I’ve dreamed of London since I was a little girl. Although not everyone loves this sprawling and crowded capital (one friend compared it to the “gates of hell”) I still found myself smiling like a kid when I visited.

My good friend Victoria recently moved to the city to pursue her master’s in international relations, and I decided to visit her for my birthday. Vic is someone I’ve known for a short time but have come to rely on when I need to vent about random bits of everyday existentialism or plan a mad trip no one else wants to take.

Our plans for the weekend:

Camp out early at the Duke of York’s Theatre for tickets to see Sir Ian McKellen in King Lear.

If you’re under 25 and a student you can get tickets for 5 pounds. I just made it since my 26th birthday was two days later. We got front row seats. At one point, Sir Ian got so worked up, kicked a puddle of water on stage, and it splashed me in the face. Pure heaven.

Visit the British Library

I saw original manuscripts and works by Sylvia Plath, Jane Austen, the Brontes and Oscar Wilde.  The Treasures of the British Library exhibit featured Gutenberg Bibles, the Ramayana, the Magna Carta, Da Vinci’s notebook, Copernicus’s writings and letters from Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing. Exhibitions to The Beatles and Monty Python lined the walls. The entire collection is free and open to the public.

Finally make it to the Tower of London and take the tour.

Visit Abbey Road and stand outside the studios in St John’s Wood

Visit Old Spitalfields Market

As well as eat amazing food from around the world including Indian, Georgian, Turkish and Vietnamese.

See the National Portrait Gallery 

Take a London Street Art Tour (yes, there was a bit of Banksy) 

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Show up at Kings Cross late at night just to stare at Platform 9 3/4 and avoid the crowds. 

Take a day trip to Bath and pretty much act like the biggest Jane Austen nerd of all time.

Highlights from Bath

Sally Lunn’s Bath Buns

SUNDAY ROAST at Garrick’s Head

Toppings and Company Booksellers (one of my fav bookshops in the world)

The Jane Austen Centre (extra literary nerdiness)

Listening to an Evensong at Bath Abbey

Enjoying a rare bit of sun at the Royal Crescent, the Circus and Victoria Royal Park. 

Other English things I liked

• Cornish Pasties
• People saying, “all right?”
• TEA TIME
• Darker beers available at most places
• Picking out Zadie Smith books in a shop that served us full coffee and tea service for free.
  
  

Things I didn’t love

• Lots of people
• Bloody cold
• Always getting on to me about signing the back of the credit card.
• So bloody cold.
• Not really able to speak Spanish.
• Too expensive

Overall, the U.K. is wonderful to visit but you definitely have to save and budget.