london calling

Next week, we are leaving for our third fall “experiment.” The last two years we have moved to New York City for extended stays, gotten out of our comfort zones and found a lot of fun, inspiration and new friends. This year, we are expanding the experiment to London and staying for seven weeks. 

Between sophomore and junior year of college in 1990, I spent six weeks in London taking summer courses at the London School of Economics. It was a super dorky way to do a short quarter abroad which has recently become a much cooler program that lots of friends’ kids are enjoying after their freshman year. It was my first trip to Europe and is one of the only times in my life that I ventured out entirely on my own. It was overwhelming to manage the currency, the Tube, lots of ketchup and mayonnaise instead of salad dressing and a complete lack of ice and microwaves. But, once I got it figured out, I loved the civility of standing on the right and walking on the left and not eating on public transportation – two concepts that I have held on to.

Since attending LSE, I have only been back to London for one week in 2012 – more than 20 years after my college stint. During that one-week family vacation, I could not remember where I lived during summer school or how to get around (but did remember a cute Spaniard from Mallorca who was on my program). Now more than 30 years since attending LSE, I am determined to get back the same level of familiarity and comfort I had with this amazing city. 

There are a couple of changes to this year’s experiment format:

* We are staying in an apartment within a hotel. This means that there will be very few accommodation surprises  such as: the bed being a queen instead of a king, the window being cracked, moldy smells from an ongoing leak in the upstairs unit and generally underwhelming and somewhat sad linens, furniture, water pressure and storage options. Our apartment comes with some huge perks like regular housekeeping, hotel-quality linens and access to a great gym.

* We are staying in a one bedroom instead of a two bedroom but secured a great rate in the hotel for anyone who wants to come visit us.

* We are not bringing our dog. The upside of her staying home means that we don’t have to worry about managing her anxiety in the urban setting or taking her out early in the mornings and late in the evenings. I will miss her terribly and am slightly worried she won’t forgive me for leaving her for so long.

In preparation for our first international experiment, I have started a new spreadsheet to track and sort all of the restaurants, things to do and day trip recommendations given to us by friends and friends-of-friends. I have more than 65 restaurants, bars and pubs listed already – so many that I am having a hard time deciding which ones to prioritize. So far, I have booked Arlington, Club Chinois, The Palomar, Novikov Asian Restaurant, Chiltern Firehouse, Petersham Nurseries Restaurant and Dishoom. Seven couples plus our son are planning to visit us while we are there and I am hoping that a few more decide to connect with us after reading this post. Our visitors are coming from New York, North Carolina, Bay Area, Boston and Newport Beach. 

Besides restaurants, shopping and museums, we do not have a ton of plans. We have tickets to three shows – “The Devil Wears Prada”, “The Other Place” and “Abba Voyage” – and will likely see at least one more. We are enrolled in a 6-week Padel clinic on Mondays in Hyde Park where we will try to get ahead of the next racquet sport trend and hopefully meet a few locals. We are contemplating day trips to Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Stonehenge and overnight trips to Edinburgh, Dublin, Morocco and Paris.  We continue to be “exercise tourists” and will be showing up to our first international Barry’s and live Peloton classes.

My husband is not doing a ton of the planning and has requested that we remain “flexible.” He has regularly emphasized that his priority is to attend as many football matches as possible, would like to spend extensive time in pubs and is holding out some hope of talking his way onto at least one historical golf course. I know he is very relieved that this experiment will not begin with a seven to 10 days of me being stressed out about the problems with our apartment. He still talks fondly about his “hero moment” when he talked me off the ledge two years ago when I initially refused to unpack in our first New York apartment.

The big hurdle now is packing. From a basic google search, it looks like we will be experiencing temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s and should expect a lot of rain. Every Reddit post I have read so far says to plan to wear layers and absolutely bring a “lightweight waterproof jacket.” As this is the third round of fall experiment packing, I feel more confident about the clothing choices and less so about which toiletries to bring. Do I bring enough of all my staples to last the entire length of the trip or be open to trying English deodorant, moisturizer, body scrub and whatever else runs out?

While in London, I will be back to publishing a weekly blog. I hope to have some funny, insightful and entertaining insights while navigating English culture on a daily basis. If you have any recommendations for things to do, where/how to play tennis or golf, classes to take, places to visit or restaurants to try, please send them along!