CHAPTER IV: LONDON, UK

Home Away From Home

Admittedly, I had very little interest in visiting the UK when I first planned my trip to Europe. My appeal for travelling is to experience foreign cultures that contrasts my own and considering I grew up in Australia, a British colony, I felt that I wouldn’t get this from London or any other western society for that matter. This mindset has made me very disinterested in visiting other Western countries.

However, with that being said, I did end up visiting the UK. It wasn’t because my perspective changed but rather 1) it allowed me to stay longer in Europe since it’s not part of the Schengen zone, 2) gave me a chance to catch up with Alan, my best friend from university who was temporarily staying in London, and 3) the time I planned to go coincided with the Wimbledon Championships and it’s always been a dream of mine to attend. 

Despite my strong feelings towards visiting London, the irony is that I practically did a full 180 as soon as I landed at Gatwick Airport. I welcomed the familiarity of Western culture. I enjoyed not needing to have Google Translate at my fingertips. Although I had loved being out of my comfort zone and navigating the challenges of different non-English speaking countries over the past month, I’ll admit that I needed a short break where my brain could switch off and mentally reset. 

A week in London was ideal for this because it felt like a home away from home. This feeling was amplified when I caught up with Alan. Although I love meeting new people while travelling and felt that I was getting into a good rhythm of making travel friends, I did enjoy the feeling of already having an established friend waiting for me upon arrival. 

This week in London has been real nice since I was not solo travelling. As much as I enjoy meeting new people, the process of making friends is tiring. I’m tired of the screening process of exchanging backstories and hanging out to determine our compatibility. It’s especially exhausting we find out that we’re not compatible and I’m back repeating the cycle with someone else. Having someone like Alan who I already know I have chemistry with and knows my biography is nice since we can just immediately skip straight to the fun part of clowning around.

~ London, UK: Day 5

Bed vs. Budget

It’s no secret that London isn’t the most budget-friendly place. As someone who wanted to minimise my spending to maximise my overall travel time, I decided to make budget cuts wherever possible, including accommodation and out of my 6 nights in London, I only spent 1 of them in a bed. The rest of the time, I slept on a floor of some kind.

Since I was spending most of the week with Alan, he generously allowed me to stay with him, but there was an issue... there was no spare bed available. Instead of forcing Alan to give up his, I graciously offered to sleep on the floor on a makeshift bed made from pillows and blankets. Although it wasn’t ideal, I was still able to get some sleep and this is how I spent my first 3 nights in London.

My 4th night in London was not a great sleeping experience as Alan and I had decided to camp out at Wimbledon Park for centre court tickets. We were only equipped with a cheap Argos tent that was bought a few hours earlier. We foolishly thought we’d be okay without any matting or bedding for the campout… but more on that later. 

My final night in London was spent at Luton Airport since I had an early flight and thought it wasn’t worth booking accommodation. The only night I slept in a proper bed was the night after Wimbledon, where I did end up booking accommodation as my body was wrecked from the days prior (especially from Wimbledon). 

24 Hours At Wimbledon

If you know Melbourne, then you’d know it’s full of sports fanatics, including me. I’m a major sports fan. It’s in my DNA. For me, my passions lie with AFL (Australian Football League), tennis and basketball in that order and one of the perks of living in Melbourne is that I’m able to attend the Australian Open each year (I usually do so with Alan).

Although I love the home slam, most tennis fans would agree that attending the Wimbledon Championships would be the epitome. The rich history and prestige of The All England Club makes it the top prize for both players and fans.

The countless Wimbledon traditions are things I love about the event as a spectator; however, as an attendee, I despise it. Instead of being able to buy tickets online like any other major sporting event, the public has to either enter a ballot 9 months prior or join a physical queue in Wimbledon Park to attend. Since I had no idea I would be in the UK 9 months prior, I was only left with the latter option.

The way the Wimbledon queue works is tickets are distributed on a first come, first serve basis with only 1,500 stadium tickets available for purchase (500 for centre court). To maximise our chances of getting a stadium ticket, Alan and I started queuing in Wimbledon Park at 6pm the night before.

Firstly, we were lucky to arrive when we did because there was already a large crowd at Wimbledon Park. We thought we’d be among the first in line, but we weren’t. Instead, we were number 415 and 416, which we were ecstatic about because we were within the centre court ticket threshold. 

I can still remember the joy we felt when we found out we were centre court bound. It was the realisation that our lifelong dreams would come true. It’s just a shame the overall experience wasn’t as fun as either of us had hope. 

You see, Alan and I aren’t the deepest thinkers in the world. We thought a cheap Argos tent would be enough for us to get through the night. We felt that sleeping mats and any other bedding would be a waste of money. Oh, how foolish we were. Neither of us could sleep because the tent we had bought barely sheltered us from the outdoor elements. We were shivering all night and at one stage the tent even started dripping water. It wasn’t even raining outside. It was from the condensation. We were just lucky that it was a rare dry day in London, as I can only imagine the state we would be in if there was any form of precipitation.

So by the time we were ready to attend some matches, we were more than tired. We were walking zombies, and unfortunately, this dampened our experience. Usually, we’d want to watch long matches that go down to the wire, but because of how wrecked we were, we prayed for straight set victories. We couldn’t wait for the matches to end because it meant we were closer to leaving and heading to bed.

I think I just experienced the first and last time I’ll go to Wimbledon. Although I got to live out a lifelong dream, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the moment due to the sleep deprivation from camping out in the queue. “Sleeping” in Wimbledon Park was awful (I’m sure it will make a cool story to retell) and until Wimbledon get an online ticketing system, I probably wouldn’t put myself through that again. If I didn’t have Alan with me, I’m not sure I would have persevered. However, it’s done, and we survived.  

 ~ London, UK: Day 5

My Hindsight Reflection

I can comfortably say that if I return to London, I will not doing extreme budget travelling again. The physical wear and tear I put my body through was not healthy. Next time, I will not only make sure I have a bed each night to sleep in, but I will also consume proper meals instead of living off the £3.50 Sainsbury Lunch Meal-Deals. I’ve realised that saving a few extra dollars isn’t always worth it. Aside from the lessons learned, I do look back on this week fondly as it’s always a great time hanging out with Alan. Although our reunion created some lifelong memories, I also found it detrimental to my mental health as it started making me homesick which only got worse after I left to go to Albania.