In October 2017 we decided to see what this well-known city has to offer. So we packed our backpacks with stuff for 4 days and got on the plane. Our crew had 3 members. My sister with her pink glasses and perfect vision for this backpacking trip, her boyfriend, who was ready to spend this weekend with her and film it all and then there was me, making sure this trip is more cool and fun than romantic.
Sights and nights
On our way from the airport, as we walked through the city center towards the place we rented over Airbnb, we passed by many sights. We saw the Tower Bridge, Tower of London, London Wall, The Monument, even the Shakespeare’s Globe. My sister was slightly disappointed because we saw about half of the places she planned to go to during the following day, but we got her some food and she got through it.
We spent a night in a 3floor tall house, where each floor had just 2 rooms. Our bedroom was right next to the bathroom. Lucky us, that we got to prepare a breakfast upstairs and our neighbors were taking shower right behind a paper-thin wall.
Crossing the Westminster bridge, we walked to the London Eye and to the under reconstruction Big Ben. After a little confusion about the Buckingham palace and a statement that the palace should be the other building, because it simply looks better, we walked a few parks and chilled with all the animals they had there.
For the next night we booked a hotel, and since I had quite enough by the end of the day, I just stayed there and let our lovely couple to go and enjoy a cup of tea just by themselves. In the morning, we got free breakfast in the hotel, which was great because we got to prepare even a snack for later and we were good to go.
We watched some performances of street artists, musicians and living statues. We went to the Twinings store, M&M’s house and got lunch in China town. One of my favorite places we explored was the Nomadic Community Garden. It is a place with graffiti all around and a garden made out of garbage with a little café. Incredible and unexpectable.
We spend the third night in a so called hotel on a busy street, where the only great thing was the fact, that I found a storage in the kitchen with a big amount of Lotus cookies. So, I ate about half of them.
The last day, we rented bikes so we could see the city form a different perspective. Well, instead of the perspective, we got some solid argue going on. Riding on the other side of the road confused not only one of us, but since Milka (my sisters boyfriend) was riding first, the responsibility fell on his shoulders, and he had to take some not so nice words out of my sister’s mouth. I got yelled at for trying to stop them fighting or maybe for being pain in the ass from the very beginning, I don’t even know. Anyways, we got to the Sky Garden from where we had an outstanding view on the whole city – At least that perspective we got.
Food
Maky (my sister) got what she was excited about the most – her first fish and chips, on the very first day of our stay. According to her words, “It was great” and the fry I stole from her was good too. I mean, it was a regular fry. One of the best places we found there was the Borough Market. It had hundreds of stands, situated as a maze so we could just wonder through. We all got something to bite into. Maky got her first fudge, Milka got a doughnut and I got some rice with a spicy indian sauce and chickpeas in it. The next time we came, Milka tried different types of exotic meat (hopefully not just to make me mad) and we were all just munching on some fresh rosemary pastry. Chinese food in Chinatown and some fruit on the way. Oh, and we tried tamarind for the first time. Ehm, we didn’t like it at all.
The highlights
My favorite thing was probably feeding the squirrels in a park. One of them even climbed up my leg! But as soon as she realized that I’m just fooling her, she ran away. I also loved the Borough Market as well as the Twinings store, where we were just sniffing different types of tea for about an hour straight. The street artists were great and the Nomadic Community Garden amazed me. The view from the Sky Garden was spectacular and the Tower Bridge is just classic.
There is definitely a lot to see and a lot to experience. We went really low-cost this whole trip, but if you are willing to invest in it, you’re gonna have a whole different experience. But low-cost or pricy, London has a lot to offer.
Where I have been 