London Easter Holiday 2009

The main reason for our short trip to London had nothing to do with a vacation: a friend is looking out for a room in the main capital city of the UK. But then we met the nice hotel manager of our Woodville Guest House who personally helped us with the organization of the difficult task to find a cheap place to stay for approximately 4 months. And last but not least he introduced us to the nightlife of this beautiful city.

Culture Clash

The first thing I realized about London was the many different cultures. Many more different nationalities than I have ever seen here in Hamburg. The interesting side-effect is that I heard only a few times a real english accent without grammar mistakes. I did not talk lots of english in the past months and so this circumstance was quite pleasing for me. We met a lot of very kind people on our short trip with only a few exceptions. But on top of these nice people was the manager our hotel: Usman Sunny B. He made our exiting trip much easier and made the big city feel a lot more like home. This wasn’t for sure the last time met each other, my friend.

Travel by cab or avoid Stansted Airport

Why is the currency still measured in Pound £ and not in Euro €? This makes a trip like this more difficult than it has to be. And if you ever plan a trip to London please consider the following: The Stansted Airport is far away from the center of the city. This means that you have to travel by train or by bus. In this case you will reach Liverpool Street Mainstation within 45 minutes.

The problem is: normally your hotel will not be in the central of London but somewhere at the outer border. This means you have to travel by bus or train again. This will cost you a good amount of money and time. Especially at 2 o’clock in the morning in the rainy mist of the city. So please take my advice: use a cab. You spent only £30 for the distance between Stansted Airport and Ilford and this ride only takes 30 minutes of your time. This means more time for you to enjoy a Guinness with Fish & Chips in one the pubs.