Spending New Years in London

Let’s get back to fall 2013 in Berlin. Winter is approaching slowly, the days are getting shorter and colder and uni life is in full swing. Not fun! During this scenario, the wanderlust was growing stronger. Therefore, my boyfriend and me took out the world map and decided that it was time to travel again. Due to our study schedules, New Years appeared to be an appropriate time to travel. Destination: London, because which European city is more famous for its spectacular fireworks than London?

So many decisions!
London has so much to offer, especially for the biggest event of the year. Do we want to celebrate the new year in a bar? Or do we want to dance the night away in a club? Or maybe we could welcome the year 2014 in the streets of London among all the other firework viewers?

Truth: we wanted to experience everything mentioned above! Not an easy task, but I think we accomplished our goal quite well.

The Master Plan
Weeks before our departure to London we looked up a bunch of events and places that would fit our criteria. After spending hours on the internet, reading reviews, comparing locations and trying to keep to our budget we booked our tickets to a New Years Eve party.

We dressed up in our fancy outfits and headed to Covent Garden to the “Dirty Martini” bar. It has not only a great location in the heart of London, but is also quite stylish from the inside. The atmosphere and the crowd were absolutely outstanding and the wide range of cocktails were to die for. As the evening carried on, the bar turned quickly to a dance floor and the music was great to dance to.

We want Fireworks!
Right before midnight we followed the masses in the streets to see the fireworks that London is famous for. Well, not quite. We had to do some walking and pushing through the crowd before finally watching (half of the) fireworks. But it was all worth it! I was amazed not only by the fireworks, but also by the fascinating vibe surrounding London during this night. 

Lessons Learned
Before you start picturing your perfect New Years Eve in London, let me give you some advice on what I have experienced. Hopefully, this will help you to avoid some of our mistakes.

• The first advice is for all the high heel loving girls: take some flat shoes with you! I’ve learned the hard way, as I walked around in London on brick paving after dancing and running around to find the best spot to watch the fireworks.
• Consider and research where you can eat after midnight, if you get hungry. Everything in the center of London is closed down, restaurants included. Of course we got hungry after all the celebration earlier and we were lucky! A Mexican place was opening as we were walking by to welcome the hungry crowd.
• The next advice will avoid a lot of stress and time. Prepare yourself for the way to your hotel! After spending a lot of time finding an accessible subway station and a not overcrowded bus, we just took the first mobile object that we could find. What happened next? Well, during the next hour my boyfriend (thank you for staying calm!) really had to be patient with me . Because of mine not-so-well functioning orientation and my stubbornness, we ended up driving home the wrong way (sorry again!).

Overall, it was an amazing experience to celebrate the new year in a different city and I can encourage everyone to enjoy such a night in a different country once in their lifetime!
Have you spend your New Years Eve in a different country? Any tips?