But you must come back to London city

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

 Samuel Johnson

My time in London ended yesterday as I had to take a flight back to Finland with a heavy mind and leave everything behind. I can't say many things what have ever felt harder than leaving London, seriously. I know I'm going to miss it all more than I want to admit. I'm going to miss the strangers who came to talk with me in the streets, the people at work who ran to hug me in the morning, the bright lights of the night in the city. Everything.

My last weeks at work were good, everyone was so nice and I ended up taking two tours as I was able to take any tour in England for free. The first tour took me to Leed's Castle, Dover, Canterbury and Greenwich, which all were totally worth visiting for. I can especially recommend seeing Leed's Castle if you are into historical places and Dover for seeing the beauty of the sea and the white cliffs. The other tour was for Warwick Castle, Stratford, Oxford and Costswolds, which I liked at least as much as the other one. I will never stop admiring how pretty the cities in England are, especially the old architecture is amazing.

I didn't have my camera with me on either of the tours because I ran out of the battery (of course) and I forgot to take my charger, but I have a few pics from earlier days:

Overall the time has passed too fast and I feel like I was there only for two weeks, not two months. I could have continued with this kinda work a lot longer, it was so interesting to meet different people from all around the world every day and take the responsibility of making their day in London a great experience. I think I will be working in tourism in the future again, because this has shown me a whole new world.

Now it's time to hope that I can cope being in Finland again, so thanks for reading and if you are wondering about going to work abroad - do it! It could be one of the best experiences you've ever had before.

- Tiia

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city

Finally I found a bit of time to write something here. The last two weeks have been rather busy, but at least I have managed to do a lot of things! It's been so great here, I probably don't even remember everything I have done anymore.

The work is going without major problems. I have gotten used to a lot bigger groups than in the beginning and the mornings in the coach station are a lot easier than a few weeks ago as I have learned the gates where to take the customers and what to answer to their questions about the tours. Sometimes the tour itself can be very joyful if the group is good and the guide knows how to handle the things. I must say that I am not a fan of history, but I have learned quite a few things about the history of London and about the attractions, which has been really interesting. And it's really nice how well I know the city already and how easy it is to tell the customers (or anyone in the streets) where they have to go when they come to ask me about the directions. I'm all around the city almost every day and it feels cozy, I really like to know these streets. The only thing I have to complain about is the coldness. It has been so freaking cold here for the past weeks that I really hope it gets warmer now because being outside in the wind and rain is just...

My friend from Finland came here a bit over a week ago and we have done something every evening, which has been so much fun. I won't make a huge report of that, but I could mention some stuff.

So we went for a traditional afternoon tea to Hilton Hotel and it was so luxurious to eat all kinds of cakes, scones and sandwiches there. We also watched two musicals, Wicked and Lord of the Dance. They both were amazing, I can't even describe how awesome shows they can put up here!

Then we walked a lot in different places and parks (where we gave nuts to the squirrels and bread for the swans, it's really confusing how close to you all the animals dared to come), went to the movies twice, had a picnic in the Green Park, took a look over the city from London Eye in the evening etc.
I don't know why is it so hard to take pictures, but somehow I haven't managed to take almost any. Though I took a few nice ones:

I think London is the prettiest in the night because the lights are so gorgeous

I can't believe that I have only 13 working days left here. I already know that I won't miss the office days, but I will totally miss some parts of the tours. Yeah, maybe not the afternoon traffic when 10 minutes ride takes about 40 minutes, but the feeling of the city all around you for the whole day and talking to the interesting people from different countries.

And I can't leave this out of my post because it describes my eating habits here so well...

Okay, at least I tried fish & chips one day and it was better than I expected :D

I guess that's all for this time, I will write again in a week or so. Now I should take a look at my thesis which is still unfinished. Obviously I have to start planning my time better because I feel like there's never enough time for everything I should do. Ugh.

- Tiia