London

Friday 27th July 2012

For those of you who had high hopes for this blog, it's not exactly a thrilling first entry! After waking up at silly o'clock to get a few last minute jobs done, I started my journey at the bus station, with mum waving me off. Owing to the early start I thankfully snoozed my way through most of the megabus journey down to London. It was during the walk from St Pancras International to the St Pancras Youth Hostel (just across the road) that I began to panic about the size and weight of my bag, as my pace got slower and my face redder with every step! Why do I always pack more than I can comfortably carry? Oh dear.

Checking in at the hostel I found that there was still just over an hour to wait until I could get into my room, so I stuffed my humungous backpack into a locker in the hostel basement and headed out in search of a Post Office. No matter how much time I spend preparing, there's always something left to do at the last minute. This year, it was getting my currency, after traipsing round various places yesterday proved fruitless. (Nowhere had US dollars except to order.) No big deal - a not-so-quick trip to the Post Office opposite Kings Cross sorted everything. A much-needed cold drink at Costa Coffee (I'm developing an addiction to the orange and raspberry fruit cooler) took me beyond the 2pm check-in time, so I headed back to the hostel. I felt much safer after leaving my newly acquired cash in my room locker, and finally I headed out to explore a bit of the capital.

This is only the second time I've been to London. I decided to make the most of the sunshine and check out Hyde Park, since I'd read that there was a free event there for the Olympic opening ceremony. The crowds were growing steadily and all headed in the same direction; after a lengthy walk through the park it became clear that it was a free event that required you to buy tickets to enter. Hmm. Maybe not, then. Keen to visit Kensington Gardens but not so keen on the crowds, I thought I'd be clever and skip the walk by taking the underground one or two stops to other side. Not so clever after all. The first underground station I got to was closed. Assured that the next one was only five minutes away, I set off and ended up battling through crowds on Bond Street - five minutes was nearer ten or twelve, and a malfunctioning lift meant descending millions of steps.

Feeling quite tired, I finally arrived at the other side and found the Peter Pan statue. What a gorgeous little part of the park, and a lovely statue. I've always loved Peter Pan, and JM Barrie actually chose the location of the statue when he gave it as a gift in 1912.

After soaking up a bit of sun I headed to the Victoria station, and took in one of the bigger London landmarks: Buckingham Palace. I had to walk the long way round in order to get a view of it, because some of the roads were closed, and you couldn't get any nearer than the monuments in front of it. (Don't know if that's normal.) It seems that long walks are definitely the theme of the day.

I walked down the Mall, and then Pal Mall, all the way to Trafalgar Square, where I met another crowd. This time, the people were gathering to watch the clock count down to the start of the Olympics. Just about everyone was a foreign visitor, some waving flags and excitedly taking photos in front of the clock. I also spotted several tv crews reporting from the square. Quite tired by this point, I only stayed to take a photo of the clock at the "2 hours to go" mark and then went back to the hostel, picking up some food on the way.

I arrived back at the hostel at around 8pm, tired and with aching feet. (Gladiator sandals are not my friend.) After retrieving my backpack from the basement and taking it to my room seven floors above (thank goodness for the lift) I did a bit of reorganising, sorted things for the morning and then went to the hostel lounge to see if the opening ceremony was showing on the tv. I'm glad I came early - quite a crowd has gathered to watch it and I'm really enjoying it so far. I managed to bag myself a spot at a table in the back so I could type my first blog entry while watching the opening ceremony. It's nice to watch it with a crowd, and I'm glad I got to see it live instead of via whatever highlights they'll be showing in a month's time.

Bed time for me soon. I figure I need to be up at 5am in order to get Heathrow in time for check in tomorrow morning. Ouch.