Two-Day Trip to London (from Manchester)

First of all let me introduce you to my situation at the moment of the trip because you might be thinking "is she stupid doing a two-day trip to the huge city of London?. " Alright, maybe I was but the thing is that I was working as an aupair near the city of Manchester in the summer 2015 and worked Monday to Friday, so the only time I had to travel the country was on weekends. Fair enough.

A friend of mine was also living in England that summer and so was her boyfriend, who was actually working in London, so she suggested me to go there on a weekend break together as her boyfriend would be working most of the time.

Getting from Manchester to London wasn't a problem at all. There are daily buses and trains that do this journey - at several times of the day actually - and they are not very expensive (I took the bus and it cost me 20 pounds - round trip). The bad thing is that if you take the bus it is like 6 or 7 hours drive - killing. I got on the bus at the airport but it can also be taken in the city - anyway.

Alright, so my friend would be staying at her boyfriend's but what about me? First problem. We were planning this like one-week in advance so I checked out every single accommodation webpages I knew and everything was so damn expensive - I only wanted a bed! I thought I wouldn't be able to go because I had nowhere to stay but on Friday evening my mom gave me the number of one of her friend's daughter who had lived in London for many years even though she was no longer there. I texted her and she said her boyfriend's sister was living in London at the time and that maybe she'd be willing to let me stay at hers for a night - and she did!

What I want you to get from this is that I bet you probably know somebody who knows somebody living in London (there's so many people there you are very likely to "know" somebody there. )

I remind you that this was Friday evening already and the bus I wanted to take was at 6 am on Saturday. Despite my mom calling me crazy I bought the bus tickets to London that night and at 5 am I was taking a taxi to the airport.

The bus had a 40 min delay - where did the English punctuality go? - but anyway, it arrived, I got on it and sat right next to a guy. He was Spanish - what a surprise! There is barely a Spanish person in England! But I have to thank him because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find the Tube and the right line I had to take.

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I guess here is where my trip starts. I arrived at Victoria Station and the first thing I did was to buy a day-ticket for the Tube - I can't remember the exact price but I think it was around 12 pounds. I normally enjoy walking, especially when I'm in a new city so that way I can bump into new people, get lost, see the way the locals live, idk, I just like it. But, sweetheart, dismiss this option if you are in a city as big as London and for so little as two days. The Tube was my best friend during this trip - at first it is a bit confusing tho: there are many lines, many stops, many names and way too many people - but once you get used to it, it's super easy and fun.

*Mind the gap between the train and the platform*

So I started my first day in London with a visit to The British Museum - guys, I'm telling you it is huge, 3 hours there and I probably saw 5% of it, but that 5% was worth it. For those who don't know it is completely free for both locals and tourists.

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After paying a visit to the famous museum, I started to walk with no particular destination in mind. I went to Covent Garden - which I loved specially because of the band playing live, - then to Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown... Then, I decided to take the Tube to the Big Ben and got shocked when I got out of the underground and found it right in front of me, standing huge and majestically. I took a little walk around the area, saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, St James's Park, Victoria Tower...

I believe at some point I had a sandwich for lunch at a park near the British Museum - after taking the most original picture ever next to a phone booth. And for dinner, I did the same thing but this time in Hyde Park - taking a walk home around the area of Marble Arch.

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Next day, I woke up pretty early in the morning, went to Costa Coffee for breakfast and then headed to Camden Town - which was by far my favourite place in London. I took a really long walk around the markets and shops there, bought a couple of souvenirs, enjoyed the atmosphere - but remember not to take pics or videos of anybody, I got told off by a saleswoman at a stand for doing so.

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Then I went to Notting Hill for a walk, bought some Fish&Chips to take away, walked to Holland Park and had my lunch there. After some rest at the park, I went to Portobello Road - beautiful, magical street and got really upset when I found out the market was being closed by the time I got there.

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Around 9pm I was already back at my friend's to pick my things and go to Victoria Station to take the bus back home that night. Quick but nice trip.

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