Less than a week after I land, my roommates tell me about a huge festival they have every year, Nottinghill Carnival. It is massive because it's the last festival of summer. Nottinghill Carnival is a Caribbean festival, with loud, upbeat Caribbean music and massive amounts of jerk chicken.
We set off on the subway as paint each others faces. You can always tell when a festival is going on because people always have paint, glitter, and stickers on their face. Arriving to the station, I realize how massive this festival is going to be. Entering the train, I now know how sardines feel. Each car is filled to capacity with no air conditioning and sweat in the air. Trying to paint our faces was a feat in itself with the amount of people around us.
Matt finishing Izzy's face paint at Notting Hill Carnival.
We arrive at our stop equipped with scribbled lines on our face and beer in our backpacks. Moving through the hallways like a school of fish, we finally get a breath of fresh air, as fresh as you can expect in London, and personal space back. Walking down the street I'm amazed that every store front is covered with plywood to protect the glass. At first I was thinking it was overkill, but I soon realize why as we approach the parade. People filling the streets from sidewalk to sidewalk as far as the eye can see.
Our first mission is to find food because none of us had eaten yet. Making our way through the crowd, we try to keep all eight of us together. Looking for lanes to open in the ball pit of human beings, we finally find a street with food. I see jerk chicken everywhere and decide to give it a go, since I've never had it before. Izzy and Matt, my roommates, are vegan so they go for a corn option. Man is jerk chicken good! I had to get two sticks of it, but money well spent.
People dancing in the streets at Totting Hill Carnival.
Now it's time to see what else this festival has in store. We continue to move down the streets. Having to wait every couple hundred feet because people are getting cut off in the crowds and we're losing them. Luckily Matt is a giant and he holds his beer in the air so the others know where to find us.
We walk around for hours while buses with giant speakers and live music get the crowd moving. At this point we don't have a choice on which direction we go. We have to follow the crowd as it moves because it's so congested. As We move down the streets another group of people cut in front of me. We continue to walk in the same direction looking for Matt's cup in the air. We can't find it anywhere and after an hour we give up and start our own adventure.
We make our way through crowds of people dancing and jerk chicken food stalls. We've been out and about for nearly six hours and everybody is exhausted.
An excited performer in the Totting Hill Carnival parade.
I follow our friend, Joe, to the tube tube station. After about thirty minutes we lose each other again. Now on my own, I have to find my way home in a new city. Oh, did I mention I didn't have phone service yet? I head in a single direction to try and find a way out of the crowd. As I finally see open space, I take my phone out and hope for wifi. Out of luck I try Google maps and luckily I can still get walking directions. Not my first choice, but it's something. I continue down towards my house. After about thirty minutes I finally spot an Underground sign.
Still no idea how the subway works, I stare at the spaghetti-like map of all the trains. Spotting the stop by my house, I trace the colored lines back to where I am. Finally, I find which subway to take and make it home. Entering the door, Matt is on the bed, yelling, "he's alive!" Exhausted and feet aching I lay on my bed and instantly fall asleep. It was a great experience to kick off my British adventure!