London

London, England: July 3rd - 10th 

London was truly a dream - after we got past our slight hiccup of course. Upon arrival we were greeted by an unclean, bug filled, no hot water airbnb. To our surprise, none of the pictures or descriptions online were even close to the actual representation of the airbnb. So of course we cancelled our reservation and started our hunt for a new place to stay. A piece of advice... NEVER go to London of all places without a place to stay. Well you see the problem was not in finding a place to stay it was finding a place in the correct area , for the correct price, for more than one night. However, a positive outcome sprouted from this unfortunate event, we got to explore four completely different areas of The City Of London that we surely would have never gone to! It was actually kind of nice to experience all the different types of accommodations and deals offered in the city. Our other hiccup was that I (naturally) was the recipient of some type of food poisoning that tortured me for nearly four days. So the constantly moving - in the heat - with sometimes no AC was definitely an experience for the books but, we made it!Plus it is always a bonus that London has free health care! 

 The first impression of The City of London was that being quite similar to NYC. The feeling, the air and people were all very similar- it was a change of pace from calm Iceland for sure. We explored the famous Westminster area that is home to beautiful museums , churches , parks , theaters, and eateries. Some of the most noteworthy places we explored were The Wallace Collect, which is a previous home of the Wallace Family, full of ancient paintings and antiques that the family collected through generations. The displays were simply breath taking. We experienced all different types of cuisine and atmospheres depending on what are of London that we were in! My favorite area was the center of London near the theater district, there was so much life and experiences around. Everywhere you walked there were street performers of all kinds... artists, singers, dancers... everything you could imagine! 

The Wallace Collection 

Westminster - Theater 

We saw WICKED performed live!! 

Buckingham Palace 

My favorite part of London was how no matter where you were walking or going you seemed to "stumble" upon something magical. The history and preservation within London are simply extraordinary, I often find myself at a loss of words when I try to describe my experience here. Of course being sick did put a damper on my exploring but I still was able to see so so much. The first day we arrived we walked probably 3 or 4 miles but it never felt like it because at every corner there was something new and exciting to see and learn about. I also loved hearing everyones accents and different languages being spoken, I find it so fascinating to see how different we all are but yet at the same time how similar. I had many eye opening experience throughout my trip but I think finding the commonality among all of the people I met and seeing how we connect was among one of the most memorable. 

One thing that really stuck out to me was how dirty the streets were. There were garbage cans everywhere (but no recycling) and yet there was trash everywhere you stepped. I also witnessed a lot of individuals pick bottles and cans out of the trash and collecting them to exchange for money. I suppose this is a good thing because at least there is a better chance of the bottles and cans getting recycled that way. The picking of the garbage also has a lot to do with the amount of homeless people in the city... it was comparable to NYC about 8 years ago. On every corner there is a homeless person begging for money, it truly is so sad.

This is one of the only recycling containers I saw
while in London and it was in a very high-end mall. 

London and the UK in general have been making efforts to move toward a more green way of life. However, like many other countries there is a large issue with availability of recycling plants as well as education on what it means to recycle and simply how to recycle correctly. As I mentioned before, even as tourist, there was so easy way for me to recycle.. streets and city corners did not provide recycling options along with general waste and many people just threw their rubbish on the ground. However, I did notice that as we went outside of the main city center there were more opportunities to recycle especially in the last area we stayed in called Market Place. Market Place is very up and coming and "trendy" so it is full of organic food markets , restaurants , yoga studios and so much more. This was the first and last place of our accommodations that had recycling and emphasized it. 

As I was researching I came across a "behind the scenes" video of a recycling plant in London. The article talks about how the workers have to sort through all of this waste on a conveyer belt that is moving so fast you can barely see. They then have to pick out any general waste or plastic, this results in them picking out 50 -60 pieces of garbage per minute. The concern here is that these plants are not sorting through the recycling to the best of their ability and this could cause serious repercussions down the line. As well as the people deserve to know that all of the time and effort they spent putting into recycling was well worth it and that their items are actually getting recycled. This is an issue the UK has yet to address. 

As you can see, there are many people who are very passionate a
bout recycling and taking care of our Earth! Let's hope everyone else gets on board and fast!!!