Me and two of my best friends (Laura and Sonja) decided to do a little city break at the end of the year and to spend NYE in London. Also check out my old London travel diary and my London food guide!
So we booked our trip from 28th December until 1 January. We flew from VIE to London Gatwick with Level. I can totally recommend this airline!
First day: hostel problems
After our exhausting journey, we arrived at the Generator Hostel, which turned out not to be the best choice because we weren’t really lucky with our room. It was rather dirty (aka sticky floor) and we could hear the disco very clearly through the floor which was obviously the worst thing. I mean I get that there are parties at Hostels, but ignoring the fact that people also want to sleep (even though we asked them to turn down the volume) is definitely a no-go. The next day, they were so kind to make us switch rooms, but we still decided to move locations to another apartment in Notting Hill.
Anyway back to the first day, we went to Deliciously Ella for late lunch and then we just scrolled through the city. For dinner we had some snaps from Whole Foods. I can totally recommend this supermarket!
Second day: Moving to Notting hill
The next day (after a really short night), we had brunch at Le pain quotidien. It was very delicious and I think we’ve spent two hours there. After that we moved locations to Notting Hill. In the afternoon, we explored Notting Hill and went to Abbey Road! Then we had Fish&Chips for dinner at the Chipping Forecast, which was also really nice.
Third day: Sightseeing
The next day we were so full of energy again after a really good night’s sleep. Therefore, we grabbed breakfast at Paul’s and then went to the Tower Bridge. We took so amazing photos! In the late afternoon we did the London Eye and enjoyed the most amazing sunset over the city. I can totally recommend doing it around that timeframe. In the evening we had amazing Ramen at Kanada-Ya. I had the Truffle ramen and they were gorgeous.
Fourth day: NYE
On the 31stwe had to move our stuff back to the hostel. After that we had very good brunch at the farm girl Soho, which is located at Carnaby street. I seriously had the best avocado bread there. Omg I’m still dreaming of it! (No joke) Then we went to the bookstore Waterstones to just read and relax a bit. Then we went back to our hostel room and got ready for NYE.
We had reserved a table at TGI Fridays at Leicester Square, but only for 10pm. So we had to wait quite some time and unfortunately the waiters were completely overwhelmed with the people during that evening. In the end, we got our food and had some nice drinks. For midnight we managed to be outside, but we had no idea where a good spot would have been for the fireworks. So this was also not very well planned.
For everyone planning to spend NYE in London, please think a little bit more ahead what you would like to do and start planning earlier. Otherwise you’ll end up like us without a real plan and then it’s just too much in busy London.
This experience also showed me, basically it doesn’t matter where you spend NYE. I always thought it is sooo much better to be somewhere else than in my hometown, but actually I realized it does not matter where you are. What really matters are the people you hang out with and not the location.
Fifth day: New year and some thoughts
So at least on the 1stI woke up completely clear without any hangover and I think that’s also nice right?! Hence, no headache during our flight back to Austria and I could start 2019 with a good physical condition.
Some thought in general to London, I realized during this trip that London is way too busy and dirty for me. Especially after living in Amsterdam for half a year. This trip showed me again how much I actually love Amsterdam and how much this city fits my needs. My wish is to live in a vibrant international city which is still not overwhelming (and where you can actually bike, I mean it’s way too dangerous in London). Therefore, wish me luck that I’ll manage to move back to Amsterdam sooner or later!
To an amazing 2019, no matter where it will lead me and what this year will hold for me! Cause I have really no clue yet! (Note: I wrote this right after London, and so far things tend to come together already after having literally no clue!)
Hi, I’m Lisa