On the first day we flew from Belfast to London Gatwick and travelled to our accommodation via the Gatwick Express train and the underground tubes. My first experience of the London Underground is one that I will never forget! As the tube stopped all of a sudden and I was unaware that it did so, I nearly fell flat on my face, if it wasn't from a typical Londoner who grabbed me, clearly knowing I was a London virgin!
We then went to a talk at University College London (UCL) and were able to explore the campus, and it really was very interesting! We then walked from UCL to ZSL London Zoo and went straight to another talk on breeding the animals which was also interesting, despite us being tired! After this, we split up into smaller groups to eat lunch and explore the animals! Unfortunately we accidentally by-passed the lions when walking around and didn't have the energy to walk back to them by the time we had finished!
I bought the Vita Coco water thinking it would be absolutely sensational, but unfortuantely I thought it was gross! Definitely time to try Fiji water!
That evening we dressed up and took a short walk to the local Pizza Express where I got a lovely margarita pizza which was so yummy!
On Friday, we were up bright and early and went to the Natural History Museum at 9.30am. We had time to walk around the museum ourselves and it was really really interesting and we also made it a lot more fun than it probably should have been!
The afternoon of Friday was spent by looking around the typical sights of London, for example - Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.
The lions at Trafalgar Square!
Buckingham Palace!
Top: Topshop
Leggings: Jack Wills
Shoes: Toms
Big Ben.
The Tower of London.
That evening we went for dinner by the London Eye where we went to a restaurant called Strada. We got pizza again and also got free dessert for giving feedback on their website - therefore I would highly recommend!
The London Eye was so breath-taking, especially at night as all of the lights were phenomenal - it felt as if the city of London went on for an eternity! It was lovely being able to pick out attractions such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace from the top of the wheel.
The tube was then taken home and myself and nine other girls decided to pile into one small bedroom where we all chatted until the early hours of the morning, until we proceeded to our own rooms. I shared a room with Phoebe and we ended up chatting together even longer when we got back to our own room!
As usual, we were up and out by 9.30am on Saturday as we spent the morning in the Science Museum in London. We then took the tube the Regent Street where we went crazy with shopping! Let's just say that Phoebe and I spent over two hours in Victoria's Secret! All details on what I bought will follow in a separate post that will be up shortly!
On Saturday evening we went to Joy King Lau Palace in China Town which was incredible. I had a chicken and chilli dish and we ordered some jasmine tea for the table which I have since then become obsessed with. It just smells and tastes so incredible and is apparently really healthy for you so I will definitely be researching further into that! We then made a quick trip to M&M's world. Phoebe, Georgia and I just spent the rest of our night in our room just chatting and eating a lot of food and drinking a lot of coke.
The Beatles at M&M's World!
The Sunday morning was the day that we had to say good bye to the magnificent city that was London. Everything about it was just so majestic and breath-taking. It was also really lovely having a roof top breakfast outdoors every morning with yummy big slices of bacon alongside a lot of healthy fruit that prepared us for the long day ahead!
We basically just made our way back to the airport and had two hours there where we could shop. Phoebe and I found ourselves again in Victoria's Secret and I came out with three more shopping bags than I had going in - oopsies!!
The plane journey home was very quiet and the majority of us slept as the time away was so exhausting!
Needless to say, it was possibly the best extended weekend away in my life as I got to see so many sights that I've only ever seen on TV or the internet. I also got to have my first experience of a Victoria's Secret shop that wasn't online which really was one of my main highlights of the trip! I also got to get closer to a few girls in my year which is also really exciting.
I'm so excited to go back to London to revisit this sensational city. I would love to go back within the next two years so I'm furiously planning away, but if not, then it was a great experience while it lasted! I'm so jealous that my dad gets to visit London on a weekly basis with his job!
I really hope you all enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed my time away because as you can probably tell, it was such a great time! There will be at least one (but possibly multiple) blog posts of things that I bought while I was away so please do keep a look out for that!
Much love,
Ellen xo
