The New Year is a moment of quiet reflection - on the year gone by, the happy gains and missed opportunities and the year ahead. In my family, we don’t set resolutions per se at the New Year but we take a moment to ponder what is no longer serving us that we want to let go of and then invite something new into our lives with the dawn of another year. While it’s a bit cliche to brag about boycotting New Year’s resolutions, personally I cherish the opportunity to pause to thoughtfully set an intention for the coming year. This year my flatmate James introduced a great new ritual to enrich my annual reflection process: origami. 

Second-timers are smart cookies. They have this been-there-done-that glow and cavalier attitude that means they seldom care to repeat their first experience. After all who would be interested in the same old attractions if you have already taken pictures of them during your first visit? (That is the point of travel, right? Or have I been doing it wrong by actually trying to experience a city?!). This common psychological phenomenon can largely explain why second-timers tend to extend their experience or pursue new directions and unbeaten paths. The same could probably about my London 2.0 living experience. My time in London went waaayyyyyyyyy too fast but I managed to pack in more fun than imaginable as I got re-acquainted with my old stomping grounds.