London’s Calling

I saw an advertisement being displayed on a London black cab when I was in London recently. It reads as “London’s Calling”. A huge UK national flag was painted (or pasted) over the body of the black cab to make it a colourful cab instead. It looked so attractive and I was hooked. The UK national flag looks appealing to me always, no mater how it is being displayed.

I first fell for it when I did my post graduate studies in UK and London has since been in my travel wish list for many years. Until more than 10 years later, I had a chance to visit London again last year during my Europe travel. Last month, I deliberately stepped onto this UK ground once again on my Europe Travel MkII.

What made me so mad about London? It is not about the various tourist spots, its Fish and Chips or scones, and its Carling lager beers. It is all about the environment, weather, people and their culture. Anyone could feel this when first stepping out of London’s airport or King’s Cross train station. I felt it more this year where London was my last stop in Europe after Brussels, Copenhagen, Berlin, Switzerland and Barcelona.

London hasn’t got the glamorous historical architecture or magnificent marble statues of Florence and Rome, albeit Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul Cathedral are worth a visit. London hasn’t got the world’s best cuisine too, unless Fish and Chips is your favourite. Not to mention its brewery popularity in the world. However, the attractiveness of London is found in its environment, weather, people and culture.

I love London for its relatively safe environment for tourists, especially after Jean and I experiencing harassment from local Turks in Brussels who followed us to our hotel twice in two evening! (Sorry Belgians!) Though normal safety issues such as pick-pocket or harassment from drunk people do happen somehow in this metropolitan city, I felt much safer in exploring London city centre at night.

London’s mild climate with lesser rain or snow is also favorable to me as I would have plenty of great sunlight for travel photography. While it’s hot and humid in Summer, and cold and dry in Winter, travelers could expect generally pleasant weather for the rest of time, albeit its rapid changing weather in a day might need getting used to for some travelers.

I know many of other Europeans do not like British for being too charming and diplomatic during the day but too rude and aggressive after drinking at night but I still found more comfortable talking to Brits than other Europeans, perhaps it was because we spoke in the same language, English. I don’t know. Or perhaps is only me who doesn’t speak French, Dutch or Deutsch.

Some of the local culture are also attractive to me, such as standing on the right side and walking on the left side of an elevator (though it is arguable in terms of safety), distributing free newspaper in the morning, lining up at the entrance of London Underground, football craze, awareness in cleanliness, holding a swing door for those who follow, just to mention a few.

Again, this is only the feeling of a London university alumni who visited London again after more than 10 years for traveling. Though many things have changed over these years, most of those important elements of a lovely city have not. Don’t take my words. Plan for a UK Holidays now to experience it yourself! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.