Written February 4, 2025.

I grew up slightly convinced that Europe was a fairytale.

I had never been to Europe, and neither had my parents. We never talked about Europe, really. I didn’t even talk about with my friends – they usually vacationed at the Jersey shore or Florida, anyway, not Spain or France.

Europe really seemed worlds away… like it was completely upside down from wherever I stood in the USA. I saw European cities on TV and in movies and read about it in books, but it didn’t mean anything to me. It was just a place really far away that I didn’t understand and a place I couldn’t really picture myself in.

Considering I didn’t fly on an airplane until I was 15 years old, I wasn’t too confident as a child that I would ever make it to Europe.

In fact, I was intimidated by the idea of being on a plane and going to a place so far from home. So as much as I never got the opportunity to travel abroad while I was growing up, it wasn’t like I was dying to get there. I’m not sure it even interested me.

As a kid, the one person who talked to me about travel was my Nana. Nana and I were extremely close. She lived just minutes away, and my family even lived at her house for a little while when I was really young.

Late night bed time stories at Nana & Pop’s house would often be about my Nana’s life: the crazy babysitter she had as a girl, the story of when she found out she needed glasses during the middle school play, and most notably, her adventures in London.

To me, London was Nana’s place. She had traveled all around the US and visited a few different European countries, but London stood out amongst all others. It was her niche, her favorite travel destination, and the catalyst for many of her fondest memories. She created scrapbooks of each trip she took to London where she included playbills from shows she saw on the West End, tickets to museums, and all of the photos she had developed at CVS after her return home. And something I didn’t appreciate until recently: she wrote very detailed notes about each days’ itinerary. They are extremely detailed, almost like journal entries.

I realized I wanted to go to Europe a little too late to talk about it with Nana. She died unexpectedly in February of 2020. I was 17.

I guess it was after she passed that I realized just how much I associated her with London. Her photo albums, her books, her scrapbooks, and the art in her house… it was so London centered.

The big “London” wooden sign that was once in her bedroom now sits on my desk, and the paintings of Hyde Park and Big Ben that once hung next to her bed now hang on the wall by my window.

I finally got the chance to visit Europe during September of 2022 for my semester abroad in Madrid. It was terrifying at first. This would be my first time ever seeing Europe, ever flying on a plane for more than 3 hours, and my first time ever seeing that this fairytale of a place existed.

I planned weekend trips to different European cities, and after I booked my flight to London, there was only one person I wanted to talk to about it.

Without Nana being around, London took on a whole new meaning for me. It was no longer just a place I wanted to go, it was a place I needed to see.

I traveled to London for the first time in November of 2022 with my friend Julia. It’s funny; I went on 8 weekend trips, but this one sticks out to me to so distinctly. I don’t remember the sights or the food or the people the most – I remember the joy I felt in my entire body.

Maybe it was just that particular weekend that was special. It was early November, and Julia and I were obsessed with the lights and Christmas decorations hung around the city, we laughed the whole way across the Tower Bridge in the rain, and we enjoyed a proper high tea. It was everything I could have asked for in a first trip to London. But beyond those undeniably fun memories, I know I loved the city so much because I had subconsciously been taught to admire it.

There was one thing that I had to do to complete my visit to London. I had to recreate this photo:

It was actually an idea I had come up with weeks before. I had my dad sort through Nana’s scrapbooks to find some great solo photos of her. I liked this one the best.

So when Julia and I did some research and figured out this photo was taken in Trafalgar’s Square, it was our first stop.

I feel so accomplished that I got to visit the place my Nana always loved. I am disappointed that she never knew this side of me – the adventurous, travel obsessed, independent, more grown-up version of me. But knowing that I got to be in the same place my Nana once was and had the opportunity to experience the city makes me feel a little bit closer to her. A love for London has become just one more of the many things we have in common.

But don’t just take it from me – you have to see for yourself why London is worth the visit. I have a few different itineraries here that you need to check out.

So Nana, I made it to your favorite place. Thank you for inspiring me.