London

I finally arrived in London around 10am local time from an overnight Boston flight. It was my second time in London, but this time I arrived alone. I spent my first day walking through St. James Park, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, and finally to Camden where I found a meetup group having a Bible study at a café. Unfortunately, no one was there. I couldn’t secure accommodation this first night so I settled in Kings Cross Station to sleep. Fun Fact: this station is where Harry Potter boarded platform 9¾! The next day, I found an awesome jacket after looking through five charity shops, fixed issues with my credit card, walked through Soho and China Town, and crashed a college party at UCL meant for Chemical Engineers. I made some friends and ate some delicious BBQ. I found another Bible study on meetup, but AGAIN, no one was there. This was a bit discouraging as it would’ve been amazing to enjoy some fellowship.

TJ (my best friend of 23 years) came to London Saturday morning. Mateo (friend from UF), TJ, and I walked a record 17.5 miles that day sightseeing. We met at Waterloo Station and walked past the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Canadian memorial, the British Museum (saw Cleopatra and the Rosetta Stone), the M&M and Nickelodeon stores, Borough Market (ate an incredible pastry), St. Paul’s cathedral, and we explored the City of London (everything was closed past 5pm), Tower of London (an epic castle in the city center), and the Tower Bridge (TJ was appalled that the London Bridge is incredibly basic compared to the Tower Bridge). Sunday morning, TJ and I woke up around 6:30am to find a traditional English breakfast. No one told us that nothing is open Sunday mornings in London, but we found an excellent spot later. We also hammocked in Lincoln Inn Fields and attended Hillsong London church meeting at 3pm. Our experience ended with a take-away fish ‘n’ chips as we left on a flight to Glasgow. Overall, I must say that London was a bit challenging for me. I walked about 15 miles a day, slept in different places each night, and broke my budget.

Duration

4 days

Accommodation

Train station (1 night), Royal Holloway University (1 night), Wombats Hostel Lobby (1 night)

Favorite Food

Lamb kebab

Favorite Site

Oxford Street

Cool Person I Met

Bob and Joe. Bob and Joe are from Poland and were traveling Europe for their summer vacation (aka holiday). We played a few friendly rounds of ping pong at Wombats and had a nice chat about travel and London specifically. It amazes me how many college-aged people I’ve met on a mission to travel Europe.

Highlight

I love watching street performers. In London, most of them congregated at Piccadilly Circus where I saw a dance crew, a beatboxer, floating Yodas, people dressed as statues, and a magician.

Big Takeaway

I’ve walked past hundreds of homeless people across the world, (Gainesville, New York, Capetown, London, etc.) and every time I feel an emotion. Oftentimes, the emotion is sadness, but other times I’m confused or have slight anger. You probably know the feelings. Unfortunately, not every homeless person uses donations for food or shelter and there are some con-artists out there. Although, obviously there are legitimately needy people who don’t spend their money on beer and are genuinely wanting to work. We can’t always tell right away who’s “worthy” of donation and who isn’t. I’ve wondered if we should give anyway regardless of the outcome. After all, Jesus had some radical things to say about giving: (Luke 6:30 & Matthew 5:42).

I’d like to share my perspective on giving to homeless people and share a practical solution anyone could use. Earlier in my Christian walk, I’d always give a homeless person money or some food and leave quickly because it made me feel better. As I’ve matured a bit, I’d still give money but I’d make sure it was attached to some “God bless you” or other way that acknowledges God. For example, when I was last in New York City, I gave McDonalds to a 30-year-old homeless guy. We had a very positive conversation. He really needed someone to talk to. I wasn’t preachy at all- we just had a normal, loving conversation. I prayed for him and we went on with our days. He teared up and it was powerful… I understand not every giving situation occurs this way, but it does happen!

Since I started traveling in June, I haven’t been as generous with the homeless. This is partly because I didn’t feel compelled to give and I am in a place of uncertainty about where my money will be spent. Also, I may have been a little more stringent because of my tight six-month travel budget around the world. Anyways, something awesome happened in London. I bought six small pears and four bananas for £2. I did this with the intent of having snacks for the next three days. Only 10 minutes after purchasing the fruit, I walked past a homeless person, but stopped abruptly 20 yards past him. Ureka! “Why don’t I give him some fruit?” I thought. It’s not much at all, but it’s at least something small that he could appreciate. I had one small moment of greedy thinking like “these are my fruit and I’m on a tight budget”, but I rebuked that thought and asked God to give me an open and generous heart. I walked another five minutes and sure enough, BAM! Another homeless person. So, I gave him some fruit. Following this, I had a few fruits left that I kept for eating. My point here is two-fold: First, if you don’t trust how homeless people spend money, spend £2 and give them fruit (or something). Second, it’s okay to be wise in giving. If I gave money or food to every homeless person that asked, I’d probably be living on the streets halfway through my four months through Europe and Asia. It’s okay that I kept fruit for my own sustenance. There are extremists on both sides of this homeless person “dilemma”. I just want myself and other people to look for ways to be generous, reasonable, and to ask God’s spirit to lead you in every decision.

Your Turn

What is your opinion on giving homeless people money?

Have you thought about traveling Europe? Where do you want to go?