London Stopover

Part of my job, something that’s new to me, is working remotely from my manager, Mike. He lives in the UK, and obviously I’m in Kenya, so we don’t meet in-person often. We communicate through email and regular weekly Skype calls. The first time we met, right when I started working at One Acre Fund last year, was also the only time we’ve met, which is why routing through London on the way back from the US seemed like a great opportunity.

I’ve only visited London once, very briefly, when I left the airport on a 12 hours layover last year. I had time to walk around and see the more famous sights and a museum, but I was looking forward to seeing more during this longer, 2 day visit. I booked an Airbnb near Waterloo station, which ended up being a great room in an interesting little neighborhood. I met Mike for lunch after an unfortunately sleepless red-eye flight and subway journey to the apartment. Despite my visible exhaustion, we had a productive working day and a nice evening getting some typically English ales and Indian food.

The next day I had the good fortune to catch up with three different friends in London. In the morning I had coffee with Sophia, at school in London, after seeing her for the first time in a while not a week before in Boston. Mike and I spent the day together, bouncing from coffee shop to coffee shop, leaving me buzzing from caffeine overload by the end of the day. We walked and talked up and down the Thames, with Mike pointing out the sights. After parting ways, I spent some time at the Tate Modern, certainly the largest exclusively modern art museum I’ve ever been to. 

(St. Paul's and interesting London skyline from the Tate)

That evening, I caught up with Ellie and Julie, friends from Zambia now working/ at med school in London and the US. We went up The Shard, a very sharp-looking building (meant in both senses of the word) that I’d been admiring all visit. The overpriced drink was worth it for the view. Relatedly, paying in pounds without getting paid in pounds is really disheartening. We then descended to a neighboring building with a very pleasant rooftop bar and enjoyed the late summer sun. The extended sunset was perfect, drawing out a really nice evening that ended with us strolling alongside the river. Such a nice full visit and transition back from vacation!

(The Shard, inside and out)