London 2017: Who’s Scamming Who?

Who’s the hottest in the world right now? Just touched down in London town, bet they give me a pound. Tell them put the money in my hand right now.
-Estelle

Told you guys, I have a lot of catching up to do. In the past, I would usually break my travel posts in a per day kinda thing… yeah, this isn’t happening this time. I have way too much to catch you guys up on and I don’t plan on dragging it out.
Last time I was in London, it was a blur. (Read that HERE) We  were only there for about 5 hours or so on a layover. We headed to the famous Parliament, and rushed right back to the airport. We were troopers.
This time around, there was still plenty of walking to do, except I had more time to explore. On our first day we had the best plate of Steak & Frites with mushroom sauce. We walked towards Mayfair, where all the shopping is done. Pull & Bear was one of the stops I told myself I was going to walk into. When I was in Madrid and walked into the store, I wanted to buy everything. When I tried to find a store in the states, I failed. Most of their stores are out of the country. So I knew I had to find it. The rain didn’t stop us of roaming around, and I ended p walking away with a cute black faded jean jacket for only 17 pounds. Win!

On day two, I had my mind set on catching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, but who’s really getting  up early in the morning when they’re on vacation? —Not I.
We walked about 3 miles to The British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben & The House of Parliament, and The Palace of Westminster.
We missed the London Eye by 14 minutes, how disappointing. There was a couple re-selling their tickets for the next day.  They stopped us to ask if we were interested, but naturally as New Yorkers, we were ready to hustle. Can you believe, they wanted the same price they paid for their ticket!?
We walked away, and after a few moments they returned, and we got just the number we were looking for. Now all I was worried about is if they actually worked or not. I guess we were going to find out the next day.

Day three was a day I slept in until 2pm…. I was not with it. All the walking we did the day before. I felt like my feet were on fire. Today’s main goal was finding out if we got scammed or not. We made our way back to The London Eye, and I gotta say, we’re getting much confident taking the underground everywhere. I guess their subway map isn’t that complicated, but I guess compared to New York City’s every other map is simplified.

We made our line to enter Coca Cola’s infamous London eye. I wasn’t panicking, let’s get this straight, but I was worried this ticket wasn’t going to work. According to the couple, yesterday was their last day in the UK, and since they also missed the eye, the voucher will go to waste. Sounds like the ultimate scam right? Well I wasn’t getting got. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Whew! — see, not panicked. The eye was a success, and now I kinda feel bad for being kinda mean to the couple. Well, I wasn’t really mean.. but my personality is  genuinely pretty assertive… mix that in with talking about money— I’m about that paper. Today was our last day to get to wander around and catch anything we thought might have been important to not miss.

Phil was in charge of day three’s itinerary. I’m pretty sure I annoyed him with all of my OCD planning on my day. I look every detail up from addresses, directions, timing, what else is around there, where can we go to eat after- things like that. Yeah, Phil’s not like that, we were winging it.

Once it was dark, it was time to dance. We wanted to hit up a club and just move. Well, I wanted to move more than he did and that I did.
But wait… Due to Phil’s lack of research, we took the underground for about 45 minutes into the direction we thought Fabric was. A club with a crazy type of party vibe, when we arrived, the doors were closed. That’s when he decides to use the ever so handy “Google” to find out that on this weekday, the club is closed. —-amazing.

I was already pouting because in my head all I can think was “this could have been avoided, if you checked this before we left”. But instead I sucked it up, and noticed that right next door was another spot that was playing all kinds of music, so we walked right in. This was more of your corporate after work “let’s go get a beer” kinda place turned wild. In Smith’s SOS Bar, I saw all kinds of weird dancing, that I couldn’t figure out how it even matched with the music, but to each their own. I ordered my cocktail while Phil went out for a smoke that lasted too long.

Everyone was so friendly and in good spirits and it didn’t take long for me to make some friends. When leaving, the coat check lady told me that I was the only one in here that knew how to dance, so that pretty much made my night.

Now it’s time to make my morning, and I’m pretty sure you guys know where I’m headed next—–Rome,Italy!

Ps. You know I wouldn’t be me, if I didn’t include an OOTD illustration: