As budget travellers, we gravitated towards the free things to do in London, an expensive city, and found The British Library. Cheryl and I were both bookworms and we naturally jumped on the chance to visit The British Library, the largest national library in the world.

Located conveniently within walking distance from Euston Station, The British Library has over 3000 years of history and is said to have more than 150 million items documenting every age of written civilisation.











Turns out it's not just Singaporeans who like queuing. We were there about 20 minutes before its opening hours and there was already snaking long queue outside The British Library despite it being a chilly day. Well, I say chilly but I'm sure Londoners are already used to the temperature.

Notice the sunnies I stuffed at the sides of my bag? I promply lost it on the last day, on my way back to Singapore. It was my favourite sunnies cos it had UV protection and it was translucent instead of boring black. :-( Still mourning about it till today, more than seven months later. 


Ugh, this photo would've been great if I didn't cut the words out! I usually take 2-3 shots every angle — not sure why I only took one shot for this :( After this photo, there was a quick security check before we entered The British Library.

Sunlight streaming in

Can you tell by the massive amount of photos I took that I love the entrance of The British Library already?! How can a place so rich in history look so modern at the same time...? I was in awe.



The King's Library is filled with thousands of all the way from the Age of Enlightenment (18th century). They have a reading room with rare books that's accessible by library members. I wish I took a photo of The King's Library from the highest level because it was so grand. I never thought I'd ever gush about a library this way but gosh, I wish I could go back.










Who could resist taking a few photos? Not only does British Library hold rich history, it looks stunning! If I were a student in London, I would spend hours here studying, or just marvelling at this beauty.

To be honest, I was getting jealous of the lifestyle Europeans live. Sure, art and literature are still not priority there — and it's going to be the same almost anywhere in the world — but there are efforts in recognising them, unlike in Singapore, where if you don't excel in Maths or Science, you're pretty much doomed by the education system. London is definitely a city I'd like my kids to grow up in.





We left The British Library shortly after... Only to find ourselves stuck in the giftshop. Unlike many other giftshops filled with souvenirs your friends probably won't take a second look of, the giftshop was filled with little knick knacks perfect for bookworms.

Contemporary Mr Men and Little Miss series

A contemporary version of the Mr Men and Little Miss series — Little Miss Shy Goes Online Dating. I thought this was pretty cute and sent it to my friends who met their boyfriends via online dating apps.


I thought the book was pretty witty but not worth its hefty pricetag.


No prizes for guessing which genre I was drawn to.


I've always been a huge fan of Tudor history since I was a kid! Queen Elizabeth I lived quite a life and I was honestly quite tempted by this book.



I got the bookmark versions of these quotes made with a material that was like a mixture of leather and felt. Gave the red and grey one to my friends and kept the blue one for myself because it sounds like something I'd say. "The book was better."

As you can probably tell, I'm unabashedly a bookworm. Forever thankful that my mom ignited and cultivated my love of reading through countless visits to the library, that she sent me to English tuition classes from the age of five because she predicted that English would be important, that she made me score more than 90 for every test and didn't take no for an answer.

Reading brought me to many places — some more literally than the others — but it's safe to say that if I didn't read, I would've been happy with being a frog in the well.