The London Travel Photojournal

everyday is a day of dérive

This is prolly the trip of a lifetime, up to this point in my (close-to) 21 years of existence on this Earth. I can't count how many blessings I've received on this trip but I shall share them in the form of photos with you guys! :)

Nobody actually knows how much I love London ever since I set foot on this amazing land in December 2012, as part of a 15/16D package tour to Central Europe after my A Levels. I really enjoyed the company I had on that trip but I did not get to enjoy London at all. I told myself, "One day, just one day, I'll travel to this faraway land all by myself and experience life there."

And bam! This trip happened. I wasn't even sure that it is even going to be confirmed up till the moment I booked my flight tickets to London (the whole airtickets/fly by SQ thing is another story on its own all thanks to my very amusing mum) Up till the moment I landed in Singapore, I still felt a strong sense of uncertainty whether my trip would work out well... and damn it did... well sort of. At least I didn't get pickpocketed (well almost)/raped/mugged/attacked by balaclava men (hehe inside joke).

I really want to thank all my friends that I met up with in the UK for the good fellowship and conversations we had over afternoon tea/pizza/corona/snakebites/beer/wine/weird food from the supermarket. It was extremely nice to catch up with you guys after such a long time (well except for Yan Han and Hazel, it hasn't been very long but hope you all are enjoying yourself in Iceland with all the funny funny names of places I can't pronounce :P)

Special special thanks to Jackie and Mao. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for letting me hobo at your place(s) and cooking so much good food while I'm here. Esp esp esp esp esp Mao, thanks for taking me to so many places and your favourite haunts in London, and sorry I made you suffer for a week (fyi, apparently I laugh in my sleep) D:

Thank you Valerieeeeeee for coming with me up North, with misadventures happening Every. Single. Day. on the rail trip. It was great catching up with you after so long... like 2010??? Thanks for going through all the shit with me (L I T E R A L L Y) and introducing me to my new secret hideout in London the next time I return and the goodness of Paperchase (!!!!!!!!!!! PLS DON'T ENTER THIS PLACE IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS RESTRAINING SPENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!)

There's something about solo trips that makes it so therapeutic, as you're hanging out with yourself most of the time and you can get to have uninterrupted thought chains and unlimited me-time. There's also something about Londoners that really make my day, as it is totally normal to say hi and smile at random strangers you meet. The men there are so gentlemanly, I never expected anyone to help me with my luggage at the tube stations but there were people who actually did.

I'll live to tell the tales that happened during this trip to all the people I meet in the future (eg husband and kids) and I dare say that this is the most legitimate holiday I've ever taken in my entire life. I literally woke up anytime I wanted on most days, ate good food, indulged myself in good art at the museums and gorgeous sights by the Thames, fell asleep on grass patches (and DID NOT GET PICKPOCKETED), had the most meaningful conversations with my best friend I haven't seen in a year and most importantly, living the life of a Londoner.

In the upcoming posts, I'll be introducing some various things you can do in London and some of my favourite places I discovered on this trip in the UK! BUT MEANWHILE I'm happy to announce that....

I'm flying off again tomorrow to another country HAHAHA(been seriously under the weather these days) so I'll be blogging simultaneously along with that! Hehe see you guys soon~

xx,
Ming.