London was our third expatriation after two years in Estonia and a year and a half in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, the North of England. We were both excited and anxious to move to one of the world’s most famous capitals, but a year later, we can say with the tears of joy: every day in London was like a firework explosion. Fast, multicultural, eventful, colourful, our time in London was a yearlong journey, which is not finished yet and will hardly ever be.

We were not tourists in London, but better – we were (and remain) London residents, and there are things we would like everybody to know before visiting this amazing place. Partly as an advice, partly as our own nostalgia, partly as our observations. Let’s go.

Hyde Park

One thing for sure about London is this is a huge melting pot. More than 300 languages are spoken in the city, where more than 50% of its inhabitants are not British. Therefore, don’t expect to see London as it was pictured in Downton Abbey. The red double-deckers, red telephone cabins and cozy afternoon teas are still there, but far beneath the vibrant and colourful multicultural city whose spirit made us strongly think about Zootopia. You will have the gentlemen strolling with a stick alongside Jamaican diaspora, shops with saris and millions of other human beings of various shades and sizes. So, if you are looking for dear old England, consider visiting some small provincial town or for example – Oxford or York.

Fitzroy Square

Notting Hill Carnival

If you take a tube on the Northern Line from south to North, you will arrive as an aged person with a hundred of grandchildren. Jokes aside, people often underestimate how huge London is, how big the distances between the point A and the point B are, how long they may be even to for a bike ride. Paris can fit 15 times in the Greater London and even if you might not want to see all the outskirts around London, the distances between its central parts are still enormous. Plan your route and transport without counting too much on walking all around.

The View from Sky Garden

A point following the previous one – we would definitely not recommend you to simply stroll around in search of beauty. The specificity of London is that its points of interest are dotted in the areas all around the city, which means that between them you won’t necessarily find anything else than roads and residential houses of various level of attractiveness. So, once again, if you are a visitor, try to optimize your time and prepare an approximate plan of what exactly you want to see.

View from the London Bridge

Tooting

Everyone at school learned about the Buckingham Palace, the Westminster Abbey and the St. Paul’s cathedral. I can still hear the voice of my first ever English teacher pronouncing them all. However, if you intend just to visit one after another in a Hop-on Hop-off bus, you might be disappointed. The Buckingham Palace from the outside is very modest, the Big Ben and the Westminster Palace are standing on a busy crossroad, and the entrance to the St. Paul’s costs more than your budget for the whole trip (just joking!). Of course, if you are a first-timer not seeing them all would make the trip feel incomplete, but just bear in mind that the main interest of London has very little in common with the musts from your English textbooks.

Big Ben under restoration in 2017

Trafalgar Square

We feel incredibly sorry for everyone who comes to London just for a weekend trip. Half of this time will be spent in transport for sure, and another half will be lost in running around with a butt on fire. Be kind to yourself and London. Take at least a week for this amazing city or take several weekends for the SLOW travelling. Otherwise, you are more likely to spoil the impressions about London than actually enjoy it.

All year round London is a feast. All year round there are things to do, festivals, concerts, events or celebrations. Believe me, there is no season, during which London is not good enough (yes, even in winter). All the proofs are in our post on how to spend a year in London.

If something doesn’t happen in London, it simply doesn’t exist. In terms of all possible events, London is the first choice. BUT. Don’t forget that there are almost 9 million people living in this city with 20 million tourists coming here per year. Which means that you must get your tickets to the events or limited exhibitions well in advance and preferably, the second the sales are opened. For example, it’s been several months that we can’t get to the Frida Kahlo exhibition because every day was sold out for weeks ahead! Don’t rely on luck and just book what you need in advance.

Natural History Museum

National Gallery

Another common thing to occur is not liking London from the first glance. In fact, that happened to us on our stopover on our way to Iceland. In order to avoid this happening see the point 5. Otherwise, London might seem a bit too overwhelming, a bit too crowded, a bit too in a mess and it’s okay. Just try to give it a second chance, take it more slowly, explore its different parts and then you might look at it differently.

A vast majority of European city destinations have an Old Town, which is often the only place the biggest part of visitors tend to explore. It doesn’t work this way in London, as the true Old Town, the historical center of London, now called the City of London has strictly nothing to do with its former self. In fact, it turned into a business heart of London with high skyscrapers made of glass, and the few old buildings left are squeezed in between the office buildings. Naturally, it is also a place to see, especially after 5pm, when all the white-collars gather around the pubs with a pint, but it’s not the best solution for a relaxed walk or a nice meal other than a take-away fast food.

Five o’clock pint

Finally, the biggest lie of all – the weather. Foggy, rainy and whatnot. It is simply not true, because in comparison to other UK cities, London is relatively far from the sea, which means that it doesn’t have the humid and rapidly changing climate. Moreover, it tends to have four real continental seasons, featuring hot summer (in 2018 it was literally unbearable), golden autumn, a promise of snow in winter and blossoming spring. What would you say if you learnt that it rains more often in Paris than in London! Ha!

Hyde Park

Greenwich

The title is self-explanatory, so make sure that you have an adaptor for charging your gadgets. Also make sure that the little switch button is on the “ON” position, because Health&Safety obliges switching the plugs off. The only place we’ve seen such a thing so far was the UK.

One of the things most people tend to say about London is that it is incredibly expensive. It’s not cheap, it would be a lie to state the contrary. But there are many ways to make it more affordable and actually doing it on budget. All the tips about discovering the capital of Great Britain without spending a fortune from the Londoners you’ll find in the post how to visit London on budget.

No idea how people do without them:

 Citymapper – for navigating through the complex transport system of London.

Time Out London –all events, lists, tops, bests of London for every day! The same goes to Visit London.

Blue plaque – an app, which shows you where and what important people used to live. I love it!

London Bus Live Countdown – in case you start worrying if your double-decker will ever arrive.

 Atlas Obscura – if you want to see something unusual.

If you could only know, what love we put in all those articles about London – the only city we see ourselves to settle in…