This was my first trip to Europe so I decided to see as much as I could in a week…needed to get a feel of where I would like to visit and on future trips, spend extended periods of time…I decided to fly into London…Eurostar train to Paris…Thalys train to Amsterdam…cool…nah buddy…my life is never that easy…this was the most frustrating trip ever…Not so much the cities themselves…but the transportation and unforeseen delays were overwhelming…arriving in London after a 10 hour flight from O’Hare, I was ready to get to my hotel shower and then go out and explore a little…nah…turns out that London Heathrow airport is long way from Greenwich where I will be staying…Uber is trying to charge me about $130 USD and the app says it’s a 2 hour ride in current traffic…I think to myself, this can’t be right…I ask around and they say yeah, it is about right…next option…I’m trying to cut time and cost…the train from the airport is much cheaper but understanding the system, Oh boy!…I was able to get someone to help at the ticket booth and tell me which line to get on and where to get off and get on another train…It still took an hour and a half to get close to Greenwich…lucky me…sunshine turned to pouring rain when I got off at my stop…I then called a Uber and took about 15 minute ride to Greenwich…traffic in London was devilish…finally at my hotel…I go settled…looked up delivery…I thought to myself…I’m in London…Fish n Chips…man this was the nastiest fish I can recall ever eating…I took about 2 bites and disposed of it…starving until later tonight because I’m not going out in this cold rain and I’m not Uber Eats-ing anymore food today…I’m still excited though…going to the O2 arena tonight which is about a mile down the street to see Kendrick Lamar on his Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers Tour…my first time seeing the young brother and I’m a big fan of his work…a few hours later…time to get ready…turn the shower on…iron my jean…open up the bathroom door…it was very small bathroom…I noticed that the residences here are really narrow…anyway…out…brush my teeth hop in the shower…fire alarm…what in the world…nah, not right now…I get out the shower…peep out into the hall…everyone is being told to evacuate…turns out it was a false alarm but I was in a compromising position…oh well, glass is always half full…I decide to take an uber to avoid the rain…10 minutes in traffic and I’m there…the atmosphere is static…The O2 is surrounded by bars…I go grab a couple of Tito’s and Cranberry and people watch…people of all ages, colors, sexual orientations are gathered…I see a group of what looks like college aged lads passing around a bottle of Fireball around drinking openly in the square…one regurgitates near a decorative tree…smh…not judging though…been there a couple times…after finishing my Tito’s I walk up to the venue…ask a couple of young ladies to snap a couple of pics of me before I walk in…Kendrick’s performance was everything I could have wished for…even his opening acts Baby Keem and Tanna Leone tore it down…and I was surprised to see that the crowd knew all of their music…as a licensed therapist, I’m always over-analyzing something…I couldn’t help thinking to myself while watching Mr. Duckworth (Kendrick’s government last name)…what does it feel like to travel anywhere in the world…be able to fill an arena…several nights in a row…and have a crowd respond to your every movement…your every directive…that would be a lot for me to handle…I think some relish that power…some respect that responsibility…some have a hard time managing it…Mr. Duckworth seems to try to distance himself from it as much as possible…I imagine to keep his own sanity…even this it’s a heavy weight to bear…I’m just speculating from his lyrics…I wouldn’t mind the fortune or the talent…but that level of fame…for a brother from Compton…that’s a lot to handle…I won’t psycho-analyze in this post…I’m glad I got to see the brother perform…I hope he is able to maintain his peace…
Next Day in London…Tattoo day…I go downtown first to check out the history museum…they had some really good exhibits but my reason for going was to see the Shabaka Stone…I’ll let you do your own research…HEAVY…the museum was much bigger inside than I expected and I was on time constraints per usual…I had a tattoo appointment this evening…I focus on the exhibits that I am really interested in…Egypt…Africa…middle ages…then rush to my tattoo appointment…I get to the shop which is in the Brixton area…known for its concentration of people of Afro-Caribbean descent…I meet Sammy and he says “bro your appointment is at 7p…its currently 3p…I’m rushing for nothing…I decide to go get some jerk chicken and plantains…Brixton is lively…I notice that PJ Morton is playing at a theatre tonight…well can’t make it…I stroll the streets for a while and decide to go back to Greenwich…I need to find a store to buy a new suitcase because somehow when I arrived in London and got mine off the conveyer belt the bottom was broken by the wheel so I’m literally having to carry this joker around…I end up finding a few stores similar to Marshalls and TJ Maxx…I need a big suitcase and most of these are medium size…I ended up finding a large super-ugly aqua green suitcase…this trip is not going well…time to go back for my tattoo after taking the new suitcase back to the hotel… I go to see my guy @sammy_inks…I’m still working on this sleeve…decided to go with a statue of Ptah on my inner bicep…was in the tattoo shop until midnight…Sammy’s a very popular artist…he’s done work here in the U.S. as well…born in Nigeria…he seems to enjoy doing tattoos with African themes…we hit it off well…the tattoo comes out picture perfect…I promise that I will hit him up next time I’m in London and also tell him if he’s in Chicago or Atlanta to let me know…I wrap it up…early train in the morning to Paris…
Train
https://www.eurostar.com/us-en
British Museum
Stay TripPen Travel 