Hello again~
This week went over reeeeally fast and I feel like I'm totally dead but happy lol. So last Sunday we left to London with my sister Anne for four days. Taxi came to pick me up to the airport at 5 something am xD so I was pretty tired but we met up at airport and check-in and security check were really fast, there were hardly any people. We didn't stay browsing in any store, we went straight to non-schengen area and straight to Starbucks lol because I had to have coffee.
We stayed a while in there and then went to wait to gate. I didn't get bored in flight because I had book so it felt like we arrived to London very fast. Again, I was satisfied with British airways, their chairs were so wide and service so good~ totally opposite comparing to our national aircompany finnair. Sorry to finnair but everytime I travel with them I feel like they have saved again from something and it's taken from customer services (like they decided to remove free food in their europe routes). I try to support finnish companies but I feel like finnair's service is slowly goin more down.
Anyway, we arrived after 2hours 40minutes to Heathrow and took Heathrow express to Paddington. I had Oyster cards from previous trips so we just had to load them and we were good to go. Our tube station was Bayswater so it was _really_ close to Paddington and everything else.
We found our hotel, Bayswater Inn very easily. Thanks to me being me aka very careful with travel plans and checking everything like the route beforehand lol.
The only thing I hadn't checked was hotel's check-in time... it was 3pm and we arrived around 11am there... and they weren't flexible at all. It was 3pm and that's it. We left our luggage to hotel and decided to leave to city center. We first visited British museum and then went shopping Oxford street. I was surprised how Oxford street has changed in just two years! Many shops have left and more same chain shops have appeared here and there. I found my new favorite shop;
New look. They had few shops in Oxford street so if you go to Oxford street you can't miss them. New look is kind of between H&M and Forever21.
Around 3pm we left back to our hotel and was given room in 1st floor. I was a bit shocked when we opened our room door... it wasn't at all what photos promised and instead calling themselves 3-star hotel they could be hostel! Actually we could have had more modern and better hostel room with even cheaper price than what we paid for that and it's what's annoying me the most. I have stayed more simple hotels but this was the worst and that's alot from me because for example in Berlin and in Korea I stayed accommodations that were sooooo simple and small.
The tapestry drooped from walls, windows had small holes between them so cold air came through, toilet seat was broken and beds were _very_ old. And in our last night our lightbulb decided to go disco. I don't recommend Bayswater Inn to anyone, don't let their modern reception fool you, it's totally different with rooms. Only good thing about the hotel was their location.
So, in 1st day in London we were just walking and shopping lol. We visited the famous piccadilly and Regent street also. And in next days we also walked. Alot. On monday we first left to Buckingham palace and we got there the time when they changed the guard so it was nice event to see. Too much people though but London is like that lol.
After that we walked from Buckingham palace to Trafalgar square, if you want to save in travelling costs it's actually not that far to walk from sightseeing place to another. But a warning: your legs will be dead in the evening lol. But I think walking was still worth it, we got to see plenty of nice London scenery what you obviously can't experience if you're travelling with tube in London city center.
When we arrived to Trafalqar they had changed the square to place to watch NFL games so everything was pretty much covered in banners and fences so sadly we couldn't get close to those famous lion statues :/ We decided to have a lunch at Garfunkel's, a restaurant chain offering basically "quality" junk food. I ordered fish & chips and was not disappointed. It was actually good even if I'm not fan of fishfood. But I decided finally to taste fish & chips, afterall this was my 4th time in London lol. After our lunch we started walking towards Big Ben because you can basically see it from Trafalgar so we decided not to take tube again.
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| this is the best we could get out from our visit to trafalgar. |
When we started getting closer to Big Ben we noticed how crowded area it was! Too much tourists and every street corner was so crowded. We also spotted London eye from there, you can see it clearly if you walk to he bridge next to Big Ben. We took some photos and also saw Westminster abbey church right next to Big Ben. I actually didn't remember it was that close lol. We took couple more photos outside but didn't go in because tickets to that church was something like £28!!! Won't ever pay that much just too see some church, no matter how famous it is...
After it we decided to go to Oxford street again and this time we took tube because it was pretty long way from there to Oxford street as we were already been walking all day.
Then we went shopping again :P
Day 3 we left around 10am and our next destination was straight to Tower of London. I never have visited there even though I have visited London 3 times previously. I've always seen it far away so I decided this time I have to visit there. It was a good decision as we saw a bit of old London and it cost about £20 so it's not bad if you're going to visit only one or two attractions inside in London. By the way, they do brief security check at gates so be prepared. Main attraction was Crown Jewels but we didn't visit there, queue was so long it was about 2-hour wait if we wanted to see them so even though they're famous we said no thanks. Instead we visited other museum displays in Tower of London and took photos from Tower bridge which was next to Tower of London.
It was already something like 3pm when we left and again we went to Oxford street and Regent street. To those who want to visit Tower of London, reserve at least 3 hour the visit~
Anyway we went to shopping again because Anne wanted to find something more than what she had previously bought and also she wanted a plushie. We went to Hamley's in Regent street which is, I think, most famous toy shop in the world. We were going up and down the floors, it was actually just coincidence that I spotted toothless plushie. It was in 3rd floor near stairs. I actually wished to find toothless plushie but I kinda forgot it as soon as we were in London but when I saw it I was like OMG I have to have that plushie lol. It was toy workshop so you actually took unfinished plushie, then went to workshop where worker filled up the plushie, you could choose if you wanted some sounds for it or not. And most cutest thing was they put a little heart inside plushie. You could choose from various characters so everyone who's looking something unique I recommend this toy workshop~ But service onwards wasn't that good =__=;;; I was never told I should pay it to some small corner till in 3rd floor next to workshop. So I went down with Anne and Anne bought a regular plushie and could pay it in there but I couldn't, cashier just said "you have to pay it to 3rd floor." I was like ok and went up again and followed sign "pay here." I went to line up and when I wasted like 5min they came to me and said "you can't pay here, you have to pay to that corner cashier over there." I started to be a bit annoyed because at least two sales assistants had saw me when I came to line up and even made eye contact but instead telling me as soon as I came I had to wait 5min before anyone told me. So then I went finally to the right cashier place and there were only one person serving and before me was a family which had difficulties decide something and suddenly one of them just left somewhere and had me and couple other customers wait like 10min, reserving the cashier. So annoying, if you're not ready it would be at least polite to say it's ok to take other customers while they're waiting to decide something... But I finally got my plushie. By the way, nowadays Hamley's is also charging for plastic bag. I was surprised how many companies in London has taken this system, even chains like H&M. Before, plastic bags were free. I understand they want to be egological but hey, if you have big plushie or 10 pieces of clothes it's no doubt you need a bag... now some can say "why not take your own bag" well yeah, when you're tourist you just aim to survive as few items as possible and not taking anything like extra bags to take space in your bag which contains like wallet, water bottle, camera etc.
More serving technique to customers would be taking extra charge when customer already has a plastic bag where she/he can stuff things.
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| My toothless <3 |
After Hamley's we walked a bit more to just see if there's any more shops we want to visit and then left to our hotel to pack our things.
On Wednesday we tried to go to Harrods before leaving to Victoria station but it didn't go so well. You can't enter Harrods with luggage. They have luggage room but they're charging £10 just to leave your luggage there for a while!! We certainly weren't paying that much so we just left to Victoria station. Lucky, Victoria has some shops we could spend some time and restaurants so getting lunch was no problem. This time our flight was with Norwegian leaving from Gatwick and Gatwick express leaves from Victoria station. We weren't lost a second even if Victoria is quite big. To get deposit payment back from Oyster card, just return it to Visitor info center about middle in Victoria station.
There is very clear signs where you can get to Gatwick airport train so it was also no problem to find it. But airport trains are very expensive in London, Gatwick express cost £19. The trip takes half an hour and then you're basically at the airport. We even didn't have to wait because there was only self check-in and baggage drop available. We just dopped our luggage there and went through security check to gate side. They have same kind of tax free as Helsinki airport has (well they're same company) but anyway... we walked through tax free, I remembered to buy one perfum for my friend and Anne bought something for her boyfriend. Cosmetics side customer service was so helpful and professional but same cannot be said from cashiers =__= when I went to pay not once did sales assistant smile or be cheerful. She just stared at me, bored and was kind of rude to me. I know how it is to work in busy atmosphere and sometimes it can be stressful, I have even worked in same position as she but please, some feeling to that work... it's your job for chris' sake... But I'm glad I got professional service at least from cosmetics side.
We were pretty tired when we boarded the plane. I had earlier bought a book again because I finished the one I had in first flight and I thought to start this new one. At first I was like if it's even possible because right in front of my seat one kid got pretty serious rage thing going on and it lasted for some time. Kid's parents had some serious issues get this kid quiet... but gladly he stopped after a while so I could concentrate and start reading. The book by the way was kind of Divergent spinoff book called "Four." I didn't even know this book excisted so when I found it I was like omgomgomg. Because I have nearly finished reading Divergent series and Four does not contain spoilers because it tells the story of Four before meeting Tris.
We landed 11.45pm and I was sooo ready to go to sleep. My mom picked me up and we said goodbye to my sister. All and all I had fun trip and it reminded me again why London is my favorite city in europe.
I won't do cosmetics review this time since this was already too long lol. Next time I'll be telling about korean culture event I went yesterday~ Until then~
