I’ve been here from 6:00 BST until now 18:00 BST — so having spent 12h in London, here are my impressions:
- Too much neon orange and yellow. Seriously, have never seen so much in my life. I hate it. So many people where it as part of their jobs, or if they’re cylists, or running, or it’s on police cars and ambulances. Blah blah blah.
- Amazing architecture. Surprise! I’ve barely seen a tenth of the city and I still love most of it. There is a HELL of a lot of red brick. Almost … too much …
- It’s not very clean. Call me crazy, but in all seriousness I have never seen someone my age outside of a convenience store or something who finishes a can of whatever and then just throws it on the ground. There was a garbage can nearby, too! Indeed, things are quite dirty. In the core it’s fine, but my hotel appears to be in a rougher area of town I guess?
- This hotel cannot give directions. I have literally spent at least two hours walking around the streets close to my hostel. Supposedly there’s a “The Source” (omg!) and a Postal office. I found neither. Apparently we have mixed perceptions about distance,
- This hotel has a POWERED revolving door.
- There’s something weird about the British and their signage. The primary colours + black + white. I used to like it for it’s simplicity. But now I just find it a lazy and poorly executed means of conveying messages. Almost none of them are graphic. It’s white text on a red background that says “Sidewalk out of service”. That was fine when I only saw a couple, but when you walk down a street you are INUNDATED with them. THEY’RE EVERYWHERE. And some of them are seemingly redundant and a waste of money. Eg: a construction site with signs posted on the 2/3m high fence around it that says “Parents don’t let your children play in here” (something to that effect). D’uh?
- I really like their rail transit system. It looks really complex and crazy, but after you ride it for maybe an hour or two, screw up a couple of times — it’s a breeze. Buses are kind of flawed: seems like you require tickets or a pass to board, but only major stops have tickets. Ugh?
- I only saw one homeless guy.
- WAY TOO EXPENSIVE.
- Note to self, they have an equivalent TravelPlanner, called the ‘Journey Planner‘. Wish I knew that sooner.
- Difficult to find places to eat, places to withdraw money.
