The Pound Kills

Ooooo London, I won't be back anytime soon! (Lol)

London has to be my least favorite port so far; I know, who would've thought! 

London is a wonderful and beautiful city but it is the most expensive city I have ever been in. The pound (which is the currency in London) is probably two or three times the amount of the U.S. dollar, so if you are considering traveling to London anytime soon, I would definitely suggest saving as much as possible. I tried to exchange about $90 U.S. over to pounds and the woman at the currency station could only give me 40 pounds. I laughed, because I couldn't believe it and told her no thank you. It's not just the currency difference that I disliked about London. I also found out, once walking into a public bathroom somewhere in London, that public bathrooms have fees. Usually the fee ranges from 30 to 50 pence (which is a range of 50 to 70 cents in U.S. conversions). I thought this was just crazy! This topic made headlines in my book; I couldn't believe this and told everyone I could from home when I had the chance. But, I found out the positive to London having bathroom fees. It not only allows the pound to stay strong because the extra money coming into the economy, but it also provides a cleaner bathroom for the public. So I guess paying a few pence for a cleaner toilet isn't so bad.

This is not a part of Hyde Park (just want to be clear) lol

On a better note, London reminds me a lot of Manhattan: the streets, parks and people (lol). Hyde Park in London looks very similar to Central Park and the people, to me, can be rude just like New Yorkers. But honestly, I think that they have New Yorkers beat. I did meet a few nice British people, but to me, a lot of them acted stuck-up and didn't have any manners. So if you can tolerate or deal with New Yorkers, you can probably make it in London without being offended. London also had a similar train system to D.C. (with the different colored lines) called the Tube; I really thought this was cool. I could make a lot of comparisons between certain states and London. 

The attractions in the U.K. are beautiful; I had a chance to see the Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. 

Although I didn't have a chance to go in because it wasn't open at the time, the palace really was a great attraction to see. 

It's surrounded by tall gold and black iron gates and is secured by the British guards...kind of like the white house and the secret service (lol). 

Big Ben was an attraction that I always imagined seeing one day, which actually looked the same as it does in the movies. Although, a few of my friends thought it looked much smaller in person.  

Unfortunately, I did not spend a lot of time in London, so I cannot talk much about my adventure. I spent two days in Southampton and my last day in London. 






I actually had a chance to meet up with one of my Bennett sisters (Alyxandra) while in London.                                        

                                    

We had a quick dinner at McDonald's because it was late and I had to get back to my friends. McDonald's in other countries are actually not the same as the ones in the U.S.; they fit the culture of the country. An example of this would be in Korea; they usually had kimchi on some of their burgers (not all but a few). At the McDonald's in Ireland, you had the choice of having regular McDonald’s fries or curly fries which were better (lol). I don't eat at McDonald's all the time, but saying this, you still gain an international food experience and it comes with good WiFi.

The McDonald's in Southampton has a walk-up window

In Southampton, I stayed in port to work on my blog and catch up on my readings and sleep. Keeping a blog while on ship can be a difficult task, so when in country, I really have to take some hours to work on it. I don't recommend anyone who wants to travel with Semester At Sea to have a blog as an independent study. I'm not saying it can't be done, just saying it will take up time from doing something or seeing something else. I do recommend keeping a journal for any abroad program and transforming it into a blog at the end of your program. It will give you a way to share all your stories, experiences, and adventures with others.