[courtesy of weheartit]
I’m taking a break but before you scream, “No, don’t do it!” I must tell you I’m only going to London for 4 days – sorry to those getting their hopes up 
With everything going on at university and all the stress of moving into my own flat in July, I’m glad for the time away even if it’s only for a few days. Now London is pretty much my second home – in 2008 I spent at least once a month there with friends, and eventually have a plan to move down there after university so it’s always the ideal place to be to get away from everything. We’re getting the late train down there which will see us arriving at about 10pm, then we’ll hop on the Tube and head straight to our hotel to pad down for the night.
Saturday will involve the usual tourist-y things – we’re visiting the V&A museum because apparently they’ve got a theatre exhibit on which makes me go weak at the knees a little bit. They have costumes, props, and various pieces of memorabilia from shows and it’s all free so I’m all over that. After that we’re heading to Harrods for some retail therapy and some free food tasting which is something my mum enjoys doing – I think she enjoys feeling posh for a few hours! Then we’ll head down to Oxford Street for some more shopping although none of this is free, unless you want to get arrested. Finally it’s a meal out at an Italian restaurant, and then bed. You see, the key to staying in London is that you need to do so much during the day that once your head hits the pillow you’re gone – that’s when you know you’ve had a good day.
Sunday is always a pretty chilled out day, but with Sunday matinees now in place we’re seeing a show – something called Legally Blonde…? Oh you’ve heard of it? Yes, it’s huge at the moment. Now most of you know that I love a trip to the theatre, in fact someone could stand on a stage and sing the dictionary and I’d still be in my element so I’m a bit excited about this. After the show I think it’s another meal somewhere noisy, and then bed. Obviously it’ll be cushioned out with walking, window shopping, sightseeing etc. but that’s generally a given.
Monday we’re coming home mid-afternoon so there will be time for a bit more shopping and photo opportunities. And then it’s back to university – I’m hoping this trip will give me a “rest” so that I am all systems go and ready to get on with the last half of the semester. Now, I really must pack or at least attempt to fold some clothes.
At the moment we’re currently planning a week long trip to New York in the winter of 2010/11, and it’s making my head hurt with all the things I want to do. Last time we went we did the whole “touristy” thing and visited the Empire State Building, Times Square, The Statue of Liberty and blah blah blah. The thing that annoyed me most is that I never got to see NYC in darkness because I was in bed by 5pm falling asleep to HBO movies – jet lag is a bitch. The following day I’d check my parents camera and they’d have the most amazing pictures of the city at night – this time I’m packing the caffeine tablets, and taking a pack a time because I cannot miss this!
The picture above is one of the places I want have to visit – Greenwich Village. It might be a British thing, I don’t know, but we don’t get streets like that here, and steps going up to a house is mostly unheard of unless you live in a skanky house in the rough part of the city. Basements? Not one person I know has one. Trees lining the streets? I can’t see one looking out of my window. It’s just so different, and it looks so cosy. Some of you are probably thinking, “It ain’t all that” but to me it is. You see it in movies all the time, and I want a taste of it because I’m a tourist, and tourists are there to live in a cliché
So, aside from visiting GV (oh, the lingo!), I also want to see a Broadway show because a theatre fan going to New York is like a kid going to Toys R Us – I must go. I don’t know what I want to see, and I don’t particularly care as long as I can tick it off my list. I want to actually visit the Statue of Liberty this time and be able to take pictures – last time we went in 2005 and security was still as tight as ever. I also want to, and bring on more rolled eyes, have breakfast in a diner and eat a bagel. Last time we woke at 5am everyday and strolled out onto the “quiet” streets to grab some breakfast, and it was amazing. Breakfast never tasted so good.
Aside from all of this I need to go shopping, go to Macys or Bloomingdales, visit the upper east side, walk through Central Park… etc. etc. Last time we stayed in the Waldorf Astoria (inheritance from my nan, I’m not loaded), and did everything in style – this time we want more low key so we aren’t more overwhelmed by the hotel than the actual city 
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