London 13-16 September 2010
London is magic, is one of those cities you fall in love with straight away. London is my favorite among all the cities that I have visited so far because it is a young city, vital, you never get bored there.
I love Art, I like to visit museums and galleries and London offres you free entrance for all the important museums of the city, even for the British Museum!
Then there are places you want to go everydays like Camden Town, with its artistic and alternative markets.
It is definitely on the top of the list of the cities where I would like to live.
Everyone should visit London at least once in life.
With Ryanair is possible to fly to Gatwick, Stansted and London Luton Airport.
I have been to London several times and I always arrived at Stansted Airport; from there there are different bus services to arrive to London which is about 66km far from the airport.
Before to book a bus ticket is good to check online the offers, Terravision is a good company (between £12 and £14 return) but also Easybus is good and they offer £2 tickets.
To arrive to Victoria Station from the airport takes about 1hr/1hr 15min it depend by the traffic.
I arrive at the airport at about 15:55 and my bus Terravision to London was at 16:30.
My Hostel was the Phoenix Hostel a really cool place. The reception was a bar under the actual rooms, really nice.
I had a mixed share room and as soon as I arrived I met these three guys, 2 boys and a girl from Philippines and they were really friendly.
I could not wait, I had to go and see the Big Ben and the London Eye so after the check in I left to go and see London!
One of my friends from the Army, Matteo was in London for a few weeks to study English so we met there for a beer.
We went to Camden Town market which as I said is my favourite place in London.
Was nice to meet a friend during my trip, we used to see each other every days because working together and even together in the same room of the same barrack but seeing friend outside the Army is different.
I loved my stay in London and I had the same feeling I had in Paris thinking that it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
I think we Europeans are lucky because we have so many wonderful countries very close to each other, London, Paris, Prague, Italy...Living in Australia which is so far taught me this.
I stayed in London 2 days and a half and like for Paris I visited pretty much all the main places, I went to see the British Museum, Tower Bridge, Camden Town, London Eye and much more.
The metro in London is one of the best I have seen in my life.
Always in time, and the good thing is that runs all day to late night (around 12:30am) and after the last train you can easily catch a bus because they run all night.
There are normal tickets or else you can get a travel card called "Oyster Card" which is a card you recharge weekly and you have unlimited travels within the zone you paid for.
It is not the cheapest metro ever but it is worth to pay.
To do not get lost, in almost every station there are free maps of the metro lines, very useful.
London is a very expensive city, probably it is on the top of the list of the most expensive countries in Europe.
The currency is the British Pound (GBP) and it is stronger than the Euro currency so this means that to get 1Pound you need more than 1Euro that is also why it makes everything be more expensive.
Well that was not my problem because I was living in a cheap hostel plus not very fussy for food, just sandwiches from the supermarket then all the museum were free so I didn't have to pay, the only thing I paid was the ticket for the Madame Tussauds which was not really cheap but it was nice to see.
I had great time in London, I really enjoyed it and I told myself that I had to go back and I did; after this time I have been to London again in 2011, 2012 and 2014 and I can't wait to be able to go back.
One of the things of London I didn't like: the weather!
The temperature is not very high and the sun is so weak over there...
When I went there in 2011 was summer and I just had shorts and tshirts but I had to buy long jeans, a jacket and umbrella because was cold but despite the weather I still love that beautiful country.
15 September, also my londoner adventure was finishing, last day around the city and I left with my Terravision bus at 22:45 to the airport.
My next country was Berlin in Germany and my flight was at 06:25am of the 16th so I decided to spend my last night, a bit sad to leave, at Stansted waiting for my next flight.
A couple of hours of sleep and ready to go!
