Half way there...

Tower Bridge London

The flight was just overnight but the journey actually started in January 2012.  That is when I made my first application to the GSK Global Pulse program in about 3000 words of answers to essay questions.  But on June 11  I finally had passed all the gates, the only one left was the one at the airport and that plane headed to London.

I headed over a little early so I could meet some of the people running the program who I had been working with at a distance.  The program itself is the invention of our CEO Andrew Witty, who took office about 4 years ago and wanted to give a genuine opportunity to the people in GSK to go to the most needy places in the world.  Give people six months to make a real and lasting contribution, to actually help people in a significant way.  The Gift of Time.

Since I wasn't on an expense account I stayed in a youth hostel in London.  If you want to only spend 25 pounds a night this is a great way to do it.  Of course, you need to share your room with 6 other guys, but they are all interesting people mostly travelling the world.  Everyone has a great story to tell and you can just hang out in common rooms chatting at any hour.  So I recommend YHA Earls Court - right downtown, close to a Tube stop, clean and friendly.

Yeomen Warder

Being the born tourist I had to go to the Tower of London.   This is not as much a tower as a old fort that has been built onto and expanded over the centuries.  I joined in a tour given by one of the Yeomen Warders and was colorful, heavy in history, and pretty gory.  Politics was a full contact sport in the old days and this was the spot where they kept the penalty box.  

Inside the buildings they keep Crowns, Jewels, Swords, Armour, Torture Gear,  and all kinds of Cannons.  But what can compare to a dragon made of out of shields, helmets, and other odd bits?  This was way cool.

London has been around quite a while and it's a mix of new and old.  Right across the Thames from the Tower looks like a set from a Star Trek movie.   


A very interesting and fun city.


Next stop:  Nairobi!