A Lady in London

A few weeks ago I was surprised at how early the Christmas season started in London. But now that Thanksgiving is over, my resistance to all things Christmas is gone. With the days getting impossibly short and the winter chill setting in, I need something to get me through the gray gloom. On Sunday I found just such a thing: the Hampstead Christmas Festival in London.

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Like most Londoners, I spend half my waking life on the tube. Smooth travels, delayed journeys, and multiple transfers are part of the daily routine. With so much time spent underground, it would seem logical that I would only elect to enter a tube station if I had somewhere to go. But yesterday I went to a station from which no trains have operated for years. It was one of the city’s famous abandoned Underground stops: Aldwych tube station in London.

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I didn’t want to come home for Thanksgiving. For the past five years I have gotten used to being away. From St. Petersburg to London, I have enjoyed carefree Thanksgiving dinners and have largely avoided cooking. But this year my mother’s attempts to guilt trip me into coming home to Silicon Valley finally worked. I packed my bags and got ready for a California Thanksgiving with the family.

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One of my favorite things about traveling home to California is the abundance of outdoor activities on offer. From hikes in the Santa Cruz Mountains to walks in Northern California’s coastal regions, from big wave surfing at Mavericks to kite surfing in San Francisco Bay, there is no shortage of things to do.

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California doesn’t have much history. It didn’t become a state until 1850, and not many people were around before the Gold Rush in 1849. Compared to London, where there are actual Roman ruins in the city center, my state looks pretty pathetic. But there are a few places that have more history than most, and one of them is the coastal town of Pescadero, California.

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There are protests in London. The Occupy movement has taken over one of the city’s most famous landmarks, St Paul’s Cathedral. Across the pond, the Occupy Wall Street movement that inspired its London counterpart was in full swing until last week. When I left home on Wednesday to travel to New York City for my mother’s birthday, I felt a bit like I was going to the same city from which I had come.

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No matter how long I live in London I will always get lost in Covent Garden. The area is perhaps the most famous part of central London, and yet its lack of a grid layout means that I am forever consulting a map to figure out where I am. This problem becomes more acute in Seven Dials in London. It is the area of Covent Garden that is home to great boutiques, shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, and hotels.

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Christmas has come to London. No matter that it’s only mid-November; the city is buzzing with Christmas cheer. Last week Justin Bieber turned on the Christmas lights at the Westfield Stratford City and Westfield Shepherds Bush shopping malls. Last night I walked around Covent Garden and saw long luminescent strings hanging from tinsel snowflakes. Get into the spirit, people. It’s Christmas in London.

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I have a knack for living in cities with famous bridges. First there was San Francisco, home of the famous Golden Gate Bridge. Then came San Diego with its curvaceous Coronado Bridge. After that was Paris with the not-so-new Pont Neuf. Last came London, where there were plenty of famous bridges to choose from. Perhaps the most well-known of them is a Victorian masterpiece. Last week I was lucky enough to go on a private tour of Tower Bridge in London to learn more about the iconic structure spanning the Thames.

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Andorra intrigues me. High up in the Pyrenees, the country is nestled in snowy peaks sandwiched between France and Spain. It seems far away and inaccessible, yet alluring and enchanting in its remoteness. My 90 under 30 Travel Project prompted me to visit, and over the weekend I traveled to Andorra to discover the country’s nature, culture, and adventure travel opportunities.

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After an amazing trip to sunny Johannesburg last weekend I was a bit sad to return to dreary gray skies in London. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long to travel again. Well, in a sense. This week London is hosting the World Travel Market, a travel industry event that features destinations from all over the world.

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One of the best things about living in London is that the world’s best art comes through the city. From exhibitions at the Tate Modern to the permanent collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London is a magnet for masterpieces. Six months ago I heard about an upcoming Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at London’s National Gallery. It would be the first and most complete display of Leonardo’s surviving paintings ever held (and probably ever to be held). I booked myself a ticket for opening day.

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Last month I spent a night in the largest hotel suite I had ever seen. My three bedroom, three bathroom accommodation at the 51 Buckingham Gate hotel was so spacious and commodious that I wanted to move in. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a possibility. But I did get invited back to experience the hotel’s Michelin-starred Quilon restaurant in London, and to see its newest room, the Jaguar Suite.

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Johannesburg doesn’t get many visitors. Most people that fly into the airport are either in transit or traveling to one of the famous South Africa safari destinations like Kruger National Park. The city is best known to outsiders as being a dangerous, crime-ridden zone.

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The other day I met a friend for lunch in St. John’s Wood, a residential London neighborhood that is known to expats as the home of the American School in London. As close as the neighborhood is to Hampstead, it is rare that I make it down there. But every time I do, I remember how much I like it.

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