Allie Goes Global

We’re finally here! London was the final stretch of my trip. I knew there was a lot I wanted to see, so my time was basically planned out to the minute from now until I left. Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans… but more on that later.

To start with the daily “how I messed up driving today” segment, I drove from Cambridge to London without incident, stopped to fill up my car on the way, and headed toward Heathrow to return my car. That last couple of miles were the worst part. Airports are confusing at the best of times, but when you throw in roundabouts, it gets a lot harder. At least for me. Long story short, I messed up the same roundabout twice, got honked at for the first time of the trip (well deserved honking), but finally made it to the rental car return. A guy did a full inspection, told me there was no damage, and sent me on my way. I don’t trust Sixt, and have been waiting for months to get a bill for something they decided to blame on me. Given that it is now nine months later, I’m probably in the clear, but I stay paranoid.

This day was planned out in a very distinct way: take the tube to King’s Cross, walk to the British Library to see the treasures exhibit, then go the rest of the way to my hotel in Shoreditch. This plan changed almost immediately. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but I was one-bag traveling, and my backpack was now excessively heavy and bulky. Even if the library would have let me in with it, it would have been a nightmare. So instead, I took the tube to King’s Cross, transferred trains, and went on to my hotel to drop off my bag at the front desk. They gave me a claim ticket and told me how important it was that I not lose it. I’ll give you one guess as to what happened to that claim ticket. I can’t tell you what happened to it, because I never saw it again. I’ve never lost something like that in my life, but I had apparently entered the chaos gremlin segment of my trip. It’s a miracle that’s all I lost.

Anyway, after dropping off the bag, I hopped back on the tube and back to King’s Cross. For anyone who doesn’t know, King’s Cross and St. Pancras stations are connected underground, but across the street from one another above ground. Architecturally, they are very different, but I thought both were pretty.

It’s a short walk from King’s Cross to the British Library, maybe 5 minutes tops. I will say, I was surprised at the external appearance of the library. Considering the history of the institution and what it contains, I was expecting a grand old building. Instead, it looks quite a bit like my local library, which got a facelift in the late 1980s.

I was there for something specific: The Treasures Exhibit. I love history, and I love books, so this was the perfect combination of those two things. This collection contains books, scrolls, and artwork from all over the world and from all throughout history. It was quite a bit larger than I expected it to be, and I spent close to two hours just wandering around.

After that, I enjoyed a nice lunch in the library’s cafe before heading back to my hotel. As previously mentioned, I lost my claim tag, but apparently my luggage was distinctive enough that it wasn’t a problem to claim it. I only got a minor telling-off over it. I stayed at the Travelodge London Central City Road. Look, I know people like to complain about a Travelodge, but I was very happy here. The room was small, but perfect for one person, and I had everything I needed. The location was perfect, and the view from my room was excellent. The only problem I had was on my last couple of days, my key stopped working repeatedly, and I had to keep getting new ones.

After checking in, I wandered around the neighborhood, picked up some groceries, and went back to my room. I was taking it somewhat easy, because, for once, I had evening plans.

That night, I took the tube to Whitechapel and met up with the Secret Indian Food Tour of London. It was a very small tour, which was uncommon according to our tour guide: just me and another American couple. I’ll be honest, I took no pictures throughout this evening, but I don’t consider that to be a bad thing. I was just living in the moment. Our guide was so knowledgeable, both about the Brick Lane area and about the food we were eating, and we got to have some experiences that wouldn’t have been possible if we were a large group. One of the restaurants, we were allowed to go back in the kitchen and watch them cook, which is not a standard part of the tour. We went to, I think, six different places, and I was absolutely stuffed by the end of the night.

This is where things get stupid. I decided to Uber back to the hotel rather than taking the tube. I was let out on the opposite side of the street from my hotel. There was a crosswalk probably fifty yards in either direction, but there was no one on the street, so I just decided to jaywalk. The road was wet, and for reasons I still don’t understand, I ran across the street. A few steps in, I slid on the road and felt a pop somewhere in my ankle/foot area. An ankle that, I should note, is chock full of pins and screws from being broken a couple of years ago. But I tested it, nothing seemed sore or out of place, and I thought I had gotten lucky. As I learned the next day, that was definitely not the case.