I had this… let’s say disagreement with my wife when our two kids were still attending the first classes of junior school. We had always wanted to travel as a family but my argument was that we should wait until they are old enough to understand these new places, their history, their culture, their significance. She insisted that the younger they are the better for them to embrace a culture of travelling and discovering new places. Let’s just say that the pandemic decided for us and crowned me the victor.
I still hold my ground, in their preteens and teens they not only have the mental and emotional maturity to embrace new experiences, but they also have the physical stamina to endure long trips and exhausting walkabouts from point A to point B.
So we made a plan to start our journeys by seeing the three major metropolises of the West, Paris, New York and London and then try out alternative places. One of the reasons was that it’s not impossible after high school that they may want to study in one of these cities.
So we did just that. We saved up all year round, lived on a tight budget and started with Paris, did the same thing the next year and went to New York and finally this summer we flew to London after repeating the austerity measures.
Ages ago I had lived there for a while but I hadn’t travelled to the British capital for years so I was excited to see what has changed since. Of course, we hopped on and off every major landmark and enjoyed the street markets and the West End with all its shows and so on, but also rented an Airbnb located in a suburban multiculti neighbourhood and of course travelled extensively by tube.
So here are my takeaways after all these years back in London:
Despite the cold weather – we only had one day of sunshine and wore winter clothes in the middle of July – the city felt and seemed bigger, better, more organised with new and impressive buildings with lighter colours that add glitz and glam.
New venues that we experienced such as the London Eye and the ABBA(tar) concert, both worth every penny, add to the bucket list of every family that might want to travel to London. The Camden and Borough Markets saved by the sunny day have gone a long way since I last visited them with the gourmet street food, second-hand clothes and memorabilia for silly tourists such as us.
What I always loved about London is that everywhere you go you feel the heaviness of its history, its past. Layers and layers of stories pile up from the ground beneath you right up to the top of its towers. After visiting Paris and New York (the second one being the most expensive city I have ever been to), I still can’t get over the fact that the major London museums have free entrances whereas in Cyprus you pay to see your own history (if you have a day off since everything is closed on weekends).
What I didn’t like was the fact that even though crime has fallen since I was there (and yes, I have a lot of bad stories to tell), the sense of insecurity, that something may happen to you at any time, is still there. It’s an eerie feeling that follows you around, it’s like holding your breath underwater until you get on the plane to return home.
Or is it just me?
The people are generally friendly but with a forced politeness. Even though for a few days, nobody in the building spoke to anyone else, it was as if they were deliberately avoiding each other, they only came out if you made noise. A few smiles here and there, but the people in the street appeared, well… if not pissed off, unhappy.
Or is it my loud Mediterranean point of view?
And the fact that a drunken sixty-year-old lady hit on my twelve-year-old son (with her friends laughing hysterically and shouting ‘he’s a bit young for you!’) before falling all over the place and spilling beer on my I-wash-my-hand-fifty-times-a-day daughter, reminded me that drinking for the Brits is like sunbathing for Cypriots with all the repercussions for the respective peoples. But a disgusting experience nonetheless.
So most things are on track despite the gap between living in one of the most glorious metropolises of the world and the gloom of the people that live in it.
Maybe, if there was a little bit more sunshine things would be different? Maybe.
Then again, maybe not.
Each to its own.
Either way, mind the gap.
