Life is better with Friends, 

London, Kensington.

It's intrigued me how each pocket of a city carries different energies and vastly different experiences of culture and rhythm. We stayed in Kensington, or in a pocket just outside Earls Court. Morning walks indicated to me that this was predominantly a foreigners' neighbourhood, one for the traveler, the expat perhaps. I didn’t mind it though. The layers of vintage Lego houses paired with the incremental private parks nestled amongst perfectly manicured gardens were something I had not yet experienced in my London days.

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It was here I learned the true impact that company can have on the way you experience a place. Returning to London this time around, my sister was waiting for me at the train station. An immense sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have anticipated in the slightest that hearing her voice in the local timezone would be as comforting as it was. By this point in the trip, I had been away just shy of three weeks, and the attentiveness required for solo travel, coupled with socialising amongst new faces, had exhausted me silently. I hadn’t quite picked up on it until the day I departed Sheffield for London. Of course, a classic foreigner’s tale: I had caught the wrong train. And, of course, not so great, I had to cough up 50 pounds. Taking almost double the time to get into London’s King’s Cross, I couldn’t have been happier to arrive.

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It was the first time I had felt a sense of “capping off” London. The typical tourist points had been hit, bar one: Harry Potter World. I wouldn’t ever categorise myself as a “hardcore” fan by any stretch of the phrase. I would call myself simply a fan. I had watched the movies, but never read the books. Reading wasn’t a natural pastime for me, and so being immersed in film was all I had to go off. Considering that Harry Potter World was the studio where the films were shot, I could hardly contain my excitement. It was a strange sensation to feel so excited, only to arrive and be starstruck by a stretch of objects. I had experienced this feeling perhaps in museums, staring down the barrel of an old, embodied chair a famous king had once sat on. This, however, was quite different.

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It was a sister date, my sister and I, with India and Perry. A true sign of foreign travel: unique experiences with people who wouldn’t otherwise get to hang out. Our excitement was hard to contain, as one might expect. Before we had even entered the studios, we were starstruck by the food court. It was truly one of the most magical experiences of my life to date. It had been so long since I had felt like a child, and our childlike spirit was out in full force. Bouncing from corner to corner, every detail had me entirely captivated. My face hurt from smiling.

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There was something about the experience that stopped me in my tracks. It was beyond the fandom of Harry Potter. Something in my spirit was stirred, and this is where I’ll wholeheartedly say: it was something I did not see coming. It was as though there was a whisper from the future. The simple existence of being in the studios made me feel comfortable, as if it were already a familiar experience to me. As if I would know entirely how to navigate being an “actress,” without ever having indulged in the practice. It is still such a vivid feeling that it honestly stains my memories, so much so that it trumps any other recollection of the experience. I tucked the feeling away, and will perhaps wait to see if it will manifest beyond the feeling.

It was one of the best days of my life, truly.

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After the comedown from this, Justine and I spent our days moving from bakery to bakery, coffee to coffee. Morning walks through this very beautiful, yet public-park graveyard, as well as museums. The Victoria and Albert Museum being the most beautiful. We also managed to see where our Nonna had lived in London while in her 20s. It was a feeling hard to describe, as I knew those were truly her golden years.

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We packed up our bags after a short stay in London and caught our Uber en route to the airport, bound for Porto.