Flight Centre’s good friend Karim Kanji joins us to talk about the value of Social Media and sharing experiences (including his travels with his family). Speaking of travel experiences, Karim wrote this post from his recent family vacation to London England so we asked him to give us his top 10 favourite things about London, England when on a holiday. Let’s turn this over to Karim –

I travelled to England and it’s partly thanks to the good folks at Flight Centre.

(Follow some of the links below to see some of the places I’ve visited on my trip “back home”.)

I’m a big fan of social media and am presently studying it to better understand its implications on business, the charity/non-profit world, and work. Many people use tools like Facebook and Flickr to also keep in touch with friends and family from around the world.

What do these two separate, but related, topics have in common?

Because of, in my case, Facebook, Twitter, email and YouTube, I’ve been able to “document” my life for everyone to see. And I’m not vain enough to hope that millions of people will follow me. Only those interested will – family and friends.

And as a result, I’ve also been able to keep track of the lives of my family and friends. So what do we do when we finally meet at a family wedding after years of being apart? We laugh, tell jokes, and enjoy each others’ company without having to resort to the always polite, but sometimes boring, “How are you?”, “What have you been up to?”, “My your kids have grown!”

Conversations tend to be more in depth. We don’t feel like we’ve wasted time visiting a museum , shopping or getting toys for kids. We enjoy the time while it lasts.

For example, my sister and I may see our brother once a year or maybe once every two years. However, because of the relative low cost of long-distance calls, email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and our yearly hockey playoff pool we feel like we are in constant touch. So when it’s time to say goodbye, well, it’s not really goodbye.

London, England is an amazing city to say the least.  Last summer I had a chance to catch a Blue Jays game at the old Yankee Stadium in New York City.  At the time I thought New York was THE city that never sleeps.  Boy, was I wrong!  London is right up there with New York.

Here are my 10 favourite things about London:

Size. Size is everything. London is a huge city.  If you travelled from the north end of London to the south on the M25 (the circular motor/highway that encompasses London) it would take you almost an hour and a half at a speed of 100km/hr.  Why do I like this? It means that there is more to see and experience: Neighbourhoods, shopping, restaurants, etc.

Nandos.  Is there a Nandos restaurant where you live?  Maybe there is one in the city you live in.  In London, Nandos is everywhere!  It’s as prevalent as Swiss Chalet is in Toronto. The only difference is the tender chicken, amazing variety of Peri Peri sauces and the endless supply of Coke Zero!

Charity Shops.  I understand there are Variety Village and Goodwill stores in Canada.  But really, would you brag about shopping at these places?  In London, charity shops can be found in your local trendy shopping district.  And the clothes and bargains to be found are plenty. I purchased a Zara brand suede jacket for under 4 British Pounds (that’s less than $10 CDN!).

Roundabouts.  In the city where the traffic light was invented, it is hard to believe that roundabouts still exist.  However, it keeps the traffic flowing.  Anyone from Toronto would love that!

Museums.  And not just the world renowned Natural Museum with the dinosaur bones.  There are plenty of museums and art galleries in this city.  And the museums are FREE.  That’s right, no charge.  I think Chris Anderson would like that.

Public Transit.  London is a city where one can literally travel anywhere, and I mean anywhere, by public transit.  Public transit in London includes bus, train and underground.  There are various zones and times and prices to match.  For example, one could travel all night long on the famous London buses for under 5 British pounds! Or, you could use all the different options and travel with your family for up to 24 hours for under 50 British pounds.  Not only is the pricing outstanding, but so is the coverage.  Anywhere in London is accessible to everywhere at all times.

No urban sprawl. This does not mean there are no “big” homes or green spaces.  It means that London takes its space serious and does not waste it.  For a city as huge, dense and populated as London, it’s incredible that it’s basically void of high-rises.

Cobblestone.  There is that “something” about roads and sidewalks make of rock and stone isn’t there?

Weather. London gets its fair share of rain and overcast days.  As a Torontonian, I would swap a week of sub-zero temperatures and blowing snow for a month of rain and drizzle.  It is impossible to play golf year round in Toronto.  In London? Fore!

People. What would a city be without it’s people?  I am fortunate that I could travel to London at anytime and have a place to stay.  With lots of family and friends, London easily tops my list as one of the best cities that I have ever travelled to.

London, England is highlighted on the Flight Centre travel map.

Tags: family, museums, social media, transit, travel, vacation, weather
Categories: Destinations

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Destinations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.