Thursday 29 June 2017

35 Hours Exploring London


35 Hours Exploring London 


Hello all my lovely followers and new visitors to my blog.

Big Ben under maintenance 
I want to firstly let you all know what has been happening in my life recently, so this part is a bit of  side track from the topic of this post; but I'll be breif. Firstly, I have just finished my second year of A levels and therefore college, and I'm not going to lie I feel great :) I have been attending college for three years, doing a Btec when I was 16-17, and then A levels when I was 17-19 and it is finally over: making me feel ecstatic and sad at the same time.


Off to London
I recently had my exams, which to be completely honest drove me mad with stress. This is because the most stressful part, which I'm sure many others will understand, is that those in charge of higher education had decided to make all of us A level students take both our AS (first year) exams and A2 exams (second year exams) all together at the end of the second year; meaning I had to dig out revision resources that I forgot existed, and all whilst my brain was in melt down mode from the stress of it all.
    But after 7 written exams, one practical exam in February, and over 15 hours spent in exams, I finally walked out of that room I had spent 6 hours in on Friday the 23rd June, and prepared myself for an end-of-a-levels-celebration-trip-to-London with friends from college; which I just returned from Monday night (approximately at 9pm after 4 hours of travelling, sigh).

Waterloo Tube Line
So, without further ado, I will let you all know what I got up to in London within approximately 35hours, with loads of lovely pictures taken by myself to remember my experience and share it with you. Enjoy  ๐Ÿ˜Š


On Sunday the 25th June, we decided to visit London to celebrate and be London tourists, agreeing we would all meet in Oxford at a Weather spoons -the best place to go for us students with little money- for breakfast, and then get the bus to London from Gloucester Green Bus Station around the corner.  However, because I have been so preoccupied of late with exams and work, I forgot to prepare travel, and ended up driving on the motorway, for the first time-which I'm proud I survived from- to Oxford because the trains and buses were hardly running at all that day.
Buckingham Palace 

And that is where the journey began, starting with a 7am wake-up for me, driving for approx. 45 mins to Oxford, getting breakfast with my friends, getting the London Victoria bus for 2 1/2 hours, buying an Oyster card(a very handy little thing to help you save on tube journeys) and getting multiple tube trains: all six of  us finally walking out of the underground tired from our journey and getting to our hotel: a Premier Inn which has lush rooms at great prices in convenient locations in London .

The Shard
We then found our rooms, basked in our happiness as we realised how comfortable the beds were, and set off to buy lunch at the Tesco Express conveniently placed around the corner from the hotel, before sight seeing Big Ben, St. James' Park, Buckingham Palace, The Shard. We even saw a production crew and their caravans set up near Blenheim Palace for a Bollywood film-the security guard told us-which was amazing to see with their costumes out and makeup van open to see into at a distance. Lastly, we quickly went to Oxford Street and went into M&M world, probably the most colourful place I've ever been to, with the smell of M&M's all around you as you walk inside,
 
Red London Telephone Box
 After a day of picture taking and sight seeing, we all headed back to the hotel, to get ready for dinner at Pizza Express, a well deserved treat located just around the corner offering my favourite Archers lemonade beverage and margarita pizza  ๐Ÿ• ๐Ÿ˜ ๐ŸŽ† This was followed by my what felt like eternity search for Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice cream, a forever favourite of mine, and drinks in one of our rooms alongside a game of Cards Against Humanity: a highly outrageous game -a game recommended for those 17+-, that is bound to provoke multiple fights of laughter.


After a great day on Sunday, we set off once again to sight see on Monday the 26th June, but after getting breakfast of course. We took the underground to visit China Town, an amazing area bursting with culture, and then Soho, a place full of things to do and places to eat, such as at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen where we ate lunch.
Admiralty Arch, near Trafalgar Square, London
    We then headed off to visit Oxford Street, where we went shopping and I purchased black Harem trousers which are super comfy and light blue trainers in the sale in H&M; and two standing, open plastic picture frames from Muji; a cute little Japanese shop selling cool household and consumer items like stationery and picture frames.

Finally, we set off to the hotel to collect our luggage, carrying our multiple shopping bags with us, and continued to the underground to
The Bollywood Movie Caravans
get to the bus to take us back to Oxford. After a 3 hour journey, we wound up at Gloucester Green Bus Station in Oxford, where we parted and I head off for Oxford Train Station to get the next train home: arriving at 9pm back home at the station feeling exhausted but happy from the trip to London.  
Chinatown Arch
In summary, I had an amazing time with my friends on my first ever visit to London, and I honestly don't think I stopped laughing once the whole time. From the hilarious moment I nearly fell over my suitcase on the escalator in the underground (trust me to have a suitcase whilst everyone had travel bags), and nearly fell onto a strangers lap when the tube train stopped suddenly๐Ÿ˜Œ, being swarmed by pigeons scurrying around our feet as we ate lunch in St James' Park, and to playing Cards Against Humanity until 1am Monday: I have enjoyed myself so much and will miss not seeing everyone each day at college as I drag myself into lessons.
     I can honestly say the excitement I felt as I looked forward to London was one of the only things that kept me going when revising and maintained my drive to finish A levels. It's memories like these that make you grateful for those in your life and the opportunities life gives us.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed my post and the pictures. If so, don't forget to subscribe to email notifications of when I post on my blog, follow me on Bloglovin, and share my post with friends  ๐Ÿ˜ƒ


Yours truly,

Caris ๐Ÿ˜Š











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