It was a long trip to London — exhausting, tiring but exciting at the same time. You see, I was in the historic city of London for a four-day company training and at the same time I had some work too which urgently require my attention. I did not have any time at all while in London updating the blog. However, Suanne did a marvelous job continuing to blog with a borrowed camera. I am going to catch up on the London Trip report over the next few days.
One thing that really hit me hard in London was the sticker shock. I mean, although people did warned me how expensive London is, it really did not hit me until I actually had to pull the credit card out of the wallet.
A buffet breakfast in the hotel I stayed in was 17 GBP! At the exchange rate of CAD$2.13, that breakfast costs a whopping CAD$35. It’s Sunday today and I could not rightfully expense breakfast to the company. So, I decided to just go to the city centre and try to get something cheaper.
I travelled via the tube to the city centre (somehow, Londoners don’t call it downtown) and found a Tesco Express outlet. It’s very much like a 7-Eleven except that you see a lot of grab-and-go meals. I grabbed the Cheese and Tomato Pasta Snack for 98p.
The snack included a folded fork on the lid.
I know, it’s not much of a “breakfast” but it does fill the stomach for the morning.
I sat on the steps across from Big Ben and just took my time eating, absorbing the environment teeming with people and cars on the street. I can see that the tourists are beginning to come out from the Underground station. You know they are tourists when you see (1) they are carrying a guide book, (2) a bottle of water in their hands, (3) a digital camera on their belt. Every other person in this part of the city appears to be a tourist.
I wanted to do the South Bank walk for today. Some of the highlights I planned on was the London Eye.
… the Tower Bridge, and …
… the Tower of London.
I will take the next couple of days chronicling the day … stay tuned.
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5 users responded in this post
Wow, you must have updated a lot last night!
I didnt have a whole entry dedicated to the dim sum, just “There’s a great place just 10 minutes from where I live!!! I got turnip patties, shrimp dumplings, sui mei, chicken feet, rice noodles, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, stuffed tofu,… I was very content.”
I love try new ethnic foods. Recently, I’ve exploring arabic food.
London, how great! Cant wait to see what else you try.
There was an episode of $40 A Day with Rachel Ray where she explored London on less than $40 on food…
I went to London a couple of years ago and I loved it but the sticker shock!!!
I only stayed a couple of days which is about all I could afford and I stayed with friends and ate in a lot.
Hope you enjoyed your stay. Please post other meals you had at hotel next time.
London also has nice clubs, they serve good food excellent drinks. Hope you had a chance to try them.
Cheers,
Hi Pinger: Thanks for coming back to the site! Do you like it … Arabic food? I too tried Shawarma, it was great. I will blog about fish and chips tomorrow … come back and read, OK?
Hi Allison: I just read today’s paper that said the London is the No 5 as the most expensive city in the world!
Hi Shahdad: Yeah, I have a few pictures from the food at the hotel. You need to come back and check everyday — I won’t tell you which day.
Ben
I’ve looked everywhere for a picture of the Tesco Pasta Snack, so I’m so pleased to have found one on your blog. :)
Amazingly in this day of high food prices, they are still precisely 98p for 525 calories. I have one every day. If “You are what you eat” is true, your photos are portraits of me! :)
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