By the numbers
14,238 steps
10.7kms
Today was the day that I visit London at the
end of my epic journey within parts of Europe and the UK. It looked like it was
going to be another nice day and I was looking forward to getting the bus for
the two hour journey into London and to explore the city like I had not done
before. I had breakfast at the hostel and luckily they had food and coffee,
which satisfied me until I had to leave. I ended up getting to the bus stop
around 40 mins early and I was happy to wait even though others came along and
asked if this was where the bus stopped. I sure as hell hoped so. The bus did
turn up and I was happy it was correct and even happier there was a loo on
board even though the door didn’t really lock. Not a great idea to try to stand
on the bus while it is moving in the loo. Even to pull up pants.
I locked my wallet and phone in my bag that
was sitting on my front and wondered if my near 10 year old Oyster Card would
work still. After walking to the Victoria Station and wondering where I should
be going while trying my hardest not to run over the top of elderly people and
everyone else as I was a battering ram that does seem to be very solid. I knew
which lines I needed to use to walk to the hostel. First I checked my card and
found there was plenty of money on it from last time, so I just walked to the
gates and scanned. I don’t wander slowly through when they open, I dash through
as they would close on me and my bags. I caught the right lines and they were
mot that busy as it was around lunch time and everyone would still be at work.
I knew I was staying near some alms houses, which is something to do with
church and the hostel I found and was soon stopped when I found I couldn’t checkin
until 2pm and that was half hour away. So I stored my big bag and waited.
I had a pack of chips from the pub for lunch
or I could have had an extended breakfast. It wasn’t that long to wait and I
was apparently in line as the guy showed you around. I soon found the receptionist
had to move my main bag and found that the 20 plus kilos was very heavy and he struggled
to move my bag. I thought this was funny, but he put it on his back going up
the stair and I had my other bag. He didn’t know about the website BagBNB that
has drop off points when I told him as I did not want to walk up and down the
hill just to grab my bag. I wasn’t sure about the area and I was told that it
was safe enough and I should be alright. The trouble is only if you are in a
rival gang and they would leave you alone if you are not in one. The washing
machine was broken and was directed to a washing service down the road that
would charge the same. I will have to use them sooner or later as I was going
to really need them. I worked out that washing in the next couple of days would
mean I wont need to wash until I leave Singapore, although maybe just hand wash
a couple of things.
I could have gone back out, but I stayed and
rested half the afternoon and even had a little shut eye, although that was
around 5 mins. I had showered and read a book before walking down to Camden
Town, which is a bunch of well known shops that sell anything from punk to
steam punk type stuff and lots of touristy stuff too. I even found a series of
Lochs that I didn’t know about and I stayed to watch some boats clear them. It
was something you don’t expect to see in London and I liked that. I jumped on
the tube after having something to eat. I ended up in the very busy Leicester
Square and it was very crowded. Being after work that would have kinda figured
in everything. I checked to see if I could get my ticket early and I found that
I could before wandering off down to Nelson square and back to where the
theatre was. I even stopped in a huge Lego store along the way. Once I could
see the show, I was happy to see something like that as there was singing and
dancing with a bit of history even though it wasn’t like Horrible Histories.
They actually did a great job and delighted the audience. Once the show
finished, I did head back into the tube station as I wanted to get back to the
hostel before it got too dark and the pub closes as its all part of the hostel.
I have to wear a wrist bad to identify me as someone staying there. That
includes a really great door code to the rooms that I cannot remember off hand,
so either need my phone or wallet as thats where it is.
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