London is simply amazing – it may
be a biased opinion but I love the city I live in and will never move
anywhere else. Urban girl forever. As a frequent visitor of the city, I thought
that I’d dedicate this post to essential things you should have when in London.
1. Oyster Card/Travel Card – If you live within Central London and Greater
London then you’ll know what an oyster card is and you’ll also know that
without it you are a lost puppy. For anyone has no idea what an oyster card is;
it is basically your ticket in, out and around London – it’s a card that almost
everyone has which you put money on and you just swipe or scan it when you use
Transport for London.
If you aren’t from London and you can’t immediately get your hands on an
Oyster Card then a Travel Card is your best option. It retails for about £12
(off-peak)/£17 (anytime) and you can get them at any train station. They allow
you to get on buses, trains, trams, DLR and tubes. You can go anywhere in
London if you have this but because it’s paper, tiny and quite flimsy you can
easily lose sight of it.
2. Quick Snack – You’ll be doing a lot of walking around and you’ll need to
refuel somehow. The street food can look quite intriguing but I guarantee that
you’d much rather spend that money elsewhere.
3. Umbrella – Don’t go to London without an umbrella unless the weather is extremely hot but even then there could be a
random storm. It’s London. We have appalling weather. I always forget to bring
an umbrella and end up getting drenched in the rain or hiding inside a store
praying that it’ll stop. So unless you’re 100% sure it won’t rain, take an
umbrella…thank me later.
4. CASH – Certain places in London don’t accept card, especially if you go
into Chinatown or Markets. You’ll be missing out if you do not have a random
£10/£20 just lying around in your wallet/purse. I learnt this the hard way but
emergency cash is a necessity – bankcards can’t always help you.
5. Map – A MUST. London is now great and have maps sprawled around the
city for tourists but if you can download an app on your phone, then do so, because there is nothing worse than getting lost in London. Not that no one
will help you but if you have a phobia of speaking to random people then you’re
not really in the best position. I would recommend citymapper – it’s free and
tells you what buses, trains or routes you can take. It even tells you the 'rain
safe' journey (for when you forget your umbrella).
6. External phone charger – I haven’t got an external phone charger
myself but I know from experience that having one would have allowed me to take
so many pretty pictures. Your phone will be drained from battery after you’ve
used a map app and taken one too many selfies. So unless you have a good sense of
direction and an actual camera redirect yourelf to ebay/amazon now (I’ll also
follow my own advice).
7. Overpacking - You also don’t want to be carrying too much so don’t overload yourself, only take what you need.
7. Overpacking - You also don’t want to be carrying too much so don’t overload yourself, only take what you need.
I hope this will help - I may have missed out other
things so this is probably the bare minimum.
Thank You for Reading J
P.S. What would you take with you? (Whatever the city is).
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