Tour guide in London England Laura A.

Hello, I'm Laura, a traveller like you. I have lived on and off in London going back some time in the 20th century, first as a child with my family and then on my own in assorted areas. I left the city many times to see the world, but I always came back here. As part of seeing the world I did a PhD in Anthropology, to be able to understand people as part of their own place and culture. Where else have I lived? Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Copenhagen, Madrid, New York, Santo Domingo, Cairo, Granada. And more. I used to stay a long time and learn the language, and if I ever wanted a tour I looked for someone local - just the way you are looking. And then when I got to know the place I'd guide visiting friends and families around. I used to lead more energetic hiking and rock-scrambling too. I'm settled down now, but for the past 10 years, to satisfy my itch to travel, I've been a housesitter right here in London. I've lived in many different neighbourhoods, taking care of cats and dogs while owners are away, sometimes for months. So one reason I know London very well is I've lived all over it, in areas close to the centre and farther out, in every direction, in richer homes and poorer homes: it's a cool way of travelling in the same city I live in, and I really love it. Maybe some of you have tried it? During years of lockdowns I expanded on my London knowledge by walking in different directions every day, for more and more hours. Even the dullest-seeming area becomes interesting when you walk it, so then I said What the heck, I'll do a formal course in guiding, and here I am now officially qualified and wearing a badge. In my guiding I like to show people Other Sides of London: the less known, less obvious, less crowded places. I'm keen to show you things tourists usually miss: histories of ordinary people, the not-so-rich-and-famous. You can call them ordinary people, but that doesn't mean they weren't creative, smart, funny or heroic! In fact they were like us. On my tours you leave the queens and kings behind for a bit, as well as the very centre of town. As an anthropologist I look at history as product of people in a specific place and on their own terms, and I apply that to historical figures too. I'm an author. I've specialised in women's history: I recently led a tour in Essex about a witchfinding craze there in the 17th century, focusing on the lives of the women. I also specialise in the lives of migrants. If you live in the USA, Canada, New Zealand or Australia, some of your ancestors were migrants. Same if you live in Latin America. I'm interested in them: how they decided to go, how they did it, how they got by. Same for those doing it today, wherever they are headed and wherever they are from. I've long been a professional researcher, so I know how to discover unusual facts and stories about places in London that are often not like those you find in tourist brochures. Another kind of travel I did for a decade was public speaking, my main occupation for ten years from 2007. I've spoken in all sorts of conditions, from huge auditoriums to cosy cafés, and learned how to assess and appreciate all kinds of audiences in different cultural settings. This is the basis for my guiding too. I love guiding because I get to be out in the streets, moving around, seeing the action, meeting new people and sharing great places with them. Let me show you some unusual London sights! I am a licensed guide, member of the Camden Tour Guides Association. Camden is a borough of London, but my qualification allows me to guide all over the UK. I've been guiding small groups informally for many years in different cities of the world. I have a Research PhD in Cultural Studies from the UK's Open University. I'm an author with Bloomsbury Publishing. I had 15 years of public speaking engagements around the world. I have a Master's degree in International Education, the grassroots kind that resembles guiding on the street. I did a BA in English literature, history and art at Columbia University in New York. I'm a member of the Women's History Network and other history groups. I'm a longtime holder of a Reader's Pass for the British Library's Reading Rooms - and a frequent user. I'm not a driver, with me it's all about the joy of walking.