Since I decided to spend the year living in London as opposed to only a few months, the time I have been given has really allowed me to get to know London. With plans to travel in Europe this December and in the spring, I really want to spend as much time as possible trying to get to know London because it has already become one of my favorite places.
Instead of waiting around for my friends to make plans and go out, I've started going out solo and exploring the city. With only have class three days a week, I have a lot of free time on my hands that I don't want to use up by laying in bed with Netflix all day. Although, we can all use one of those days every once and a while.
Without spending a ton of money every time I go out, bus hopping has become my new favorite thing. While the London Underground is the quicker alternative, busses give you the street view of London and is pretty much a tour of the area.
I've started taking the tube to a far destination on the other side of London and taking busses to try and find my way back. Not only is this helping me learn where everything in the city is located, it is also giving me the chance to experience other parts of London I may not know about it.
Once the bus route I am on terminates, I walk around the area and find things to do. I look at the shops, check out the food and people watch always. Once I feel like I have seen what I need to see and soaked in the scenery, I hop on the next bus and repeat everything over again. While it may seem scary and stressful at first since I literally have no clue where I am going, I always know there will be a bus that will take me to some area I know and I can figure out how to get home from there.
After checking out Dover street on Sunday, I took four different busses throughout the day that took me up to Victoria to Liverpool Street to Notting Hill Gate and so on. There is so much scenery you miss when you are cramped on the London Underground. During my bus hopping excursion, I talked to so many locals and discovered parts of the city I had only heard of.
It's spontaneous and fun because I literally go into it with no plan at all. I just get on a bus and see where it takes me. It's almost a relaxing feeling, not having a sorted out plan with a bunch of different things crammed in. I can clear my head and enjoy the ride.
This is something I am going to try and do once a week or at least on days where I have some time to kill. It makes me a more independent traveler and also gives me that personal time I need to give myself weekly. I just plug in my headphones and stare out the window, discovering new wonders of London every time I catch a bus.
Hope all is well.
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