6 Things I Learned From Vacation In London
This past week I took a holiday aka vacation across the pond to London, United Kingdom. One of my best friends moved there 8 months ago and decided I needed to pay her a visit. What’s a better way to see a city with a new local? While there, I learned a bunch of new lingo, behaviours and tips that I thought I’d share with you.
1. The Music Scene Is Just As Passionate
It just so happened that the Slam Dunk Music Festival was coming to town while I was there, so I adventured over to The Forum in Hatfield to induldge in music, seeing friends & snap some photos for Buzznet. I also got to meet fellow Buzznet friends William Beckett, Dora, Ed & Amy for the first time. I was really excited to experience our music scene in another country, as I wasn’t sure how the fans were going to be in the UK. I learned that the kids are just as passionate about music (if not more passionate) than the fans in the USA as they only get to see American bands 1-2 times a year (if that). They treat the UK bands that have been successful over there like kings aka You Me At Six, Deaf Havanna, Bring Me The Horizon. The drinking age in the UK is 18 so it was weird seeing so many youngins drinking openly at a festival.
2. On Escalators Everyone Stands To The Right
I thought NYC was in a hurry—- nope the UK are in just as a hurry. If you are ever on a escalator you must line up single file & stand to the right, so that the left side is open (like a fast lane) for people to hurry past you. I had to remind my room mate Faith a few times, ain’t nobody got time for an English Man to get mad at you.
3. They Are Straight To The Point
They don’t mess around when it comes to terms and what they call things. They call their vacations holiday. Restrooms/ bathrooms are known as toliets (which is kind of awkward to say for me– sounds gross). Elevators are called lifts. Thank you is acknowledged by saying Cheers! They call apartments, flats and roomates are flatmates. They call movie theatres cinemas. Kitchen stoves are called cookers (makes sense). They call rich, stuck up/ popular people posh. (Posh spice finally makes sense to me) The list could go on & on…
4. Public Transportation Is Really Easy To Use
London’s public transportation is the easiest public transportation I’ve ever used. From the tubes to the train stations through out the country, it’s pretty easy to navigate yourself around. The tube lines have different platforms that lay out exactly what stops the train is going right in front of you on the sign unlike NYC where it only tells you the direction the train is going and you’d have to look at map to see what stops it has. Very impressed London, I didn’t go the wrong direction once.
5. You Can Get Alot Of Tourist Stuff Done In One Day
Everyone questioned why I was only going for a week with “Are you going to be able to see everything?” and to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure either! We actually got alot of the tourist stuff done in one day! The Big Ben & London Eye are around the corner from each other, you can see both in a matter of minutes. After seeing those monuments, I walked just down the street to see St James Park which is literally the front lawn to The Queens Buckingham Palace. Both breathtaking places. I was nervous everything would be so spread out and I’d only be able to see momument a day, I was surprisingly wrong.
6. You Can Come Across Anything — Adventure Always Awaits
One of best days I had on my trip was when we literally just hopped off a random stop on the tube and walked around the city. We came across two casinos, which I had NO IDEA they had those there. They are not nearly as intense as Las Vegas but definitely entertaining. I checked my twitter timeline and saw fellow Buzzneter/ London resident Dora was heading to 30 Seconds To Mars secret acoustic show at a park around the corner from where I was… so sure enough I walked over there and watched them perform to about 100 fans. I would have never guessed something so random and cool would happen while I was there. Read about Dora’s experience from it HERE.
Not my video— but how awesome is this? I’m in there somewhere.
A few personal learnings— I now like tea, proper english breakfasts are delicious, there are actually real gentlemen in the world & they are all Britsh, you can get a lot done in a 10 hour plane ride, the red double decker buses and phone booths are a real thing. Overall I had a wonderful time adventuring to another country for the first time! It’s an experience I will never forget and am blessed I got to do it with my close friends.
What about you, have you been to another country?
