London, Round Two: Rain, weirdos, and jail showers

After possibly the coldest week of my life in Scotland, I was looking forward to heading back to sunny London.

So I was gutted to be greeted by a grey sky, constant drizzle and puddles everywhere. What happened to the beautiful sunshine we experienced three weeks ago?!

Our second round London visit revolved around recovering from Ireland and Scotland, as well as preparing to hit Europe and begin our Busabout journey.

We did laundry, caught up with new friends made along the way, went to the movies, again, went to our favourite Italian restaurant, again, and we went back to m&m world, again. We just had to.

The Three Amigos and our new Canadian friend Jay, go Penguins!

This meant we had to venture back to Leicester square in the rain. A word of advice; don’t even think about trying to get a cab home in the rain on a Saturday night from Leicester Square. Impossible!

Flats soaking wet, bean jackets on, and feet collecting frostbite, we walked the block numerous times before convincing another bike man to take us back to Russel Square for the ridiculously cheap price of £4 each (a daily tube ticket costs more than this).

Seriously, three from three these bike men are really the only way to travel around London.

Freezing, soaking wet and on the back of a bike, but still smiling!

Having loved Russel Square so much and knowing our way around the area, we found accommodation only a stone’s throw away from the tube station. Little did we know this would be perhaps the weirdest hostel we had stayed in yet.

We walked into our nine person shared mixed dorm to find triple bunk beds, a fall from which could break bones. It looked like a spaceship.

Welcome to the Millenium Falcon, bedroom wing

The other guests in and out of our room were also strange – girls who sounded like they spoke the gibberish language of the Sims, a girl demanding we fix the wifi for her, and a man who refused to share a room with females before trying to seal one of the girl’s shoes to shower in. Freaks of the week.

At least breakfast was normal, boring even

The worst part of the whole hostel were the showers. We couldn’t even find them on first attempt. Located way underground in the basement’s basement, the shower room serviced the whole of the hostel’s population, or so it seemed. 

Row upon row of shower heads, each cubicle was fenced off by a tissue thin curtain. There were boobs and bums everywhere.

Reminiscent of a public pool’s change rooms, or a jail, there were lockers and a big changing area.  My tiny microfiber towel doesn’t fit around my waist let alone cover my body. Not happening.

But the worst was yet to come.

The water temperature was 100°C, or there about. I actually think I scalded my scalp trying to wash my hair under that water. I couldn’t even use conditioner it was that hot.

Out of the showers exposed and red raw, this hostel would now be known as having the jail showers.  Get me out of here!

However by our final day in London the sun was shining, jackets were off and we sat in our local park watching squirrels and eating Pret-a-Manger, lamenting on our time in this exciting city.

You will be seeing me again, London.

Warden Nikki