For the unindoctrinated, Everton is a Liverpool-based team coming to play on West Ham’s home turf. This is an interesting season for Everton because they were docked 10-points in what the football world has unanimously agreed is an injustice of the highest order. After that, death (i.e. relegation) seemed inevitable, but they have harnessed their collective spite to mount a revenge-fueled run of wins that has put them comfortably in the center of the table, safe from the relegation zone. If it wasn’t for those 10 points, they would be a strong contender for European qualification right now. Unfortunately for West Ham, this would ultimately mean a home-defeat for them. So there were lots of angry fans in East London on this day, but that’s part of the magic of the game. ✨
Today we’re going to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea v. Brighton in the EFL Cup a.k.a. the Carabao Cup!
This is not technically my first English Premier League (EPL) game because it’s a cup game (i.e. it’s not part of the regular season, it’s a separate competition) but it’s still a good time. So let’s get into what this experience was like… because, it was an experience.
I don’t know if people coming to visit as tourists really get a sense of the scale of this place because most major tourist attractions are clustered relatively close to one another. But to me, whose first time in London was the day I moved to London, its size was a bit terrifying. I couldn’t afford to stay in the city center, so I found an Airbnb further afield. Fighting the traffic and crowds to haul my ass back and forth across this city to do apartment viewings was exhausting, and I only covered a small portion of the city in those trips.
In July of 2012, a few friends and I were leaving Spain and embarking on what would be my first ever Euro-trip. In deciding where we wanted to go, I'd be lying if I told you that Amsterdam's famously progressive drug laws did not play a role in our decision to come to here. So our motives may not have been entirely academic, but once we arrived, I was enraptured. Amsterdam turned out to be one of the most beautiful cities that I had ever had the privilege of exploring. I’ve traveled a lot more today than I had back then, and Amsterdam is STILL one of the prettiest cities I’ve ever seen. We spent 5 days here, and in that time, I took more photographs than I had of any place I had visited prior.
