(One of the pictures I got from the London Eye)
So, if you haven't already, you should check out the previous blog I wrote sharing my experience at Star Wars Celebration Europe which took place in London. This blog will be more about my time specifically in London. It was my first time overseas, and I had a blast.
I have kind of a funny store to talk about my first actual moments in London after I left the airport. I took the train from the airport to the nearest station for connecting train rides. What should have apparently taken me only an hour to get to where my hotel was, actually took me 3-4 hours. I got lost in the tube system ha-ha. I went on one underground train, not knowing where it went, and it just spiraled from there. At one point, I went out walking in the streets somewhere that turned out to be miles away from the hotel to end up going back underground. Luckily for me, Brian Ballance was already in London and he helped me through this app called Citymapper to get to where the hotel was. Brian and I were bunking together, so he was waiting for me at the hotel. When I finally got to the hotel where Brian was waiting for me, I found out that we were at the wrong hotel when I tried to check in. So, our hotel was Travelodge London City Airport, the hotel we were currently at was Travelodge Excel London. Brian waited for me at the wrong hotel ha-ha. So, we walked about a mile to our actual hotel to find out that we weren't able to check-in early. Luckily, we were able to leave our luggage there.
Since we had time to spare before we could actually check-in, we went to this place around the corner from where Excel London was for breakfast. They take their breakfast seriously over there in the U.K. I got to enjoy my first Full English Breakfast. I don't remember the name of that restaurant, but Brian and I went back there more than once throughout our stay in London. It was a nice little place to go to. One evening after Celebration, we hung out at a table outside the restaurant drinking hot tea and enjoying the cold, fresh air.
(Full English Breakfast)
Speaking of cold, it was cold the entire time we were there. I'm originally from Washington State, but I've grown up in Florida where it's almost always hot. I actually like the cold. You can wear as much clothes as you want to stay warm when it's cold, but you can't get completely naked when it's hot outside. During my stay, it got in the 30 degree Fahrenheit range for the lows with a high in the 50 degree Fahrenheit range for the highs. London actually reminded me a lot of Seattle. London even had the same kind of sprinkle rain as Seattle.
Let's talk about our hotel again. After saying hi to some friends and having breakfast, we go back to the hotel where we left our luggage. A nice young girl name Demi that worked there helped us out. Brian and I get to our room and find out that we just so happened to get a handicapped room. We were trying to figure out how to turn the light on in the bathroom. Brian pulled a string, and all of the sudden Demi comes knocking on our door asking if we were alright because Brian pulled the red emergency string. The shower in the bathroom didn't have anything on the floor to stop water from flooding the bathroom. There was a drain in the center of the shower area, but it was clogged or something because it took forever for the water to drain. We had to use the toilet with our feet covered in cold water ha-ha. Our beds were really small on the floor and next to each other. With all of that said, Demi and the rest of the staff at the hotel were all really nice and helpful.
Even though I got lost during my first 3-4 hours in England, I actually really enjoyed the traveling around London experience. If I ever move to London, I would never need to own or drive a car. There's transportation that will literally take you anywhere in London. With an Oyster Card I was able to get around without having to worry about anyone snatching my wallet away from me. Thanks to that card I was able to ride different trains, double decker buses, and a ferry. There was a couple of times or so where we used an Uber driver just because it was more convenient at the time. All of the Uber drivers that we had were very friendly and talkative. Speaking of people, we came across some interesting people in our travels around London. There was one guy that was hard core dancing on a train holding onto a pole and laughing. Brian ended up seeing that guy again on a different train far from the original train later that same day after we split up and that guy was doing the same hard core dancing and laughing that he did before ha-ha. Another guy admitted that he was a crack head and asked if anyone would be willing to give him some money so that he could buy more crack.
(Oyster Card)
Of course, one of my biggest highlights from my time in London was going to Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023. I won't get into Celebration much in this blog except for that. Celebration definitely deserves a mention in this blog though, especially since I have a whole blog just about Celebration.
(Me in front of a Celebration sign at night)
It was really cool getting to ride the London Eye. It was like a mixture of Seattle's Space Needle and a Ferris wheel. For anyone that may not know, you can go up the Space Needle in downtown Seattle and you get to see all of Seattle. The London Eye is located in a downtown like area in London, and it's basically a Ferris wheel where you can see all of London when you're at the very top.
(Another picture that I got from riding the London Eye)
I really loved getting to go to Shakespeare's Globe. I got to watch the play titled "The Winter's Tale" and it was phenomenal. Part of the show was inside The Globe, a replica of the theatre where Shakespeare had his shows performed. It was an all-around unique theatre experience.
( A sticker that I got from Shakespeare's Globe that I put on the door to my room at home)
Another "big" highlight from my trip was getting to see Big Ben in person. When I was riding the London Eye, I got a great bird's eye view of the clock. After I got off of the Eye, I took a walk on over to Big Ben to get a closer view.
(Big Ben)
I got to go see Buckingham Palace. It was actually a little different from what I expected. Media for some reason had me believe that the guards would be somewhere close by, when in fact they're at a distance because the palace is at a distance. When you go to see the palace, you're stopped at a gate that's a good distance away from the palace. I will say though, the guards never moved once while I was there. While I was outside of the palace, I got interviewed by Rory Moldo for his podcast which was pretty cool.
(Buckingham Palace)
There was also a really nice, long park that you get to walk through on your way to the palace. On the way back from the palace, I decided to sit on one of the benches in the park and just take in all of the beauty. There were a couple of other really nice parks that I went to as well. Brian and I went to a little dog park one day, and there were these two locals that stopped me because they saw me wearing my Chewbacca jacket. They were big Star Wars fans. I did my Wookiee sound for them and they got really excited and one of the guys took a picture of me so that he could show the people at his office that other Star Wars fans are out there. On the morning that I went to Madame Tussauds, I walked around a really beautiful park since I was there early.
(The park I went to on the morning of Madame Tussauds)
Speaking of Maddame Tussauds, that wax museum was incredible. A year ago I had went to the Hollywood Wax Museum in Los Angelas, so I got to compare the 2 different wax museums. I decided that Madame Tussauds is the better wax museum. Tussauds had a little ride where you got to see London history. There was a 3D Marvel super hero show that we got to watch. There was also a really cool Star Wars section at Madame Tussauds. Here are some pictures from the wax museum.
Of course, I also got to walk the London Tower Bridge. That was a really cool walk of history. They have an exhibit there that you can go inside and get a cooler view. I didn't go through the exhibit this time around. I'll probably make it to the exhibit the next time I'm in London. I'm definitely glad that I got to walk the bridge.
(London Tower Bridge)
Those were the big highlights from my vacation in London. I hope you all enjoyed reading about my time in England. Some of the things I would like to do the next time I fly to the U.K. include: going through the London Tower Bridge exhibit, going to their China Town, and checking out their Harry Potter place. There were more activities that I did in London, but these are what I keep thinking about. So until my next blog, I hope you all have beautiful days ahead of you.
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