London! A city with a population twice as large as the entire population of New Zealand. Being a Uni student at the time I went to London, I had to make the most of the trip while still sticking to a tight budget.

Being from the other side of the world, we would always hear the weather in  England is always dull and gloomy, but the 4 days which we were in London for it was anything but dull, it was summer, real summer with the sun and all, were we even in England? Getting Around an unknown city was similar to Paris, the London tube was super easy to navigate our way around and we also purchased Hop on Hop off tour (NZ$50), which in reality we didn’t really need as we ended up walking everywhere and using the tube.

Day One:

We started the day by having brunch at the West end of central London at a place called Convent Garden which is located in the district of Westminster, Surrounded by many cafes and a place where the art of theatre comes to life.

After we fueled ourselves for the morning, we headed to Leicester Square, home of M&M world, Lego land and street performers that and street performers that never fail to keep both locals and tourists entertained. M&M World was everything I had imagined it would be 3 levels of little buttons of all colours; black, gray, purple, you name it, they had it.  A short distance from Leicester square we found ourselves at Trafalgar Square another location full of history and meaning for the British people.

The next stop was Oxford street, you know what that means SHOPPING!! equivalent to Auckland’s Queen St but 1000% better. Zara, Nike, Sports Direct, H&M, Adidas;  What more could you ask for!

Being a super hot day we needed food, exploring around central London we found Stax Diner in Kingly Court, halal burgers with turkey Bacon, chicken, and waffles what !?!  A menu which we never see in Auckland that’s halal, The hype was truly worth it.

Day Two:

It was the morning of the final All Blacks VS British and Irish Lions rugby game,

with such a tight game we were contemplating whether or not to wear our All Blacks jerseys in enemy territory, we didn’t lose the game which meant we could walk around London proud to be kiwis! With a full-on tourist day ahead, we started the day at the Tower bridge before walking along The River Thames to Borough market; a food market located in central London 2 minutes from London Bridge, a similar concept to night markets, but on a larger scale, they had food from all over the world Italy, Malaysia, India, Vietnam

With a full-on tourist day ahead, we started the day at the Tower bridge before walking along The River Thames to Borough market; a food market located in central London 2 minutes from London Bridge, a similar concept to night markets, but on a larger scale, they had street food from all over the world Italy, Malaysia, India, Vietnam as well as local produce and being summer in England, fresh raspberries for NZ$5 a punnet yes Please!

The Next Stop on the Agenda was the Coca Cola London Eye, we took the hop on hop off the bus there but Honestly with London’s traffic we were better of walking and could have got there in half the time, but we didn’t,  none the less, the day just got hotter and hotter and wearing all black didn’t help a bit.

With the scorching heat we walked over the Westminster Bridge towards Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, seeing it on TV and then, in reality, was just surreal.                                                                                                          Next stop was to say hello to the Queen at Buckingham Palace, walking along St James Park we were delighted to be umbrellaed by trees as the afternoon sun got worse, wearing our All Blacks Jerseys we brought a lot of attention onto ourselves, and none other than a van full of police just looking at us, we weren’t sure what they were thinking, but it was all good banter as they said: “good game today wasn’t it?”

Buckingham Palace was a tourist hot spot, and being the cheesy tourist that we were, we got pictures and a bit of a workout too from all the walking and trying to catch my little nephew who loved the space to have a run-around. The next stop was Harrods; a luxury department store, it was a walkable distance from the palace but it was way too hot to walk there, we took the hop on hop off the bus there, and it was very very luxurious, a department store with everything, designer clothes, bags, food, mini restaurants it was just WOW!

With all the days walking, we had our first Karak tea at Chapati and Karak which was recommended to us, if you ever get a chance to try Karak, make sure you do!

Being in London we wanted to try as many Instagram hype things as possible, and so we did. Ice-cream With your choice of toppings and candy floss around it at Milk Train. It looked delicious and innovative, but was it really worth waiting in line for? No, it was a nightmare to eat with ice cream dripping everywhere and very very sweet. The things you try for the Gram!

Day Three

With another ahead of us, we headed to Camden Markets located on the outskirts of central London, a market with fashion, food, arts, did I mention food?

being super hungry as we didn’t have breakfast we found our way to the street food, and it smelt sooooo good, looking around the thing that caught my attention was the Halloumi fries, its something I had never tried before it looked so I had to try it, topped with pomegranate pearls and yogurt, I crave it.

walking along Regents Canel it felt like we were in Venice, the canal, the boats it was literally Little Venice in London, walking alongside the Canel we found ourselves at Regents Park, lush green fields, it was the perfect place to stop and have a few snacks; strawberries and raspberries YUM!

Regents Park was a perfect place to spend a few hours, we even hired a pedalo boat and paddled around the lake alongside the ducks which my nephew loved. Besides the park was the London Central mosque, open to the public all year round. Once again being exhausted in the heat we headed back to central London and had more food, This time we had Burgeri, a halal burger joint, It was delicious and having it with Mojito made it even better.

Day Four

With this being our last day in London we did what girls do best, Shopping, we headed to Westfield Stratford city. We were overwhelmed at how big the mall was compared to the size of malls here in NZ. we shopped till we dropped, It was a great way to end our 4 days in London.

“To Travel is to live”