London Take 1

Having the opportunity to travel is something that I will never take for granted. I know that not everyone wants to travel or has the ability to. But for me I can't experience enough. I think that the thing I love most about traveling isn't seeing the famous sights, or being able to Instagram that I've been to Paris. It's getting to experience the culture, the languages, the food, history. Everywhere you go in the world in so different in terms of what is considered the norm. How people greet each other, what is and isn't socially acceptable, tolerance of people from other countries, kindness, generosity, and sincerity. I always find that my mind and heart are expanded when I visit a new place. All of a sudden you meet someone new, they come from a completely different country to you, their native tongue is not yours. But you are both human beings and you find that you have so many things in common. You could talk to this stranger all day and night and never run out of things to discuss. Everybody has something to bring and that's the beauty of us all being different. No you might not hit it off with everyone and some people will just pass through your life for an hour, maybe the evening, sometimes longer. But all these different encounters and interactions shape who we are as people. It's how we choose to use our experience that really defines who we are as individuals. I know that when I travel it's when I get to experience the most, it's often overwhelming and unexpected. When we you come away and think about it all it's an incredible memory, a lesson learn't, a friend made, a situation that you can laugh about. All these things are special in their own way and I treasure each of them.

So London, the beginning of my little taste of Europe. I spent four nights there and of course it rained nearly the entire time. But I just felt like I was experiencing the real London.

London is an incredible city, it has all the good of a large city, but I felt like there was still room to breathe. Plenty of greenery, parks, and space. I love British people too and their accents make me happy. We saw all the famous sights in a day pretty much so we had plenty of time just to explore London. I loved Soho area. Notting Hill was gorgeous. It's easy to walk along and photograph the Thames all day. We ate some great food and of course drank plenty of coffee. We had a couple of fun nights with some friends we met at our hostel, I love that most about traveling, it is so easy to make friends. London just has such a cool vibe, its the sort of place I could be very happy living in. I was glad that we were coming back at the end our trip!

Next stop Paris...