I don’t know how many times I have said this here (online I mean) but London is my favourite city in the world (so far, out of the ones I have seen). I ❤ London! I wish I lived there, but I don’t. If I did, I’d probably be broke cause London is expensive. So, in today’s post I am going to share with you a few of the things I did while I was there and may give you some ideas for your next trip to London.

Booking a hotel and pick-up service from Heathrow airport

I was going to stay for two nights in London with my friend Deirdre. We decided that staying in the center was a good idea, so we booked the Holiday Inn in Oxford Circus. This is right behind Debenhams (on Oxford street). Deirdre became a Holiday Inn member which meant we got a reduced price for the two nights. We also got  breakfast (big and yummy may I add).

Because I was travelling with heavy luggage and cause I was a bit intimidated by the whole Heathrow to Oxford Circus transport plan, I thought I should ask if there was a concierge service. There was, and I paid 55 pounds for someone from the Holiday Inn to pick me up and take me to the hotel. That was excellent!!

Day One (or should I say afternoon?)

I met up with Deirdre at the hotel, we rested a bit and then we went on a hunt to find Santander! That was such an adventure. It was very difficult to find the bank and when we eventually did, I found out that Santander does not accept euros. That’s when hunt number 2 started. We found a currency exchange shop. I got pounds and then went and deposited everything. You see, with the capital controls in Greece (that’s where I am from) it was difficult to get pounds and the 60 euros limit applies for people who are abroad as well (this is why I was travelling with euros). That’s why the bank was one of my priorities. After spending about 3 hours on the ‘money mission’, it was time to move on to the Vodafone mission and getting a UK sim card(to be honest, the Vodafone mission often interrupted the ‘money mission’ cause we were going in and out of Vodafone sores all down Oxford street).

Why Vodafone?

I make a lot of international calls and Vodafone has a program that allows you to have 240 free minutes to international numbers if you buy a 30 pound card. I don’t know the name of this special package, but if you are interested, ask at Vodafone. So, you get to use the 30 pounds+240 mins freebies.

I won’t get into more details about day 1. I’ll just say there was a bit of dinner and lots of girl talk.

Day 2

We went makeup shopping  :D.   Where? Boots, Superdrug and Selfridges. Selfridges is a very luxurious store. I love it but there is no way, I, as a teacher can afford anything or that much in there (OK a bit of an exaggeration, but it does have lots of designer brands).

We then met up with another friend, had a nice drink at a pub, and went to Soho. We ended up in China town and had a lovely meal.  We walked around a bit and then the night came to end.

Off to Sheffield

Sunday morning I got the train from Kings Cross to Sheffield. My eyesight is not that grand and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to find the platforms, see the screens and all the jazz. That’s why when I arrived at the station, I immediately asked for help, and of course I was told where to go and what to do. All was good. The train trip was fine and now I am in Sheffield.

So, yeah that’s my update. I ❤ London and now I am looking forward to my pre-sessional EAP course at Sheffield Uni.

I already have a few EAP-related blog posts in my head cause we are having our induction at the moment (yeap, don’t worry, my posts are gonna go back to ELT-related topics).

Talk soon

xx