IndSearch ISAP Study Tour 2016 - London

As part of the second year of my Masters programme at IndSearch, we had the option of choosing a 2 credit subject, one of which included a Study Abroad Programme. Students who opted for this subject, would be travelling to a foreign country for a short period. 
After much deliberations, London was chosen as the foreign city which we were going to visit. Accordingly, the dates were finalised and the tickets were booked. The tour was planned from 30th March to 6th April 2016.
As per schedule, we departed from the law college road campus of IndSearch to go to the Mumbai international airport. The flight took off at 0155 and reached Heathrow airport at 0700.

31st March 2016

We reached London at 0700 local time. The taxis waiting for us took us to the Indian YMCA hostel at Fitzroy Square in central London.
After freshening up a bit, we left to explore London. But first, we had our lunch at a small at a street food stall which was serving amazing Italian sandwiches. After having coffee and hot chocolate at the neighbouring stall, we started to walk to the Madam Tussaud's wax museum. On our way there we stopped at the St. Marylebone Parish Church. The construction of the church was quite simple, except for decorations at the top of every column. On our way to Madam Tussauds, we dropped by the Sherlock Holmes Museum located at 221B, Bakers Street. Madam Tussauds Wax Museum is huge! It took us almost 3 hours to complete the tour. While the wax sculptures were decent, the highlight of the whole tour was the History of London cab ride and the 4D movie.

Thereafter we went to Regents Park, which was a short walk from Madam Tussauds. This park surrounds a large lake, with gardens and many paths which people can use to run, walk or cycle. That I only managed to cover about 1/4 of the park in the 45 minutes is a testament to the size of the park!




1st April 2016

Today we had an appointment to visit the Cambridge Judge Business School. We left from YMCA at 0845, and it took us around 2 hours to reach Cambridge. We were offered some refreshments and given an overview of the Cambridge university and its business programme. Later we met Janet, a sweet old lady, who led us for a walk in the historic town and introduced us to the town on a way that would not have been possible otherwise.
After completing the tour, we proceeded to Oxford, where we had a sumptuous lunch of fish & chips. Unfortunately we could not take as tour of Oxford as we were hard pressed for time, we spent a few minutes in the Bodleian Library and left for London.

2nd April 2016

Kensington Park Gardens

Big Ben & Westminster Abbey

The first thing we did was visit the Kensington park and the Buckingham palace to see the change of guard. The visit to Buckingham palace was a bit disappointing for me, due to the crowd. We did get to see a glimpse of the parade, but I felt that it disturbed the tempo of the trip, which till now was quite free of tourist traps. We then proceeded to the Trafalgar square, where we had a small lunch.

The London Eye

From there, we proceeded to see Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. From the Tower Hill station, we took the tube to the London Bridge. Some of us went to the London Bridge Experience, while the rest proceeded to the London bridge. We crossed the London bridge and took the next DLR (Dockland Light Railways) to Canary Wharf.

View from the London Eye

After taking a look around we then proceeded to Island Gardens station. Here we crossed the Thames through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and took the next ferry to Tower Hill. The ferry took around an hour to reach tower hill and offered an amazing view of the London skyline.

At the Slug & Lettuce

During this time, it started to drizzle, thanks to which there was a chill in the air. Thanks the rain, we were not able to get a great view from the London eye. Especially since I wanted to get some good clicks. By the time the London eye ride completed, it was almost 8. We had dinner at an amazing pub nearby called 'The Slug and the Lettuce' and returned to the YMCA.




3rd April 2016

Lords

Today we were going to visit the place known as the Mecca of Cricket aka the MCC cricket ground aka Lords. There are no words which can describe the ground. The feeling is simply indescribable, especially if you're a true fan of Cricket. After taking a look around the museum and the dressing room, we visited the stands which offered an amazing view of the grounds as well as the pavilion. After shopping in the Lords Shop for around half an hour or so, we proceeded to the Camden Street for a shopping spree (at least the ones who actually enjoyed it..). As the shopping continued on Oxford Street, I was ready to tear my hair out!

4th April 2016

The first half of today was spent at Wimbledon. Like most of the places here, Wimbledon was also very well maintained and had guided tours of the court area. It also had museum, where the history of tennis had been recreated in an interactive manner. The highlight of the museum was a 3D film showcasing some of the champions of Wimbledon.
Unfortunately for us the famous centre court was covered, due to which we could not get a great look at the court. After spending some time in the gift shop, we split up again as some of us wanted to shop (again!) and visit the Chelsea stadium, while the rest of us proceeded to the tower of London.
We took the guided tour there, but had to leave in the midst of it, since we had some time constraints. After some time spent shopping (yet again!), we finally returned to YMCA for dinner. We learnt that the other group had visited the Stamford Bridge Stadium.

As this was our last night here, we spent it chatting (and drinking...) till almost 5 am.

5th April 2016
We checked out of YMCA at 10 am and stowed our bags in their cloak room. We still had around 4-5 hours to kill until we had to leave for Heathrow. We split up and and some of us returned to Stamford Bridge for shopping and to see the stadium. One of us was lucky enough to be asked his opinion on Conte, and get featured in a short news video on Sky Sports.
We had lunch at a place called Angus Steak House near Convent Garden, returned to YMCA to collect our luggage and left for Heathrow.

This was my first trip abroad, and it was one of the most memorable trips I have been to.
For more pictures of my trip visit https://goo.gl/photos/QQDnqctfftcH9VnA9.