I’m always amazed at how fast it happens. One minute I was in Dallas, the next I was in London wandering the streets. Canaby shopping district, St James’ Park, Buckingham Palace, the Westminster Bridge, Big Ben and Parliament, the British National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. Not bad for an arrival afternoon walkabout before returning to my YHA hostel off Oxford Street.
Yes, hostel, you read right. People who know me were surprised that I booked a shared room / shared bathroom / shared everything place instead of a traditional hotel. It turned out to be a great decision and helped me feel more authentic to the place and connected to the people I met.
This trip ended up being an exercise in learning how to feel at home in a foreign town and be authentically engaged with strangers along the way. Check out my favorite moments in London, when I felt most at home, most a part of the city itself.
1. Riding the Underground
I have a thing for subway systems. Something about the mapping of a city into a network of inter-connecting stops really gets me going. I think it’s the fact that you can hop on a train under one part of town, transfer somewhere and surface somewhere else altogether. A well planned city transit system is a thing of beauty.
The London Tube system is among the simplest I’ve ever used. It’s efficient, clean and easy to understand, plus it costs way less than taking black cabs everywhere. And, unlike in New York City, if you do get lost, there are Tube officials who know the system backward and forward and don’t seem offended to help you.
My home stop was Oxford Circus and I routinely went through Paddington, Victoria and Euston. Within a day of riding I got familiar with the announcer cues and how to read the maps and by the end of my trip, I could get myself around the grand city with ease.
The real treat of being a subway groupie, though, is the way it lets you live in the lives of the locals for a little while. I watched people commute to work, saw couples kiss and fight, overheard spirited talk of sports and politics and saw tourists try to figure out their way around. All these things gave me a temporary sense of belonging that I don’t think I could get any other way.
2. Sunbathing in St. James’s Park
I was completely surprised by the amount of green space offered by a city as large and commercial as London. The crown jewels of the park system, literally, are the eight Royal Parks, which technically are owned by The Crown. And these ain’t your mama’s parks. They are resplendent, full of flowers, fountains, lawns, monuments and secret passages, which makes sense because originally these Royal Parks were designed to cater to the British royalty and nobility.
Londoners walk, run and bike these parks as part of their daily fitness and commuting routines. Heading to or from somewhere, I, too, wandered through many of the Royals, including Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent’s Park and Green Park. It took a couple of accidental detours to get me to look up and around, really take in all that these parks have to offer.
The Italian fountains of Kensington Garden made me day dream how often Princess Diana and her boys played there when they were young. The fields of Hyde Park backed up to the Marble Arch where guys played ping pong in the middle of the day. A row of pristine town houses fronting Park Square, an offshoot of Regent’s Park, had me dreaming of the good life in a £1M home.
All of this was cool, but what made for the best trip memory was the simple act of sitting and sunning in St. James’s Park, the nearly 60 acre lead up to Buckingham Palace, and the city’s oldest Royal Park. I was in town during the break of Spring, so rotating warmth and cool made for an interesting sunbathing.
I could have paid £1.60 for an hour in a vintage-looking lawn chair. But I decided to rough it and sit square on the grass. I couldn’t help but be reflective in that beautiful environment, birds flying, sun beaming and other sun-seekers indulging alongside me.
I sat right there for at least an hour, just feeling the place, letting my mind wander, watching the wildlife and the people. I remember how calm and still I felt, driven to extreme relaxation merely by the surroundings. My face was warm, my heart too. And I didn’t spend a pence.
3. Hearing the Choir at Westminster Abbey
For many of us, the wedding of William and Kate was the first exposure to Westminster Abbey. Seeing it in person, it was much smaller than I thought. I tried to imagine Kate in her now famous gown walking in a commoner and walking out a princess, Prince William on her arm.
It’s funny that such a recent wedding is what has resuscitated interest in Westminster, when nearly every royal marriage, baptism and coronation has occurred there for several centuries. Westminster is full – literally – of history. Many famous people are buried there, including Isaac Newton, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Laurence Olivier, Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens.
I really wanted to experience a service, so I went to Evensong, a condensed service where the majority of the responses are entered by the Choir. It’s impossible to translate what it’s like to hear the soaring, praising voices as they echo around the heights of the Abbey. And the atmosphere of the old and beautiful place is simply breathtaking.
I am a faithful person, so visiting a church, or any house of faith, has a real effect on me. I usually get very quiet and pensive, thoughtful and sometimes prayerful. I’ve talked out loud to myself or to God; I’ve cried. Experiencing a service at Westminster transformed it from a hollow historical relic into a living, beating place that enabled me to reflect in my own way.
No matter what your faith is, I challenge you not to be moved by Evensong. If only to create an open space in your heart and mind for your own reflection and enjoyment of sound and sight, the service is worth it.
4. Getting a Haircut in Covent Garden
I’ve been growing out my hair for a long time. Like, a long time. And I had stubbornly decided not to have a haircut to avoid losing any of that precious length. But in my heart of hearts, and according to my Mother, I knew it was time for a chop.
I don’t know why being in London made me decide to get a cut, but I decided to treat myself to a cool Brit experience and try out a local spot. Time Out is a great resource when in major cities and after a quick read of top salons in London, I settled on one called Windle and Moodie in a neighborhood called Covent Garden.
Apparently Windle is a celebrity favorite, used by Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow. But you couldn’t tell it. I secured an appointment one day ahead, walked in off the street and had a friendly, casual treatment. What a wonderful way to spend 90 minutes, of which 10 was spent receiving an incredible head massage.
I lucked out with a handsome and charming stylist named Charles. He gave a great cut, but even better we also had sincere and friendly conversation about traveling the world, the American reputation, his new apartment with his girlfriend, the British class system and whether I would ever quit my corporate job.
5. Making Friends for the Day
It wasn’t just the new cut that made my salon experience memorable, but also the sweet and easy conversation with stylist Charles. It made me realize that friends can come not only in all shapes, sizes and professions but also timeframes. Since I travel solo a lot, sometimes I can go days without really interacting with others. Not to mention, meeting strangers can feel scary.
Friendship on the move becomes less intimidating when I realized that individual interactions can spark genuine connections, for 10 minutes, 5 hours or two days. Stylist Charles wasn’t the only short-run friend I made during my trip. There was Maddox the musician-magician who liked my smile and had toured with Coldplay – we spent 6 hours on a plane together.
Then there was Jay, the Indian start up owner who took the same day trip to Dover. We rode on a boat down the Thames together and he took a cherished picture of me looking out at the English Channel. There was Stephanie, my hostel mate for the week. An Aussie transplant, she left everything behind and was looking for a job and apartment in London. And Valeria, another roommate from Brazil, studying and touring Europe. And finally, there was Clem, an usher I met way out in Canterbury who hugged me when I cried after having an emotional experience in the cathedral.
I learned a great deal from these people, their openness toward me and my ability to be open toward them.
6. Wandering into the Underbelly Festival
Some things should be planned. Other things should be happened into. I happened upon the Underbelly Festival after stepping out of the Waterloo tube station following a day trip to see sights outside of the city. It was 6 p.m. and I was far from ready to call it a night. I spotted the London Eye across the bridge and decided to go for a ride. I never made it.
In the path of the Eye sits an old school carnival carousel, which simply called to me. I don’t know why, but I felt compelled – and nervous as hell – to ride it. I think I was afraid of looking like an idiot, being a grown up riding alone on a carousel. But I did it anyway and it was thrilling. It felt like childhood only better, more conscious.
After descending from the musical horsey I saw the sign for Underbelly and, curious, went to investigate. It turned out to be a series of live performances happening at a pop up location with food and drink pop ups and music. I wound up watching the Cassus Deadwood show, an impressive circus ballet troupe, and having a burger and waffles. An inspiring and spontaneous night born from simple curiosity.
7. Watching the Guard at Buckingham
Everyone knows about the famous changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. The realistic little secret is that the guards actually change at various times during the day and the ceremonial viewing so coveted by the public is really just for show. Knowing this, I was at first uninterested in watching the parade and swap.
One day I went to Buckingham to try and see the state rooms, but learned that the palace wouldn’t be open until the summer, since Queen Elizabeth is in residence much of each week. As I retreated, I came across a crowd of hundreds waiting outside the iconic gates to watch the changing ceremony.
I decided to go find coffee for the 2 mile walk to the Tower of London. As I grabbed a cappuccino from a cart at the edge of St. James’s Park, I heard a marching band loud and clear. Following the music I wound up outside the Guards House, peeking through the gate at two dozen musician guards practicing for the upcoming parade. Across the lot were another 10 guards going through commands in preparation for the ceremony.
After about twenty minutes, the head Guards gave various commands and salutes that triggered the whole bunch to march in formation out of the lot, across the street and toward Buckingham Palace for the rest of the event. I didn’t follow, but continued on my original walk.
Ironically, after I had snobbishly passed on the official Changing of the Guard, I found myself mesmerized by the prequel. It was a bit like seeing behind Oz’s curtain. What became clear was that the ceremony – for show may it be – was a daily part of routine work for these people.
They prepare, practice, have order and structure and a process. And it was very cool to see from behind the scenes, to hear their calls and watch their heel turns from such a close vantage point. Something about it made me feel more London than all those tourists waiting at the gate.
8. Staying at a Hostel
I had plenty of misgivings when I booked it, but surprisingly, my 10+ days in a shared room with a a string of random chicks turned out to be one of the best parts of my adventure. Sure, I had zero privacy, wore shower shoes for the first time in 15 years and had to live out of my Patagonia bag, but it was actually kind of liberating.
The shared space made me more conscious of how much stuff I had, made me more focused on the necessities and helped me see how few things really are critical to travel, sparking a renewed commitment to traveling light. The constant presence of others really forced me to be more social, both more friendly and willing to compromise but also more assertive about my rights in the community.
I can’t say enough positive things about the YHA Oxford Street. You couldn’t find a better location, right in the heart of Soho for ~£30 a day. And the staff was beyond friendly and accommodating. Unlike a larger hotel, coming back every night was a homecoming of sorts, with the team curious about the day, ready to recommend for tomorrow and willing to do little helpful things like store a backpack for free or suggest the best way to get to Euston train station at 5 a.m. It’s not that a major hotel wouldn’t get you the same end results, but the YHA approach was far more familial.
9. Seeing a Banksy in Real Life
There’s no way to express the excitement that rounding a corner in Shoreditch and walking straight past a legit piece of Banksy street art gave me. These days it would be equally important to see a Van Gogh or Jackson Pollack just sitting on the side of a random street. Apart from receiving a protective outer cover, the large scale piece was left in place.
Ironically, I suspect that the artist Banksy would find my excitement banal or driven by artificial commercialization. And, actually, Banksy might be right. After all, who up and decided that that masked artist should become a pop art icon? But, what Banksy really teaches us, I think, is that anyone can be an artist and any form of expression in any locale can not only be considered art but could theoretically become a form of high art some day.
As someone who has always dabbled in art, music and fashion, the Banksy reminder is actually really important and useful motivation. Who knows where or when Banksy came from and who’s to say that couldn’t have been my expression or that of someone I know to rock the art world and popular culture. That realization alone was worth a thousand Banksys.