I remember my first overseas adventure clearly – London. My parents thought that a London adventure, paired with another week in Paris, would be a great introduction to traveling overseas with a passport. The announcement of a trip to London brought up visions in my mind of Sherlock Holmes, Big Ben and the Tower of London. My mind was racing to the history stories about the Tower of London, a royal residence that became famous as a prison, the Great Plague, the Great Fire of 1666, and also the Industrial Revolution in the 1860s (when children were sent to work as early as five years old) that spawned books like Oliver Twist. I also remembered the great advancements in modern London such as the London underground rail system, the Millennium dome (an exhibition center) and the London Museum. I was extremely curious to see if my imagination had painted an accurate picture of these events and sites from this area.
Posing for my passport picture with no smile as required, I was amused by the fact that my picture would probably never really mimic my face as I was amused by the many sites I would see in London. I was told to pack layers of clothes just like for a trip to San Francisco, as London is known for its fog and large swings in temperature.
My airplane trip was 11 hours long! You never think about planning to be entertained for that long. I brought a couple books, but I found myself watching the movies on the plane and thinking about the things we would be seeing on our vacation. The roar of the engines finally had me drifting off to sleep. The announcement over the PA system to buckle up awoke me with a start. I looked out the plane window but the approach to the London-Heathrow airport gave no further clue to unravel the mystery of London.
The thing I didn’t think about before I traveled was the effect the time zone change would have on me. We arrived at the airport and I felt like a sheep being lead through a maze. We tried to quickly find our luggage, clear the passport control point, and hail a taxi, while working on only a few hours of sleep. I understood why my parents wanted an English-speaking country to be my first overseas experience because I couldn’t imagine dealing with speaking another language while we were working on only a few hours of sleep. It caused a haze in my head that made everything feel like a dream. Our taxi ride to our hotel was a blur of buildings and traffic. We decided to take a five hour nap to attack the early evening with a vengeance and renewed strength.
Our list of “must-sees” in London included many things, so when we awoke we immediately set to work checking the opening and closing hours of attractions. Our primary objective for the first evening was to experience a true London eating establishment. Since there wasn’t much else to do in late afternoon, we made our way to Leadenhall Market, a beautiful covered market in the City of London. Under the elegant Victorian roof there were stalls selling flowers, cheese, meat and other fresh food, and shops, pubs and restaurants in the market building. We tasted various cheeses and made a meal out of the famous meat pies. The Dragon Alley scenes in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone were filmed in Leadenhall Market so we also enjoyed exploring.
The taxi ride to the airport made us smile as we remembered the week before when everything seemed to be in a fog. London had spoken to us over the last week and we clearly understood that this city was more than the beautiful historic buildings – it was a collection of stories that read like a intricate novel with many twists and turns. It has a unique character that makes it different than any other place I have visited since. Through the Roman influence, the fires, plagues, and conflicts, London has emerged as an interesting place that can offer something to everyone.