Central London’s Waterloo Station

London’s Waterloo Station is what MRT North Avenue or Taft Station is to Manila. But hundred times bigger, busier and more sophisticated. Waterloo serves as central station for London Underground, different trains that would take you to the suburbs and bullet trains that could whisk you out of England to Paris and Madrid in a couple of hours.

For someone who hasn’t been accustomed to first world’s sophistications, I was lost in awe and yes, partly in translation. It was a magnificent well-maintained maze structure albeit old. Hopping on and off from one station to the next was a pretty daunting task that burned my calories to zilch. I haven’t really trained my ears to the undiluted English accent and how much more speak it the way Harry Potter does. I could still hear the voice of my niece play in my head screaming “Mom-may!” or practice reading “Can I have a cup o’ tea-ay, please?” By the way, this hyper-charged kid watches Game KNB, Pangarap na Bituin and Going Bulilit over ABS-CBN Now.

This escalator leads to Jubillee Line, one of the many underground train stations.

I am really a brave girl just like what my boss told me, and pretty nervous one, too. This trip to Central London was something I really looked forward to since Day One and no one, not even my cousin’s husband, could sway me out of my decision to embark on a trip on my own. I could read, I could write and I could speak American English. As long as I have money and a credit card, I will survive in this alien city. But blood relations require bodyguards for protection. So I got it.

Underground train station at Kensington High Street

If you’re new to London, Waterloo is your life-saver and towering beacon of light. This is where all places and different faces meet, hear the languages from many worlds, and taste a variety of take-away food from M&S to McDonald’s. It is a prime location surrounded by shops, hotels and inns with similar essence to that of a Corpus Christi real estate. The entire of the English world meets there at Waterloo.