Being Australian, you don’t really comprehend how infant our country is until you’re travelling through the suburbs of London. The architecture is pristine; the houses ooze character and the buildings supremacy. As we drove to our AirBNB in the heralded ‘hackney cab’ I couldn’t help to be taken back by the small, unimportant details. We arrived at our Airbnb which was situated in Soho above a cosy modern European restaurant. The stairs were creeky and aged but the apartment was humble and welcoming. I’m appreciative we live in a time with a accomodation sharing platform because not only were we greeted with a fully furnished pad, we were exposed to a collection of possessions left by the owner and other travellers. My imagination ran wild developing the story that united all these items in the apartment. Soho is a bubbling hub of bars, clubs and late night eateries with beautiful cobblestone roads. Hungry (obviously) we entered a restaurant called Mildreds, close to where we were staying. Specialising in vegetarian cuisine the latter pages of the menu didn’t stand a chance with dumplings and halloumi nestled proudly at the top. This, to the day was the best eat I had overseas. Next, the sights. It’s difficult to articulate just how grand these structures truly are. Learning of the decades spent building, the lives lost and purpose of each really smacked me around. I now understand the beauty and importance of a trade union. What was amazing to study was the message they conveyed to the rest of the world. They communicated wealth & stature as well as economical & physiological superiority. Put simply, whoever has the biggest most awesome building is the best and everyone else sucks. If London’s postmodern skyline had one fault it was the building naming committee. ‘Gherkin’? ‘Cheese grater’? chaaaamon. My favourite part Realising I have three more weeks of this and the high frequency of vintage pubs. Links Where we stayed (Airbnb) Where we ate (Mildreds) What we saw (The Original Tour) A fantastic symptom of travelling I found was being so much more aware than I am at home, in a familiar environment. I would pick up on every subtlety as my senses were ignited. If there was one thing I brought home (aside from a plethora of dirty clothes for Mum) it was a more appreciative outlook on the little things. I hope this can serve as some useful info when embarking on your own expedition overseas. A big shoutout to Kayla, Jess and Daniel for joining me in the jacuzzi. Follow me on twitter > @jakewtrs