8th graders Violet Sanchez and Sam Nash wrote the following diary entries from their own perspectives on their recent trip to London with Lively.
Day One
Violets Perspective
Once we landed at the airport and collected our luggage, we lucked out and did not have to do customs. Unfortunately, one of the other two groups touring with us had a flight delay, which ultimately also affected our plans for that day. While waiting for that group, we had time to change clothes and tidy up, as well as shop for food. The rest of the day flew by quickly. We dropped our stuff off at our hotel, and headed to the “Tube” as they call it. I personally enjoy most forms of public transportation and that proved true for the electric train as well. Although loud, it was both a new and fun experience. After a short walk where we passed the London Tower, we arrived at the designated location for dinner.
On the menu for that night was sausage and mashed potatoes, which was neither filling or my most favorite, mainly because I don’t eat sausage, but I can say that the mashed potatoes were tasty. So there I was, sitting with a not quite yet content stomach. That quickly changed when it was time for dessert. It was simple, vanilla ice cream accompanied with a brownie, but it was DELECTABLE and definitely the highlight of my day. After dinner, we rode the Tube back to the hotel for some much needed rest.
I can positively say that the first thing that immediately stood out to me in London was the cleanliness of the public bathrooms. Honestly, clean is an understatement, I don’t think I’d ever seen such clean bathrooms. On the way out of some of them, which I thought was a nice touch, even had a sign asking you to rate how clean the bathrooms were. Moving on from that topic though, I’m not sure what the minimum wage in London is, but I’d like to say that things seemed to be a lot more affordable compared to the US.
Sam’s Perspective
London’s time difference made figuring out when day one really was complicated, but I’d say it started right as we got into the airport. Around four in the afternoon me and all the other London-goers’ met up near where we had to check in, all dressed in our finest clothes. I personally sported a very respectful stitch onesie. We checked our bags, not out of a desire to but because we were last-minute told we had to, and got to security. The line was long, and honestly I was worried, but really it went by quickly. Then, we got to our gate and took off in our groups of three or more to get food. I already had the subway, it had gotten disgusting by then but whatever, so I mostly just stayed in my spot.
Then, the plane ride. There really isn’t much to say. I was next to Violet and we just tried to sleep, watched shows, etc. I got a little bit of sleep near the start of the flight, maybe just because of Violet’s boring movie, but other than that I was restless and sad. I also avoided all the offered food, so I was hungry. Finally, the flight ended.
Day One and a Half – Still Sam
The real portion of day one started bright and early in the morning, as so many do. Our group, and the other two that we had met up with, boarded onto a bus/ long car contraption and drove for what felt like the whole rest of the day, but what was probably actually just an hour. Most people slept but I didn’t have it in me, so instead I sat with my partner, Ceci McArthur, an eighth grader and one of my best friends, and did random things to draw out the time.
Eventually we got to our hotel, I’m guessing around three; but keep in mind that’s likely VERY wrong. We got our keys and went up to our rooms to put everything away, but we had so little time it was really just throwing our bags in our room and coming downstairs. We boarded the “tube”, their underground railroad system, and took our first ride. Our tour guide/ instructor person, Louis, prepared us for the journey and unsurprisingly nothing really went wrong. From the Tube we took a short walk over to our dinner, passing by the London Tower. I once again sat with Ceci and we ate a sausage over mashed potatoes and some other side that I couldn’t have less of a memory of. The food was okay, honestly probably one of the worse ones, but then the dessert came and it was GOOD. It was a slice of brownie and a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream with it, keep a mental note of that, and it was GOOD.
On our way back we once again passed the London Tower, this time stopping to take pictures. That was just about the last thing we did that day before getting to our rooms, getting ready, and, hopefully, getting some sleep.
Day Two
Violet’s Perspective
Day two started out on a positive note. I woke up to my alarm and got ready on time for breakfast. One thing about me is that I get anxious over everything. Besides my struggle with sleeping at hotels, I was anxious over whether I would wake up on time, and since I was already familiar with my roommates’ sleeping habits, I knew I probably couldn’t rely on her to wake me up. Due to my anxiety, I set up multiple alarms on both of our phones which thankfully woke me up.
Breakfast at our hotel turned out to be a lot better than I imagined it to be, and I was pumped because watching Hadestown was scheduled for later in the day. Before then, we went on a guided tour and got to see more historical buildings and statues. The architecture was beautiful, which was to be expected because of the UK’s long history, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. Lunch neared, and me and my group decided to get McDonald’s, which was honestly better than in the US. Scheduled next was a backstage tour of the Theatre Royal. Again, the architecture was gorgeous, and so were the many paintings found along the way. The tour guide there taught us about some of the history of theater in general and the actual theater itself. We even got to visit the downstairs below the house which was a bit spooky. While we were down there, our guide directed us to a cramped area with a mysterious chair. Our guide then asked if anyone wanted to sit on that chair in a totally not like ‘you’d regret it’ tone. Being the great friend that I am, I of course encouraged my friend Sam to sit on that chair. He did, and our guide proceeded to tell us that it belonged to Hitler.
Dinner was fried chicken and fries, an upgrade from the previous day, and dessert was again vanilla ice cream accompanied with a brownie, but it did not disappoint.
Last but not least, the long awaited theatre performance, Hadestown. To put it simply, I loved it. The costumes were very nice, and the choreography was great as well. Though the acting and singing had room for improvement, I personally think the instrumental elements made up for it. But, that wasn’t why I loved it. To be fair, I haven’t seen many musicals but I thought it was unique in the way it unfolded. Of course, many theatre performances are narrated, but this was the first I’d seen where the narrator interacted with the other characters. The story itself was inspired by Greek mythology and was a tragedy about a love story. One particular scene near the end which was meant to be the tragic outcome of the story, in my opinion, wasn’t performed the best. I don’t think the distress of that specific scene reached the audience the way it should’ve, but the story was beautiful nonetheless.
Sam’s Perspective
Probably the biggest surprise about day two was the fact I woke up. Unlike the rest of my group I had a solo room, and although that comes with probably a million up-sides it does mean I was very afraid I would not get up intime to get ready. Luckily, my around 25 (I’m being dead serious) alarms succeeded in waking me up. I hopped in the shower, dried off, and got ready just in time for Ms. Everett, one of the two teachers with us on the trip, to knock on my door to bring me down to breakfast and get me my meds.
The day’s events started with a guided BUS (very important) tour of London. It was the same bus as the day before and I sat with Ceci in the same place. The tour was one of my highlights from the trip, not even because of the tour but because everything felt so upbeat and happy. We popped out of the bus occasionally, taking in the scenery and walking around, but the best part was just being with my friends and having fun. I believe it was coming from that tour to our next meeting stop where I saw what became my “white whale”, so to speak, of the trip. The new hunger games book.
I LOVE the Hunger Games, (You can actually read about how much I love it and the most recent movie in a movie review I did last year here.) and I’d been waiting for that book, somehow it just slipped my mind that it had come out; but now that I know it did I was SET on getting it.
Sadly, at least for then, I couldn’t. Instead we had a quick, very adventurous and European, lunch at McDonalds. How foreign. Then we had a tour of the “London Theater”; a very fancy and very old theater. The tour was fun, but, for fear of having this article be more like a book, I won’t go into any details. Oh, except I sat on a chair I REALLY shouldn’t have. No explanation :).
Next we had dinner, another trip highlight. Not only did it taste good, just kidding I don’t really remember I could have not ate it I’m really not sure, but me, Ceci, Violet, and Jayus were together in arguably the best table in the house, one of the ones pushed up to the corner, AND I got headscratchers. Overall, a big win.
Finally, it was time for what I was really looking forward to, Hadestown. Everyone went (was forced) to the bathroom and then we took our seats. I switched twice, first with a guy directly in front of me who told me to just step over his seats BAD CHOICE, then with the new guy directly in front of me. Hadestown was INCREDIBLE and in truthfulness I did cry, mostly after the show. Once again in all truthfulness, I was crying about my cat; which happens plenty of times on this trip. We got home and pretty quickly got to sleep, with little time before getting home and curfew.
Day Three
Violet’s Perspective
The first thing planned for day three was a guided Harry Potter tour, and although I’m not exactly a fan, I actually enjoyed it. Our tour guide was a joy to be around, she was very friendly, had a great sense of humour and I personally think she made the tour exciting even for those who weren’t Harry Potter fans. We visited a couple spots filmed in the fantasy film and spots from other movies as well, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Next up, was the second theatre performance of the week, The Devil Wears Prada. I was one of the few who hadn’t seen the movie beforehand, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but I was very impressed. The costumes were PHENOMENAL, definitely the star of the show. The singing and acting were great, though again had room for improvement. The choreography was definitely lacking, understandable because everyone was in stilettos, but even then I expected more from one particular scene that consisted of multiple nurses, all who wore sneakers.
Before it was time for dinner, we had time for more shopping so I partnered up with my friends, Ceci and Sam. One of my biggest regrets was not buying this cute yellow long-sleeved blouse and a yellow jacket from one of the stores we visited. Luckily for me, my purchase the next day made up for that loss.
Lastly, we ate a fish and chips dinner, a famous London dish, which I wished I could’ve enjoyed more, but by that point mostly everyone was tired, including me, so the dinner wasn’t as energetic. Can you guess what the dessert was? Not that I’m complaining, but we had the same vanilla ice cream with a chocolate brownie.
Sam’s Perspective
Day Three, or just Wednesday, opened on what I expected to be, honestly, not that fun. It was a guided Harry Potter tour and given the fact I’m not that big of a fan of the series I really did not expect to enjoy it. Surprisingly, though, I did. We walked quite a bit and I appreciated getting to look at all the different buildings and statues around London, and the, albeit nerdy, conversations we had about who’s in what house were fun. Personally, I’m a Hufflepuff, but some of my friends think I’m more of a Gryffindor.
Next up was a last minute addition to our itinerary courtesy of Ms. Everett, The Devil Wears Prada (The Musical). I was already beyond ecstatic about the show, I have watched the original movie and, like any real gay person, LOVED it, but what I didn’t know was the fact that the star, icon, goddess: Vanessa Williams was playing Miranda in the production. I LOVE Ms. Williams, mostly for her part in TV show Ugly Betty, and so had the appropriate response of jumping up and down in my chair practically convulsing from excitement. Sadly, the show ended up being very sub-par. JUST KIDDING IT WAS GREAT. Although it, at times, lacked in areas like dance and character connection it was still easily my favorite show from the trip and very possibly one of my favorite shows ever. I got a tote-bag and shirt and had some time to recover from that beast of a show before our next activity. For about an hour before dinner we had time to shop on a street near where we were eating, and so me, Violet, and Ceci got in a group and I obviously immediately went for a bookstore. I ran over there, imagine one of those slow-mo running to your lover things, but was sadly surprised by the fact the store was not at all a bookstore and I might just be crazy. The rest of the shopping time I mostly just followed around Ceci and Violet, giving my much-appreciated (just don’t ask them) fashion advice.
Lastly, we had dinner. This might have been the worst dinner, I believe it was one of the few where I didn’t eat what was served and because our school group was the last in line when getting to where we were eating there were few seats left and we had to just shuffle in and sit in whatever spots were left, leaving most of us with the high schools groups. Me and my friends were an exception to this, though, as Ceci and Jayus switched with some people to sit with me and Violet. Still, though, this was one of the more low-energy moments on the trip and no one was fully there. We got home, got some much needed rest, and it was time for the next day.
Day Four
Violet’s Perspective
On day four we started doing wake up calls, really helpful for the people exhausted with jetlag, including me because on this particular day neither me or my roommate got woken up by our alarms until we were called up. By this point in the week, I still hadn’t bought any souvenirs for any of my family members. So, I was a bit relieved when most of what was planned for the day was shopping, though I was also a bit anxious that I wouldn’t be able to find anything suitable enough for at least my mom since she was the one who paid for my trip after all.
After leaving our hotel, we boarded the Tube for some exciting shopping in Portobello road located on Notting Hill. Unsurprisingly, shopping at this location was one of my favorite parts of this trip. There were so many stalls and small shops to visit, it makes sense that it’s such a popular tourist destination. We tried to go to as many shops as we could due to our limited time, but the second shop we entered, might I say, was the CUTEST shop I’d ever visited. And, being the indecisive person that I am, I ended up taking a bit more time there. It was so worth it though because I got the cutest little red bag and wallet. We also went to a couple stalls selling beautiful jewelry, though most was probably imitation jewelry (I bought a ring anyway).
Once the time that we had to shop was up and the entire group reunited, we took the Tube once again to do more shopping. This time, we went to Harrods, an enormous and LUXURIOUS retail store. In groups, we went inside with the mission of finding a bookstore, or more specifically the new Hunger Games novel, Sam’s orders. The entire time that we were there I felt very out of place, and I don’t mean that because we were a group of foreigners, but I probably couldn’t afford anything there other than, like, a book.
Next on the schedule, was a tour of the famous Windsor Castle, and to get there we of course took the Tube. Before we began the tour we took a quick break to get lunch. There were multiple little places to choose from, but my group and I chose this pho place. I ordered these delicious spring rolls and a thai tea. My friend, Ceci, was nice enough to pay for our small group which I think made the food even tastier. Moving on from the topic of lunch, I was mostly excited for the Windsor Castle tour, a bit worried that it’d turn out to be long and boring, but just the word “castle” made the bit of worry slip out of my mind. The Windsor Castle turned out to be unbelievably gorgeous, I honestly can’t even think of the words to describe how beautiful it was from both the inside and outside. We were only allowed to take pictures of the outside of the castle, but I don’t doubt that the very unique and detailed architecture from inside the castle will stay engraved in my mind for a while.
Last was dinner, and probably one of my most memorable of the week. The food, in my opinion, wasn’t anything special but I do admit it was really good. I really just enjoyed the atmosphere there and being able to laugh with my friends, even though that’s what I’ve been doing throughout most of the trip. Surprisingly, the dessert this time wasn’t vanilla ice cream and a chocolate brownie, we instead went to a nearby gelato shop. I got this coffee-flavored ice cream topped with a tiramisu macaron, and I also got another macaron, chocolate-flavored, which I was very determined to bring back home with me. Once we got back to the hotel, the night ended off with everyone packing up their suitcases in advance, and Ceci, Jayus, and I got to hang out in Sam’s room for a mere 15 ish minutes.
Sam’s Perspective
Thursday was one of my most highly anticipated days, solely for that fact it was our big shopping day. We woke up a bit later than we had the last few days, another Thursday win, and immediately took off for the tube (Imagine I said that in a posh British accent because there will never be a time I say Tube without sounding like a sad Sherlock Holmes) and after a LONG ride and a walk to go with it we arrived at the famous Portobello Road. It was a long street with a collection of cute shops on both sides. There was a mixture of actual shops that a real London citizen would go to and tourist-pandering-y shops, and we got our fair share of both. My friends got some cute purses and such but I didn’t get anything notable. Technically I did get a leaf ring, mostly just because it reminded me of Pocahontas, but I both lost it and would probably not wear it if I could.
Pretty much the whole time during this trip I was very clear with my group of six that I NEEDED to go to a bookstore and that I really wanted to make sure we had time to attend one, but sadly we didn’t make it, meaning I’d once again go without getting my Hunger Games book.
The next stop was the famously GINORMOUS store “Harrods”. I welcome you to look up Harrods up because the best I can do at describing it would be that it’s like five very fancy malls put into one store. Predictably, it takes a lot of time to truly take in Harrods. We had 15 minutes. After my disappointing loss at Portobello I had my eye on the prize, I might have not known where I was going but I was certainly going. I took my friends, Jayus, Ceci, and Violet around until I found an escalator. Ms. Gang helped us figure out which floor we needed to go to and we raced down there. Literally I IMMEDIATELY saw my book and grabbed it, and I also noticed another book I had been waiting for was right next to it. So I managed to leave Harrods right on time with not one but TWO books.
We once again boarded the bus, this time to head to the famous Windsor Castle. AGAIN, I was sitting next to Ceci but this time more near the front. I planned to read my book as the drive was around an hour but I ended up not reading much as it was a bit too loud. I also wanted to infodump on Ceci about everything I knew about THG but selfishly she declined. Evil. I was worried about the tour of Windsor Castle given the fact it was, like, three hours long and I thought I might get bored. The tour ended up being fine, though, even pretty fun. We had much less time than expected so I didn’t get super bored and I was also generally just more into it and interested than expected.
After Windsor was dinner, and it was another pretty uneventful one. When we got back to the hotel it was as early as it ever had been and we had around an hour and a half until curfew, so I decided to shoot my shot with the other accompanying teacher, and again one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Everett to see if my friends could come to my room. The rule was that if you wanted to hang out in the hotel with your friends and you aren’t all the same gender you have to stay downstairs (BOOOOO!) but I didn’t like the idea of having to be in such an open space with all these people. I ended up getting the rule amended and having Jayus, Violet, and Ceci come to my room with the door open at all times. They ended up only being there for around 15 minutes as everyone needed to pack their bags for Saturday, but it was still a nice memory.
Day Five
Violet’s Perspective
Friday was our last day in London, and I was a bit devastated, mainly because I dreaded the idea of coming back to school, but on the bright side, I’d be reunited with my mom.
The first activity of the day was a tour of the “Globe Theatre”, in summary, it’s a reconstruction of the original theatre where Shakespeare’s famous plays were performed. I think our tour might’ve started late because it felt very short and if I remember correctly, only consisted of taking a walk upstairs to the audience seating and observing the cast of Macbeth warm up. Soon after, we walked to a different building and had a workshop there with a tour guide, I think they were both a director and actor. I personally enjoyed the workshop over the tour because we learned about how to better express yourself using tone and space instead of relying on body language. Then, we went to the gift shop which had a wide selection of Shakespeare-themed souvenirs. I ended up buying a cute keychain.
Once the time for lunch neared, we headed down to Borough Market, and boy was it packed. My group (Ceci, Jayus, Sam) and I walked for a good 10-15 minutes looking for something to eat, and a place preferably with seating. My friend Jayus was the first to find something to eat, while Sam and Ceci decided they’d eat later, so then it was just indecisive me who still hadn’t found something appetizing. Until, I saw it. The place of my dreams. A matcha bar. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. I quickly walked in and dragged my friends along with me, and after looking over the menu I decided to order an earl grey matcha latte and a matcha cookie. I had no doubts that they’d both be delicious, and I was proven right when I eagerly took a taste. Conveniently, the matcha bar had a nice outside seating area, so we decided to rest there until it was time to meet back with the entire group.
Next up was another ride on the Tube, though this time our destination was Camden Market. Camden Market was similar to Portobello road in the way that they both had a great variety of clothing, accessories, jewelry and such, but Camden Market was a lot more crowded. The crowded factor definitely made me feel a bit more stressed, especially because of our limited time to shop, but I finally found souvenirs to bring back home for a few of my family members. Those souvenirs being, this beautiful and quite expensive coat for my mom, a bracelet for my brother because I had no idea what he’d want, and lastly these cute crocheted flowers for my step-mom. Although Camden Market was packed and a bit stressful, it was definitely worth it because of the souvenirs I bought for my family members and this cute little purple hat I got for myself.
After all the shopping and exploring, the time for dinner arrived. To be completely honest, this was one of my least favorite dinners because I was incredibly tired and the food was just not for me, but I did appreciate the time I spent with my friends.
The last activity scheduled for the day was watching the final musical of the week: Wicked. Like I said before, I was very tired so I wasn’t able to pay the most attention, but I’d say I enjoyed Act II more than Act I. And, similar to the other two musicals, I think Wicked also had some room for improvement. Overall, it was probably the best production out of the three performances we watched, but my least favorite simply because I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as the other two.
I was half-sleep on our way back to the hotel since it was so late, luckily the ride on the Tube went by in a flash. And, since we had packed the day before, as soon as I got back to my hotel room I changed and flopped on my bed fast asleep.
A couple of hours later we forced ourselves to wake up in order to make it to the airport on time, we were finally heading back home. I didn’t exactly get ready, just threw on a sweatshirt and pajama pants, because well it’s the airport and who wouldn’t want to dress comfortably for an 8-hour plane ride.
Sam’s Perspective
It was the last day. Finally I could escape. Just kidding, I was sad, of course, although there were the pros of leaving. Said pros include:
- My Cat
- Buffy (My Cat)
- Pepper
- Perfect Princess (My Cat)
- Seeing my Cat
Our day started with a trip to the world renowned “Globe Theater”, one of the few theaters that’s popular enough to be somewhat of a household name even in thespian-less families. If I’m totally wrong then feel free to look it up, but the run down is that it’s a super old theater that used to be known as “Shakespeare’s Workshop”. Our time at the Globe started with a “tour” that consisted of visiting one spot in the theater audience, not complaining, it’s just silly. Then we were escorted to what I can assume is a rehearsal space and we had a workshop with a director/ actor. The workshop was incredible. It was about the old Scottish play MacBeth and explored social class and how it plays a role in relationships.
After the workshop we had around an hour and a half at the famous Borough Market for lunch. I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to guess this, it was really out there, but I was once again with Ceci, Jayus, and Violet. We took a while to get our food as we hated the crowds and craziness of the Market, but we eventually settled down at a matcha shop, Violet’s orders, and rested while eating. We all chatted and had conversations, all except me because I was very passionately reading my book, and the time went by pretty quick. After the market we gathered together and traveled to maybe my favorite place in all of London.
Camden Market. Camden is this amazing, big shopping area that I’m not even sure how to describe. Not in the “it’s just that fantastic way”, I literally don’t know the word for what it was. All you really need to know is there’s a LOT of shopping. Everything about it was perfect. There were a million cool shops and places to explore, none too big, it was busy but not in a panicky, anxiety-inducing way, and it had a bunch of stuff I wanted to buy. Sadly, we only had an hour, which proved difficult to work with because of the sheer size of Camden.
Still, it was a HUGE success. I didn’t get too much, but what I did I loved. My most expensive purchase was a blue messenger bag that I absolutely adore, and with it I got three pretty crocheted flowers.
Finally, it was time for the last show, and activity, of the trip. Wicked. Honestly, it wasn’t my favorite. It was still incredible. I just wasn’t obsessed with all of it, still, though, it was a good final thing. I say that like this story ends in me dying in the airplane.
Luckily, it did not. Our final day we had a repeat of the first day’s activity, bus ride to airport, airplane , etc.
In short, the trip was amazing and had both its pros and cons. Pros of course being the shopping and general exploring as well as the matcha bar, while the few cons being not getting enough sleep and not being the most liked because we were a group of Americans. Other than that though, I’d love to go back and visit again someday.
