Easyjet ticket in hand, backpack already causing strain and Purse full of Pounds, I board the train to Geneva airport.
I am travelling to London. The London I have been dreaming about since I was 10. The city of queens, tea and scones, jack the ripper and infamous accents riddled with “Oh I do Say” and “Oh how Awfully Jolly”. This is the trip I have been waiting for…
I’m in Geneva airport with my friend, Cherie, and there ain’t nothing that can bring us down. Oh but alas, it is almost 10 o clock and our dear old airplane hasn’t even left Gatwick.
Still smiling though.
Even when, upon sitting in the waiting room for almost 3 hours with constant promises of flight details, we are informed of the dreaded cancellation. Kind of inconvenient, but still smiling as we have just been rescheduled for 10 o clock the next day.
Thursday, July 15th
We are taken on a bus ride, across the border into France to find our little run down hotel, most courteously payed for by Easyjet. By this time it is 1 in the morning and we are politely informed the bus will come and pick us up at 4:45 – giving us 3 hours to sleep. Oh Bother. We all wake up to find that reception is closed leaving us to pile our room keys in front of the main entrance. As I said pretty run down. 
Although a teeny bit EXHAUSTED, I’m still all smiles, because either way we are still getting to London. Cherie and I have most certainly pissed off the other irate passengers with our cheery dispositions and loud laughing.
After waiting in Geneva airport, AGAIN, for 4 hours we finally board our easyjet flight to Luton. SUCCESS!
We get to London St Pacras International via the first Capital connect, pull out the Hostel directions and head out on our way.
Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH Red bus!!!!
Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH Red telephone Box!!!!
Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH London Taxi!!!!
Walk Walk Walk Walk….OOOOH Our Hostel!!!!!
Our Hostel is called Clink Hostel and is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed at! Not too expensive, free breakfast and home to some of the most awesome staff!! Set in an old courthouse, the funky vibe contrasts so nicely with it’s original atmosphere of austerity. And the Internet room is wicked cool!!!
We drop our bags and head out for our afternoon exploration. We head down to the Thames and walk along Victoria embankment, eventually finding ourselves in Covent Garden watching a street performance with a Cornish pasty in hand. Sweet way to begin our trip J
Friday, July 16th
Okay so today is the day: We apologize to our feet for what they are about to experience. First we head to Tower bridge and Tower of London. Of course being cheap Au pairs we admire 90% of things from the outside, paying minimal entrance fee. 
We had decided to skip the queues of the London eye and head to St Paul’s Cathedral instead. May I just say, the stairs: CRIKEY MOSES!!!!! You do not the meaning of an incline by stairs if you have not experienced St Pauls! By the time we got to the top, our legs had turned to a jelly-like substance. But oh the view!!!!
After our descent, we headed to Westminster to meet up with a friend of Cherie’s. He showed us Big Ben, nicknamed after Sir Benjamin Hall. It first chimed in 1859!!!!
We then saw Westminster Abbey and headed to Buckingham Palace. The biggest disappointment was that those funny red guards with the fluffy hats weren’t there. Tossers!!! Apparently the regiment changes and it doesn’t always mean that it’ll be the same regiment all the time.
So Buckingham palace saw us posing with this burly policeman instead
Trafalgar square then saw me mounting one of its giant lions, with great difficulty I may add.
And Picadilly circus found us with mighty cranky stomachs. We decided to hunt down the nearest KFC. Boy oh boy, We most certainly felt the effects of KFC on our stomachs after not having it for almost a year- ew!
After our tiresome day we headed back to the hostel for a nap. We stopped at King's Cross station to be complete nerds and find Platform 9 and 3 quarters.
Lol You see we were going to paint the town red with my brother’s friend Lliam that night. IN HEELS!!!! Once again we apologized to our poor feet and after our dinner of fish and chips we headed out. We all went to this high-end club called Amika – with a guest list and all!! We got in for free and had free drinks all night. We danced and made fools of ourselves: two poor au pairs amidst the coiffed rich. What a blast!!
Saturday July, 17th
After getting home at 3 in the morning we managed to collapse quietly onto our beds so as to not wake our 10 roomates. We woke up, ate our free breakfast and checked out. We were going to stay with my friend from South Africa, Jess, who is working as an au pair in Richmond. We left our bags in the hostel and headed to the British museum to see the Rosetta Stone. 
We then walked around Oxford street and Cherie nearly had a hernia when she saw a Mexican food chain called Chipoltle. Hmm I wonder where we had lunch?
We then went to meet up with Jess at the Science Museum. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing science games until closing time. Yes NERDS, I know.
We headed to Harrods, bought Krispy Kream doughnuts and sat outside people watching. Harrods was packed, it seemed like a museum the way people were milling around looking at things.
We then headed to Richmond, where Jess lives with her Host Family. We stopped at the grocery store and boy did I get schooled!!!!! There were no longer cashiers!!! Instead people scanned the goods themselves and payed the machine. It was weird, almost sad to see machines replacing people L Oh but what a joy it was to be shopping in London because compared to Switzerland, things were sooooo cheap!!!! We got to jess’ house, which was a typical squashed double storey British house and after a lot of catching up we finally dozed off
Sunday July 18th
Today we decided to head to Greenwich to the Royal Observatory. We stood on both the western and eastern hemispheres at the same time which, if I do say so myself, was pretty darn cool! We then browsed the royal observatory after which Jess went home to work and we went antique shopping in Greenwich.
We found a typical English pub where we had lunch, and then headed back to Richmond. Jess showed us her local haunt where we enjoyed cocktails and regular middle-class people - compared to the hoity toity of the last club we went to ;)
Monday July 19th
Today was shopping day. We rose and shined mighty early so we could head out to Camden Market – which may I recommend to dedicate more than 1 day for because we were in no way satisfied with the amount of time we were there.
We bargained and shopped and shopped and bargained. Cherie bought a I love London shirt. LOL LOL LOL
I bought a rubix cube LOL LOL LOL
We consumed the most disgustingly greasy Chinese food and headed to Oxford Circus to end our day with tea and scones In John Smiths Department store.
Heading back to Richmond, Jess and her friend had prepared a picnic on the side of the river and we bade farewell to our last night in London.
Tuesday July 20th
Back to reality, we headed to Gatwick airport via the first Capital Connect and boarded our flight for Geneva. Slept the entire flight home!! Getting to Switzerland was surreal: The prices, the language and the people: Expensive and unfriendly.
London was absolutely magical and I loved every minute of it. But the fun, tis’ not over: we now have a week long concert, Paleo, to party hard at.
Oh woe is me ;P
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