Everyone has that one place they crave to go to, right? That one place which fills up the walls of your room? Well, for me, that place has always been London. I can’t exactly pin point why. It might be because of the culture, the accent, the architecture or the weather. But whatever the reason, it’s my favourite.

So last summer, me and my family decided to visit Canada. Since we are travelling from India, we’ll be going via London, which means that we’ll be landing in the Heathrow Airport. We had to wait for about 3-4 hours in Heathrow before we boarded the flight to Canada. The airport was massive. It had loads of terminals and shops and there were so many people going about with their business. Naturally, being a Harry Potter fan, I first went to the Harry Potter shop and got myself a Gryffindor badge. London felt so near, yet so far.

Hours later, as we landed in Canada, cold frigid air welcomed us. Coming from a hot country like India, the dramatic climate change was unbearable. But soon, we adapted to it. We visited Kincardine, Ottawa, Quebec, Montreal and Toronto. And let me tell you, it was worth the cold. Quebec was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It was scenic, colourful and what really grabbed my attention was the French architecture. Vintage has always been my style.

After spending about a month in Canada, we started to pack our suitcases to return back to India. Obviously, we landed in Heathrow again and I yearned to venture out into London again . Little did I know that God had an adventure planned out for me right there. Three hours had already passed and we were eating in a restaurant when the most startling announcement was made. The British Airways had a massive shutdown  and all the flights were going to be delayed for a couple of hours. Can you believe that? Most of the passengers were worried and were running around in circles. But me? Nah! I was excited! My mind started wandering through topics like ‘ what if they aren’t able to solve the problem and we are let into London for a couple of days?’

I took out my sketch book and started sketching happily, stopping every 15 minutes to take a peek at the news updates. That couple of hours turned out to be six hours. As time passed, I grew tired too. But that exhaustion vanished in a jiffy when I saw a couple of officers usher passengers to the immigration queue. My face was lit. I jogged over and joined the queue. But after my excitement subsided, I realized that there were 40,000 passengers waiting. It was going to be a long wait.

I stood in front of the officer, smiling with my mouth wide open, as she stamped the 48 hour temporary visa in my passport. With each step I took towards the exit, my mind started going crazy. And as I stepped out of the airport into the fresh air of London, my joy knew no bounds.

We took the tube to get around London. It felt like I was dreaming. I couldn’t accept the fact that I was actually standing in front of the Big Ben, the Tower Bridge or the Buckingham palace. It was just like I thought. I bought some souvenirs in a couple of shops. But the biggest souvenir I can keep is the experience and the memories. It indeed was a dream come true!