Backpacking Europe 2006 - London

---

Day 1

Arrived: Heathrow Airport - London, England (early morning)

Accommodation: Hostel Astor Victoria-- www.astorhostels.co.uk
• first impression = very small/ cramped
• room = quad room
• shower = shared in hallway
• tip = bring flip flops for showers

Gone.. Go Trippin'

We're finally here and are completely exhausted from the plane ride.. plus the tube ride.. plus the walk to the hostel with our 40lbs backpack. Ttrue to it's reputation as one of the busiest if not the busiest airport in the world, getting out of Heathrow was no easy task. Nevertheless, we made it. It is about a 30- 45 minute tube ride to the city center and another 5 minute walk to our hostel. Best way around town is to purchase a tube ticket and ride like the locals do.
Our hostel is located in a quiet neighborhood but was definitely walkable to the more bustling part of town. On our first day, we purchased tickets for a double- decker bus tour with www.bigbus.co.uk-- great since you can hop on and off at any stop and a nice change to riding the underground tube. Bus runs every 10- 20 minutes. We spent most of our day around Piccadilly Circus and had Fish 'n Chips at Harry Ramsden's. Dinner was at Wagamama-- a quirky noodle bar served worldwide but this was a first for us and it was definitely an experience. I don't know what we were thinking. London is cold even in June. We spent a good portion of our day looking for, can you believe it, the GAP just so we can purchase a thicker sweater. Our first day felt a bit forced due to the fact that we were quite jet- lagged and our hostel was not necessarily a home away from home. But knowing we would end our 3 week trip back in London, we did not sweat it. OK time to wrap up and head to Paris!

Do's & Don'ts

DO consider arriving just in time for check- in at any type of accommodation (hostel, b&b, hotel, etc). No matter what people say, you WILL be tired and all you really want to do is to set your things down, kick off your shoes, and take a breather. We too thought we could make the most of our time by arriving early to our destinations, but truth be told, we'd much rather arrive and be able to check into our accommodation than be stuck wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood waiting for time to pass by.

DONT wait to purchase your Eurostar train ticket to Paris. We attempted to book a day before leaving to Paris and tickets were sold out. We had to reroute our trip and head forward to Brussels leaving Paris towards the end of our trip.

---

Photos

Harry Ramsden's
Fish 'n Chips

Telephone
they do work