Day 2: London

I can't believe that I'm finally in London! After catching the train from the airport and checking into my hotel I decided it was time to explore a bit. Even though I was exhausted I knew the best thing to help my jet lag was to stay up as late as possible so my aim was to at least stay up until 8pm London time (5am Melbourne time). This meant that I had 5 hours in which I needed to do things so as I wouldn't fall asleep.

I started with a walk to The Brunswick shopping ball just around the corner where my first priority was to get water as I was really dehydrated from the flight. I went to Waitrose which I'm guessing is

a similar idea to our Woolies. It was quite interesting to have a look at the different brands around, seeing both familiar brands that we have back home as well as some new ones. I was very happy to see Cadbury and I also saw Galaxy (this is one that my UK friends back home keep on telling me about so it is on my list to try).

I then headed to the 3 mobile store to get a SIM card for my phone - within 5 minutes of getting there I already had mobile phone connection with unlimited data for 30 days (yes I know it is a sad thing how excited I was). I then used my phone to see what was around the area that i could go to next and saw that there was a Public garden area just around the corner.

Before coming here I was reading my lonely planet book where it mentioned that as soon as there is a bit of sunshine, people flock to the many parks around London. Well it was certainly accurate as I

walked through the gates of Russell Square Park and saw all the people lying on the grass, sitting on park benches and just wandering along the paths. Whilst I was sitting there I just started writing and this is what I wrote:

"I'm writing this post sitting on a park bench in Russell Square Park enjoying the sun. It might only be 14 degrees and I'll admit I'm a little bit cold without my jacket on but I don't care. There is blue sky in London! It's so much fun sitting here people watching - the Brits certainly make the most of blue sky. The park is filled with people young and old lying on the grass, sitting on park benches and strolling around the gated park area. There we even kids running in and out of the water feature, trying to see how close they could get to the changing water spurts coming up from the ground. And I'm feeling content. I might have only landed in London 3 hours ago but already I know this is going to be the trip of a lifetime."

I then walked back towards my hotel, taking the obigilatory photo next to a red telephone box. Trust me, I plan to take photos of all the stenotype ally tourist attractions on this trip. I had a quick rest in my room before going downstairs to have one of the worst dinners ever (note to self, if the hotel has a free meal included and it is at a buffet style restaurant don't do it - spend the money and go somewhere else).

I did manage to stay up until 8pm (only just) before crashing. Unfortunately I did wake up at 3am and haven't been able to sleep since (it is now 5.15am) so I think today will be a long one. Bye for now xoxo