London invites you in.

The city’s hustle-and-bustle, energy, and culture cannot be dampened by the presumably perpetual state of overcast they seem to be in. The streets are as crowded as ever; weather doesn’t hinder the population here. You’ll see them go about their day, restaurants with patios still open in the rain (they have awnings and they know how to use them!) for tourists and local city-goers alike.

I’ve been to London once before, during a stopover to elsewhere. I was about 12 years old and travelling with my mom, so I remember very little. But I do remember having 6 hours before our connecting flight, and so we decided to take the hop-on-hop-off through London — we almost missed our boarding time as we rushed back to the airport following our crash tour of London… but that’s a story for another time.

If you thought 6 hours in London is short, imagine my “trip” this time (if you can even call it that) — a mere 3 hours in between yet another transfer, arriving from elsewhere in Europe at London Gatwick Airport, and then continuing my journey in England from London King’s Cross.

But let me be (probably not) the first to tell you — any time spent in London is spent well.

I was travelling with my brother this time, and we arrived at London Gatwick Airport from our flight from Germany. We had pre-booked our train ticket from Gatwick to King’s Cross, so getting on the train from Gatwick was a breeze — little did we know… we had actually got on the wrong train. So we went with it, made 2 extra transfers (that we wouldn’t have had to make if we were on the train we were supposed to be on), all the while hauling our international-size travel luggage with us; eventually, we were en route to terminal station King’s Cross. The entire ordeal took about an hour and a half, and as the train neared the city, we could see generous views of the River Thames, the Shard (which is a world-class skyscraper standing at 310 metres), Tower Bridge, and other London icons. I was jumping in my seat at the views… minding my luggage, of course.

We arrived in at King’s Cross station, and upon walking out of the station, emerged into what felt to me like the epicentre of England.

I forgot how much I loved it.

I forgot how familiar yet foreign London was.

I forgot that rain or shine (but mostly rain), London is flawless.

We decided to make the most of our [now] 2 hours in London, so we boarded The Tube, which is in itself an experience — riding in a little metal container 3–4 storeys underground… nothing compared to the single-storey (and sometimes above ground) subway system in Toronto. The map of the Tube is stunning… in saying that you wouldn’t even realize (if you weren’t coming from a city with a mediocre train system *ahem*TTC) how amazing and impressive their subway network actually is.

We got off at Piccadilly Circus, escalated up what seemed like a million stairs-worth, and walked all through the streets; Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square… basically all the streets that made it onto Monopoly, UK Edition.

When we were in front of the National Gallery, just taking in the views, it began to rain. Within a second or two, an overwhelming sense of joy enveloped me, and I couldn’t help but shout, “OF COURSE IT WOULD RAIN!” It was as if an item on my non-existent London city bucket list had just been crossed off; clearly, I wanted it to rain so that I could have the fullest and truest of London experiences.

But we continued to walk (run, at this point) through the streets because we were starving and looking for something to eat… not that there wasn’t anything to eat… the streets were lined with so many restaurants and cafes. But we needed the perfect mix between a restaurant and a cafe, because it had to be nice and memorable enough to be remembered as my one and only meal in London that trip, and also quick enough (without being fast food) so we wouldn’t miss our connecting train back at King’s Cross.

We found a cool little hole-in-the-wall shawarma place near… well… I don’t know where exactly we were at this point, but shawarma seemed like a delicious and quick option for lunch. We pretty much stuffed our faces with the shawarma wraps in an effort to make our lunch stopover as quick as possible (and definitely overate in the process). We left the restaurant. It was raining even harder now, and we knew we were cutting it really, really close for our train time at this point. We ran through what we thought was a shortcut to get to Leicester Square Station, and discovered that we had entered Chinatown. Instantly, my brother declared that we would have bubble tea. Now, I’d never had bubble tea in my life, nor did I really know what it was. I imagined it was some bubbly/fizzy/sweet/creamy concoction with little, black gel beads as an added choking hazard (hey — that is exactly what tapioca pearls look like); I had no interest in trying it, but somehow my brother managed to convince me to get one of the drinks. I still clearly remember the place. It was this little street with tons of tiny storefronts and surprisingly… more than one bubble tea place. This place was called “Happy Lemon” (yes I did Google it to fact-check myself i.e. make sure I wasn’t imagining things). It barely had room to stand once we entered the store. I looked up in awe at the (what seemed like) hundreds of options on their menu. I settled for a “safe bet” — mango green tea. I couldn’t bring myself to try those “little, black gel beads as an added choking hazard,” so I opted for lychee jelly instead. And — WOW! So refreshing, sweet, delicious — and mixing my two favourite fruits couldn’t have been better.

With giant drinks (and luggage) in hand, we made it to Leicester Square Station, and then onwards to King’s Cross for our connecting cross-country train (we did make it… luggage, bubble tea, and all).

It was such an exhilarating stopover — I promised myself that next time I’m in England, I’m going to give myself 1 full day devoted to London.

Till next time,

Anu

No one will be able to tell you the exact recipe for success. Sure, you might agree that it is some combination of hard work, strategy, talent, perseverance, and grit, among other things; however, these things collectively are still not known as the “recipe for success.” That, I have not yet discovered, but when I do, I’ll be sure to share.

The secret to growth, however, is to be continuously learning. I believe in being a lifelong student; not necessarily being enrolled in formal education, as we may call it, but rather just being open to continual development of yourself in multiple facets of your life, whether it’s social, business/work, academics, spiritual, creative pursuits, etc. It’s important that we all keep in mind that we are not “there” yet, and there is a lot left to be learned between our “here” and the final “there,” wherever that may be.

I am in the third year of my real estate career (technically, it’s my second full year doing real estate full time, and first year doing it as a licensed broker — after 2 years of operating as a salesperson). I’ve been told that 87% of Realtors fail in the first 5 years, and I’m still trying to make it through my first 5 years successfully.

One thing I’ve committed to, for the benefit of myself and my business, is to continuously be learning. Whether I’m learning a new social media strategy to keep up with changing technology, or listening to the business strategy of a real estate sales coach, or employing a closing line used successfully by my mentor, it is important to keep your eyes and ears (and mind) open to continuously learning.

Today, learning doesn’t have to be a formal pursuit anymore. You don’t have to necessarily go the route of applications to post-(post-)secondary institutions and test prep. There is so much information available on YouTube, various online blogs, trade magazines, trade organizations, networking events connecting professionals to each other, continuing education courses in every industry, etc. that one can turn to in order to further educate and upgrade themselves and their skill set.

Everywhere you look, there is an opportunity to learn. And every opportunity to learn is an opportunity to grow.

Wouldn’t every person, whether or not they run a business, want to learn new things? Expand their horizons? Become more informed and “educated” (in the non-traditional sense)? Flourish and grow?