Through Jet Lag and Tube Lines: My First Days in London

Hello, everyone! After a 38-hour journey, we finally made it to London. My first thought as we stepped off the plane was a huge sigh of relief; I was so excited. The whole bus ride to our hotel, The Royal National Hotel, I was staring out the window, wanting to take it all in. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved that everything seemed historical and older. I felt like there was a story about everything, which excites me. When trying to learn about the tube system, I was also at first very confused about how it worked, but after a few runs, I think I have now got the hang of it. I have always struggled with reading maps and following them, but these ones were pretty simple and made a lot of sense. Overall, it was a good experience. 

The first night here was so perfect. I loved the Pizza at Seven Dials Market and the gelato at Anita Gelato, which was the perfect combo before the show. I absolutely loved Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, I found myself guessing who I thought the murderer was and playing the game of who done it. Then the next day, after an abrupt start, I really enjoyed our walking tour around Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, and Chinatown. While we were on our walking tour, I wanted to take in every moment. I loved how Leicester Square has the statues around the little park. I enjoyed trying to spot them all. My favorite statues were Paddington and Mary Poppins. As we continued our journey, we got to see the outside of The National Gallery, which looked really cool, and made me so excited to go back and explore later in the trip. Then we went to Chinatown, which was so fun; I was absolutely obsessed with the Bubba we got in Chinatown. Overall, I loved being able to learn about the area and learn all the rich culture London has to offer. 

After we finished up the walking tour, my friends and I went exploring to find a place to eat, but ended up exploring a few more places. We did eat at Seven Dials Market again, but we all tried different places. I had the Mac Hut, and it was one of the best mac and cheeses I’ve had in a while. We then went to a Swedish candy store called Sugarsin, which was very cute and had some good candy. We watched some live music in Covent Garden, and the singer had such an amazing voice.

After being here for a day and a half, one of my favorite things to due is people watch. I noticed how people always seem like they are in a hurry. I also noticed how many kids were out running around on class field trips. I love seeing people go by and the different fashion styles, and how unique everyone is. Overall, today was such a great experience, and I can’t wait to see Les Misérables tonight. 

  • The Mousetrap!!!
  • Strawberry and Wild Berry Gelato
  • Leicester Square
  • That’s a lot of shows!
  • Tube ride!!

BLOG POST 1!!!!! MY THOUGHTS SO FAR!!!!!

The first group to arrive in London got a bit of tube experience as soon as we hit the ground here. As we didn’t have our coach like we planned, we opted to take the tube from Heathrow to our hotel. At first, I was nervous about it, as I’ve heard the tube can be crowded and can be a spot where people might be looking out for tourists to pick pocket. After going through customs we got all of our luggage on the tube to Russell Square (taking up most of the car with all of our bags and people), and started our journey into the city! It was a pretty easy ride, only about 45 minutes. Once we got off the tube, we had to carry our bags up a set of stairs, but then took the lift up the rest of the way. We made it to the hotel, and after getting settled in for a bit, we made our way to dinner at the hotel with the “First Londoners” crew. After dinner I took a nice walk with Jade, Reece, and Claire, over to Waitrose to look around. Our first night was quiet and peaceful, and as most of us were exhausted, we were in bed by 9:30. Waking up the next morning we had no solid plan, as we were just waiting on the other crew to arrive, but once they did, we officially started our London adventures! We took the tube to Leicester Square, where we had dinner at Seven Dials Market and gelato at Anita! 10/10 on both. Next we walked over to the St. Martins theater to see the 30,081st performance of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. It was a fabulous show and a perfect start to our trip. I even guessed the murderer before the end! We took the tube back home, and after some chit chat with friends in our room which led to buying more theater tickets for the rest of the trip, we all went to bed for the night. Today we got more experience on the tube, as after a beautiful walking tour of the Strand and down by Leicester Square, we grabbed lunch and some yummy candy and made our way back to the hotel by tube. We had a small group and the tube was super easy to navigate. Our plan for the rest of today is to see Les Mis! We’ll get even more tube practice 🙂 

It was a lovely first day with the full London crew!