It took me a long time to put this into words. Oh Europe, where do I start?

It began as an amusing thought to visit my friend, Cheryl, in Europe while she's on exchange. For the unaware, local uni students typically go on an exchange programme during their third year in university so long as they hit a minimum GPA. Back then, I was working full time and Cheryl was my intern, which made that thought on a verge of being ludicrous — we weren't even proper friends friends!

Months went by, I left my job while Cheryl stayed in school, and we continued being close friends. I might even add that she's one of the closest friends I have. Suddenly, flying >10 hours to find her didn't sound that laughable at all. After all, I had KrisFlyer miles that were expiring. After three months of looking at plane tickets and contemplating my options, I bit the bullet one night in December and booked my ticket.

The decision wasn't an easy one. Despite travelling solo in Japan and Taiwan, I wasn't all confident about leaving the safety blanket Asia provided me. There was a neverending stream of worries about my first time in Europe, but it has been that way for every solo trip. And I knew if I didn't book my tickets there and then, I would never find the courage, or reason, to in the near future.

I had to change my air tickets thrice too, because my travel period clashed with the time Cheryl's family was going to visit her, and my own school holidays. Thankfully, I managed to booked a cheap flight from Singapore to London (review of flight here) and change my miles for a SQ flight from Amsterdam to Singapore.

Fast forward to April, there I was, alone in London Gatwick Airport.

Trouble began way back in Singapore. Upon boarding the plane, I realised that I was essentially screwed — I did not bring my iPhone sim card tray ejector. Because I travel frequently, so I usually leave my ejector in my wallet. However, I stupidly forgot that changed my wallet (didn't want to bring a branded wallet to avoid pickpockets) and carelessly left the ejector in my old wallet.




In hindsight, I was surprised that instead of freaking out like what the old me would have done, I simply shrugged and waited to see how things would eventually turn out. I guess that's one thing travelling solo has taught me — that I can't control the things that happen to me or shit life throws at me, but I can control my reaction and how much I let it affect me. I even had a good sleep on the plane ride to London despite the impending doom.




Isn't the world a beautiful place? :') 



I spent the most of my flight marvelling at the beauty of this universe while anxiously counting down to the minute I could finally experience Europe for myself.

Half questioned my decision to watch Family Guy beside a 5-year-old

Did I mention? All my years of being a baby/child-hater bit me in the ass — I ended up sitting beside a 5-year-old who was every bit as restless as me. Maybe more. He was moving around so much and didn't understand enough English for me to tell him to stop. I resorted to pretending that I was going to vomit on him to stop him from jumping on the seats. Not my proudest moment, but I'm sure if he continued bouncing on his seat, I would have really vomitted and that would have been ugly for everyone. Was a blessing in disguise though, because I could stretch my legs all the way since he didn't need his legroom.


I made myself comfortable by stealing that boy's legroom though and zonked out almost 60% of the flight, only waking up during meal services. Yay to my plush toy, which doubles up as a blanket, for keeping my warm throughout the flight.

Hello London Gatwick, I see you.

As my plane neared London Gatwick, I peeked out of the window gingerly, as if I couldn't believe my eyes, while carrying the eagerness of a kid. After spending so many years lusting at photos of Europe in the national library, I finally saved enough to be there!


Fortunately, my phone connected to London Gatwick Airport's wifi immediately after touching down at 4:45pm (SGT 11:45pm). Yay! That's one feeling of relief I'll never experience in Changi Airport, where we have to register to enjoy 30 minutes of free wifi. Bah! Humbug.

I quickly joined the queue to clear custom while letting my family and friends know that I was safe. The custom officer wasn't the friendliest to me, an Asian female solo traveller with crazy hair, although I do understand why. She interrogated me on my purpose of travel (leisure), why was I travelling alone (to find a friend), what was the address I gave to her (a hostel), what's my occupation (student) and if I were a student, where did I get the money for my travels (sugar daddy loljkno obviously I worked). When she deemed all my answers to be satisfactory enough for her, she left a stamp on my passport and let me go.

I cautiously proceeded to the baggage area and waited for my luggage while contemplating if I should risk bringing attention to myself by asking someone for a sim card tray. Before I managed to pluck up my courage, my luggage made a thud sound, signalling me to maneuver to the crowded luggage belt. I was used to tourists helping me with my luggage in Asian countries like Japan and Taiwan but I had my guards up and was determined to handle my 15kg luggage by myself.


After exiting the arrival hall, I quickly noticed a pop up sim card stall nearby and asked the shopkeeper if I could borrow an iPhone sim card tray ejector. To my relief, she remained unfazed to my request as she reached in her drawers to pull out her ejector — I supposed she's been asked that question at least a thousand times every day.


London's subway system is pretty much straightforward but infamous for its frequent strikes. I mainly used Citymapper to plan my route around London as the app automatically cancels out a subway route if there were ongoing strikes. Otherwise, the signs located on the train platforms were pretty straightforward too. My hostel is located at London Bridge subway station so I proceeded to platform four to take the subway towards Bedford.


As luck would have it, the escalator going down to platform 4 was out of order and there was no way I was going to carry 15kg down the stairs without knowing if that was definitely the correct platform. After a bit of asking around (a lady, also with crazy hair, took the chance to tell me she loved my hair!), I found the escalator down to platform 4 which was, mercifully, the correct platform.


You can take Gatwick Express into London city as well but I figured the London subway was a cheaper yet quicker option. The only benefit of Gatwick Express is probably that you're guranteed a seat.

For comparison's sake (my hostel is located near London Bridge station),

• Gatwick Express: 1 hour 8 minutes, £17.80 / SGD $32.05 
• London subway: 40 minutes, £8.00 / SGD $14.40

Worn out by the 13 hour+ flight to London, and I was underpacked for the weather

Hello London, more adventures await!