I landed at Heathrow and I expected so many delays with baggage and customs, there we’re zilch, none, no lines whatsoever, customs took only a minute to get through, he was also confused because he thought I was only staying for a week all the way from Australia and questioned me for a quick second however after telling him I was on a world trip he did a big sigh of relief. Getting my bags also only took no more than 30 minutes, but it wasn’t like what you saw on the news there were no bags piled, the airport was empty, maybe it was just dumb luck or maybe it was just all hysteria from the media.

Once I grabbed my already heavy bags I headed for the bus terminal and if you have been to Heathrow airport you know you have to go find the lifts, go down, walk 2kms and finally you’re in the small crappy bus terminal there, at the time I got to the terminal the workers had already gone home for the night so I stood at the automatic machines trying to figure out how to get to London Bridge, I tried everything even trying central, however nothing came up, it really drove me to insanity, so I headed to the tube, my worst nightmare, luckily this time there we’re a couple people still working and they happily told me where to go exactly, I hopped on one and unfortunately no seats, so I had to uncomfortably stand with my large bag trying to stop it from wheeling away eventually, it wasn’t long till got a seat, I had to change at “Green Sq” I thought it was going to be a nightmare but it was actually quite easy to navigate. I finally got to London bridge station, with my google maps in tow I walked to try and find my hostel while dodging trash and party goers.

I made it to my hostel so exhausted, I put whatever stuff I need to in my locker and then headed to bed, by this time it was 1am so I didn’t want to make any more noise than I already had.

The next morning, I woke up and found a bathroom, which was the cleanest in the hostel and headed to my free breakfast which was in the bar downstairs, it was mayhem down there, so many people, all trying to eat, all trying to scramble around getting the last of the foods, when I got downstairs there was no milk left for the cereal so I had to wait for someone to refill it.

After breakfast I headed back to my 29 “bed” dorm room and got changed for the day, I was ready to hit the city and see the sights of London again, the weather was so perfect, a nice 27-degree day.

I headed out and the streets where a busy bustling city , people going to their usual 9-5 while I was ready to find the hop on hop off bus, unfortunately I picked the wrong time to head to London, the time I chose happened to be a weekend long train strike, so I headed to the nearest bus stop to try and find hop on hop off branded buses and where they stop, I had no luck so I found an information man and got terrible directions however he still pointed me in the similar area I needed to be, I waited for what it felt like 20 minutes and no bus, then suddenly saw one go passed me so I ran for my life, sprinting passed everyone huffing and puffing, I was unsuccessful in catching it, however I was relieved enough to find out where it stopped so I caught my breath and asked when the next one is and to my surprise it wasn’t far away.

I hopped on the bus, showed my ticket to the driver and he gave me a super long receipt in return, I grabbed my complimentary earphones and headed upstairs, the bus was quite packed, so I got a seat outside, no big deal. It was a beautiful London day.

The bus continued through London bridge and then eventually drove onto the bridge to give us picture perfect views of tower bridge and the Thames heading towards cleopatras needle and then seeing the iconic big ben, by that stage everyone got off the bus, so I took the very front row which gave me better views of all the monuments.

There is nothing quite like seeing Big Ben, seeing all the small details of the clock. After going past Big Ben the next stop was Westminster Abbey and the statues across in the park, then near Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth gate, Marble Arch, Park Lane, going through all those famous streets where the prime minster lived and seeing all those beautiful white townhouses. I eventually got off the bus (once it when around again) at Marble Arch and walked all the way along oxford street until I reached piccadilly circus and headed for lunch at the hard rock café, on the hop on hop off tour they offered a discount to eat at that place, after lunch I headed to try and find a pharmacy at this stage I wasn’t feeling too crash hot and came down with a bad flu so I went and got some cough syrup and sat in Hyde Park crying feeling so defeated and down, once I dried my tears I went for walk around, tried to find the right bus to catch back to my hostel only to find the last bus had already gone.
I decided to walk to a tube station however the strike was now well and truly on, all tube gates were shut and no buses I walked all the way from Queen Elizabeth gate to London Bridge, it says it was only 3.2 miles however it felt like forever especially being so run down I felt like a zombie, however I did get some amazing views along the way, I finally made it back and tried to go to sleep however it was a rough night sleep, I coughed all night.

The next morning I was in bed until noon, I was unfortunately the sickest I have ever felt and once noon came along I decided to look for new accommodation, I felt like I wouldn’t have gotten better staying in something extremely loud, I found a new tiny hotel in Kensington, it was a reasonable price so I booked, packed up and headed to reception to check out, the hostel would only give me one night refundable which sucked and then I left.

I checked into the new hotel which looked completely different to the photos online, so I was disappointed. Once I got in, I went straight to bed and slept.

Day 4, my days were getting numbered. Outnumbered to be exact, I wanted to do so many things this time I came to London, however I only added two more things to my list, I went on another bus tour this time I booked Big Bus Tours, and set off for another round of trying to stay awake on a moving transportation type day, they didn’t take the exact route for the other tour group so I thought it was still worthwhile. I eventually got off at Tower of London and headed to see inside, when I was walking to the entrance there was so many food trucks, I think it must have been a festival happening at the same time, as soon as I got through the gates I luckily saw a beefeater and listened to the commentary, after he finished I went to see the crown of jewels, unfortunately it was almost closing time so I didn’t get to see the death chambers. After leaving I headed for the bus again to go back to the hotel to have an early night again.

Day 5 I decided to have a more relaxed day in the city, I got on the bus again and this time hopped off at Selfridges for some window shopping until I realised, they had Din Tai Fung there and decided to stop and have lunch. For dinner I headed to Chelsea, I ordered a lasagne went to a supermarket to get a drink, when I was on street level, I realised my lasagne had fallen out of my takeaway bag and I had to get nandos instead, I was so devastated.

Last day in London, I decided to get up and head to a laundromat to wash some of my clothes, unfortunately it was wasted time and they didn’t wash so I headed back to the hotel and looked up same day laundry services (BIG MISTAKE), after leaving my washing with the reception for the same day service I headed out to the city again and this time I got off the bus at Harrods, window shopped till I got hungry and headed into the food hall, it was amazing I then stumbled on takeaway pasta and sauces by Pasta Evangelists where you choose what pasta style you want, your sauce and any other toppings, I went a bit bougee and got mushroom filled raviolis with a sage burnt butter sauce and to top it off a shaving of truffles, I was in heaven.

I walked to go find a spot to eat and stumbled upon the Victoria and Albert Museum and sat on the stairs and watched everyone go past.

After lunch I got a bus to Westminster Abbey, luckily there was no line at all except still a lot of people. I also decided to get the extra ticket to go upstairs, and instead of taking the elevator I walked up all the stairs there was 108, once up the top I got a great birds eye view of the entire Abbey, it was really amazing to see.

After going to the Abbey, I hopped on the final bus and got off at Kensington gardens, I wanted to go into Princess Dianna children playground however it was off limits at the time I was there. As I was walking I stumbled upon the beautiful geese pond, I walked around it twice only because I got lost the second time, I wanted to find the peter pan statue but before I got there I stumbled upon the Italian gardens, gosh they are so beautiful once I thought I spent enough time I kept walking to try and find the statue again but it was only a short up the path stroll away, if you are like me you’ve probably seen the statue in many movies before so seeing it for the first time was really exciting,
once everyone cleared I got the area around the statue all to myself.

After the statue I followed the lake all the way to the other side, it was a really beautiful afternoon walking and people watching it was probably the highlight of my trip.

I walked back to my hotel and grabbed some dinner on the way home, I checked the lobby to see if my washing was back but unfortunately it wasn’t, I started to get to get a bit worried because it was my last night in London, I got an email from the same day washing company saying they can’t bring the washing back until the next day after lunch, after many emails I had to leave without getting my washing, instead asking the hotel to send it back home. However, it never arrived to this day.

The day had arrived that I was heading to the next destination. I packed up all my belongings and headed to the underground, I accidently purchased the wrong ticket to Heathrow however they refunded me later, I arrived at Earls Court bound to Paddington then onto the Heathrow express, it was such an easy experience.

Once I got to Heathrow airport I checked in and got upgraded to premium economy, Heathrow airport wasn’t too busy either, so I made it through security really fast.

Premium economy experience with British Airways. It was really comfortable seating however my chair headphone jack was broken so I couldn’t listen to movies without just holding the cord the entire time, the food was crap as well I was so disappointed.

Hostel: St Christophers Inn London Bridge: 1/5, the bathrooms we’re always dirty I stayed in a pod style room with 29 beds, the bed itself was comfortable at least.

Hotel – The Villa Kensington: 3/5 the photos on bookings . com don’t look like the hotel room itself, the room itself was very tight, it had too many things in the room that didn’t need to be there for instance a really big standalone wardrobe, it just took up everything, also the bathroom was tiny but clean there was no toilet scrubber which is a bit silly, the staff we’re incredibly nice and it was in the perfect location, so close to a lot of the nicer side of London.

Hop on hop off buses: I went with the two famous brands the famous red sightseeing bus that you see everywhere and also Big Bus Tours, I will recommend big bus tours more because the commentary was really funny and different, they also went to a bit more locations than the red bus.