The London Low Down

IThe London Low Down

Our adventure started at the (much too early) time of 5:15am, when we caught the Megabus from Newton Abbot, and ended up sharing the coach with a group of secondary school age kids. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't much fun. But eventually we made it to the big bad city, and our travels had begun! 

Our first day consisted of walking what felt like miles around the city. In our heads we had a list of things we wanted to do, and this meant we spent a good part of the first hour trawling around the discount theatre ticket booths, trying fruitlessly to get our mitts on tickets to see either Matilda, or Les Miserables. We eventually gave up, and spent the rest of the day trekking from Covent Garden to Leicester Square, through to Oxford Street, down Carnaby Street, and back to Leicester Square, taking in many of the sights along the way (read: we went into every shop we could find). We fell in love with the Lush store on Oxford Street (biggest Lush store in the world!), cried over not being able to afford anything in Liberty, and found heaven in a hot chocolate from Paul's Bakery. The most exciting thing to happen all day though had to be when we ended up back in Leicester Square and went to the stage door of Queens Theatre, where we met Carrie Hope Fletcher (Eponine)! Both being massive fans of her, we were over the moon!

Day two began with a much needed lie in, before making our way into London and back to Covent Garden, where we had breakfast at Paul's (for free after registering our loyalty cards!). Two hot chocolates, a croissant and a pain au chocolat later, we were on the tube on our way to Camden and the markets! Emily had never been, and I had only been years before in the rain, so to come back on a gorgeous summers day meant we both immediately fell in love with the area (and the architecture: we've discovered our love for exposed brick!). A good couple of hours was spent wandering around the markets, exploring cute vintage stores and buying flower crowns and checkered shirts, before it was back to the station to meet up with Emily's friend Matt. After (eventually) finding him, it was time for ice tea and ring buying, and then back to the tube to make our way to Embankment to take pictures. Here we split with Matt, as it was time to go to the Sky Garden! The Sky Garden is on the 35th floor of 20 Fenchurch Street, and contains the highest botanical gardens and the most amazing views of the city. Dinner was at Pizza Hut (oops), and with that, we were sure day two in London had come to a close. But more excitement was to come, in the form of Emily finding two last minute tickets to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime! Obviously, we leapt at the chance and bought two £15 restricted view tickets, and went to bed on a high.

Day three dawned and brought the excitement of knowing we were actually going to go to the theatre, something we had given up on only two days before. We had tickets to the matinee performance, and decided to spend the morning in Portobello Market and sorting out my cash passport for easy spending in Europe. Portobello Market and the surrounding area was beautiful, and we both found many houses we'd give our right leg to live in. With much still to do before the matinee, including a picnic in Hyde Park, Emily and I made our way back to Marble Arch, stopping for a Starbucks caramel coffee jelly frappuccino on the way, which ended up being amazing. But when we got to Thomas Cook, disaster struck and my card had been locked! After a teary phone call home to dad, it was time to action movie it across London and find a Co-Operative branch. As luck would have it, of course the first one we found was now an abandoned building, and the second was shut. One more phone call home, and I then spoke to the fraud team and got it sorted, only for the second disaster to strike. We had half an hour to sort out the cash passport and no Thomas Cook's in sight. Luckily, dad was on hand once more to help, and we set off for the theatre. Curious Incident ended up surpassing every expectation I had, and was the most amazing play I have ever seen. The acting, the staging, the sound all came together in an unforgettable experience. Getting home proved to be another nightmare, as we attempted to cross London in rush hour. Being crushed in Victoria underground was not what I'd anticipated for the trip!Our evening was then spent ordering a Dominos pizza, and watching the Les Mis film.

Day four. Our first 'real' travelling day. We spent the morning repacking, walking the dog, and eating cold pizza, before it was time to make our way to London Liverpool Street station, trekking our massive backpacks on the tube. It was a better experience than we anticipated, and we made it to the station with time to spare and the aim of finding a Boots. Alas, we could not find the Boots, and instead drank coffee and ate M&S cookies, only for Emily to eventually find out we'd been sat above the Boots the whole time. Not our finest moment?  And now we are sat on the train to Harwich, fully ready to immerse ourselves in the ferry experience and get to Amsterdam!

(All photo credits to Emily)