8 days until Syria

Thanks to everyone who came to our leaving bash last night. As I sat in Bodean’s eating massive portions of BBQ so kindly bestowed to me in gift-card form by my lovely Travelfusion colleagues, I felt sad contemplating once again all the people I’ve cared about who’ve left London before me, and the ones who I’ll be leaving behind. Or maybe it was the whiskey induced headache. Either way, four of the last five years I’ve been going to other peoples’ leaving parties, and last night was finally mine and Jennifer’s.

London (population 7,500,000 / density 12,400/sq mile) is the first big city I’ve ever lived in for an extended amount of time. Hailing from Athens, GA (pop. 114,000 / density 850/sq mile), and having done my undergrad in Winston-Salem, NC (pop 230,000 / density 1400/sq mile), I can’t really speak from comparable experience of big city living. 

But the top impression I’ll take away is the following: you can’t live in London forever unless you have money — lots of it. And if you don’t, then you’ve got to get out before the city eats you up.