On Wednesday I travelled up to London to meet up with the beautiful and inspirational Paige from PeachPaige (if you haven't already make sure you check out her blog, for all things lifestyle related, link connected). I have never been to London before (Yes I know what you are thinking, I am a un-travelled travel blogger but I will get there) so this was a whole new experience for me and it wasn't like anything I thought it would be but a learnt a lot from it. This post is a little different than my normal posts but I hope you enjoy it.
Expectations vs Reality
Being a Devon girl with little travel experience I had some expectations for London, honestly not good ones at that. I expected loud streets full of busy/rude people all in their own bubbles, mountains of traffic, expensive shops with bottled water costing £3. If anything it was the complete opposite. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, if anything my local beach in the high of summer saw more people. This is probably due to the day of the week and that there is a lot more space compared to the people. People are there to help you, my oyster day card stopped working after a few stops and the people at the tickets gates were more than happy to help me out, even with a laugh and a joke. The traffic in my view was the same as any other city, with just a few more red buses, coaches and Ubers.
The Vibe
I live for the vibes. When it comes to new situations I always go with the vibes. If something, somewhere or even someone gives off a good vibe then I know it that something good will come from it and that is what I got from London. As soon as I met Paige and we got the tube, the vibes were there. I felt relaxed and at home in a way. By the end of the afternoon, I was walking around, chatting to Paige like I had been there for months rather than hours, it was crazy! I also feel in love with the London vibe. As a creator, I just saw the endless possibility London holds for us and the space to grow and truly be yourself, nothing like we have here down in Devon. Paige is an example of this.
The Cultures
London has such an ethnical diversity which is something I really loved. In my opinion, there isn't a lot of different cultures in Devon so people fear trying new things or talking to people slightly different (And honestly before travelling this was something that I feared too, I hated this about myself) but in London, there isn't that fear. There are a lot less judgement and a lot more acceptance for people to just be themselves and live their life however that may be because after all to them its normal life. We went to Chinatown and had such an amazing lunch at this little Chinese restaurant down one of the streets. I was so happy to try something a bit different and the food was beautiful. Over lunch we had a conversation about this topic and thanks to Paige I now have a better understanding and stepped outside of my comfort zone once again.
The Art
London is full of beauty from open gardens to shop windows. I went crazy at all the sights. After getting off the tube we headed to Trafalgar Square. There was art all around us, from people drawing in chalk on the floors, to an ever-changing sculpture as well as a super cheesy guy playing with fire. It was all so beautiful. From there we headed to the gallery and looked at all the wonderful paintings. Just seeing all the colours, brush strokes and details that went into the artwork was overwhelming, it just shows how over time art has changed. All the shades of colours have changed. The blue in some of the painting was like nothing I've ever seen before and you just couldn't take your eyes from it. I was also about to see the sunflower painting by Van Gogh.
St Dustane Garden
London is also full of surprise, hid behind an alleyway in the busy streets of London stands the St Dustane in the East Church Gardens. It was breathtaking, I never thought such beauty could be found in such a bit city. The church was built around 1100, with new aisles and repairs done in 1391 and 1631 with damaged caused by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and again by the Blitz of 1941. What remained was open as a public garden in 1967. We sat for a good hour or so on one of the benches just taking in the beauty that surrounded and talked about future plans. You wouldn't have thought you were in London.
The Company
If it wasn't for Paige I wouldn't have even gone on the spontaneous trip and had such an amazing experience. I would have clearly got lost at the station without your help (even if that's just as much fun of exploring somewhere new) and you have really inspired me to follow my dreams and showed me that anything is possible if you just work hard. You showed me the true judgement free side of London and pushed me out of my comfort zone in ChinaTown. So thank you girl and I can't wait for many more days like this one.
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