Wheeze cough, cough sneeze then ahchoo again. I should have listened to Jack.

Since I have family in London that I haven’t seen in a while, I knew it was one of the places that I definitely had to visit while in Europe. A quick 2-hour flight landed me in the city of double-decker busses and fish and chips. My phone service only works in France  so I knew that I was going to rely heavily on Wi-Fi connection to get in contact with my family. When I finally connected to Wi-Fi, 35,000 feet above ground, my aunt sent me a message telling me to take the Gatwick Express to Victoria where my uncle will be waiting for me.

The weather was grim.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I haven’t seen my aunts, uncles and cousins in about ten years? My aunt attached a photo of my uncle to jog my memory even though he looked exactly how I remembered.

When I finally arrived in Victoria, I was surprised to see the massive amount of people in the train station. Everybody was quickly shuffling to his or her destination, squeezing by, shoving through, my “excuse-me” finally held ground and was understood.

With no Wi-Fi connectivity and in possession of only euros, no pounds, I did what I had to do. “Excuse me, may I borrow your cell phone?” I said to a station worker.  We spoke for a little bit and I got in contact with my uncle but not before getting into a friendly argument with the worker about who will be the 2014 NBA champions. He, being an overly- ambitious New York Knicks fan, declared that The Miami Heat would not win the Eastern Conference Finals this year. I had to defend the home team.

The first stop in London was to get food. When I say food, I mean fish and chips. I’ve never had it before but it was really good. This is very popular over here and I’m glad I had it.

A little bit after we ate, my uncle took me on a night tour of London. I was able to see a lot of things that I’ve only seen in textbooks and on television my whole life. It was surreal.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

A few of the pictures were blurry. Speeding through London in a 7 series, windows down, sunroof open, these were the best that I could capture. Sorry.

Being on top of the premier league at the time, the Arsenal stadium was a must-visit location as well. My uncle and I went to the stadium and walked around the entire thing. I was even able to buy a jersey at the Arsenal store. Even though the jersey cost more then my flight over to London, I had to get one.

I also met a few semi-pro skaters at the stadium who were filming a video. Ironically, only one of them supported Arsenal.

My cousin, Gabby, turned 21 while I was in London so I was able to celebrate with her and my family. I had a great weekend and I look forward to coming back again.