What I Miss a/b London

Hello All,
As some of the NFL's teams set off to London, I will share with you what I miss about the city. For me, it has been about five months. Here are some key places:

1. Marks and Spencer: I REALLY miss this department store! There, you can shop for clothing and FOOD. Think Target, but more sophisticated (I know, how could anything be more sophisticated than Target?!) . And by food, I don't just mean frozen food and cereal. You can also shop for fruits, vegetables, meats, and other perishables. Oh yeah, I also miss the tax-free shopping (All of London's stores are tax-free). For example, if you want to get your favorite scent of lotion at Marks, you can buy the lotion, the shower gel, and the body spritzer for 3 pounds and not 3 pounds plus tax.

2. Tesco's: Lily Allen mentions this supermarket chain in her song "LDN." It has all the basic essentials for a supermarket if you are on the run and you don't want to buy a whole load of things. It puts the "convenience" in convenience store.

3. Topshop: Three words- America NEEDS Topshop. This department (sort of like H&M or Forever 21, but BETTER!) store sells great clothes, but what really drew my attention to it is was the jewellery. Ohh, wonderful! The jewellery is organized by brand when you come in to the store. For example, if you have 2 items by designer A and one by designer B, then you would go to the A designer's cashier, and then the B designer's cashier. It can be really annoying though, if you want to buy from a bunch of different companies because then you would have to go to each cashier to pay for it, but at least everything is organized.

4. Nando's: This is a Portuguese restaurant chain that specializes in rotisserie-style chicken. It is an interesting restaurant because you have the option to order the food and pay for it before eating it, which helps with the hassle of dealing with paying for food after you eat it. The chicken is eaten with different flavors of sauce from mild to very spicy, and you can have anything from French Fries (chips) to rice as a side. Nando's is not very expensive, and they encourage people to eat with their hands.

5. Boots: Boots is a phamaceutical chain in a similar vein as CVS or Walgreens. As with any British store, everything is super-organized, and they make their own cosmetics as well as their own medicines. Don't make the mistake, though, of thinking that the store-brand isn't good quality because you would be dead wrong! The quality of a Boots brand of cough medicine is just as good as another brand. Worth checking out especially if you have a cold like I did during my trip. Hell, it's hard NOT to go into a Boots since it seems to dominate the market of phamaceutical stores in Britain (There's also Superdrug, but it's not as prevalent.). I mean, it literally seems like there is a Boots in almost every area in London that you can think of.

Well, if you are heading out to London anytime soon, be sure to check out these key places., and when you're there, tell them I said hi (wink!). Sorry, I had to add a corny joke to end this post (lol!).