London is a great city of public transportation. A tourist like me could go anywhere with a map in my hand, and it felt nice (for me, at least) to walk among London people as if I were one of them.
When I was younger, my family used to travel with tourist groups and I hated it. We left the hotel, got onto the bus, drove to the first tourist hot spot, got off the bus to take photos, got back to the bus … you know the rest. I saw the places, but I won’t remember them for a long time because I was sleeping on the bus and got off the bus with my eyes half-opened.
Now when I travel to a different country, I always try to absorb the lifestyle and fashion. It’s not like I don’t want people to see me as “another tourist who’s taking random photos,” but more like I want to get a sense of what it’s like to live here, even if it’s just one percent.
What I like about this trip is that, not only do I get to visit the places I’ve only seen on calendars and screens, but I also get to be closer to everyday London folks.
I’m the one with the worst navigation skills among my family and friends, and that worried many people around me prior to the trip. Today I did have to walk a few more steps because I missed a block or exited the wrong direction. But at the end of the day, after I finished two back-to-back interviews at London School of Economics, I found myself in a crowded train, walking the same direction and wearing professional-looking attire like everyone else in the Tube station.
I felt like I was one of them.
Ya-an Chan
Copy Editor
Magazine Journalism
Photograph: Outside of London Stock Exchange Group near St. Paul’s Cathedral on Monday, March 23, 2009.
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