Cheerio, mate: I’m in London!

[disclaimer: as I was traveling alone and am a woman, I chose to post this after I returned from England]

So if you’ve seen my Instagram stories post-brief-hiatus (or you know me in real life), you’ll know that I’m currently writing this to you from a hotel room in London, England. Even more fun is that I keep forgetting to buy plug adapters, so I’m writing part of this from the floor right outside my bathroom, since that outlet—for whatever mysterious reason—fits US plugs. Sounds like a tomorrow problem when my brain is a bit more screwed on.

I’ll start by saying that there are a lot of restrictions in place for travelers, but I don’t have to quarantine, like I originally thought and originally intended. As of August 2nd, the government updated their restrictions for vaccinated individuals from the US and EU. I’ve been fully vaccinated since May. So if you started reading this or saw my story of me in Green Park (my favorite little urban green space)/in front of Buckingham Palace and thought I was pulling a fast one on the NHS, worry not. I’ve got all my ducks in a row here. I was also one of the only people masking, but you know what, I don’t care that much about wearing it. I like it. I can sing to myself, and people get my resting-bitch-eyes, full force. It gives me an air of mystery! Well, no, it doesn’t but I digress. Waiting until I get my latest COVID test back to make a decision on how much upper lip sweating I’ll be doing on my park walks, brb. Administering a COVID test to yourself is no joke! I didn’t just have to do the nose thing but my tonsils too, and y’all, my gag reflex did not like that one bit.

Anyway, if I can commit to it (and look, I think we all know I can’t but let’s pretend, shall we?), I figured why not become a travel blogger for the next two weeks and tell you all about every americano I drink and my park routes. Kidding, of course I have bigger plans! But whenever someone asked me what I was going to be doing on this trip for two weeks, my answer was this: walk around parks and drink coffee. It’s my vacation, and this is what I want. I love just walking around this city, so I’m damn well gonna do it!

I really did a whole Day at Disneyland walking day in, like, three and a half hours. It’s what I just now decided to call “the park circuit.” The place I’m staying at is near Hyde Park (undisclosed specifics for obvious reasons), so I knew that I’d just have to hop, skip, and jump over there. And Hyde Park, with Kensington Gardens included, in case you didn’t know, is massive. About 3/4 the size of Central Park. But it’s also adjacent to Green Park and St. James Park. So, since I didn’t have to quarantine, and I needed to fend off jet lag (which is getting me pretty badly as I write this), I just started walking. I turned on some music in one ear and just took it all in.

Man, I love this place. People out by the pond on blankets, people not by the pond on blankets, people in beach chairs, people playing games, people having small gatherings. I’m a real romantic about this place, but dare I say it was idyllic. “The vibes were immaculate,” as the kids say. Catch me later reading for book club by the pond and pretending I’m a Londoner.

So I wandered the paths where they split and forked and went off into nowhere, and then I crossed over into Green Park, which is rather small. But here is where coffee called my name! So I snagged an americano and got to walking some more. Green Park and St. James Park are connected at a corner—that corner is Buckingham Palace. I tried to do big loops around the both of them. No real reason except that I know I’ve zig-zagged before. That and I was already getting pretty tired. It’s a lot of steps!

This is also when I posted that picture of me, revealing that I was in London in the first place, which I didn’t tell many people about beforehand. So I spent so much time answering messages (I know, I’m so popular), that I didn’t get to enjoy the scenery as much. And by scenery, I mean people-watching. I don’t know why, but it’s my favorite thing to see men in business suits just walking in the park, especially on off hours. Babe, where are you going? They just seem so out of place with the casual setting. I love it.

I also forgot how many pigeons there are here. So. Many. Freaking. Pigeons. And they just flap their wings right in your face! It’s terrifying.

Over twenty thousand steps later, I was back to the area where I started. Holy crap, that’s a lot of steps! And it wasn’t quite over since I did have to grab some toiletries—and later an outlet adapter (which I do have at this point in the writing/editing process). Just…a little…bit…longer.

To think people do this all the time? I know I’m going to try and walk as much as I can. I used to be a London Underground pro, so we’ll see if I can pick it up again quickly. But since I’m here and no one else is around to complain about walking, I might as well enjoy the city as it is.

I already feel back at home here, just walking around and existing. People have often asked me what it is I love so much about London, and I don’t have a solid, explainable answer. I just tell them that it’s the only place I’ve ever felt like I belonged. That’s something people can understand, right? I simply feel a little more whole when I’m wandering around this city, and I got the first of many fixes of that today.