Notting Hill Carnival in London.
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The story is very detailed since I might use the information myself if I would like to return.
I went up 5:15 and my father drove me to Gothenburg City airport 7:15. It took 35 minutes to drive in not so much traffic. We went Söderleden, Älvsborgsbron, Björlandakile and the airport turned up just after the go-kart place.
I checked in 2 hours before departure at two of the four disks. They didn't check the hand baggage.
The plane departed 10:40, 20 minutes late. They sold train tickets on the plane which I think could be cheaper compared to if you bought them at the station. I didn't hear if they also sold buss tickets.
If you bought something to eat or drink on the plane you could win a one way ticket with RyanAir.
The plane had to wait 15-20 minutes at Stansted airport before it could drive to a gate. It arrived 12:45. You had to walk some time before you arrived at baggage reclaim and arrivals. First you had to pass the passport check which was 8 long queues. Immediately behind the passport check was the baggage reclaim area for arrivals. There were 6 conveyer belts. On a monitor you could see 32 flights and which of the belts each plane used.
I bought a bus ticket at the Ticket desk. It cost 10 pounds one-way and 16 pounds both ways. I bought a return ticket on the National Express busses. One bus departed 13:20 but it was full so I had to wait 20 minutes for the next bus. You could also buy tickets onboard the bus. It departed from bus stop number 35, marked "Central London, Victoria & West End". You had to go down one floor just outside the airport to get to the bus stop.
The bus took 1 hour and 55 minutes. It would have been much faster if you took the train. I think the train might be a better choice if you go back to the airport since you then don't want to get stuck in the traffic.
The bus stopped at several places. I went to Marble Arch at Oxford Street. It took 25 minutes to walk to the hostel, "Oxford Street YHA". I checked in and had forgotten that I had already paid with credit card on Internet.
I went out at 16:30 but the clock was actually only 15:30 since there was one hour difference between Sweden and England.
Oxford Street is longer than you think with a lot of shops. They sold jeans for only 5 pounds and there were two really big, two floors, warehouses where they sold CDs and DVDs.
I went to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park and then down to Green Park and Buckingham Palace. I passed St James's Park, Trafalgar square and Piccadilly Circus on my way back home.
In the parks there were a lot of squirrels which were very tame. You could feed them from your hand.
I rested and went out in the evening again. I went on a street with a lot of gay people. I saw two men dance on a bar disk wearing only their underwear when I looked inside a window at a place I passed.
It started to rain a little so I hurried back to the hostel. On my way a pimp asked me if I wanted a girl and another girl asked me if I wanted to have sex in a room, 20 pounds for 20 minutes. Full sex and a lot of girls to choose she told me. I said of course no as always.
Outside a sex-club was a policeman standing. The police had put a sign there. They warned that it could cost 5 pounds to get in and 300 pounds to get out. The clubs didn't inform properly that if you wanted girl company it cost 225 pounds each hour. So if you said yes when a girl asked you if you wanted company at the bar or table you had to be prepared to pay a lot of money.
I went to the common room at the hostel. There was a boy reading in a sofa. A girl wrote her diary in another sofa and another boy sat in a third sofa snoring when he was sleeping. I sat down and watched the TV for a little while before I went to bed. I was very tired.
We were four men in the room. It wasn't a mixed room. Two of them went up early, around 7 o'clock I think. One of them was wearing string underwear so I suspect that they were together.
I had caught a cold. I went down to Westminster and Big Ben. It cost 7 pounds for a guided tour inside Westminster during one hour and a quarter. The tours started every quarter of an hour. I intended to take a tour 9.30 but they were fully booked until a quarter passed one. I was thinking about going inside Westminster Abbey instead which opened 9.30 but I thought that it was too expensive. You had to pay 10 pounds just to have a look. I took the metro to St Paul's Cathedral instead but it was almost as expensive. It cost 9 pounds. I had been inside a lot of cathedrals in Prague so I thought that it was OK just to see it from the outside this time. You could however look a little inside from the entrée.
Some people were digging after something on the river bank. I passed them on my way to the Tower.
I went to the Tower and Tower Bridge and after that I went up to Liverpool Street station. I found a food shop which was hard to find and bought some food for dinner. I went back to the hostel just to leave the food and went out again before the shops closed. I bought a DVD box containing 6 DVDs with commissar Columbo which I liked to see on TV when I was a child. I also bought 3 pair of jeans for 5 pounds each.
I went back to the hostel and prepared the food, spaghetti and sausages.
I rested and planned what I should do during the evening. Around 8 o'clock p.m. I went to the bar called Rumba but it was closed. It opened 9 p.m. It rained a little so I went inside Mc Donald's and took an ice-cream while I waited for the bar to open. At 9 o'clock I went out and looked over the street at bar Rumba to see if someone went inside. It looked quite empty. A man walked towards me and asked if I wanted marijuana. I said no and went to another place but they didn't dance salsa there any longer. I went instead to a third place called Soho Spice on Wardour Street 124-126. They had just started salsa lessons. I paid 9 pound and went inside. Only 4-5 couples were dancing including the teacher. I waited until the next lesson. Some more couples arrived and the lesson was very nice. After the lesson they had a merengue lesson for all people who wanted to join in. Unfortunately there wasn't any free girls so I had to sit down. Now was the whole room crowded with people. The people were really very friendly and very, very funny. I looked at the lesson and it was very funny. The girls were standing behind the men at one time and then the men should, bend down, turn around and come up between the arms of the girls. One guy got stuck between the girls breasts with his head. "Hmmm" said the teacher, "I hope you know each other". A little time later it was time for yet another partner change. The teacher said "Guys, behave yourselves". I think that many of the people knew each other but I am not sure if for instance the guy who got his head between the breasts was together with the girl. The people there were really funny and seemed to be able to make a joke of everything.
After the merengue lesson they played now and then some salsa songs but mostly disco music. The mix was really OK and the people were much, much funnier compared to younger people at ordinary discos.
At around midnight I returned to the hostel. On my way a met I girl who said "Let us go in so I can suck your cock". I think I have to cut my hair or something since I seem to attract such girls.
Two people were sleeping so I had to wait until the morning before I could pack my things.
I went up 6:30 and packed my things. I checked out when the reception opened at 7 a.m. I took the metro to the next hostel which was called Ace-hostel. I checked in but couldn't get my key until 2 p.m. They had no good place to keep your suitcases so you had to store them in the room they use for Internet were a lot of people is. The girl in the reception assured me that there hadn't been any problem with this during at least two and a half year. I locked my suitcases anyway with a wire attached to the wall and I also locked my values in a small safe deposit box which cost 1 pound.
I went to the carnival at around nine o'clock. I had been told that it should start 11 a.m. but a police man said that it started 12. I took what I thought was the best place at 10.30 and then it was just sit and wait. There were good places even as late as 12 o'clock. The weather was beautiful.
Nobody seemed to know where exactly the carnival started. Was it on Ladbroke grove, Elkstone road or Western road? I was at least told that it should go counter clockwise so I thought a good place would be at the cross Westbourne park road and Western road. If you stand on Westbourne park road and look up on Western road you have the sun behind you and it would be good for taking pictures.
The carnival was really good. A mother had written the mobile numbers on her children arms if the should get lost. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera didn't last during the whole time.
Some policemen got powder on their uniforms from the carnival group in the photo above.
A carnival group "The Mudders" were really dirty.
The carnival passed my place during 5 and a half hour. Half past six it was over where I stood.
Before I went home I ate what they called "Jerk chicken" with bread since the rice wasn't ready. It cost 5 pounds including a Coca-cola. Everybody served jerk chicken. It was strange since I have never seen it at home. I suppose there might be some rules about serving chicken at home since you have to be careful that it is well done otherwise you could get sick.
There were no dustbins so you had to through all your trash on the street. The street looked like a garbage dump.
It took 40 minutes to walk all the way home if you walked really quickly. The time in the carnival area where you had to walk really slowly among all the people wasn't included in that time. I walked down Ladbroke Grove, Holland Walk in Holland Park, Earl's court road before I turned right and went on West Cromwell road to North End road which was close to the hostel.
The hostel was very lovely. I was alone in my room. I had a shower and looked at a video in the common room. On a wall I could read that it was movie night at the hostel and the video had started already 8 p.m. so I missed the beginning. The movie was called Hostage. It was quite good but I was so tired that I almost fall asleep.
There was otherwise not so much going on at the hostel. Some people sat and talked at the bar. I was so tired so I just went to sleep.
I went up at half passed seven. I used a computer and checked my e-mails which cost 1 pound for 30 minutes. I ate my breakfast at 8 a.m. They didn't have so much. I took mostly cornflakes and milk.
I went towards the carnival at 9 a.m. It rained a little now and then between 10 and 11. A quarter passed 11 it started to be a little crowded where I stood. I cannot remember exactly when the carnival started but I think it was after one o'clock.
The carnival was very good and I was lucky since it didn't rain.
The people in the carnival joked with all the policeman and police-women.
There were an awful lot of police men but around 8 p.m. people broke through the barricades and it was chaos. I went and ate chicken and rice. When I came back the police had restored the order. I didn't see the end of the carnival since I left around 9 p.m. I was actually I little bit afraid of some of the people who was there. There seemed to be some gangs and the police arrested three or four people were close to where I was standing. The people who were arrested looked really scary. I wouldn't like to meet them on my way home in the darkness. They were not smiling and I wondered what they were doing at the carnival since they didn't seem to enjoy themselves. I suppose that they were just there to cause problems.
It took some time to get home since it was so crowded. I was however home around 10 p.m. My card for the hostel doors wasn't working. Luckily the person at the reception let me in. I was told that it is not good to keep your magnetic cards next to your mobile phone. I got a new card.
I was still alone in my room and went to sleep quite fast after a long day.
I woke up early and went up around 7.30 a.m. I packed my things and ate breakfast. I went to the station and bought a newspaper since I wanted to read about the carnival.
I walked to Holland Park and bought some post cards. I searched for stamps and it wasn't easy to find the post office. In Sweden we don't have any real post-offices anylonger. You post cards and packages in some of the ordinary food shops. It was the same in London. I had to go inside an ordinary shop where I found a small post office hidden. It is not easy to find them if you are a tourist.
I checked out and went to the metro station where I bought a ticket to Victoria station which cost 3 pounds. A buss station is located just outside the metro station but you have to go further away to another buss station. Luckily I had a map which I received when I bought the tickets to London from Stansted.
The buss station was big so I couldn't find the busses to Stansted. I saw a bus a little bit away which was at least a "National Express" buss. I decided to walk and ask if they driver could tell me where I could find the buss stop I was looking for. I then realized that all busses were "National Express" busses. I was however lucky and saw that one had a sign with Stansted. It departed 10 minutes passed one o'clock. The travel to the airport took 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Two and a half hours before departure I could read on the display that I had to check in at desk number 160 and 161. I checked in as number 5 and then I had to go to the end of a very long queue for the security check. Luckily a person who worked there told us that there are six queues and the other queues, a little bit away, are almost empty.
I was really afraid that I should run into problem with my hand baggage. It had to be less than 16x35x45 cm and mine might be bigger. I was also stopped before the security check and a woman told me that I should put my bag in a box to see if it could fit inside it. Luckily I didn't have to put it all inside. She saw that I at least managed to get most of it inside and that was OK.
They x-rayed my hand-baggage and I even had to take of my shoes so they could x-ray them to. A family was standing in front of me and they had a little child in a baby carriage. They took of the little child the tiny shoes and put them so they also passed the security check. It was touching to see it. I passed the security check without problem.
When it was time for boarding they said that families with children should go first and then people with number 1 to 90. I heard some people joke about the fact that parents with children could enter first. There were two older men with their old father. They were of course also a family, a father with his two sons.
On the plain I sat beside a younger couple who were in love. The guy wrote a lot of things on a paper like "I love U Christine". I think his name was Egil or something like that. It was nice to see how much they loved each other.
The arrival to Sweden was chaotic. They were building a bigger terminal but at that moment the terminal building was like a shed. They didn't even have a carriage band for the baggage. They instead just drove in with the bags from the airplane and then all people had to search for their baggage on the baggage wagons. It was crowded and quite dark. It was not nice to search after your bag in a crowd of maybe 200 hundred other people. What should people think about Sweden when they arrive like that?
My father fetched me at the airport and he had his new computerized road guide turned on which all the time told the way you should drive to get home. "Drive 300 meters and turn then to the right". "Drive into the roundabout and take the second road to the right." ...
The Notting Hill carnival is the biggest street party in Europe. Over 900.000 people saw the carnival during the two days.