London Calling
Here & There - 08.03.22
I want to talk about a few things I loved about London.
London and I got off to a rough start. We arrived in mid-winter, and I nearly immediately tweaked my IT band, cutting out my main outlet for being active. Our temporary Airbnb in Notting Hill was the size of a shoebox, and apartment hunting was a bit of a drag. I spent most of that first month working from Pret’s (basically the London Starbucks) and other coffee shops in the area (had some great coffee and work time at Amoret), and searching for a more permanent (but still temporary) home.
In an incredible stroke of luck, we landed a wonderful apartment in Killburn Park, a short distance from Paddington Recreation Ground, the Maida Vale area, and Queens Park.
Finding a local community
On my first walk through Queens Park, I stumbled across Goodspace, a local co-working spot. I love remote work as much as the next person, but being remote AND in a new city with no community is extremely challenging. Goodspace has cultivated an incredible vibe and a welcoming group of people that became good friends. It’s hard to overstate what a positive affect this space and group of people had on my experience in London.
It honestly made me re-evaluate how I think about offices and co-working. While I still think WeWorks are largely corporate, faceless, and unwelcoming, I think there is real sweet spot for these more hyper-local focused spaces where people pop in and out, and you’ll see them around town as well as at a desk.
Tubes, trains, and planes (no automobiles)
There’s no comparison to the subway. The tube is clean, consistent, rarely crowded, and just…great. It’s hard to overstate how much your experience with public transit changes when all the stations are clean and you almost never wait more than 5 minutes for a train. Sure, it doesn’t run all night like the subway, but the buses are still great, and I rather like the excuse of “needing to catch the last tube” to make sure I’m not out too late.
It’s also incredibly easy to escape the city, whether you’re hopping on a train for a day trip, or jumping on a plane to Europe for the weekend. Places like Bath, Guildford, Amersham, and Cambridge were great day trips to the countryside, whether to get a trail run in, or just explore a new place.
Heathrow was ~40min from the front door for weekends in Chamonix, Innsbruck, and Champery. I think London is the first place I’ve lived where it both felt easy to get to the airport, and affordable to travel.
The museums
London is home to a bunch of world class museums…and they’re free. The freedom to jump on the tube and wander through the British Museum, the V&A, or the Design Museum for an hour or a few was wonderful. You never have to feel like you need to pack in every exhibit in one go
.The parks
Oh the parks. All the parks. So many parks. We were lucky enough to live within running distance of Hyde Park, Hampstead Heath, and Regents Park. My favorite in London, Richmond Park, was a short transit ride way. At three times the size of Central Park, it’s an incredible place to escape. You truly feel like you’re out of the city, with areas of dense trees, meadows, herds of deer, and enough meandering trails to get lost every time.
For me, this was a big thing that set London apart from NYC. When living in a city, running is one of my main escapes, and running in London felt significantly more pleasant.
The vibe
It’s hard to *not* compare London to NYC, especially considering that’s where I spent the last few months before moving here. I enjoyed my time in NYC, but I never got to the point where I felt like I *fit* there. Something about the speed of life, the vibe, just never quite resonated with me. I much preferred the pace of life here in London. New York has a certain chaotic energy that is beautifully unique, but in general London felt way more relaxed. Sure the food is better and more exciting in NYC but whatever the latest must-eat spot is doesn’t come up in *every* conversation in London.
Onwards
Onwards to whats next, which for now still contains plenty of unknowns. At the moment I’m in Ljubljana for the week. I’ll be doing a bit of hiking this weekend in Triglav, and then moving on to Austria for a bit. Cheers!