hey there, london!
EDITOR’S NOTE: i have been home for over a week now, and have been busy and lazy in equal measure! apologies for the delay.
the last weekend of my trip was spent at EGX 2019. if you’ve kept up with my last two journeys, you know what you’re getting into here. this will be your final warning: prepare for video games.
i arrived back into london by train from manchester airport, which was absolutely not the most direct (or probably cost effective) way about it, but frankly i don’t know if i could tolerate much more time on a plane. if you’re interested (and i’m sure you’re not), i’ve kept a riveting transit tally for the past three weeks. in total, i have been via:
spokane, denver, heathrow, stansted, corfu, manchester, and dublin airports (twice each; 14 airport visits in total)
london liverpool street, london euston, manchester piccadilly, and liverpool lime street national rail stations (return, not counting designated airport stations or tube/DART lines)
and that makes me officially done with planes for a while. still down for a train or six.
anyways, yes–i made it into london around 5 p.m. and immediately felt at home once more. my airbnb was in hoxton this time, a quick jaunt north of the city of london itself and not far at all from my old stomping grounds in shoreditch and whitechapel. it felt so good to be back that it’s hard to put to words. even as i see more and more of the world, london still tops my ‘favourite places’ list.
i got out for a wander about before a quick dinner and bed. i always love seeing how the places i know overlap with the ones that i don’t; even in a city as large as london, it remains quite easy to orient yourself. fortunately, it was just a light walk–after all, the next three days were going to be pretty full on.
EGX seemed even larger this year than it did last year in birmingham. housed in the excel centre, it had all of the little indie darlings and events that rezzed did in april, with some pretty big names in aaa gaming added on top; highly anticipated games like call of duty: modern warfare, final fantasy vii remake, cyberpunk 2077, and borderlands 3 had preview events and gameplay on display. piles and piles of board games–experimental indies and tabletop classics alike–were set out to try and buy. there was no lack of things to do or see.
fortunately, i also had no lack of friends to do or see them with! i got to spend some quality time with loads of the pals i’ve met at past events and several new faces as well:
myself, jack, rob, and caitlin! photo courtesy of caitlin’s own writeup of EGX at themindgame.org (very recommended read if you’re interested in tech & mental health)
here were my show highlights, by day:
thursday, 17 october
an indie game called ‘welcome to elk,’ which actively made me cry within the span of a 15~ minute demo
a brutal and hilarious space survival card game, the name of which i neglected to write down because i was too busy dying in the cold void
a screening of the terrible video game film ‘dead or alive,’ wherein the film was paused each time a one-on-one fight happened so that audience members could duke it out in the fighting game the movie was based on
friday, 18 october:
a 45 minute gameplay presentation of cyberpunk 2077, which is looking gritty and gorgeous and SO intricately detailed, even this far ahead of its april release date
an indie game called skatebird in which yes, you guessed it, you play as an adorably rotund skateboarding conure
an outsidexbox dnd liveshow, featuring a pirate cruiseship and the world’s most arcane stag do
saturday, 19 october
another outsidexbox meet and greet, at which i was once more remembered by name and style
a queue breaking out into song(s), including bohemian rhapsody, sweet caroline, and all-star
a second, dnd liveshow, this time featuring a spooky horror mansion and an accordion seance
i was out of the flat by half nine and back after ten all three days–it was absolutely exhausting, but SO much fun.
the show continued on through sunday, but i did not attend the final day as i wanted to get a bit of time out and about london before i returned home.
it was great just to wander through the city again. i made my way through shoreditch to brick lane market, which is always fun to browse, before heading to the south bank of the thames to see if anything had changed at the tate modern (it had! much was the same, but they definitely know how to keep their collection fresh) and also to catch up with my bff, the shard:
i crossed over the millennium bridge and wandered through the city and cheapside, stopping into shops here and there as i went.
you will be pleasantly surprised to know that i only bought two books this trip (the first of which i have already finished), stephen fry’s mythos and heroes, two volumes retelling classical greek mythology with fry’s signature insight and wit. it is rare that i have purchased the sequel to a book without having finished the first; these have been a very worthy exception.
it was a quiet sunday in the city, grey and introspective. i could hardly have asked for a more peaceful way to round out this holiday: time to mull over the trip as a whole, and to take in a little bit more of my favourite city in the world.
i’ll be back again soon.
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