I’m always asked, “Where’s your favourite place?” It’s a tough question, especially when comparing one-offs versus places you find you return to again and again. The pyramids are special, but how many times can one visit? This edition of my ongoing ABC series examines a destination that fits in the latter category – a city I’ve visited more than any other in my life, London:

You never forget your first love, and mine was London. It was my first international destination as a kid and the first place I lived away from home (between years of university).

That summer, settled in with some new friends in a flat in Nottinghill Gate at the bottom end of the Portobello Market, I experienced my first pub, my first soccer match, and Chuck and Di got married, as if the city needed even more excitement.

My mates and I were monitored by the Thatcheresque matron of the local restaurant we ate at every night – The Galley – forced to eat our vegetables or she wouldn’t serve us gateau and cream for dessert. It was just like home.

I’ve been back well over 30 times since, though sadly the Galley is gone.

Nowadays I find a couple of days in the British capital is usually enough to recall all the memories (and there is so much else to see in Britain), but I’m amazed that I can still manage to find something new every time.

Over the years I have steadily checked off a long list of neglected to-do’s – like Greenwich, Windsor, Camden Market, and the Churchill War Rooms, and more recently, the London Eye and The View from the Shard.

However, my favourite place and go-to on every visit is a particular spot on the south bank at the foot of Westminster Bridge where one can look back past the bridge at the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. It’s not a secret to be sure, packed with passersby on their way to the Eye a stone’s throw away, or merely along the embankment, but this vantage reveals quintessential London – the London of newsreels and history books, and even Peter Pan flying high on the way to Neverland.

Of course, there are the pubs, with endless options to discover, or return to. Each year, for example, our Canadian crew at World Travel Market dedicates a Sunday afternoon to crawling through Belgravia to The Grenadier (known for its Bloody Marys and Beef Wellington), The Nag’s Head (amazing jazz band on the first Sunday of every month), and our latest discovery, The Star Tavern. A shout-out also must be given to The Gun, a historic establishment on the Thames near Canary Wharf overlooking the O2 Arena.

Samuel Johnson famously said: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,” but I will always remember an elderly American woman during my first summer there who had visited the city every year for decades. “There’s something about London that just gets into your blood,” she said. I know exactly what she means.

Honourable mention: Lisbon
Bucket list: Laos

Unlike the song, I have not been everywhere, so please don’t wonder why one of your favourites wasn’t one of mine. Instead, tell me at baginski@travelindustrytoday.com. I’m already thinking about my next list.

Stay tuned to future issues for the rest of the list. And for previous entries, click HERE.