London Called

For the last few months I've been scanning for quick, direct flights out of Norway in hopes to do a little Spring shopping.  I moved here with a wardrobe fit for the tropics, purchased new things for Winter yet really needed some clothes that would be appropriate for a Norwegian Spring & Summer (i.e. not hot.) Shopping isn't fantastic in Stavanger and while I can certainly find what I need, it's so expensive here and doesn't seem worth it to pay a lot of money for a mediocre selection.  (There's also a 25% import tax on anything shipped in thus that was not a feasible option.)  So, I scanned for flights to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh, etc.  Flights to any of those destinations for a weekend were expensive and after continually checking back for deals, it became apparent that we just weren't going to get somewhere cheap so we bit the bullet and booked a trip to London.

London has never been high on our list of places to visit.  It's not that we didn't think it would be a good city to travel to - we just figured we'd get there eventually whether we really planned it or not.  Well, London, you exceeded my expectations.  I can't quite put my finger on it... perhaps it has to do with coming from a Commonwealth country and growing up looking at so many iconic London images or perhaps it was just entering a bustling city after months in our quiet, Norwegian town, but London won us over pretty quickly.  Also, it was pretty darn nice travelling to another English speaking country and I cannot discredit how smooth and easy everything was just because we could read the signs.

Shopping was semi-successful, as my credit card can attest to, but I didn't get everything I was looking for.  There was just too much to do and as happy as I would have been perusing the shops day-in and day-out, I'm sure Joe wouldn't have appreciated it.  Perhaps next time I'll schedule a mid-week trip by myself so I'm not dragging my husband around and can avoid the sheer craziness that is Oxford Street on a nice, dry, Spring Saturday afternoon.

The Particulars...
+We flew via Norwegian direct to Gatwick.  They offered the most reasonable flights and had great timing with a 19:40 Friday night - 21:05 Sunday night return ticket.
+From Gatwick, we hopped on the Gatwick Express which took us right to Victoria Station near Central London in about 30 minutes.  Do note, there isn't much space for luggage on that train so if you're travelling with a lot, you may want to hire a taxi.  The train departs every 15 minutes (30 minutes on Sundays) and costs £19.90 for an Anytime Single ticket although you can save £2 by pre-purchasing on the internet.
+I found us a great deal on a swanky London hotel in Covent Garden.  St Martin's Lane Hotel was in an amazing location which made it easy for us to walk to practically every sight we visited.  It's also a really hip hotel that has some super cool features that play with coloured light.  Even with the deal, it wasn't cheap but as compared to other London hotels in the centre, it was worth the extra few £'s for the location and funky room.  (The deal is valid until May 16 so if you're looking for London accommodation and don't mind splurging a bit, you can check it out here.)
+We arrived quite late Friday night and decided to eat in the hotel restaurant, Asia de Cuba.  An Asian-Cuban fusion restaurant sounds like a bizarre pairing yet it was oh-so-good.  The crab croquetas were delicious as were our main courses of pan-seared ahi tuna and Cuban BBQ'd chicken.  They also have a very extensive cocktail list (I enjoyed the Chilli-Passionfruit Caipirinha.)

And... a very happy May Day to you all.  It's one of our many public holidays in May here in Norway, celebrated as Labour Day. Unfortunately, Joe's boss didn't get the memo and scheduled a very important, not to be missed meeting for noon.

Splurges

Most people are often shocked and surprised at how expensive it is to live in Port Gentil.  I guess when one hears 'Africa' they assume it's poor and it must be cheap.  Currently, Luanda, Angola (to the South of us on the West Coast)  is ranked the most expensive city  in the world.  In 2011, Libreville was ranked 19th, the second most expensive city to live in in Africa, ahead of Paris, France and Brisbane, Australia.  Many would also argue that Port Gentil is even more expensive than Libreville because it's the petroleum capital of the country and we're sort of an island which makes shipping more difficult.

We don't do a lot of shopping here - in part because there is almost nothing to shop for - but we do have to buy food and that is typically where we notice the extreme expense.  This week I found asparagus in the grocery store and it was in good condition, ie, not soggy and rotten.  I decided to splurge and go for it as it had been months since we've had it.

And splurge I did - those 15 asparagus spears set me back $14.  At least they were good!  This week I also purchased a tiny head of iceberg lettuce (the size of my 2 fists) and when I cut in to it to wash it, it was completely rotten in the centre - $11 straight in to the garbage.

At some point down the road you learn to ignore the prices every once in awhile.  On the positive side, when we travel, it makes everything seem ridiculously cheap.

What else could you possibly need?

Did I tell you that Aldo has opened a store in Port Gentil.

Shocking, I know.

I didn't really believe it until I physically checked it out myself.  I figured it might be a fake and they'd be selling second hand shoes but it's actually an exact replica of an Aldo at home.

This is crazy because we literally don't have a single other store or restaurant from home.  Actually, the only thing recognizable is Western Union.  (And perhaps the Casino supermarket if you are from France.)

I made my inaugural purchase today.

It was fairly normal except...

1.  The sizes on the rack are bigger (38 instead of 36),
2.  The shoes are probably close to double the cost, and
3.  I actually had to ask her to ring up my purchase.  She just asked for the money without scanning anything into the computer and wasn't going to give me a receipt.

I still can't quite believe it's here - I mean we hardly have stable water and electricity!

 Either way, I'll take it.  Gives me something to do when Joe's away.