As I sit in a random hotel near Stansted airport getting ready to fly off to Italy for my next adventure, I can’t believe that I have been in England and on this adventure for a little over a month now. The lessons London has taught me have already changed my life. There have definitely been highs and lows but it’s the change I needed to start figuring out who I am again and what I am capable of on my own.
As I promised, I’m telling you all about my adventures. I decided to break it up into smaller blog posts because let’s be honest who has the time to sit there and read a very long blog post about experiences, travel advice, tips and tricks Londoners use to stay fit and healthy, and the bits and pieces of the London lifestyle I’ll be taking with me and ways you can too. It’s too much!
So I am breaking it up! This is the first in the London series. This post is going to be all about my experiences and the life lessons I learned while in London.
My Travel Experience
When I first got to London I was scared, a little sad, and definitely jet lagged. The feeling of leaving everything that was comfortable and safe behind for the unknown was, well… terrifying.
From the moment I got to my small town airport things were just… different than I had expected. Saying goodbye to my family was hard enough but made it even harder when it gets cut short. One of the hardest parts of this trip is not knowing when I get to see them again and I don’t remember if I got to hug them goodbye or not.
When we arrived at the airport, two hours early I might add, one of my bags was overweight. As we are trying to move stuff around between my bags (rather than pay an extra $100) the guy that checked me in for my flight told me I had thirty minutes to put my bags through, go through security, and board my flight.
Now we’re in complete panic mode. We start randomly stuffing things in different bags and I shove as much shit as possible into my carry-on. I race through security as quickly as I can and try to board my plane. Well, what I thought was my plane.
I try scanning my ticket and it gets rejected… twice. The guy checking my ticket tells me I’m trying to get on the wrong flight. The person that checked me in didn’t look at the flight number or boarding time. I had two hours until my plane started boarding. Even though I was annoyed, slightly embarrassed I tried to get on the wrong plane, and sad I didn’t get a proper goodbye, it was good preparation for what was to come.
Being a control freak and having too many expectations doesn’t really work when you are traveling the world. Going with the flow and finding the calm in the chaos is the best asset I’ve gained on this journey. If you want to read more about my ideas on the hard path read this.
After a 16-hour trip, I landed at Heathrow airport and the fun and craziness really began.
‘ello London
London is a fascinating city. It is a huge, fascinating, and romanticized city. Don’t get me wrong there are beautiful aspects to life in London, I truly loved it, am all about romanticization, and can’t wait to go back.
A Travelers Warning
While I am all about romanticization, I think there is an important distinction between romanticizing the moment you are in and romanticizing something in the distance. One leads to being present and grateful; while the ladder leads to unrealistic expectations.
Before I continue I wanted to remind everyone that London is a city like any other. There are dangerous areas, bad smells, and so so many people. When people travel they imagine an idealistic place but like anything put on a pedestal, it doesn’t hold up.
Back to the good stuff
Now that all of my warnings are out of the way, let’s get to why you are here!
I had some great experiences in London. I spent the first two and half weeks in northern London in Tottenham. It holds a special place in my heart. It’s where I reconnected with my god-sister and her husband, it’s where I spent my twenty-eight birthday, and it’s where I watched my first football (soccer) game at a pub.
The passion of the English fans makes watching a game I already love that much more exciting and fun. The comradery football brings to the fans who are supporting the same team is a beautiful thing, for those 90+ minutes it doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, or where you come from. You’re in it together jumping around chanting and hugging strangers.
Tottenham has a team in the Premier League and while I didn’t get to go see a game I still got to enjoy the contagious atmosphere that takes over a place when there is a game. The place I was staying was within walking distance of the Tottenham stadium and while I don’t support that team: the chanting, excitement, and passion were amazing.
If you get the chance to go to a game I highly recommend it! You don’t have to know anything about football (soccer) and you’ll still have an amazing time!
Being surrounded by such warm and kind-hearted people reminded me how important it is to be surrounded by good people. While I’ve always known how important it is to have a good tribe, it became so much clearer when I felt at home with friends I hadn’t seen in fifteen years and am thousands of miles from my actual home. To build a good tribe and find the friends you want in your life you have to be that friend that you are looking for. You have to embody that list of traits you want your friends to have.
A Historic Moment
It was a unique experience being in London for a historic moment. The passing of the queen was a time I will never forget. Queen Elizabeth II was queen for over 70 years, there aren’t too many people that remember a time she wasn’t the queen. The sadness and almost hysteria that gripped parts of the country and some of the people were, as an outsider, bizarre. Some people said they felt their own mother had died, there were crowds outside Buckingham palace singing ‘God save the queen’ and crying the day the news broke that she had died. People stood in line for 14+ hours to bow by her coffin and pay their respects. While other people went about their lives as normal and enjoyed the bank holiday.
I can’t say that as an outsider I understand some of the reactions but it was a time I will never forget.
Putting Myself First
Of all the things I learned while I was in London, I think the most important ones were to first, accept myself for who I am and where I am on my journey to becoming the person that I want to be. The second is that my peace needs to be my first priority. There was a time when I was staying in south London when I felt really unwelcome in the house I was staying in. It wasn’t anything either of us had done but the timing of my visit wasn’t great. All of this I totally understood, I just really wish the people I was staying with had just said “I’m sorry we would love to see you but staying at our place isn’t an option right now.” It would have been so much better than saying yes and also making it known that it was an inconvenience.
If you have ever been staying in someone’s home and felt unwelcome or like a burden, it is an awful feeling. I spent a couple of days feeling really uncomfortable because I didn’t want to cause drama or seem ungrateful by leaving, I also had no idea where to go, but I finally decided enough is enough. I had built up telling them I was leaving so much in my head that I was so nervous to actually have the conversation but as soon as I did I felt a million times better. One, the conversation was really easy and it allowed me to go explore another part of England I would have never thought to visit.
Finding myself means finding my voice. Finding what makes me happy and what gives me peace. Most importantly, it’s about giving myself grace for where I am on my journey to becoming the woman I want to be. There is a fine balance between pushing myself to act like the person I want to be and taking risks and allowing myself space to be who I am now.
Keep your eye out for the next post in the series all about London!
