up London night life in Covent Garden.

                I walked to a station farther away hoping it would be less crowded, but it didn’t matter because the main line that I needed to take to get back to Hammersmith was down. This meant I had to take a tube line in the opposite direction then changed lines to go back West. In all, it took almost an hour for me to get back to the hostel (in contrast it took many twenty-five minutes to actually get to the theatre area). But it was nothing listening to ABBA couldn’t fix.

                Throughout the whole day I had been fighting the beginning of a cold. I had a buildup of mucus in my chest, and I could feel my sinuses wanting to close. I had taken Mucinex the past two days, but I knew it wasn’t going to get better till I left the hostel. The poor ventilation and mildew were definitely causing me to get sick (I can say this with confidence because I am no longer in London and no longer sick. Once I was out of the hostel a full 24 hours, I was fine).

                I woke the next morning super late. I felt gross and my sinuses had finally closed. I started coughing and just had that gross sick feeling. I didn’t want to waste a day though, so I headed out and had a small meal of random fruits from Lidl and a good two bottles of water. I then went back to Piccadilly because I wanted to check out Hamley’s, a famous toy store that a couple people told me I needed to check out just because it was so big.

                And they weren’t lying. If I was eight, I think I would have been in heaven. It was a good five floors (not including a basement level) full of toys. The entire ground floor was just stuffed animals. As the kid who used to collect stuff animals by the dozen, I would have been begging my dad to give me more souvenir money. The base level contained a ton of Harry Potter stuff, plus some video game items. From there, the floor went: baby/toddler stuff, things considered girl toys, things considered boy toy, puzzles/science games, and then finally, a build-a-bear and Lego floor. Even as an adult the store was super overwhelming. It was cool to get to look around but my God, my head was spinning by the time I left.

                I ended up in a few more stores before getting some lunch. Chase was doing a tour that day to see the white cliffs of Dover so we wouldn’t really meet up till that evening. I wasted the rest of the day just walking around and finally, taking a long nap. I knew going back to the hostel wasn’t going to help my sickness issue, but I was also exhausted and didn’t want to be in public.

                We had to check out of the hostel the next morning to head to Amsterdam, but because we didn’t book seat reservations early enough, we couldn’t take the train to Amsterdam on June 3^rd like we originally planned. Instead, we had opted for a night bus that would leave around 7:30pm and get into Amsterdam around 7am. It was the night bus for $30 or an EasyJet flight for $150. It wasn’t a hard choice. We stored our luggage at the hostel and spent the morning booking accommodations for the rest of the trip. We then went and saw the new Spiderman movie, Across the Spiderverse since both Chase and I loved the first one and figured that since we had time, we might as well see while we were still in an English-speaking country.

                Now for the good stuff: the night bus. Our problems arose early when we needed to leave to get to Victoria Coach Station. From Hammersmith it was only about a twenty-minute tube ride. We had been sitting in a Starbucks in the tube station wasting time and when we decided it wasn’t too early to show up at the bus station, we went back to the hostel across the street and grabbed our bags. Now I don’t what happened in the five minutes it took us to get our stuff, but when we came back to the tube station the entrances to actually get to the trains were closed. Apparently two tube lines were down and there was some type of system error. Great.

                Our next option was taking a bus. Well, we found the bus stop but no bus. Apparently, we had just missed the bus according to the timetable at the bus stop. Great x2. Plan C was getting an Uber. Chase ordered an Uber, and a nice bus driver asked us if we needed help. I told him were going to the Coach Station and that it appeared we had missed the bus that would take us. He then informed me that bus had actually never shown up. So at least there was that. As we were talking another bus pulled in to drop people off. He told me if we hurried that bus was going to drop off at the coach station or close enough. Well Chase and I hurried over only for the driver of that bus to say he was only dropping people off and not picking them up. Great x3.

                Our hopes were on this Uber now to get us to the station in time. Luckily, the Uber actually showed, and we were off to the bus station. Unlike my Uber driver in Lisbon who took some liberties getting to the airport quickly, this Uber driver took as much time in the world as he thought he could. Man stopped at every yellow light possible. My anxiety riddled self-wanted to strangle him as the clock kept getting closer and closer to the time our bus was supposed to leave. Great x4.

                We got dropped off at the bus station at 7:22pm. Our bus left at 7:30pm. I literally ran through the station to get to our platform number ONLY FOR THE BUS TO NOT EVEN BE THERE. By the time 7:30 hit, the bus was still not at the station. So much for running to catch the bus. The bus didn’t actually pull in till almost 15 minutes later. In total, there were only about 13 people taking the bus and, you guessed it, most everyone was a backpacker like us. I mean, who else willingly takes an 11-hour bus overnight?

                We got on the bus, and I discovered my seat that I was assigned didn’t exist. I was seat 4A but rows 3 and 4 had been taken out for some reason on the left side of the bus. Idk why, so Chase and I just sat in row 5. Chase was ecstatic about this because it meant triple the leg room. As someone who is probably as tall as my dad, this man could not have been happier. Because there were only 13 people, everyone got their own row if they wanted it.

                I fell into a half sleep and was woken around 10:30pm when we pulled into the port of the Euro Tunnel. First, everyone had to get off and go through customs on the UK side and get our passports checked. We did this and got back on the bus. Our bus driver came back on the bus with two venti Starbucks coffees. Always a great sign. Then we had to get back off like two minutes down the road to walk across the board into the EU side which was technically going to be France once we crossed the water. Now we hadn’t actually crossed the ocean yet, this was all still in England. So, everyone got off, walked through the bus lane to hand the French customs agent our passports, then we waited for the bus to “drive across the border” and could finally get back on. This was supposedly the last time we would have to get on off.

                The best part of all of this is that no one knew what was going on. We did find out that we technically were on a different bus than the one we were originally supposed to use because the other driver was late. Everyone was making light of the crazy situation we had put ourselves in. Of course, we couldn’t have just boarded the bus in London and been done with it.

                Our driver then pulled off a massive feat of technical driving by pulling the bus into a train car that was barely wide enough to fit the bus. It was quite impressive and made me realize that my parking skills are mediocre at best compared to what he did. So, we crossed through the Euro Tunnel via a bus inside a train. It didn’t take long to cross and when we did, we were in France and officially another hour ahead. It was 12:30am by the time we crossed the tunnel and officially made it to EU ground. The rest of the ride was normal, I moved to a different row so I lay across the seats and fell into a restless sleep. Our bus pulled into Amsterdam at 6:34am.

                Chase and I both agreed that the night bus was worth it. It was a good experience, and something we would do again in a heartbeat. It was less stressful than flying because there was no security or check-in process like an airport. Our tickets and passports got checked when we boarded and that was it. If the tube stations hadn’t been down and the hassle of getting to Victoria Coach Station hadn’t happened, this would have been stress free. All in all, the night bus is the way to go.

                I really enjoyed London and, of course, it gets added as a city that I could see myself living in. London would of course be an easier move just because the language is the same as the US and culturally, the US and England are quite similar. The biggest issue is the housing crisis. Last thing I want to have to deal with if I move abroad is possibly being homeless. But that is a decision for later. For now, I’m going to keep making my list of potential future homes.