May, 2025 in London: Day 1
My first glimpse of the Underground trains.
Maybe this should have been obvious to me but while I rode the Underground for the first time ever after getting off the Heathrow Express, I became aware that London is just like New York City. I’m mostly referring to the people. It was around 08:00 and I noticed how everyone was dressed fairly smart, a lot wearing trench coats: everyone was on their way to work in the city!
But one thing that struck me as odd was the social interaction. This isn’t to say that New Yorkers are friendlier (it’s actually the opposite). I surprised by the lack of eye contact. And I doubt it had anything to due with people staying glued to their phones. No one seemed to make eye contact with anyone else at all, even the riders not stuck on their phones. As an American, maybe I am a little more used to making eye contact. The lack of connection on the train actually made me want to peer and stare and study even more. After a while, my own curiosity seemed rude to even me. I felt as if I was invading the privacy of others so I tried to restrict my curious glances and downright voyeuristic behavior.
When I finally got to my hotel, I was both very excited and exhausted: it made my short nap in the hotel lounge intolerable while I waited in the lobby for my room to be prepared. I was in and out of sleep. A couple of hours later, my room was ready. I dropped off my belongings, gained a second wind, and decided to go out and explore. My hotel was in Blackfriars so I went to the nearest location on my itinerary: Piccadilly Circus.
After taking a walk along Regent Street, I checked my Google Maps itinerary and saw that one of the restaurants on my list was within walking distance. The Indian restaurant, Dishoom Carnaby had a queue and I had no reservations. Time to stand in line. I had a decent amount of entertainment: I got to witness the afterwork buzz of a “pedestrian-only” street. Much like Americans in metropolitan cities, people go for drinks after work but Britons seem to have a custom of standing outdoors with beer in hand, even in very cool weather!
After Dishoom, I took the tube back to my hotel, and concluded my first successful day in London. A regular client of mine knew of my trip to London and before I went away, gave me 3 tablets of Ambien. He assured me I would need it to get on UK time. I suffer from insomnia as it is already so the pills hardly did a thing! Something heavier was definitely needed. ;)
To see more lovely photos of my trip in London, view the “London” Highlight in my Instagram profile.
