Welcome back! Tonight, I’m going to tell you all about the <48 hours I recently spent in London.
You might be thinking, “London?! What do you mean you were in London? Didn’t you just get back from Banff?!”
It’s true… I did just get back from Canada.
Here’s how it went:
I returned home from Canada on Wednesday, August 5th. I went to work the next two days, prioritizing experiments so that I’d have some data analysis to do during my layover (how to travel as a PhD student 101). I then rushed to the airport only to arrive at my gate and find out that my flight was canceled. Again. I was given the option to rebook for a flight on Saturday night, arriving on Sunday, but what good would that do if I’m coming back on Monday?!
NOOOOO
The weekend flashed before my eyes.
Despite London being sort of a last-minute plan, I had gotten so excited!!!
Let me fill you in on how this trip came to be.
Mark had asked if I wanted to go to a music festival called Anjunadeep. It looked like an incredible opportunity, so of course I said yes. From that moment on, we brainstormed how to maximize fun with such a short amount of time.
Dinner. Run. Festival. Just like Paris!
Okay, now back to the dramatic airport scene.
I sat there, not knowing what to do. Do I go home and have a normal weekend?! UGH, but I had PLANS!
Luckily, I was able to find another flight from Detroit to London. There was a direct flight later that evening that would have gotten me in on time, but unfortunately that one was already oversold. This one had a long (4 hours) layover in Paris, so I lost some time in London, but at least I still got to go!!!!
In case you’re wondering, I spent my 4 hours analyzing data. The time flew!
The National Gallery
I arrived in London at about 2pm on Saturday. From the airport, I took the tube (Piccadilly line) to the city center. I dropped my bags off as fast as I could and off into the city I went! Mark had arrived earlier that morning, so we met up and went to the National Gallery. We walked around, admiring the artwork while simultaneously catching each other up on the past few months.
The art at the National Gallery was fascinating. The paintings were probably the most realistic I’ve ever seen! My favorite was a portrait of a man making a judgmental face. There were also a number of dark, shadowy paintings that I loved. The backgrounds were so dark that the people seemed brighter than usual, as if they were in a spotlight.
Dinner at Aqua Shard
By the time we were done wandering around the National Gallery, it was time for dinner at Aqua Shard. The restaurant is located on the 31st floor of The Shard, which is the tallest skyscraper in London. As you can imagine, the views were incredible.
The food was delicious, too! I had the beetroot salad, roasted halibut, potatoes, and a chocolate dessert. YUM.
We were lucky enough to be seated at a table near the window overlooking the river. Towards the end of our meal, the sun started to set. The light poured over the city buildings, and they glowed brightly, just like the people in those paintings at the National Gallery! It was magical.
DIY Half Marathon
On Sunday morning, Mark and I met up for another 5:30 am sunrise run. He had let me plan the route, so I made sure to include as many London tourist attractions as possible.
We started by crossing Waterloo Bridge. The sky was a beautiful, orangey-pink color and reflected off the still river water. The city was calm — only a few people wandered the streets, most of them looking like they had just come from the club.
Next, we made our way to Borough Market. During the daytime, it is filled with a bunch of food vendors. We would have gone there for lunch if I had made it to London earlier in the day on Saturday. Oh well! I guess I’ll have to go back. It looked like a cool place!
After the Borough Market, we ran across the famous London Bridge and enjoyed even more gorgeous sunrise views. As we continued along the Thames, the morning sun covered the skyline in golden light. The Shard looked especially beautiful!
Eventually, we arrived at the Tower of London. SO COOL. I mean, how can you beat seeing a castle on your morning run?!
By the way, we were only about 8k in at this point… not even halfway done!
As if we hadn’t crossed enough bridges already, we crossed another: Tower Bridge. This was my favorite of them all. As I ran down the empty path, I imagined just how crowded that same bridge must be later in the day. Waking up early to run is so rewarding!
After we crossed the bridge, guess what else we saw?!?!
MORE BRIDGES.
Seriously, I did not know there were so many bridges in London.
We kept running along the river, and I kept stopping to take photos. The reflections of the buildings in the water were absolutely stunning. If I knew how to paint, I would sit along the river and paint this:
I don’t know how to paint (yet). Good thing I have a camera.
Next, we passed the London Eye. It was way bigger than I had imagined! I think I have been in a ferris wheel once, but it was probably 1/10 of the size of this one.
Okay. Now, for one of my favorite photos ever… BIG BEN!!!! Isn’t it just soooo lovely to see it without the crowds?! There aren’t even cars on the street. Have I convinced you yet that waking up early is worth it?!
From there, we made our way towards Buckingham Palace. As you can see, the grass is extremely dry due to the heat & drought this summer. I still think it’s beautiful, though! Someone has been watering the flowers at least.
Past Buckingham Palace, there are a couple of lovely parks: The Green Park and Hyde Park. We ran through both of these, and it felt like we had been transported out of the city. By this time, there were plenty of other runners out and about. If I lived in London, I would definitely run in those parks. Hyde Park has a really nice lake (Serpentine Lake) to run around. There are a ton of ducks, geese, etc., which makes it very lively but peaceful at the same time.
We were coming up on 21.1k, but there was one more stop left to visit: Westminster Abbey.
Whew! What a great tour.
Just over 2.5 hours and 14 miles later, we had seen some of the most popular attractions in London.
Covet Garden Markets
I spent the rest of the morning exploring the Apple Market. There were lots of vendors selling souvenirs, clothes, pottery — pretty much anything you can imagine. I happened to find a onesie for my baby sister, Ruthie, who was born while I was visiting Alyssa in Canada.
In addition to the market, there were a bunch of my favorite stores in the area. Luckily for my bank account, the Hoka store was not open yet. Believe it or not, I managed not to set foot in a single store.
Well, except for a Tesco. For old times’ sake.
Back in the day (when I was living in Aberdeen for a semester), I used to go to Tesco when I needed a snack. What I REALLY needed on this day, August 9th, 2026 was Terry’s Chocolate Orange. I had been needing that for the past THREE YEARS.
I bought 6 of them. The guy at the checkout probably thought I was nuts, but that’s okay.
Don’t worry, they weren’t all for me.
Lunch at the Coal Office
Before long, it was time for lunch. Mark had made plans with one of his former coworkers, Kay, and invited me to join them. We went to a Middle Eastern restaurant called “The Coal Office”. The menu was filled with fantastic options. Everything, and I mean everything, sounded delicious to me.
There were four sections to the menu: 1. Bites 2. Let’s Start 3. Onwards 4. Upwards. Our waiter explained that the point is to share a bunch of dishes and slowly make our way down the menu. We started with some brioche and tahini, and then ordered a variety of bites ranging from cheesy rice to seafood.
Meanwhile, we shared stories about our grad school and research experiences. It was fun to hear about all the fun Mark and Kay had when working together! I also enjoyed hearing about Kay’s career and how she ended up in consulting. One of my favorite aspects of grad school has been learning about all of the different career pathways that exist and thinking about what I want to do next. I’ve attended seminars, symposia, career panels, etc., but I have to say, it is really helpful to hear about someone’s career one-on-one.
When we had finished our last dish, we took a look at the time.
FOUR O’CLOCK?!?!?!
How had it been three hours already?!
We said our goodbyes, and then Mark and I hopped on the metro towards the Old Royal Naval College.
Anjunadeep
What were we doing at the Old Royal Naval College, you ask?
MUSIC FESTIVALLLL!!!
Anjunadeep, a London-based record label, hosted its one-day festival there. The lineup was stacked with melodic & deep house artists like Eli & Fur, Romain Garcia, Ezequiel Arias, and Marsh.
We arrived during James Grant & Jody Wisternoff’s set. It was a beautiful, sunny evening. The location could not have been more perfect. The buildings were gorgeous, and the stage was set up along the riverside with the city skyline as a backdrop. It was fun to see how the atmosphere changed from day to night. The sunset was especially beautiful. As I danced to the beats, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and happiness.
I was in my own world, dancing to Eli & Fur’s set when all of a sudden, the guy in front of me turned around and asked, “Did you go to Cercle Odyssey?!”
For context, I was wearing the Cercle Odyssey cap that I had gotten in Mexico last year. I’m not usually a hat person, but I figured it could 1. keep the sun off my face and 2. be a good conversation starter.
A good conversation starter, it was 😉
We talked a little bit about Cercle and introduced ourselves. The guy talking to me was Ben, and his “bro” was Lewis. We spent the entire rest of the night dancing our hearts out together and talking when we got the chance. For a solid two hours, I genuinely thought that Lewis and Ben were either brothers or lifelong best friends. Only to find out they had also just met that night?!?!?! Ben is from the London area, and Lewis is from Manchester. And they’re both my age! And they both love to travel! Fun fact: Ben gets 46 days of vacation per year, and Lewis just quit his job to travel indefinitely.
At one point, Ben asked me where I wanted to travel next.
“Kyrgyzstan”
Usually, people respond with something along the lines of, “Huh? Where’s that?!”
He replied, “NO WAY! I was just in Kazakhstan!”
I was speechless.
But not as speechless as when he started telling everyone that I’m his “future wife”. At one point, a random dude came up to me and said, “Wow, isn’t he just SO handsome?! Look at him. WOWWWW.”
I laughed so hard. The guy had a point…
One of my favorite moments was when we were joking about me and Ben getting married the next day, and Lewis exclaimed, “ONLY IF I CAN BE THE PRIEST!”
Lewis is a kind, handsome and funny man, too, so I proposed that the three of us get married instead 😂
Meanwhile, Mark was in his own world vibing to the music and missed it all.
At the end of the show, he turned around, and I had the pleasure of introducing him to my new friends. I think he was confused.
“So this is what happens when you travel”, he said.
YEP! Exactly.
On the way out, I met a few more people thanks to Ben talking to literally everyone within a 10 ft radius. For a few minutes, I was arm-in-arm with a guy named ?Lucas? I can’t really remember why or how that happened, but I do know it was both of our first times at Anjunadeep. We agreed that it was absolutely amazing. And then he disappeared.
We kept walking, and Mr. Shroom joined our group. This guy was in a button-down t-shirt covered in mushrooms. He had lego mushroom flashlight keychains on his bag. Literally everything he owned was mushroom-themed! We showed each other pictures of our cats. Soon, it was time for us to split ways. I said goodbye to Mr. Shroom and his friend, Varumi. Shortly after that, I said goodbye to Lewis. Ben was going in the same direction, back towards central London, so he said he’d take the tube with us.
“Can’t have you getting stabbed tonight”, he said.
We had to change trains 2-3 times. During one of our transfers, we saw a couple of guys fighting. All of a sudden, I saw the one guy punch the other one square in the face. I heard the sound of bone cracking and looked over to see blood streaming down the guy’s face. He definitely broke his nose. Crazy!
At the next transfer, I said goodbye to Ben and hopped on the last train of the night.
The next morning, I met up with Mark, and we took the express train to the airport. This is a great option, by the way! In hindsight, I probably should have taken the express train instead of the tube upon arriving in London. It’s so fast and comfortable. Anyway, we debriefed the fun weekend and then said our goodbyes.
By 10 am, I had boarded my plane and headed home to Michigan. What a weekend!
JUST KIDDING. STORY’S NOT OVER YET, FOLKS.
An unexpected travel ‘adventure’
I landed in Newark at around 2 pm and spent a few hours in the United lounge. My layover was 4 hours long, but I used that time to do some work and eat free food. I had about an hour until my flight when I received a message:
Flight canceled due to severe weather.
WHAT?!
I checked the options for rebooking. My options were to leave the following night or Wednesday morning. I was freaking out. I needed to get back and do experiments! I checked the radar. Of course, the thunderstorm was only supposed to last for the one hour that my flight was supposed to take off. I checked Google Flights for other options. There was nothing at Newark, aside from a couple of flights with connections in Atlanta and Houston. I preferred to not take the chances of getting stuck further from home, so I didn’t even consider those.
I got creative and started looking at other NYC area airports. I ended up finding a JetBlue flight direct to Detroit from JFK airport, which was a 1.5 hour Uber from EWR. I had the time, so I picked up my bags and walked straight out of the airport.
“What an adventure”, I told myself, “I guess I’ll get a tour of NYC?!”
I climbed into the Uber and instantly fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of thunder and looked out the window to see the most intense lightning I’ve ever seen. It was pouring so hard that I could barely see out the windshield. My poor driver!
A quiet “what the *#$%” escaped my lips.
And then I fell back asleep.
So much for my tour of NYC!
I made it to JFK and waited for at least an hour in the security line. Meanwhile, Kirk called and helped me come up with a solid backup plan for if this flight got canceled, too.
I ate some dinner, arrived at my gate, and instantly received another message:
Flight delayed.
Okay, this little “adventure” was starting to get frustrating. I called my mom for a while and then stared off into space until 11 pm when my flight finally took off.
During boarding, I overheard one of the flight attendants say, “wow, this is the fastest we have ever boarded a plane before!”
I guess everyone was ready to get home 😂
I talked a bit with the woman sitting next to me, mostly about all of our delays and how ready we were to get back to Michigan. We refused to say anything along the lines of “yay, we’re finally leaving!” until the plane was in the air. I then spent the rest of the flight sleeping. When I woke up at 1 am, my first thought was, “HOW am I going to drive 30 minutes home right now?!”
Luckily, my sweet brother said that I could call him while I drove home, so I did just that! I’m so lucky.
That’s all for now! Until next time,
Clara