My first time in Europe

Without spending too long introducing myself, know that I’m a romantic in disguise, an artist and yoga teacher in Mexico City that has found herself stuck in an unstoppable false productivity loop for like… my whole life 

Growing up in a big city meant growing up with productivity anxiety of the “work hard, play hard” mindset and the idea of not deserving to travel or having vacations unless you work really hard, so hard that you don’t even have the time to do it, isn’t it ironic? 

I’ve always felt a fascinating curiosity about Europe, the culture, lifestyle, architecture, and everything that in pictures looks so different from the places I’ve been into. Especially for London.

British music has been a huge part of my life, where at home with my family I grew up listening to The Beatles, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Queen, Radiohead, The Cure, Depeche Mode and so many others that would take me too many lines to mention. 

While trying to plan something fun for the summer, many of my international friends were going to spend it in Europe, and I thought: “I guess it’s my time to go too!”. So I took my planner, and booked a one way flight to Paris.

The only plan I had was not to plan this trip, and just catch my own rhythm and some friends in the middle of the adventure.

When I told my mom she was shocked about me taking such an impulsive decision, but she was also really happy and excited for me being able to experience what my family haven’t been able to experience yet.

And here I go… a young Mexican woman traveling for the first time out of her country to Europe.

I won’t lie… landing in another country with a totally different language was overwhelming, at least at Paris airport where I couldn’t understand the signs and words to get out of it, but I did and I spent 3 beautiful weeks in Paris before the Olympic Games. It was a lovely time! Walking around at midnight, drinking wine at Seine River, drinking delicious coffee and reading Simone de Beauvoir.

I’m obsessed with books, so going to bookstores and reading authors from the places I’m visiting it’s been a huge part of this trip and I totally recommend it! It feels like living the stories at the location they were made, understating the characters and environment. It’s magical.

After those 3 weeks, I took a train to Amsterdam, what a different experience! The vibe was warm, pretty, everything felt like a fairy tale for me. Vondelpark was definitely a dream to chill out in every morning before going to the city area.

I absolutely loved the 5 days I spent there, and on my last day whilst having a boat trip around the canals I watched the most beautiful sunset and moon I’ve seen in my entire life.

Something that I found wonderful about summer in Europe is how late the sun goes down, and at 22:00 with my beautiful friends on a boat we saw the sunset on the west and a beautiful and huge warm yellow full moon on the east.

What a beautiful moment that I’ll keep in my memory forever, my eyes were the luckiest to see and appreciate the most beautiful thing. 

The next morning I was taking a flight to London City and here is where the stressful moment arrived. Some airline systems failed and the whole world had many flights cancelled as well as a lot of issues at the airports. I lost my flight and I almost don’t make it, all flights were delayed, cancelled or sold out - but luckily I got a seat for a flight 2 hours after and did the check in immediately from my phone (Travel hack).

Eventually, I made it to London, Heathrow Airport which was further from my hotel than London City airport but luckily very well connected on train and tube.I loved that!! Public transportation is so easy to use. It just speaks and guides you by itself, everything is well signed and easy to get in by just using your card or Apple Pay without even needing to buy tickets.

After checking in at my hotel, I met up with my lovely friend Rachel who took me to a couple of very beautiful bookstores, and I must say that London was just the BEST to buy books in. For some reason they’re so cheap there (which I love).

Solo travelling can be really challenging when it comes to going through the experiences by yourself, there were many times when I wished my loved ones could live the wonderful things I was living with me and some other times when I just needed a hug. 

But I realised that music, books and community have made such a difference in this trip.

Whenever I found myself tired or just feeling alone, instead of scrolling on social media while the time in these beautiful cities passes by I go for a walk with my headphones on and listen to all my favourite British bands while being in London and it was so magical.

Other times I just sit in a place where I see local people and read my books there. It’s wonderful how many parks there are in London, huge, beautiful and green. 

Why scroll on our phones at your hotel when you can just go to read at a beautiful park in London! 

Some of my favourite spots were:

Hyde Park and Brockwell Park, hanging out around Brick Lane on the weekends was also a really fun activity.

Walking by Regents canal while eating a delicious danish pastry from Jolene

And I gotta say that my only struggle was finding tiny local coffee places. I guess as in many other big cities, finding the right place for you is not always easy in some areas where there’s a lot of chain businesses.

But thanks to GoSoLocal I got wonderful personal recommendations and found these little gems in London:

• Qima Cafe 

• Project 68 

• Lift Coffee

• The Monocle Cafe 

• The Observatory Coffee 

• Café Babka 

The Tate museum was wonderful and you can visit all the museums in London for free, definitely worth it to visit them.

I also found this little record store with such a wonderful vibe, vintage clothes and books

• Sounds of the Universe 

There was nothing better than just booking that flight and spending the summer in Europe, making wonderful friends, going to beautiful places and my heart feels happy and excited to come back soon.

Karime M

GoSoLocal Beta Customer, London

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Karime, an artist, book lover, and yoga teacher, embarked on her first solo adventure by traveling across Europe from Mexico.