Isn’t it strange how we plan trips away from our locality, Google the places we’ll go to, buy the guide books, check out the places to shop, and yet we often completely miss what’s right in our own village, town or country?
Last weekend the man and I were in London to meet up with some cousins of mine from Israel, on their first ever trip to the UK. Now, London’s a big place, admittedly, but we know it quite well – we even lived there for a few years! And we’re also used to visitors from other countries and think we know what they want to see and do. Westminster Abbey & Buckingham Palace a week after the Royal Wedding (as keenly watched in Israel as virtually everywhere else in the world)? No brainer! Big Ben, London Eye, Trafalgar Square… And we know a few different and quirky places off of the main tourist trail too.
However, one of the visiting cousins is a real foodie, and he’d done his research. In Camden Lock Place, he told me, there’s a place where they make ice cream to order, using liquid nitrogen, right in front of your eyes. So off we went on Saturday morning in search of Chin Chin Labs.
It was certainly an experience – choose your flavours and ingredients and then, in a cloud of what most of us know as dry ice, the whole lot gets frozen into the most delicious ice cream, which you can then sit on the swings outside and eat!
It got me thinking – how ironic that it took a visitor from the Middle East to tell me about a fabulous and unusual place in my own capital city. And how easy it is to miss great things on our own doorstep because we just don’t do the research we’d do if we were travelling.
Maybe we should all spend a little more time making sure we don’t overlook the many wonderful things in our own locality and country!
Oh, and if you're visiting London make sure you check out http://www.facebook.com/chin-chin-labs#!/pages/Chin-Chin-Labs/130210986998546
