As a young student traveler, I often looks for the cheapest flights I can find. Since the two closest airports, Geneva and Lyon, are both pretty far away, this usually leads to me having to wake up absurdly early. Today would be significantly better, as my flight to London was not until 4 PM.
Not wanting to have anymore travel nightmares, my bus left early at 9:20 AM. The plan was that I would have a couple hours in Geneva after arriving at 11:00. Good thing I planned ahead because my bus ended up being over an hour late. This was not the worst though, I got the alert from flix bus at home which meant I could chill out in my room. After a bit, I headed to the bus station and boarded quickly.
A Nice Picture of the River I took on the bus
I ended up arriving in Geneva around 12:30, which worked well for me since I wouldn’t have to wait a while for my flight. After my long day in Geneva last week, I didn’t even have to look up how to get to the airport. Once I got there, security went quickly and I was soon waiting at my gate. I relaxed for about an hour and a half before it was time to board.
I took advantage of the in flight entertainment to watch about half of the movie called The Internship with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. It was dumb but pretty funny. After a quick hour and a half flight, I had landed in Gatwick Airport in London. After exchanging my euros to pounds, I set off to find a train to Brixton. Brixton is the part of London where my hostel is.
I got as far as the train could take me, then found the double decker bus that could take me the rest of the way. Just from my initial impressions, I like this part of London much more than the other area I stayed in. Since London was the last city on my first week off, I feel like I am giving it more energy this time and am finding myself pretty excited.
This may be the most British sign I’ve ever seen
I found my hostel which is also a live music bar on the bottom level. It’s probably a good thing that I have earplugs. After checking in and dropping off my bag, I headed out. My first task was to find a nice bottle of wine to bring as a gift for Sam’s parents. My original plan was to bring a bottle from France, but I only had a carry on and couldn’t bring it obviously. Plus, I didn’t want to bother buying airport wine since it’s overpriced and not that good.
With the help of Google, I found some tiny wine shop. I talked to the owner about what exactly I was looking for and my price range. I told him I wanted an impressive white from a smaller vineyard. I ended up getting a nice Chardonnay from the Cotes du Jura in France. This region is small and one of the more obscure French wine regions. It is actually pretty close to Grenoble. Even though I bought it in England, I’ll tell Sam’s parents that I got it in France.
Not wanting to carry the bottle around, I made quick stop at my hostel to store it in my locker. My next task was to find dinner. While waiting in Geneva, I spent a lot of time looking at food instagrams for London and trying to find a cool spot. Nothing really jumped out to me except an advertisement I saw for Chipotle. In that moment, it became clear that I had to get Chipotle for dinner.
Luckily for me, there are a few of them in London. The nearest one was a thirty minute bus ride, which I did not mind doing since it brought me towards Trafalgar Square. This is the touristy area of London. After getting off the bus, Chipotle was a short walk away.
Trafalgar Square
Thankfully the store layout is universal and I treated myself to a bowl with the works and guacamole. It was delicious, thought interestingly enough tasted different than American Chipotle. I am sure it has to due with where the ingredients are sourced from.
After dinner, I walked around for a bit, but started to get too cold. I had packed a sweatshirt, but even with that on I was a bit chilly. This is quite different to the weather I have been experiencing lately in France. I found my bus back to Brixton and hopped on.
The Royal Wedding is this Saturday and the whole city seems to be excited for it.
Here is a selfie I took with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Various Harry and Meghan themed gifts
By the time I got back, it was nearly 9:30. I got back to the hostel and got into my sleeping clothes and brushed my teeth. Once in bed, I typed up my blog which I finished around 11:00 PM. Not wanting to stay up particularly late, I put on my sleep mask and ear plus and went to bed.
Foreign Tourist with No Grasp of the Local Language 
Leave a comment