I’m overwhelmed even trying to start to talk about London and to be honest have been putting it off slightly because I know so many Kiwis have been there! For me London represents the end of my travels and the beginning of a new scary and exciting chapter of my life. After much debate between whether to try Scotland on for size or settle in London… I’ve decided the bustling metropolis is the one for me. Better jobs, so much to see and do and of course I already have a handful of delightful friends here, which makes missing you all more bearable **sniff**.

My first day, armed with a preloaded Oyster card (Thank you Kate Swan!) I attempted to use the infamous Tube. Luckily it was really easy as the other countries metro’s I’ve used in the last three months, proved as a great training ground for London’s Tube! One of the first things that struck me was how steep the escalators were, I felt slight vertigo on a couple of them.

 Of course on my first day, unbeknownst to me I decided to head of one of the busiest places, Oxford Street and was violently aware that I was now in a city of 8 million people. Trust me to plunge into the deep end!

Over the course of the next few days I pretty much saw all the places on the monopoly board, chilled out in parks, made friends with squirrels, went shopping at Camden markets (amazing) and visited the Queen. I never knew London was so pretty! People always talk about how dirty it is, which yes the water is brown and air isn’t the best, but the green parks (did I mention there were squirrels), the rivers, all the old buildings, the Big Ben and Westminster abbey are really quite breath taking.

Oh why hello Lizzy

The amount of kiwis that are supposed to be living in London almost makes one think that every second person will be one, but no, everyone is pretty much English. I’ve seen a lot of tweed, men in suits, heard accents that I have to actively not outwardly mock and been to some awesome museums.

On the photo front, I took a bit of break because I know I will have so much more time to explore so think of this as more of a first impressions titbit….

London has everything, Even moon rock.