London | England

24 Oct 2015 - 25 Oct 2015

I now realize I never really properly documented my first "official" mini trip to London. It was intended to be a weekend getaway. My friend, Faith (who is also from NAU studying at NTU), and I busted a mission and bus'd it to London (departure from Nottingham - 5am, arrival in London - 9am). This was so that we could have two full days in London and only pay one overnight accommodation. We're broke college students, okay? :P

Anyways, we settled on an Airbnb place in east London which was about a 30 minute train ride to Westminster (aka tourist central :P). Long story short, place was super nice and new, but really inconvenient proximity-wise.

Even though I've only taken one tiny trip so far, and it wasn't even out of the country, it's made me realize how fortunate I was growing up. My wanderlust stemmed from the plethora of oversea trips I've taken in the past. However, for some stupid reason, I never took into account how comfortable every arrangement was. I've been fortunate enough to stay at 4-5 start hotels or really upscale hostels in the past and food was mostly taken care of. I never felt rushed, because I was given time to fully experience the culture and my surroundings. Now that I'm traveling independently, budgeting and scheduling is quite stressful and exhausting. I don't know why these things never occurred to me in the past, but they have now.

In all honesty, I was very uncomfortable for a majority of this mini trip. Don't get me wrong. London is such an absolutely gorgeous city. The discomfort could have come from my unfortunate iPhone 6 incident and/or I was only barely started to get over my bronchitis and having after-effects (i.e. medication withdrawal & rebound migraines, severe iron deficiency, tinnitus, etc.) In addition to my crappy health, I am quite certain there were other factors contributing to the overall discomfort. I despise the idea of "backpacking through Europe," and frankly, staying at some random stranger's flat was just plain strange. The bus rides were so long and uncomfortable. Everything felt so rushed and temporary. It was as if I was fully aware of a virtual timer counting down all the time. As a result, I couldn't really get an accurate feel of the city and culture within that city.

But really, I would have never been able to make these realizations without this trip. I thought I could be a really flexible & low-maintenanced traveler. I thought that the only thing that mattered was just seeing iconic sights and places. Reality is, I can't. I'm a person who needs to be secure and comfortable in a hotel where I don't have to worry about my belongings, I've got privacy, and I can rest peacefully after an eventful day of sightseeing in order to fully enjoy my entire experience. I know it's a really snobby & high-maintenance mind-set, but I don't care; I don't see anything wrong with needing comfort to fully enjoy an experience.

I have such a higher appreciation for my parents when it comes to vacationing. Worthy hotels are expensive when factoring in proximity, cleanliness, and customer service. Food for a family of four is expensive. When you're on vacation, you certainly don't cook. Even when I took my trip to Germany four years back, 95% of the meals, schedules, flights, and of the accommodations were already taken care of. This is a whole new world for me. Though my parents aren't restricting my abroad experience in any way, I have to compromise a lot of accommodations, because I have to be courteous of others and compromise with those who DO have budgets to stick to.

Don't get me wrong, I am still thrilled I went to London. The city is beautiful and it was so nice to finally see these international icons in person. I was in awe, because everything felt so surreal. Not only that, I am so beyond grateful for Faith's unconditional patience with me. She was very understanding of my situation and tried her best to tend to my needs. Though I haven't known her for long, I can already tell she is a definition of a true friend. She's selfless, understanding, optimistic, non-judgmental, and genuine. I'm pretty sure I've been a "Negative Nancy" with everything going on, but she's been putting up with me anyways.

That's the gist for now. I fully intend on visiting London again to see other icons I didn't have time for this time around.

"I will give thanks to the LORD because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High." -Psalm 7:17

Lieben Immer,
N.M.Chow

P.S. Photographic documents will be posted on my Google+ profile in the near future.