Long time no see, SpaceHey. I can't say I've been up to much in all this time, EXCEPT suddenly spending almost all my savings to go to UK and see Linkin Park at Wembley.
You see, I rather love the new era of Linkin Park. So much so that it fully awoken the true fangirl in me and I've decided I just HAVE to make it to a concert and see them - and especially Emily - up close and in flesh.
And since from where I live getting anywhere in Europe is about equally far and expensive, well, I thought, why not to pick the biggest show of the tour, Wembley. Bonus points 'cause to see London has been my childhood dream.
Now, the important context here is that I am a homebody. An anxious homebody who isn't at all adventurous and doesn't like spending money either. So you can imagine no one expected this, least of all me.
That also meant that I had no visa history to speak of these last 10 years. And also no family of my own, no stable job (I'm a gig-based freelancer), no business or anything else that would tie me to my country and prevent me from trying to illegally settle in.
I don't know how and why UK immigration decided to grant me my visa but bless that officer who looked at my pathetic cover letter and concert/place tickets I attached and decided to let me be.
Anyway. Flight one way: 5 hours on a plane, 6 hours trying and failing to sleep on a bench at the airport in the middle of the night, 4 more hours on a plane. At 7 am I was in London.
Here, have a nice view of a night landing at the transfer airport.
Okay so in London. The border control officer looked mildly unconvinced by my everything and started asking my favorite Linkin Park songs. I was very much self-deprived and trying not to burst out crying from pent up anxiety that started hitting me 7 hours ago at the previous airport.
They let me in.
My check in for the apartment I rented was at 4 pm so I spent hours walking around central London with my backpack and trying to remember how to be a normal person.
First thing I did, naturally, was go and take a photo of Big Ben. You know, just to feel that holy crap, this is real.
Yuppie!!
Despite being way too tired I also managed to go to the local Hard Rock cafe for dinner. The main appeal was the live music evening they had going, but it was waaay too noisy to like, appreciate it. I guess it's a restaurant first and foremost, not a live venue.
Ordered a cocktail that came with a giant glass you could take home with you. Which I did. Only to promptly remember that I came there with only a small backpack with dimensions fit for a lowcoster measuring box (iykyk).
Spoiler: the glass made it, but I had to throw away my flip flops to make room. Rest in pieces you old bastards, at least you got a cool foreign British landfill.
In the upcoming days I also saw Tower of London and the famous crows
One of them birdies was named "Chaos" and I'd love to know what earned it THAT name.
Other attractions involved the London Eye (which was, well, big and high up, but also it turns out the cabins are so huge and there's so many people with you in there that you don't really feel the height or anything. As opposed to amusement parks' wheels where depending on the state of it all you may be fearing for your life, especially if some asshole starts shaking the thing.)
And Madam Tussaud's museum which was everything I imagined and also surprisingly less than I thought at the same time. Big kudos to whoever made the installations and the smooth transitions from one to another.
Also the wax figures do indeed look very real. Especially when they place some of them like, right there on the floor with you, so with all the people around your eyes struggle to figure out who's a figure and who's just standing there.
Can't call myself a huge fan of miss Swift, but damn if she didn't look real.
By the way, one of the other visitors played a prank on the rest of us by standing really still along the way. The only thing that clued me in was the fact that she was wearing modern clothes and we were in a historical section, but also I was fully considering that maybe it was some kinda conceptual mix. A woman walking behind me went "It feels like she's gonna look at us at any second!" at which point the girl broke and started laughing. Poor woman was kinda embarrassed.
One thing that I regret about this whole trip is that I didn't try any local food. I mean, notoriously Britain doesn't have any amazing local cuisine to brag about, but you know, at least some fish and chips would be nice. For the bit. Not to mention that I'd wanted to try Taco Bell for a while - that one's not British but like. Foreign non the less. To me.
Unfortunately my body decided that since we're under such horrible horrible stress (away from home alone) we don't want to eat. And on occasions we kinda do we only accept stuff like a quickly bought donut from a cart nearby or McDonald's 'cause I guess that's familiar. Sigh.
Now, of course, the MAIN thing I came for was the concert. Which I'll leave for part 2 'cause it was a whole thing of its own. And also 'cause I think I'd like to put that one in the "Music" tag.
But let's just say. I'm ready to do it all over again. (My wallet, however, is not. RIP.)
Report Blog Entry
Comments
Displaying 0 of 0 comments ( View all | Add Comment )