My first weekend trip – London, England!

I traveled to London, England on my second weekend abroad which was very exciting. Being my first trip since I have been here, I was not as skilled as I am now in packing, planning, navigating the airport, and getting used to traveling here. When we first arrived at the Barcelona airport, we had to check-in and get our boarding passes, which was already a little different for me considering I’m so used to just doing it on my phone at home. Once we boarded the plane, things went smoothly, and we landed at around midnight. We had some trouble navigating our way of transportation to our hotel, because we had to take a train from the airport which was a little confusing considering I have never taken a train from an airport before. We successfully made it to our hotel, which was a great experience and we had a good laugh at the fact that our queen bed was just two twin beds pushed together (Little did we know that this is normal in all of Europe). We got a good night’s sleep before waking up and starting our day. 

Our plan was to wake up early at around 9am so that we could eat breakfast and have a full day of touristy plans, but unfortunately we slept through the alarms and ended up waking up at 1pm. To say we were annoyed was definitely an understatement, but we didn’t let it ruin our day. We decided to get lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel, which ended up being delicious. The restaurant, Where The Pancakes Are, is a great brunch and lunch restaurant that serves sweet and savory pancakes as well as other common brunch foods. This is where we realized that London is a lot more expensive than Barcelona, as we both ended up paying around $25 for pancakes and orange juice, but nonetheless it was delicious. 

After our breakfast, we headed over to the London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster Hall where we got all of the touristy pictures we possibly could. Unfortunately the London Eye was closed for maintenance but we still had the best time walking around the area and exploring.

After a day of tourist attractions and walking around in the cold, we headed to Canto Corvino for a nice dinner. It was a beautiful restaurant and had a great ambiance to it, and the food was pretty good. The drinks there were great and I ordered a mojito, pasta, and chicken milanese. After dinner, we decided to try out a club we had heard about called Fabric. Fabric is one of the biggest clubs in London and is known for its unique music and atmosphere. We had no idea what to expect, but we were excited for the unknown. We waited in a long 2 hour line before getting to a security checkpoint, where they put stickers on our cell phone cameras, scanned our ID’s, got our pictures taken, got patted down, and checked our coats. I have never been to a club or a bar where they take these drastic measures with security, so we were not only confused but a little concerned at first. Once we finally got in, we were kinda blown away. There are multiple “rooms” which each had different music playing, and tunnels of different bars. It was nothing like any other club I had been to, and although it was very weird, it was a lot of fun. 

Our second day in London we spent shopping at Harrods, walking around, and seeing the London Bridge. We were very tired from the night before, and I woke up with no voice and a sore throat, so we decided to have more of a laid back day and explore the city at our own pace. We got brunch at the Table Café, which was also right by our hotel, and it was delicious. After walking around for a bit, we watched the sunset at the London Bridge, which was absolutely gorgeous. 

Shortly after, we made our way to Harrods. Harrods is definitely the nicest department store I had ever visited before, and made me realize how nice the city of London is. I ended up buying a necklace at Van Cleef & Arpels that I had been wanting for years. I figured buying it in London was so much more special than just buying it at home, and pulled the trigger and bought it.

We ended up canceling our original dinner reservation and staying at Harrods for dinner after looking at the menu at Harrods Social. We enjoyed wine, mac and cheese, caesar salad, and risotto after doing some shopping. The restaurant was extremely nice and the service was great. It was very secluded from the rest of the department store so it wasn’t as crazy or crowded as any other part of the building. Following dinner, we went straight back to our hotel, packed, and went to bed where we anticipated our flight home to Barcelona.

Our flight back to Barcelona was a nightmare to say the least. Flight cancellations, delays, layovers, and getting lost in the airport was just a snippet of the journey back to Barcelona. London Heathrow airport is massive and flight cancellations and delays are bound to happen at some point studying abroad, but it was tough considering it was my first trip around Europe, and I ended up getting separated from my friends because of flight issues. After multiple mental breakdowns, flight delays, calls to home, and plane tickets later, I was finally home. To stay positive, I reminded myself that this is part of the study abroad experience. Not everything about traveling every weekend is going to run smoothly and that’s okay. Although my journey back to Spain was a wreck, I still enjoyed every minute of London and I didn’t let it ruin my first weekend of travel.