Day 1
We arrived early morning, tired and drained from the 13 hours of flying in a crammed and recycled-air plane. After an amazingly fast custom clearance, we hopped on the underground (train station, like Singapore’s MRT, but more intricate and complex) and navigated through its many stairs, tunnels and walkways, till we finally made it to our hotel (after another 15 minutes of walking from the station).

Our London hotel, Oxford Hotel, is small, but clean. The staff? Friendly. I took a much needed shower, glad to be clean of the dirt of the plane and relaxing under the hot water.

Then it was off to the half price ticket booth to see what cheaper tickets we could get for a drama, musical, etc. We ended up choosing “A Woman in Black,” a thriller, or so we thought. It ended up being a horror drama acted out by 2 men on a bare stage. And boy, they were GOOD!!! Their acting was solid, terrifying at times, so convincing that they had the audience gasping, jumping in time with them! Everyone was on the edge of our seats, and my heart was beating so heavily by the time of the intermission. Turns out this drama has been running in for 20 years. If you ever go to London, go see this play. You won’t regret it.

Day 2
Jet lag set in. I woke up at 3AM London time, 10AM Singapore time. Went back to bed after a while and woke up at 7:30AM London time.

After a very bare breakfast in the hotel (well, we get what we paid for… and we didn’t pay much for London lodging), we headed off for the half price ticket booth AGAIN. Did I mention that I have only 2 goals in London?

1. To see as many theatre productions as possible.
2. To go to the British Museum

Goal 1 is well on the way to being fulfilled.

We settled on The Mousetrap, based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Before that, we walked around Trafalgar Square, went to St. Martin’s Church and just enjoyed the sites and sounds. My mom and I went back to our hotel in the afternoon for a break, my dad and brother ventured onto to other sites.

After a good long nap, I woke up refreshed, my aching back much better. The plane journey has knocked my back out and all the walking about had aggravated it.

Then it was The MouseTrap drama. Nice set, good actors, good storyline. But the suspense wasn’t as good as the night before. Halfway through, I guessed who the killer was, and I wasn’t as captivated as I could have been. But overall, not a bad play.

And then the Debby blundering began. I had put our room key in the inner picket of my jacket… that didn’t have a zip, only a button. Well, guess what, it fell out of the pocket when I took off my jacket as the theatre. Only realized it one or two train stops away. So back my brother and I rushed to the theatre. Climbing up a super long and steep escalator, of which I nearly keeled over from the effort. The theatre was closed, no one seemed to be around. My heart dropped. I ran around the back, hoping to see someone. Someone was just leaving the stage door. I ran up and begged him to let us find out key. Thankfully, they had done a check through the seats after the show and someone had found the key! PHEW!! I came out of that incident with 2 valuable lessons.

1. Always put the key in a pocket that ZIPS close.
2. Never try and run up a steep, long escalator. I thought my heart was going to fall out of my chest!

Day 3
British Museum is HUGE!! By this time, my muscles and bones are so sore from all the walking and stairs climbing, that I had to stop every 5 minutes to sit down. And the museum doesn’t have many seats!

We only managed to look at 3 exhibitions – The Egyptian, Greek & Asian parts. I loved the Greek gallery the best. All the stuff that the British stole was bestowed upon by the nations they conquered lovingly entered. They had a pillar here, an obelisk there. Even took an entire humongous tomb and reassembled it in the museum.

In the evening, my parents went to see The Lion King, the musical, and my brother and I saw A Little Night Music, another musical. Our play was good, with the exception of a lady in front of my brother with a huge curly hairstyle that blocked his view!

Day 4
Another musical… this time, one that I’ve been waiting for since a few years back. WICKED!!! Oh, the set was beautiful. The music was great! The singers amazing! Only annoying thing? Younger theatre-goings who didn’t know theatre etiquette. Standing up in the middle of the play to go to the bathroom, standing on the corridors that blocked everyone else. So rude!!!

During the day, my brother and dad went exploring around London. My mom and I stayed back in the hotel, resting and enjoying not having to do anything. Ahhhh, this is the life!