London

I'm finishing my holiday in London because ... it's London. My favourite city. I'm not sure what I'm going to do here. I'm feeling quite exhausted from my adventures, so I might just take advantage of the luxury of my final hotel and just relax.

Speaking of which, when I was looking for London accommodation I had two considerations. Firstly, most of the other accommodation I had secured for the holiday had come in under budget which meant I could spend extra in London. Secondly, all of my previous stays in London have been in relatively modest apartments or hotels with little or no view and very little space. I thought it was time to stay somewhere nicer. When the Shangi-La at The Shard first popped up on Booking.com I giggled to myself and whispered "as if". But then the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't resist the temptation. The appeal was less about the luxury of the hotel and all about the views. I selected a mid price room which would give me a view to the east, missing the major landmarks but still spectacular. To my delight, when I checked in last night they had upgraded me to a north facing room with the perfect view from the Houses of Parliament on the left to St Paul's on the right and the Thames slap bang in the middle. Could not ask for a better view.

I got to the hotel about 9:30pm after catching a taxi from London Kings Cross station. The check-in process was easy and I was personally escorted to my room on the 40th floor. The room is even larger than I had expected. The bathroom alone is nearly bigger than the entire room in the final hotel of my last holiday here! And there are lots of nice touches, like a set of binoculars to check out the sights, a Nespresso machine for the early morning coffee, electronic blinds that do a magnificent job of blocking out the early morning sun (it was light at 4:30am this morning), and even a TV built into the mirror in the bathroom.  

But the main attraction is the view. I could just sit an gaze out the window all day and night. The photos just don't give you the full floor to ceiling panoramic effect of the view.