So after the flight across the pond, sleeping on and off for 6 hours with a crying baby in front of me, I finally arrived in London at 7:30 AM! We were met by our driver for the program (I felt so official he had a sign and everything!) then we proceeded to the hotel! It took a little bit to get settled and honestly I wanted to freshen up because a 9 hour flight does awful things to your hair, but after that we were set to go exploring!
On Friday we are doing a bus tour with it ending near the Buckingham Palace area so we decided to go ahead and do the whole shopping, and Pub thing on Thursday! We walked down Kensington, for what seemed like forever and then decided on eating at a Pub near Harrod’s called Paxton’s Head! I ordered a Greene King IPA and an order of Fish and Chips! (That is my idea of looking like a local LOL) but I wanted to branch out! The Fish and Chips weren’t much different from the ones that I have had previously in Destin, Florida, but I still enjoyed the experience! The beer wasn’t half bad either. Something that I learned though is that British people like their beer dark so be prepared when you go to order. The IPA was the lightest thing they had besides a Stella!
The next thing that we did was hit up Harrod’s which is like a huge emporium of all luxury goods. I saw brands I had never heard of and shoes with wings. It was awesome they even had a floor that was called “Shoe Heaven,” and let me tell you it really lived up to the hype! Once we finally found our way out of the maze of items that I wanted to touch but refrained in fear of hurting things, we stumbled across a Laduree macaroon and pastry shop! I bought 6 and I am not joking when I say that I paid $20 for 6 macaroons but they were the absolute best ones that I’ve had in my entire life!!
London so far is super cool, it really reminds me of an older New York with better architecture. The buildings are all so pretty and the area we are staying in is definitely a nice part of town by the look of the homes! So far this whole making new friends and memories thing is really fun! The hotel is nice and it is comforting to travel with others that have ended up sharing similar hobbies and what not from home!
Well keep checking back for more travel updates! I am hoping to keep this shindig up every day the entire trip, so I would love to have you on this adventure with me!
xoxo,
lex
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Read more from Alexa at http://alexamclain.com/
To find out more about the AIFS Study Abroad in Florence program, check out http://www.aifsabroad.com/italy/florence/
