Alternative London

Growing up in a middle class family, I’ve never been part of exclusive events. Wasn’t invited to parties like the ones you see in Gossip Girl and didn’t get VIP treatment, when standing in the back of a massive queue, trying to get into a fancy club.

My mother didn’t have the financial means, but sure she did her best trying to give me the world - in quite a literal way. My love for travelling is something I inherited from her. It’s no surprise that we visited London and by the second time, I had already crossed out everything that was on my “London To-Do list”. So, last year, when I went there to work for a charity for nine months, I needed a new bucket list.

I spent hours pathetically googling “alternative London” or even “what to do in London”, as if there was nothing to do in a city like London. But with time, I managed to explore the city and find less mainstream places. And while they were less known than tourist magnets like Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, none of them were, what I was looking for - “secret”.

I was looking for a place to call “my place”. As a 90s kid, I grew up watching The O.C. and loved that whenever Marissa needed to get her mind clear, she always went to this one hut at the beach. She would sit for hours alone, watch the ocean and listen to the waves crash against the shore. That was “her place”.That’s where she found peace and that’s what I wanted.

It wasn’t until my very last day that I discovered a very new perspective over London. Quite randomly, I went inside One New Change shopping mall, near St. Paul’s cathedral. I saw a huge line of people, dressed up fancy and lavish, standing in front on an elevator. Very intrigued, I went to the front of the line and asked what that was all about. After receiving looks of humiliation, a bodyguard said “That’s the way to Madison Club.” Noting my look of confusion, he added “Members only, but you’re free to go to the roof terrace.” Letting me jump the queue of high society people, in my mind, I was laughing about the irony of the situation.

Looking over St. Paul’s, Westminster, and Tower Bridge simply was the best panoramic view. There was something footloose and liberating about the atmosphere. My tip is to just sit back for a while, relax, watch it become darker and I see the city light up. With a feeling of total satisfaction and content, I realized that all along, I had been I was looking so hard for a place, when it was a “feeling” I wanted. Finally, I had found “my place”.