The main advantage for a writer staying at a youth hostel is that in addition to saving a few quid (pounds) as compared with the price of a hotel, you can meet fascinating people and write about them in addition to taking notes on all of the events, historical sites, museums, and nightlife that you see in London.

    The main disadvantage is that after taking all of these notes, you may find that someone has walked off with your bloody notebook.

    Yes, this happened to me, and I'm not very pleased. After carefully taking copious notes about each day of my journey in France and London, those notes have been taken by someone else who will throw them away and keep the pen.

    So, since I can't tell you about what else happened during my stay in London, let me tell you about what didn't happen, or more specifically, what didn't happen for me.

    International travel for the young, at least in stories, always seems to include a one-night stand with a random foreigner named Pablo. Since I don't swing that way, this was not exactly my intent. But unsurprisingly, perhaps since I didn't hit the clubs or get drunk, I did not have wild sex with a beautiful foreign woman who I just met.

    While in the National Gallery, my father began counting all of his pounds in public. After counting out the equivalent of nearly $600, he gave the money to me for my stay in England. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, I found that my parents had summoned the authorities and were searching for me because they presumed someone had seen the transaction take place, knifed me for my money, and stashed my body in a corner. This was thankfully not the case.

    Finally, while walking around Picadilly Circus, I noticed a huge crowd of people, even for London. Drawing near, I saw a giant X. Yes, I had blindly stumbled upon the World Premiere of X-Men 2. Sadly, due to poor timing, I had stumbled onto it after all of the important people had already gone into the theatre and began watching the film. The most exciting thing I saw was a bunch of security taking down the gates. So, through careful timing I managed not to see the X-Men or their new film.

    More things are bound not to happen during the rest of my trip. I'll mention them later.