Happy Sunday! If you’d prefer to LISTEN to our essay this week, hit the article voiceover above.
John Travolta Strutting Down the Street in Saturday Night Fever
When I tell you after we woke up from our 3 hour power nap on our first morning in Stoke Newington, that I was ready to conquer the world, you need to understand, I only partly mean it. I was ready to conquer the world in a “fake it ‘til you make it” kind of way. I was still a little shook.
I knew I was going to need to walk out of our Airbnb that morning the way John Travolta walked through Brooklyn in Saturday Night Fever with full Bee Gees on blast. Confident but humble; looking like a million bucks knowing he is the king of New York disco, but carrying a can of paint in his hand to his day job because he still has to make a living as a lowly clerk.
After we all took showers and washed away the airplane’s staleness and the sting of the cab driver’s words, we decided to give Stoke a shot. Why should we let one man ruin weeks of research and planning?
Plus, you know what? We are Americans, damn it. We aren’t afraid of anything. We are prepared for everything. We have seen it all. We are from the land of Kendrick Lamar and Wu Tang. John Wayne and Jeff Bezos. We got this.
Kendrick Lamar's HUMBLE (very explicit lyrics-look out!)
And if by chance, things go off the rails, we can summon up American craziness if we need to get medieval on someone. You know Americans are not afraid to out crazy somebody. A quick glance at some of the politicians we have running for office this November will leave no doubt in your mind.
But in my heart, I knew I needed to find the right balance between American arrogance and respectful humility. I needed to channel the boldness of the Pilgrims as they set out to sail across the Atlantic and the memory of their first winter in America.
As we walked out of the flat, and witnessed the sleepy streets of Stoke Newington waking up and coming to life, I knew the cab driver had to be wrong; at least, wrong for me and wrong for our family.
The more streets we crossed, the more this part of London began to feel like a perfect blend of old and new. It felt like we were watching a revival. A rebirth. A place with perhaps a troubled past but one with new, young life being breathed into it from people from all over the world. A place ripe for change and for renewal. The diverse group of people we passed on our way to the Stoke Newington train station reminded me of New York. There were folks from everywhere opening up shops, restaurants, and pubs. There were workers propping open doors to kosher delis and Caribbean cuisine. Stoke was full of Mediterranean menus and Japanese sushi; it truly had it all.
Plus, it provided plenty of your traditional pubs and of course, the classic restaurant that casually notified everyone it’s been in operation since the 1600s.
We loved every minute we spent in Stoke Newington AFTER the cab driver left. We stayed for a week then asked to stay for an extra day.
I have to give serious credit for our wonderful visit there to our daughter Emma and to our Airbnb host. When we woke up from our power nap, Emma emailed her and informed her that a cab driver said we were crazy for staying at her flat. Her reply was simple.
“I have lived here for 20 years and the only thing that has ever happened to me is, I had a bike stolen.”
For me, that gave a particularly positive push in the right direction because I can still easily recall growing up in Norfolk, Virginia and having EVERY bike I ever had stolen. Painful then but that’s what happens when you refuse to use a bike lock, right? So, in my head, Stoke was already safer than Norfolk. We just needed to be a little cautious.
Next, our Airbnb host recommended an APP to use called CITYMAPPER. It would help us get up to the minute directions walking, taking the trains, riding the buses, and it would help us avoid standing on the streets looking vulnerable as we stared at our foldable maps, bus routes, and travel books. CITYMAPPER proved to be the best thing that happened to us logistically on the trip. The options for travel are overwhelming in London for a beginner and CITYMAPPER fixed it all for us.
In fact, our stay in Stoke Newington was so lovely and our experience with our first Airbnb was so great, anytime we travel for more than a day or two in the future, I think we will always look for an Airbnb instead of a hotel.
For our final day in London before returning to the U.S., we booked a hotel room at a Hilton near King’s Cross. In the past, we would have loved the monotony and consistency of the experience. Knowing that no matter where we went in the world, a Marriott or Hilton room would largely be the same, even down to the shampoos they used, provided us with a quiet confidence.
This time however, after staying in the Airbnb, the hotel seemed drab, dead, packaged, and uncomfortable. The desk clerks were lifeless, the hotel restaurant was closed, the room’s furniture was shabby, and it was twice as expensive as one night in the Airbnb. The thing we enjoyed most about the one night we spent in the hotel was how happy we all felt that we had made the right decision to stay in Stoke Newington. If our time in London had been spent in this hotel room, our experience would have been so much less interesting and so much less enjoyable.
And as for that curmudgeonly cab driver who we almost allowed to alter our plans, well, next time, I’d try to invite him to have lunch with us at one of the many wonderful and delicious spots in Stoke and meet the people running the restaurants and building their and the country’s futures.
The experience might, just maybe, change his mind.