Before I became an avid traveler, London was one the first place I visited by myself on a stopover trip way back in 2015. The main purpose of my trip to London was to visit my friend Femke, who was living there at the time, and have some adventures along the way. London is a huge city, and I was there for only about 5 days meaning that I only managed to scratch the surface.

The first thing you’ll notice about London is its size, and the fact that people drive on the left. The capital of England the United Kingdom is home to over 15 million people. When landing at Heathrow airport, you can take the Paddington Express train to reach the city. The journey is comfortable and cost-effective. The Paddington station was one of London’s first passenger railway stations during the industrial revolution, and it is still in operation today and is where passengers head to take trains to other cities in the UK. You might recognize the station from the story book Disney movie and bear statue greets arrivals at Paddington Station. From there, it was a 30 GBP ride by a Blacktop Taxi to Bethnal Green Road on the East End. The UK is geographically classified within Europe, but it has always had always used the British Pound as its currency, even before leaving the European Union.

Located between Hackney and Shoreditch, Bethnal Green Road is a street with many leather shops and warehouses. One block away is Brick Lane, which historically housed Britain’s Bangladeshi community. The few narrow blocks of brick lane are lined with sari shops and curry eateries, as well as more trendy concepts stores and cafes catering to the creative class that moved here. Throughout the centuries, East London was traditionally a working-class neighborhood that inspired classics such as Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist. The area had a reputation for housing the underclass; one that rough and full of vice that was in stark opposition to mainstream British puritan values. Today, East London has been heavily gentrified and attracts young families, artists and anyone who can afford to live in London. After all, and regardless of the neighborhood, London still has the world’s most expensive real estate.

The nearby neighborhood of Shoreditch is a prime example of the city’s transformation in the past two decades. Once a neglected warehouse district, Shoreditch has been transformed into one of London’s most hip and liveliest areas. It is a mixed residential-commercial area, with low-rise heritage buildings that have been transformed into swanky lofts and offices for tech startups. Colorful street art decorates the High-Street and there are plenty of fusion-style bistros with international cuisine.

Happy hour is a national obsession, and Shoreditch has many great bars where you will meet locals having a pint after a long day of work. In fact, you might not see any other nation enjoy a drink on weekdays as much as the British. There are plenty of pubs in Shoreditch, with some dating a few hundred years, for a quintessentially British experience. The locals are friendly and are known for this witty (and slightly cynical sense of humor). Nonetheless, they make great drinking partners. Tipping is also not part of the culture in the UK, but expect to wait for longer when ordering a beer at the bar.

Another showpiece of urban transformation is Notting Hill. Once a derelict area of council housing and crime, today is it one of London’s most exciting neighborhoods. The houses are charming and colorful, and Portobello Road’s public market is where Londoners gather on weekends to browse antiques and sample street food. Notting Hill has many great independent and specialty bookshops, hence the inspiration for the 1999 blockbuster movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Notting Hill holds an annual Carribean Carnival in August, complete with parades, music and elaborate costumes. When in London, it is impossible not to notice how multicultural the city is. It is like a little microcosm of the world, with a huge South Asian community, as well almost half the population identifying as Asian, Black or Mixed race.

London is connected by a great public transport system, with an extensive metro system known as ‘The Tube’ and the signature double-decker red buses. When sightseeing, it is important to steer clear form rush hour, as The Tube can be very crowded and overwhelming. Taking a seat upstairs on the double decker bus and roaming around the city is a great way to see its main landmarks from afar. Alternatively, you can also spot the London Eye, Big Ben and Piccadilly circus from the window of your taxi. London’s cityscape is best viewed and photographed from below, with no need to go up high towers or tourist traps to get a good shot of the city.

It is impossible to see the whole city in a week. Also, a lot of the most famous landmarks may seem disappointing and underwhelming when you finally make it there. The best way to explore London is by admiring its more obscure and hidden gems. It seems as though every corner of the city is rich with its own unique history.

In my opinion, the number one thing to do in London is visiting the British National Museum. Entrance is entirely free and it is the world’s largest museum, housing over 8 million pieces in its permanent collection. The museum documents the planet’s evolution through an exhibit of natural history, as well as every single period throughout human civilization. Beyond relics and artefacts brought in from every corner of the British Empire, the museum houses treasures from all over the world. There is a section with giant Pharaoh statues and sarcophaguses from Ancient Egypt, Roman and Hellenistic marble pieces that are perfectly intact, as well as a large section dedicated to Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations –not to mention East Asia and Africa, among others.

Some of the most renowned pieces at the British Museum include the Rosetta Stone, a statue imported from Easter Island and Egyptian mummies. Owing to the vast territory that fell under British colonialism, there is much dispute about the legality of how many of the artefacts in the museum were acquired, with many countries demanding the return of the items that make an integral part of their own nations’ history. Such examples include the Bronze Statues of the Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria.

For lovers of modern art, the nearby Tate Modern museum displays famous paintings and artworks from the 1900s onwards. As with all of London’s museum, admission to the Tate Modern is also free. Tate Modern is those with a more subjective interpretation of art, with temporary exhibitions with abstract ideas and a permanent collection of household names such as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

The West End of London is very posh. As a global center of finance, many of the world’s richest people park their wealth here. Founded in 1849, Harrods department store Harrods is the world’s most famous luxury goods and fashion store and is visited by some 15 million people annually. Harrods has since been owned by the Qatari state and is where you can occasionally sport a royal figure or a celebrity while in London. The city’s main High Street, Oxford Street, is Europe’s busiest shopping street with a wide variety of high-end boutiques, brand flagship stores and fast fashion retailers.

London’s principal entertainment district is Soho. It is where London’s hip and fashionable go for a night out on the town. Many iconic nightclubs are found here. The district was at the center of London’s Swinging 60s fashion and lifestyle that made Britain cool, youthful and popular across the world again. England produced some of the world’s most admired authors and dramatists, and the West End’s theater companies produce captivating stage plays and musicals for all ages.

While many significant changes have happened in the past decade, from Brexit to an overall decline in standards of living, London is still the center of the English-speaking world, if not the world itself. In a way, everything feels grandiose in London. After a few days, you yourself start feeling important for merely being in London – if you don’t mind the rain.

While visiting London is a culturally enriching (yet pricey) experience that takes time to discover and enjoy fully, it is not representative of England and Britain as a whole. There are many cities in England, each with their own unique flavor and The UK is comprised of four distinct nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Beyond the boundaries of London, there is a vast country to be discovered depending on how much time and budget you factor in.

London, UK Pros:

· Countless Things to See and Do

· Cosmopolitan and Multicultural

· Proximity to other Cities by train and flight

London, UK Cons:

· Can be very expensive to visit

· Distances and travel times during rush hour

· Higher than average yearly rainfall

· Can be crowded and intimidating in some areas

London City Break: Capital of the English-Speaking World