At A Glance
Two days in July 2025
| Day | Location | Attractions and Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Travel | Fly from D.C. to London |
| 1 | London | Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. James’s Park, Buckingham Palace |
| 2 | London | St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Afternoon Tea, Pub Crawl |
| 3 | London | Fly to Rome |
Itinerary
Hopping over the pond
London was the first stop of my eight week trip to Europe and Asia. After arriving, I hung out at the arrivals lounge since check-in wasn’t until 3pm. Plus, there’s free food and a shower! You might be wondering, why not shower after you get to your accommodation? Well, I’m staying at a capsule hotel, and I made an educated guess that the shower at the lounge would be nicer than the one at the hotel (and I was right).
Afterwards, I decided to look at my options on how to get to where I was staying. I opened Uber, and upon seeing that it would cost me $75, I noped right out of there. I opted to use the Tube instead, which was a much more affordable option.
Speedrunning the sights
After checking in, I mustered up the energy and walked to London’s famous sights: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace. Honestly? They were aight. Just buildings to me. What I enjoyed way more was wandering through St. James’s Park nearby, watching people out and about, enjoying their lives.
For dinner, I tried to get into the famous Dishoom, but the line was out the door. I pivoted to a Sri Lankan place and ordered the sampler. It was mid. Spicy, sure, but none of the flavors really popped. A little more salt would have gone a long way.
Meta who?
The next day, I reunited with two of my ex-Meta coworkers. I first grabbed coffee with Catherine, who I hadn’t seen in person in over a year. I was nervous it might be awkward, but within the first few minutes of talking, it felt natural again.
As we wandered over to St. Paul’s Cathedral, she gave me some interesting tidbits on England, such as how there’s a socio-cultural divide between the north and south. Being the linguistic nerds that we are, we also discussed the phonologically differences between the different regional accents.
Walking over the Millennium Bridge, I asked Catherine how to spot a tourist in London. Pro tip: if you stop in the middle of the Tube station to check your phone or spend ages rifling through your wallet at the gate, you’re basically wearing a flashing sign that says “not from here”. Not me being guilty on both counts.
We then headed to The Ned for afternoon tea. Coming in, my naive self thought this was something British people do everyday. Turns out, this was Catherine’s first time as well. The tea and snacks exceeded my expectations. Who knew tiny sandwiches could be so delicious? The chicken curry sandwich was my favorite, and I discovered that English scones are better than US ones. Apparently, there’s a passionate debate over whether you put the jam or butter first. We drank through five pots of tea; the darjeeling, jasmine, and assam were my top picks.
In the evening, we grabbed drinks with Tomás. Even though I’d never met him in person before, he seemed like an old friend. The hours flew by as we exchanged stories and shared laughs over the most random things. I accidentally called the St. Paul Cathedral a mosque and invented an imaginary pub chain known as Merriweathers, It’s rare to feel so at ease with people you don’t see often—or have never met at all—and I felt genuinely lucky.
Onto Rome
My last morning, I finally made it to Dishoom for breakfast. Totally worth it. Their take on a full English was miles better than the one at the lounge. Even the baked beans were good—something I never thought I’d say. Next time, I’ll definitely try their lunch or dinner.
Reflections
I’ll be honest—London was not on the top of my list of places to visit. I just needed a way to get to the Balkans, and it was a convenient stopover. Turns out though, I enjoyed London more than I thought I would! I loved wandering the different neighborhoods and green spaces that the city had to offer.
The highlight was definitely seeing my friends who I met at Meta. Even though this was only my first or second time seeing them in person, I felt like I could be my true self around them. Definitely need to hit up the institutions that are Greggs and M̶e̶r̶r̶i̶w̶e̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶ Wetherspoons next time I’m back!