The Ouchii Guy

When the Spice Girls (aka the biggest selling girl band of all time – true story) announced they were reforming as a 4 piece without Victoria Beckham to tour the UK, I initially was unsure if I wanted to attend. I had previously seen them with their complete line up as a 5 piece on their last reunion tour in 2007 – and that was obviously one of the best nights of my life as it fulfilled a fantasy that I never thought would happen (they had last toured the states as a 4 piece after Ginger Spice had departed in 1998 and I was only 10 years old at the time with no money).

As more details started leaking about what the tour would be and they released a teaser video, whatever doubt I had disappeared and I said to myself, “What the f*ck are you thinking? It’s the mother f*cking Spice Girls!” And so, like that, I decided I was going to fly my ass to London and see them perform at Wembley Stadium and hopefully some of my cousins who also grew up with them would come with. It didn’t take much convincing – they were down.

Cut to a few months later, it was finally time for the trip. We all flew in separately due to our busy schedules. I flew with Air Canada, stopping first in Montreal for a layover and then straight to London from there. The flight was something around 12 hours or so when combined. Long, for sure. I enjoyed the lounge at Montreal – it was cozy, but uncrowded and had great food! As anyone who knows me knows, I will gravitate toward Asian food 9/10 times, so the fact that they had an Asian noodle bar put me in a fantastic mood. Especially knowing that I was in for another 9 hour flight, and hate airline food.

Once I was back on the plane, I immediately took a sleeping pill (Unisom – HIGHLY recommended) and knocked out the entire flight. I’d wake up occasionally due to my butt falling asleep and not feeling comfortable but then would immediately fall back asleep. Next thing I knew, I was in London! The sleeping pill worked out perfectly, as the time difference was 8 hours ahead, so by the time I had arrived, it was almost as if I was already on their schedule because I had a solid 8 hours of sleep and landed at 11 AM ready to explore.

While going through customs it’s always customary to ask what the purpose of the trip was and when the nice British guy asked I responded with “the Spice Girls show!” and he quickly laughed and we had a nice moment. From there, it was fairly easy to find the trains to get to wherever you’d need to go. For me, I needed to get to Paddington station (yes, Paddington like the bear) and my cousin Chrizia gave me the tip to take the express train that would get me there in 20 minutes or less. The train was extremely clean, and smooth – comparable to Cal Train, but nicer and with a nice purple color scheme.

Once I got to the station, I found an exit and walked over to the hotel I’d be sharing with my three cousins who decided to go. The hotel was nothing fancy, it did what it needed to do and was cost efficient for us. My cousin, Chrizia took the lead and had called ahead to let them know I’d be arriving first to check in (She really is the best person to help you travel). The streets around the area were super nice and clean. I immediately felt like I was in a movie for whatever reason.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the clerk welcomed me in. She told me I wasn’t able to check in early, but she was expecting me and I could leave my luggage and come back. Check in was at 2. I was a little saddened by that because I was hoping I could rest for a bit until the remaining 3 arrived, but with no choice there wasn’t much I could do so I asked to use the bathroom first before I adventure off. She looked at me puzzled, and then I quickly realized that I would have to use all the British terminology that I learned from my years of obsessing over the Spice Girls. I corrected myself, and said “toilet” and she laughed and pointed me in the right direction. Once I finished doing my business, she surprised me by telling me she was able to get the room ready for me faster and the maid was just finishing up “hoovering” it. I was elated, and expressed my fondness for the clerk immediately.

After I dozed off, the three remaining cousins arrived shortly after. We all agreed that the first day would be mellow, and we’d relax and just walk around and eat. The girls decided they wanted Indian food and Chrizia was recommended a place called “Dishoom” – a popular Indian franchise in London.

We decided to go to the main location located just off the West End / Picadilly Center. We each got an Oyster card (the card required to get on and off the Tube) and thanks to my cousins were able to find our destination easily.

Full disclosure: I have no problem taking a back seat and letting others lead. I’m so used to having to take the steering wheel and over time I Iearned that it is 100% okay to be a passenger sometimes.

The wait was a good 90 minute wait, in the cold. They offered us tea while waiting in line, which I thought was nice – I don’t recall ever being offered tea while waiting to eat in the States.

When we were finally seated, I observed the restaurant had nice dim lighting and the pricing was a little high for smaller portions – so basically… nothing out of the ordinary for an upscale fusion restaurant. The food was tasty, and we all were hungry. The three cousins I traveled with are not unlike me in that we are all fit and workout regularly, but also love to eat. And boy, did we eat.

Because we are Asian, and the three all have sweet tooths, we made it a point to find a boba place. It was clear upon arriving in London that the UK is not unlike the US in that there is a vast array of food from all over the globe widely available. Thank god!

Once we returned back to the Columbus hotel, we got ready for bed and had some great conversation. We reminisced about our youth, as we always do. We talked about our spouses. We talked about old rifts and current ones. I made a comment talking about how I used to babysit them and how they learned a lot from me, but funny enough as adults, I find myself in awe of everything they’ve achieved and how much I am learning from them. It was a nice realization.

The next day I knew was going to be fantastic, because we were going to see the Spice Girls in the evening at Wembley Stadium – a venue with a max capacity of 90k, and the same venue that they last played when they were at the height of their fame in the late 90s. All we needed to do was get some rest first.