My last day in London was spent with no plans other than exploring Notting Hill and Camden! Well so I thought. I had a plan, but things never go to plan. For one, I stayed up too late, so I didn’t get going as early as I thought I would. Then there was the rain. It was a very rainy day, which I was kind of due for because the weather had been really nice during my time there. I was just disappointed it happened on the day I planned to spend all day outside. My grand walk did not happen. The plan was to spend the morning in Notting Hill and then make my way to Camden where I would end the day. Then in the evening I would do something Christmasy like a light tour or a market. On the way from Notting Hill to Camden I planed to stop at some places that are a bit harder to get to by public transportation, which is why I planned this long walk. I wanted to stop at Little Venice, Abbey Road, and Primrose Hill on the way to Camden where I planned to go to Camden Market. Here is how it went instead.
I wanted to get a full English breakfast in Notting Hill, but given how late it was and that I wanted to do Camden Market for lunch as well as the unplanned expenses on drinks the night before, I gave up on that dream. I settled for another granola bar that I wouldn’t have to pay for and a snack in Notting Hill. The rain was really bad. It actually kind of ruined the experience. It wasn’t just a little sprinkle here and there. It was consistent good rain. I took the metro from Tower Hill to Notting Hill Gate which was about 40 minutes, but then I had to walk about another 10 minutes to get to Portobello Market where I would find the filming location of Notting Hill, which is probably what I cared about most. I wasn’t really looking to buy anything from the vintage market, but more interested in just browsing, but the rain made that hard to enjoy. I went into a couple shops, specifically Notting Hill The Travel Book store, the filming location of the movie.
This ended up not being all that interesting. There was a sign naming it as the official filming location, but the inside is sadly not a bookstore. It was a gift shop. And while it did have some Notting Hill souvenirs from the movie as well as the Notting Hill tote bag (which I didn’t give into), it was mostly just another London souvenir shopping. To get to the Notting Hill Book Shop, named after the location of the movie and not the actual filming spot, you have to walk down Blenheim Cres, where they also have a cafe.
This was a busy spot. I worked my way into the Romance section where I found a book that takes place in London. I thought it would be a great souvenir and I also added in a bookmark from the store with the famous lines from the movie:
” I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”
With this I got a one pound off coupon for the cafe for select beverages, but I didn’t really need a drink or to even spend the money on it, so I skipped it and headed somewhere else for a snack. On my way to explore some of the streets to see the colorful homes and track down a place for a snack, I came across a stand in the market that had really cute tote bags. They were organic cotton and I actually really liked them more than the Notting Hill tote bag everyone gets. There were a bunch of designs with Paddington the bear that I really liked and in the end I ended with one that had Queen Elizabeth II, a corgi, and Paddington. I love it!
I saw the streets and made my way towards a metro stop that would take me to Camden. It wasn’t an easy ride though. It required a change and would be another 40 minutes. Before, I got a snack at Gail’s Bakery where I tried a sausage roll for the first time. I thought at this point I should probably try some actual British food since I had been eating just a lot of different Asian foods. I didn’t mind it, but it was a lot of meat for me. Maybe less meat and more pastry would have been better?
When I arrived in Camden, I instantly did not like it. Its hard to explain, but the energy was not for me. I was looking forward to the market because my hostel roommates told me that they liked it better than Borough Market. I disagree. From the moment I got off the metro I felt the most unsafe and visible I had my entire time in London. Most of the time I felt like I could just blend in and that was ok, but not here. The fact that I was alone became pretty obvious to me when all of these guys kept asking the tourists coming out of the metro stop questions. I have come across this kind of thing before. I was not going to get caught into whatever trap this was so I ignored them and walked towards the market to the right of metro stop.
I had a really hard time actually finding the market. This is when I discovered just how big is was and that there were different sections. I eventually found the main food stalls where everyone seems to go. I did not get anything here though. They all were pushing you to try something and order something. I hated it, because all I wanted to do was see what they have but they wouldn’t let me browse in peace. Introvert, remember? So it was an instant no for anywhere that did this. I just decided to look at the shops, before getting anything for lunch.
I made loops through Camden Market letting myself get lost in the chaos. It was fun, but I was just very uncomfortable with being wet from the rain and being around all the people. Eventually I realized I wasn’t having that much fun so I pulled out TikTok and Google Maps to find the shop I had seen online where you can make your own bag charm. The shop was called Lyna London and I had discovered it on TikTok. I like to use TikTok to get ideas for places to visit, but I don’t like to rely on it heavily for each store or restaurant. This one got me though. It was so cute! You can create a gold or silver bag charm, bracelet, or necklace. I went with the bag charm that I would be able to clip onto my purse when I got home. I only go three charms because they can get to be a bit expensive as the charms add up. The bag charm was 8 pounds while 3 charms was 12 pounds, so it cost me a total of 20 pounds, which isn’t bad but I was on a budget.
Now I decided it was time to eat lunch and after another loop of hating the people calling at me I went back to a shawarma stand near Lyna London on the otherside of the street. This part is much quieter. I highly recommend crossing the road to find a less busy area with just as great food options. Falacheese was the name of the shawarma place and it wasn’t too bad! It was a bit different than the chicken shawarma I have had back home, but that didn’t make it bad, just unexpected. It wasn’t so much chicken like as home and had more vegetables inside it which I guess is a good thing!
At this point it was about 3 pm and I was feeling pretty done with Camden. I wanted to come for the market and that is what I did. Now I decided I could head out to meet my new friends from the hostel at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. This required another fairly lengthy metro ride using Northern and Central with a change in Tottenham Court Road.
To visit Winter Wonderland, I recommend planning ahead. You have to get tickets online, which was ok, because there still was some for the time I got there so I was able to easily purchase them for 5 pounds. The thing that got me was the policy for what you could bring inside. One of those things that ended up being a problem was my camera. You can’t bring cameras inside, which I felt really awkward about because they noticed it when I did security, but honestly this is a very touristy city. I was out all day exploring and didn’t have a chance to go back to the hostel, so don’t think it is that odd that I had a camera on me. I couldn’t have been the first person to do this, but also maybe other people plan better.
Here I tracked down the friends I was meeting up with and we explored the park. Two of the girls were from South America, so they don’t really get to experience the winter part of Christmas, so they were really excited to be here. This was their thing and we were here to do it with them. The park was like an amusement park and fair. There were rides, food stands, and games. There was of course Santa and other Christmas festivities taking place as well.
It was a bit expensive for the stuff inside. We got crepes at one point that were probably close to 10 pounds each. We also were trying to find a ride to do, but they all were over 10 pounds as well. After walking around maybe the whole entirety of it we settled on a tubing slide for 7 pounds. This was the worse decision I have ever made. First off, the people running the ride really frustrated me not because they were doing anything wrong, but because tubing has been an activity I have been doing on my own since I was 5 years old. Like please just let me go down the tube! I’ve got this!
The second part of this was that I lost my debit card due to this ride. Here is your reminder that you can get your card on your phone and use apple pay pretty much everywhere in London. I would recommend going in that direction. On this ride I asked a worker if there was a place to place my purse during the ride and they said I could leave it to the side what they aren’t liable for anything that is taken. Of course then I didn’t want to do that, so I took my card to pay for the ride because you couldn’t pay with cash and stuck it in my pocket and left my purse with one of the girls. I then waited in line to go on the ride and pay. Somewhere between going on my second time down and going to the bathroom I lost my card. I should have taken it out immediately but I forgot about it until I was chatting with my friends after going to the bathroom. We searched around for a bit but then after a few minutes I got a notification for a charge that wasn’t me and I knew my card was gone. I turned it off and that was that. I would be using my credit card for the remainder of the trip.
This was kind of a buzz kill, so we ended up leaving after this. It really put me in a mood for the rest of the day which was quite disappointing because it was my last day in London and I wanted it to be the best! The only thing that made up for it was the fact I got to spend the rest of the day with my new friends. I had never imagined I would have met people that I would get along with so well. Usually in hostels you are nice and maybe get drinks with your roommates, but my roommates were all for making friends which I loved. I had only wished I allowed more flexible time in my itinerary to hang out with them. That is why I had no problem ditching all my ideas for this last day to spend time with them.
We ended up at Jack the Chipper which I had gone to for dinner another night. Apparently I talked well enough about it to make them want to go. I was not very hungry though between my late shawarma lunch and crepe, so I didn’t have it in me to get fish’n’chips again, but I did order some chicken nuggets and ended up sharing a few. I was there to hang out. I didn’t care so much about the food this time.
When we got back to the hostel we headed down to the hostel bar. There wasn’t really anything going on, but we wanted to just hangout. We found a few other people and made some more friends. After a few hours we wanted to go check out a rooftop bar, but by the time we got there it turned out to be full. We found another bar near by and got a drink, but we weren’t out terribly late. Everyone in my room was leaving the next day and had early flights back. Mine wasn’t too bad but thats only because I was going to be flying to Ireland. In the end it was not the grand exit I thought I would have had to London, but it was still nice. There was a warm feeling to it. I knew then I had made friends that I would truly keep in contact with and I am not sure it would have been the same if I did the day I had planned for myself. Sometimes everything happens for a reason. Losing you debit card brings people to your aid. Rainy days mean less time walking and more time to dedicate to others. Early nights mean a night of talking rather than a night of partying.
This was London for me. A place where people come together to experience life together. Its to learn about history and the culture and appreciate the small things in life. There isn’t a single thing I would change about this trip. It all happened exactly how it was supposed to. And that is the magic of travel.
I hope you enjoyed following along on my London adventures. If you haven’t already seen the rest of my London posts, please check out my United Kingdom page. Now on to Ireland!
The Journal of Wanderlust 