Final Notes from My First Trip to London

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If you can't see the above video clip, click to watch Clips from London

• Thank you to my friend Mark and his flatmates for letting me stay at their place in Willesden Green for a week.
• London is expensive. I frequently found myself paying $11 for a tuna sandwich and $3 for a small coffee at Starbucks.
• The most expensive office space in the entire world is in London's West End. Rents in this area are higher than all of Manhattan and Tokyo. And the most expensive house is in London (£70 million, US$140 million).
• There were a surprising number of tube delays due to humans jumping or falling in front of the trains. I happened to walk onto the platform at Bond Street mere seconds after someone jumped. It was eerie.
• In America, we have signs that advertise property vacancies with the phrase "FOR RENT." In London, the signs for available apartments or office space say "TO LET."
• Friends, please note that "TO LET" and "TOILET" are not the same thing.
• Hardly any store except Starbucks serves filter coffee. But everyone will try to sell you an Americano instead. (An Americano is a few shots of espresso poured into a cup of hot water.)
• My favorite thing in London was experiencing Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park.
• Not surprisingly, I was able to drink the tap water all over the city without any problems.
• Common Sense Travel Note - You should never drink the tap water on moving vehicles, such as airplanes and trains. Fill your water bottle after the security check near your gate of departure.
• The cobblestone streets were sometimes hard on my thin-sole leather shoes. If you have the room in your suitcase, bring very comfortable distance walking shoes.
• Doors tended to open IN instead of OUT. For example, when enterting a building, you would PUSH the door instead of PULL it open. This would not pass fire safety code in the United States of America.
• Grocery stores were very conveniently located around the downtown London area. I have never been in a big city where there were so many grocery stores in prime retail locations.

I uploaded a few photos from London to my Flickr account. See the slideshow here.