The Travelling Nutmeg: Six hours in London

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Would you believe it if u told you that today was the first time I set foot in London even though I've ibeen coming here since 2010.


Almost every intransit flight has taken me through England. But they were usually characterized by quickly transfers from Gatwick to Heathrow or depressing nights squeezed between airport benches

Finally in 2026, without prior planning, without an iota expectation I not only left the airport but made it to the front of Buckingham.

If you know me or have read any of these journal entries, you would know that I do anything for an adventure. Wake up 5am for coastal sunrise, bring an entire tour bus of course for a salt pond or or cross an ocean to se Pua Pua shells in person.

But somewhere between aging and some other unidentified factors, I started sacrificing wonder. On this particular trip, I remembered pushing back my friends suggestion to visit a nearby mall because the obligation of being a team leader seemed too preocupacious.

However, when we landed we knew that 6 hours on a dreary airport was out of the question. A couple queries later and we were northbound to central London.

The frosty air of the train platform chilled our behinds but the customer service had already prepared us for that. We we first made our way to East Croydon hoping to hop on another train to Victoria. But turns out this had happened.

And all trains were delayed. By the time we hopped platforms to a substitute route, our original train came barreling down and whisked into the hills. This train had way more stops and brought further delays but we seemed to arrive at Victoria Station to meet our host for the day.

And host she was. Even though we crashed her family reunion,  she took us all over on foot to all the places on our bucket list if we had one.


At one point I had to pinch myself. Because I had seen so many of these places on TV that part of the experience didn't feel real. I mean this is THEE Buckingham Palace.

I have no idea why we were so fascinated with these squirrels but they reminded me of Fat Gus from those Matt Rober videos.

Then we piled into a double decker to see Big Ben, London Bridge, the River Thames and the London Eye. Speaking of eye,  we had to be ever vigilant of pickpockets and phone snatchers. No matter how tight I held my bag it never felt tight enough. At one point I started putting my phone into my tshirt because what do you mean someone could come on a scooter and ride away with this raggedy  S21. They would dump that so fast it would be a lose lose for us both.

As much as we wanted to see Piccadilly Circus and Kensington Gardens, the looming tiredness of the journey ahead wouldn't let us be great. We said our good byes and jumped a packed underground back to Heathrow. Now I feel something reawakening,  and I have a feeling that my final destination is going to be more interesting than I initially planned.


Travel tips and Budget

1. Day Pass Off Peak Zone 1 to 6, underground and over ground


2. Meal pack at Tesco or Sainsbury
3. Luggage Locker
4. Londoners please learn how to smile 

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