Once again, I found myself in London in spring. This time it was for a conference for wedding photographers. While the conference wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, it was wonderful to spend time in a big city again. Don’t get me wrong — I love my new life in rural Scotland, but I miss having simple access to theatres, exciting restaurants, and interesting museums.

Since London isn’t exactly around the corner — it’s even further away now than when I lived in the Netherlands — we decided to make a week of it. We took the night train on Sunday evening and arrived in London early Monday morning. I’d found a hotel within short walking distance of both the train station and the conference venue, so our first stop was to drop off our bags. When they offered us an early check-in, we gratefully accepted and took a nap. Travelling by night train may sound romantic, but we both barely slept.

That afternoon, we wandered around the neighbourhood and ended up in the West End — surprisingly, this was my first time there, despite having loved theatre and dreamed of visiting all my life. I made up for lost time by booking tickets for shows on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Wednesday’s show (Much Ado About Nothing) was planned, but Tuesday’s (Elektra) was more spontaneous — thanks to a well-placed ad on Instagram Monday night and some reasonably priced tickets still available.

To my surprise, there weren’t any interesting museum exhibitions this time of year. My husband did find one he liked about Tim Burton in the Design Museum, so we took a bus to get there. To be honest, I’m not a particular fan of Tim Burton, but I did enjoy the other parts of the museum.

While checking out the websites of the London museums, I discovered there weren’t any interesting exhibitions this time of year. However, my husband did find a Tim Burton showcase at the Design Museum, so we hopped on a bus to check it out. Even though I’m not exactly a fan of his work, I did enjoy exploring the exhibition and the rest of the museum’s collections.

On Thursday morning, my husband caught a train to the Netherlands, leaving me with a whole day to myself. I met up with two people: someone I knew through Instagram — it’s always slightly surreal meeting social media friends in person — and an old acquaintance who now lives in London. I wrapped up my day with a visit to Borough Market before boarding the night train back to Aberdeen. My heart was full from all the experiences, and I’m already looking forward to my next visit.