My Pen Pal

by Whitney Derman (United States of America)

Making a local connection United Kingdom

Upon completing my senior year of college, I set out to London to meet my best friend of ten years for the very first time. We had “met” through a website-building platform called Piczo when we were both twelve. Our shared interests in Harry Potter, Twilight, and later on, International Development, helped keep our friendship strong despite never having met. It was my first time taking a flight alone, and while I was a bit nervous for both the flight itself and the actual trip itself, I was overwhelmed with excitement too. What shenanigans would we get into? Would we get along as well in person? Would our friendship strengthen or fall apart by the end of the two and a half weeks we spent together? I arrived in Heathrow airport the next day, exhausted from my overnight flight. I scanned the pickup area to see if I spotted my friend and after a few minutes I saw a girl that looked just like her. I looked at her and she looked back, but did not come over to me. “Maybe she’s just a look alike,” I thought to myself. After a few minutes of thinking, I decided to go and say hi to the girl. “Hi, I'm Whitney,” I said smiling. She smiled back and said “ Oh you’re Whitney! I was expecting you to be a lot taller!” I laughed, despite knowing each other for half of our lives we didn’t even know how tall each other were! We gave each other a big hug and left the airport, ready to take on our vacation. We arrived at her house on the outskirts of London. Her neighborhood was very quaint with little houses and shops surrounding her home. I changed into an outfit I had recently bought- it was blue with flowers and came with a crop top and matching pencil skirt, and we set off on our first London adventure, afternoon- tea. In true millennial fashion, instead of opting for a more traditional tea experience, we decided to check out one of the trending themed tea spots in London. After researching the perfect tea spot, we decided on an Aladdin themed tea. The moment I walked in I knew we had chosen correctly. Despite being located in the basement of a very cute, but average looking bakery, I immediately felt as if I was inside a genie cave. The walls were specifically designed and curved to look as if we were really in a cave. Gems and ‘genie lamps’ glistened brightly throughout the room. It really did feel as if we had teleported to a whole new world and had left the little bakery behind. We were greeted by the delicious aroma of fresh baked scones and our favorite teas- as we chatted over little sandwiches, pastries, and tea, I knew coming to London had been a great idea. We spent the rest of our vacation touring various places in England, checking out different sections of London, got to experience Edinburgh, Scotland during the famous Fringe Festival, and even went to the world-famous Reading music festival. From start to finish, my time in the UK was a wonderful and memorable experience. Now, you may be wondering how I was able to have such a fun and smooth experience, especially while traveling with a friend I had only just met in person. Travelling with friends is always a difficult feat whether you just met or knew them for years. Here is the number one piece of advice I’ve learned from experience to make traveling with friends go as smoothly as possible. The golden rule when travelling with friends is to be flexible and compromise. This could mean settling for a cheaper restaurant or even grocery shopping if your friend does not have as much money as you. It could be taking the metro instead of waking places if your friend has breathing issues. It could even mean occasionally separating and doing your own thing so that both of you get to experience what you want during the trip while giving yourselves some alone time to breathe. Following this simple piece of advice will ensure a great time for all!