The reason for my excitement is that I am in the beginning stages of planning my trip to London!!! A city I've dreamed of seeing since I was 16. I've been reading articles and taking notes on where to stay, what to do, how to stay safe, how to dress and more. I'm still planning everything out, as I stated above I am in the beginning stages of planning. I recently read an article about restaurants worth trying in and around the various boroughs of London. I'll be honest; some of them sound very good. Like, for example, there was one restaurant mentioned on Travel Lemming, which the link is provided below, called Imad's Syrian Kitchen. I've never had Syrian food before, but the woman who wrote the post raves about it. I might need to try it. She described some of the food there and it sounded very good. There are certainly no restaurants such as that around where I live. It's mostly Chinese, Indian, Mexican and fast food. If I am in London, I think I might try Indian food. I've never had it, never gotten a chance too. I feel like trying Indian food while on vacation (holiday) might heighten my memories and experience. And it's probably good. Again, I've never had a chance to try it
As a complete and random side note, I do have to say that I am happy that a lot of places in London do take cards. I will definitely have to let my bank know way ahead of time that I am going out of the country, when I'm leaving, where I'm going and when I'm returning so they know it's legitimately me and not fraudulent activity. Sorry about that. My mom worked in card fraud for 10 years at a local bank. I have heard the horror stories she experienced at work, of people not alerting their bank ahead of time and then calling in angry because she or someone else blocked their card. I am very cautious like that. If I wasn't, my mom would give me a piece of her mind to feast upon!
I'm happy to read that a lot of places do accept cards, and that the only places that typically take cash only are small businesses and some of the smaller markets. That means I won't have to bring as much cash as I thought. That's certainly comforting to know; I'd rather not run into any trouble carrying too much cash on me
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I often use my 15 minute breaks at work to read articles about going to the UK and taking notes. It relaxes me and takes my mind off of work for 15 minutes, reducing my stress. I just started reading an article yesterday about 15 foods in England that simply must be tried. They all sounded good. And it even stated where to find them. I've also been reading articles about things like etiquette on The Tube, buses and taxis, which Jack the Ripper tour to take, walking / bus tours that are worthwhile for any interest and more
I'm really excited that Formula 1 gear is considered acceptable wear there! Yay!! I have two Formula 1 jerseys, one for the Aston Martin Aramco team and another for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team because my favorite driver is Sebastian Vettel, who was on the Aston Martin team and George Russell, who is on the Mercedes team. Also, I read that it's also acceptable to wear music t-shirts. As long as there is no offensive imagery or anything offensive on it, you should be fine. If anything, I'll probably get a lot of looks for my music t-shirts, considering they would be for bands I listen to, such as Iron Maiden (have quite a few of those t-shirts), Judas Priest, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Def Leppard, Deep Purple. The only graphic print t-shirt I would wear (and I know that will mark me out as being from the US) is a black t-shirt that has two crossed Gibson Flying V's and two bony hands doing the Metal Horns gesture while saying "Yes I'm a girl and Yes I speak fluent metal". Ironically, the wording is done in the same type as Iron Maiden's logo.
And soccer (football) shirts are acceptable as long as you don't wear them in a rival team's territory (wearing Manchester United gear in Manchester City territory or the other way around. Or wearing Arsenal in Tottenham territory or the other way around). Some pubs have even posted signs saying "No football colors" because of fights breaking out. I would love to see at least one football game. Just to experience the excitement of game day, see everyone excited about the upcoming game
As for clothing for going out in the evening, I read that jeans are acceptable, along with dressy t-shirts, skirts, leather boots, etc. I have nice skirts (which, thankfully come to the knees or about an inch or two above) and leather boots. If I did go out in the evening, I wouldn't go anywhere super fancy; I'm simply not like that. I'm more of a corner pub to eat and watch whatever sport is on TV type of person. Just sitting amongst the locals and seeing what their lives are like, seeing how they go through day to day.
Of course, if I go during the summer, I will have to try and cover my tattoos. I have nine of them and am contemplating at least three more. I'll have to cover them up so as to avoid offending anyone. I am unsure how people in England would react to seeing tattoos on a young woman. So I feel it would probably be best for all intents and purposes to try and cover them up as much as possible. Luckily sweaters are acceptable all year round, which is good for me, as I have at least two sweaters, both are able to be put on and removed like jackets. I have to wear a sweater at work when I wear a short sleeved / sleeveless shirt because of the aforementioned tattoos, so I can look professional and decent at work
The bottom two links are sites that I found by complete accident and I've been taking extensive notes on. The people who write the articles on those sites seem to really know a lot about traveling. I feel like I can trust their expertise. The bottom two sites seem to have a lot of really incredible information. I've been taking extensive notes because I know for a fact that, even if I dress like the locals, they will know I am from the US the second I open my mouth. I count my blessings that I am street smart. I NEVER wear headphones when out and about in a foreign city or in a big city in general. I like keeping my wits and senses about me. I'm always vigilant about my surroundings
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