The beauty of a new city is that every errand you have to run is an excuse for a brand new adventure! There are three “hubs” near me, all located around the tube stations: Gloucester Road, South Kensington, and High Street Kensington. The latter is where the bigger, more major stores are, such as my first two stops on Thursday:
1) Argos -”Helping You Live For Less”
Think Bed, Bath & Beyond but by catalogue. The store floor has some featured items out, but it is mainly full of counters with a catalogue, a light, pens, and order cards. You flip through, select the items you want, fill out the order card, hand it to the cashier who goes over everything with you (some of mine were out-of-stock so she helped me select others), pay, and wait for your number to be called. Once it is, you go up the counter, hand over your receipt, and pick up all of your items. In a word: magical! I basically imagined little shopping elves in the back picking out all of my stuff for me. I got towels, a hair dryer, and a hamper.
2) Tescos
In the land of UK grocery stores, Tescos is the equivalent of a Stop & Shop, contrasted by Sainsbury’s and Waitrose (a bit more upscale), and the first-ever UK Whole Foods. The main Tescos in my area is at High Street Kensington, but there are smaller Tesco Expresses closer to my flat. In the spirit of embracing British culture, I decided to rock the generic items (a nice excuse for me being as thrifty as possible…I love prices that are followed with a p for pence). I also got a Tesco Club Card! My first purchase came to £36.45…I was content with that considering I purchased bare necessities in the realms of toiletries, household items, and groceries!
I want to see how far I can go on what amount, and was also told that food here goes bad quicker (I suppose that’s the trade-off for being preservative-free…are we really that lazy, America?). No buying in bulk for me! Just what I need to get by, which is definitely made easier thanks to my central location — running around the corner for something is super easy and quick, and another reason to get out!
Walking home with all of my loot was definitely an endeavor, but also definitely better than the 100 pounds in luggage I toted a few hours before.
London Loot!
Finished up my errands on Friday, such as getting a pay & go phone (thanks to Lee, the manager at O2, for all of his nice British help!) and some other little things from Boots, the UK pharmacy of choice (what a cuter name than Duane Reade). The highlight of this run, though was THE TUBE!!!!!! First ride: Circle Line from Gloucester Road to High Street Kensington (only one stop, could’ve walked, but wanted the experience).
We ran into some slow service, but I was most extremely impressed with the design of the system. The architecture coupled with the natural light pouring in from above made waiting a few longer minutes much more bearable than the stuffy MTA stations I’m used to (plus, I’m in the honeymoon stage!). Not all are like this, but the Circle Line is partially above ground.
The Oyster Card system is great too. You don’t need to take it out to swipe, just leave it in your wallet/holder and tap it against the pad. The system is divided into 6 zones and kind of works like a turnpike, so you need to tap out as well. My program provides us with an unlimited Oyster from zones 1 & 2 (central London) and the buses; fares apply if traveling to the outer zones.
I’ve always loved city life, but this experience is bringing that to the fore!!
