Hello, everyone! My name is Reteka, and I study Diploma in Fashion Design at JD Bangalore. This is my experience of the Imagination trip I had with my fellow students and faculties from the institute.

The first stop after my flight into London city was The London Eye. Is there a better way to start the trip than to take a walk around London and take in the view?! We went in the afternoon, when the sky was clear and got into that big giant wheel, that was at the front, furthest away from the loading entrance. The higher up I got, the nicer the view was from any spot in the pod. From start to finish, the entire ride lasted around thirty minutes and the most interesting part for me was when I saw the bridge where Jab tak hai Jaan movie’s song, challa was shot, and that made me get even more excited, obviously, because I love Shahrukh Khan! But I have to admit, I don’t enjoy heights but being inside a large capsule like this was amazing. I could see beautiful panoramas of London.

We then went on the hop-on hop-off river cruise run by Thames River Services and it’s a fantastic way to see the city. While the beauty of the location had my mind playing the song, Sooraj ki baahon mein from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in the background. The guy that we had as the tour guide was actually really funny as well.

It was now time for a date with the stars at Madame Tussauds. It is a mandatory visit to this place if you are in London. All the big Hollywood and Bollywood names were in there from George Clooney to Shahrukh Khan among many, many others. For me, Russell Brand was the most true-to-life figure of all of them.

After which we went to the Design Museum which was a place where we all got inspired for various art works and design perspectives. This is the place has the most engaging, exciting and inspiring designs ever. It was a different world altogether!

We also visited the Victoria & Albert Museum. Honestly, this place brings out the inner child in you. It was so fascinating to look at those vintage clothes and accessories and trust me they weren’t boring at all!

How could you go back home empty handed after you have visited the Oxford Street? It is the busiest shopping street in Europe and I visited this place every day. It has all the luxurious fashion brands and it gave me my wardrobe solutions. It is a place where you can shop till you drop and I actually shopped till I was broke. (not joking!)

My new-found love in London will always be Camden town. This place is madness! It’s like, I fight with my brains to believe my eyes. It has some of the famous brands, vegan food hangouts, buzzing music, lively nightlife, canal and beautiful parks. Every time I went to Camden street, I saw these “Punk Guys” sitting with a cardboard which said – “Help a punk get drunk and take a picture for One pound” and I found that eye catching. I also went to this place for sourcing during my photoshoot and found really exciting things not only for my shoot but also for myself.

London Eater– The food in London was amazing with some of the best desserts and lovely coffees. If I ever missed home food, I always ran to a place called Biryani Pot where they had mouth-watering butter chicken and biryani.

Styles in London are definitely something that I would be interested to observe as a fashion student. Londoners are generally relaxed and quite casual in their way of dressing up. I believe that London is a place where you can wear your unconventional outfits to breakfast and no one would bat an eyelid.

My Travel buddies are a must mention as they were a group of six mad girls who had the same mind set and the zeal to travel and explore. They made the trip even more fun and memorable.

To conclude I would like to say that my entire trip of JD Imagination Journey organized by JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore was beautiful and beyond what words could ever explain. The memorable part of my London visit was that every day was a sense of well-being that I just can’t find in any other urban setting. There’s just something about this place! One of the most attractive things in London for me was that everything is possible here. You can meet people who share the same ideas as you; you can see the history of the city in every street you walk and magic is everywhere if you look for it.!

FROM THE LONDON EYE TO OXFORD STREET: MY JD IMAGINATION JOURNEY