Cheerio, World Trip!

LONDON, ENGLAND

Big Ben

I arrived into London around 11:00pm and didn’t make it to the apartment of my former co-worker, Chris, until after midnight. Chris Medway worked for UBS London while I was in NYC and we collaborated on a number of projects together over the past 5 years. To be perfectly honest, he saved my butt a bunch of times and continued to do so during my 3 day stay at his lovely flat in London. 
 

Helpful hints when crossing the road

               London was to be my grand finale for my world trip. And what better way to end than in wonderful London where I would be surrounded by familiar language, food and people.  I started out my London tour by meeting another former UBS colleague, Lynden Howie, for a lunch of tapas.  I had met Lynden 5 years earlier when he visited NYC to present at an important meeting my former boss was hosting.  All managing directors that reported to my boss were summoned to NYC and I was the administrative assistant who had the pleasure of organizing the event.  You’d think that men of such stature would have their crap together but no.  These grown men could put college kids to shame with their perfection of procrastination.  They had me running around for two days solid.  Perhaps it was their guilt that persuaded them to include me on their final night out for some dinner, pool and ping pong.  I had a ball talking to all of them but it was Lynden that I got to speak to the most.  During dinner, he thanked me for my hard work and told me that he was very impressed with me.

“You don’t seem intimidated by this setting at all.”  He said.

“Oh, because I’m the only girl?  I asked.

Acrobats near Big Ben

“Well no.  Because you’re much younger than everyone here and you’re at a table with powerful Managing Directors from all around the world.  I mean, some of the most important people within Global Equities at UBS are at this table.”

“Oh,” I said. “No not really.”  The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind before.  But I began to think that maybe I shouldn’t have changed into my purple New Balance sneakers so quickly.

               And so I met Lynden for lunch in his homeland.  We were both free of UBS now and very much equals at our lunch table.  He had recently done a walk-about the world as well accompanied by his wife and looked so refreshed! He was expecting his first child to be born within a few months and was still contemplating his career path.  He seemed to be guided by his heart this time so I felt very happy that his next step would be a fulfilling one.

                After lunch with Lynden, I took the Tube to Parliament.  I kept saying, ‘Hey kids, there’s Big Ben’ as I made a loop around the area and checked on 10 Downing Street, the Women’s World War II Memorial, Westminster Abby, and the distinguished horses carrying the guards.  One less-than-distinguished horse kept sticking his tongue out at me and I was reassured that he had better teeth than most Brits.  Oooo, low blow!

Horse and me

                I misjudged the amount of time I would need in Winston Churchill’s Cabinet Room.  What a great museum!  It showed the close quarters in which Churchill and his crew quarterbacked most of the war and the many hardships they faced underground for so long.  Sometimes, after days of being underground, male and female workers would ascend from the underground bunker to find different areas of their beloved city destroyed by German forces.  They had to remember the layout of the city in their heads because all street signs were removed in fear of a German invasion.  I can’t believe there are people alive today that lived through it!  The life of Winston Churchill himself was astounding too- so many highs and so many lows.  It is almost inconceivable to believe that he ever returned to political office after the Galipoli disaster during World War I. 

 

                Closing out the museum that night, I rushed to Nottinghill for a drink with a couple I had met while in Greece.  It was not fun.  I knew it wouldn’t be.  The woman reminded me of an annoying girl I knew in high school and the guy was so pathetic….just doting on his little love muffin the whole dinner.  Let it be a lesson to all that you really should only do things that you want to do in this life.  I would have had a better time playing solitaire in my room than going to that dinner.  Don’t let false feelings of obligation and guilt make you do anything in life….but especially on vacation.  

Buckingham Palace

Sri and Lena excited for London

                The next day I had an extra hop in my step as I made my way to West Kensington.  I was so excited to meet my two friends that were flying into London to see me for a long weekend!!  Sri, my roomie from NYC and Lena, my partner-in-crime from Germany that I had traveled with throughout Australia!  I couldn’t think of a better finale to my trip than a weekend of fun with these two girls!  We first headed to Buckingham Palace where we reenacted the first kiss between William and Kate.  The British guards did not seem impressed by neither my new leather jacket nor my flirtatious advances….they wouldn’t let us in the gates.

Royalty at Buckingham Palace

                 So instead we found what it really meant to take a ‘stroll in Paaaahk’.  People give Bostonians a hard time about their accents but I would argue that we actually sound the most like our British ancestors.  The park was truly lovely with all of its autumn colors shining through.  We followed the orange, yellow, and brown scattered leaves until we came out toward Big Ben and the London Eye.  We stopped for lunch before finally making it to Sri’s thinking spot.  Along the banks of the Thames, she reassured us there was a serene location near the Eye that she sought as a young girl- it always seemed to bring clarity to her life.  We arrived to the precise spot and watched Sri slightly unravel.  Her coveted spot was under major construction!!  As if in a Woody Allen movie, the London rain seemed to be perfectly queued and we took some great ‘thinking’ pictures for Sri’s sake.

Stroll in the pahhhhhhk

How can you not smile at this picture??

 

Kerri and Lena with the London Eye in the background

                I left the girls to meet another old colleague from UBS.  Lawrence Marshall was another managing director that was present during that prestigious meeting in NYC years ago.  He was the quintessential Londoner- completely jolly.  The two of us had a heck of a time at a very trendy Moroccan restaurant complete with exotic tastes, and I’m not just referring to their talented belly dancers.  I was really moved with Lawrence’s generosity.  I was in complete awe that such a busy guy would take that amount of time out of his schedule to entertain little old me (on a school night to boot)!  What a great guy!

Harry Potter moment

                The next day’s highlight was not just taking a picture at the famous 9 and 3/4 platform at King’s Cross train station (Harry Potter reference) but, instead, later that night at Harrod’s.  Call me naïve but I had never heard of Harrod’s.  I felt like a tourist going into Macy’s in Herald Square but I don’t care.  We took our time strolling through the different departments and pretending that we were millionaires…and models.  We had an especially good time in the lingerie section until Lena returned from the bathroom….but then it got better!  She had found a Chanel ring on the counter of the bathroom and was tied in knots about what she should do with it.  In a place like Harrod’s, that left-behind ring could be worth about $600!  Or it could be a knock-off worth less than $10.  Should she keep it?  Should she turn it in?  It was a great source of debate between the three of us.  We lingered around the bathroom for 15 solid minutes (since that is obviously the legal grace period before you can claim something for yourself) but no one came to claim at.   When it came time for the store to close, I confirmed with management that only one person had reported a lost ring that day and she had already found it.  So the ring was ours to keep!  We fantasized about its worth and how it would change the rest of our trip!  We would bring it to a pawn shop over the next couple days and reap the benefits of our good fortune!  And I say ‘ours’ because Lena had agreed to spend it on all of us. 

REALLY having a hard time with the ring dilemma

Eating on the stairs in Harrod's.  No shame.

Smelling the flower balls in Harrod's

A Night out at Harrod's

                That evening we met Sri’s friend, Rachael, and had a whopper of a night in the bars.  We started in a stuffy (figuratively and literally) piano bar and just pub crawled along West Kensington.  The night peaked with some dancing and LOUD singing to ‘Empire State of Mind’ as we patronized some sorry British bloaks.  Actually, I take it back, the highlight of the night was when we hit up McDonald’s at 2:00am.

Old McDonald's had some pigs....E-i-E-i-O

Lena, Sri, Kerri, Rachael

Wooooooaaaah!

                Overcast and misty weather made for perfect photos on London Bridge the next day.  A special thanks to city of London for showing us their typical day of weather- I would have been disappointed by sunny skies.  The three of us did some incredible negotiating outside of the gates of the Arsenal stadium and got ourselves inside with tickets to 3 awesome seats!  The sweetest old man gave us a deal of a lifetime on his season ticketholder seats and we cheered for Arsenal with all of our might.  I don’t know what was more entertaining- watching hot men take girly dives or watching my hot mess, Sri, vehemently coach the athletes from the balcony.  The crowd was more subdued than I was expecting…and compared to the soccer crowds I had observed in Brazil in the past.  It seemed like a bunch of old English farts that were more likely to watch the game with a cup of tea than a keg of beer.  It seemed more sophisticated in a way.

Go Arsenal!

Next Arsenal standout

                The funniest picture we took came from our visit to the London Dungeons.  Here we took a grimly, comedic tour of some of the most horrific historical events in the city.  Through role play and interactive rides, we heard the gory tales of Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, Bloody Mary and others.  Lena and Sri were complete scaredy-cats but complete gluttons for punishment…they kept going back for more!  I was put on mock trial for prostitution and burned at the stake if you can believe it.  We left with a great memento- a picture of Lena’s horrified face when we dropped from the Extremis: drop ride to doom.  It’ll make for a nice Christmas card so keep an eye on your mailbox.  J 

Lena is the one in yellow.  It's the only evidence we have.

           With a fitting tune from the movie ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’, we set out for Portabello Road the next morning! 

“Portabello Road, Portabello Road,
Streets where the riches of ages are stowed. 
Anything and everything a chap can unload
Is sold off the barrow in the Portabello Road. 
You’ll find what you want in the Portabello Road.”
 

Portabello Road

Poppy Day in London!

                Ah, music to my ears.  We did lots of window shopping until it was time to say goodbye to our favorite Sri dawg.  Old Morgan Stanley was calling her back to her desk in NYC.  Lena and I went our own ways for the afternoon- mine led me to the Tower Bridge and surrounding docks with Chris Medway and then to magnificent St. Paul’s Church.  The whole city appeared to be getting a scrub-down in preparation for the Queen’s jubilee and the upcoming Olympics. Between that and the Royal wedding, London has had quite a run over the last couple years!

Not all that impressed with the London Bridge

But the Tower Bridge was gorgeous

                Lena and I were lucky to find each other in the theatre district only to learn that it was closed on Sundays!  Poor planning on our part.  But we grabbed something to eat and were about to head home when we saw a certain vibe coming from The Zoo.  There were no actual animals at this bar/lounge but many sailors that seemed to have adapted animal instincts.  We loved the next few hours!  Lots of dancing and lots of smiles to close out our trip in London!  The lions in Trafalgar Square were nice enough to pose for many a picture that evening.  We waited an eternity for the public bus to come but luckily there was a phone booth that occupied us and our cameras.

Lion shot

Last night out

Making a quick call to Canada

London held a lot of firsts for us- first bus ride on a double decker bus, first black cab taxi, first 1000 pictures in a red, British phone booth and first back-to-back late-night meal at McDonalds.  And first time I’ve been in a foreign country with 2 really good friends of mine!  I experienced a wave of emotions with my once-in-a-lifetime trip coming to an end.  I knew that I wouldn’t be free to travel like this again in the near future.  This was the trip I had waited so long for and, of course, it was over in a blink of an eye.  But I was lucky that I also had so much to look forward to- seeing my family and friends, sleeping in the same comfortable bed each night without an eye mask and ear plugs, not wearing sandals in the shower, and having a diet that consisted of more than nutella and peanut butter. 

Lena's first double decker ride

And first black cab ride

 

We're in London!!!

This wasn’t the end though!  It’s never the end (until it’s really the end).  Every single day is an adventure.  It may not be as glamorous as taking a world trip, but our own personal lives are the best trip we’ll ever have.  This trip gave me more clarity on the world, the way it was, the way it is and the people that are along for the ride.  And I am so grateful for that.  It was never my intention to visit 30 countries before I turn 30….but it is now.  I’ll be turning 29 years old in October 2012 and I’m currently at 29 countries….where should I go next??  Fire me some suggestions!  In the meantime, I think I’ll go mull it over in Calgary, AB while holding the hand of my really cool boyfriend, Brent.  It’s too bad the sights of Australia, NZ, western Canada, and Europe don’t really compare to him.

Brent Williams