This trip has been a once in a lifetime experience for me, traveling for the first time without my family across country! I was so excited to branch out as a student and an individual and grow myself during this time professionally and personally by stepping fully out of my comfort zone. Getting to London and traveling from Gatwick all the way to Kensington by myself, and figuring out to travel without the use of cars was extremely difficult and nerve wracking at first. I’ve traveled outside of the country before, but never alone, and never using public transport in my life! I think for me I had to learn asking questions, people aren’t as intimidating as we think and they’d gladly help with transportation or directions to anywhere. Something interesting I learned about global food and beverage is they ask about allergies many different times at all restaurants or food serving places. That is such an important thing to do in restaurants and I don’t know why in the U.S we don’t do that as much. I knew in all the food I was eating that no matter what that it would be safe for me to eat because there wasn’t going to be any tomatoes. When we were at the Savoy as well, they were so focused on our comfort and what we needed, it felt that we were guests even though we weren’t even staying there. In the U.S of course we are always guests in the hotels here but there was a certain warmth of the atmosphere in all of the hospitality based places here that it made me feel so comfortable. Talking to everyone when I was traveling was also easy, of course English is the same language, but it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated with the accents. Everyone was also so curious about me and my experiences, so it was a great Segway into a conversation of backgrounds and learning about different cultures and upbringings by people working or even just sitting next to me somewhere. I think this gave me a new sense of appreciation for the U.K’s culture and how they truly are a melting pot rather than here in Miami it’s pretty segregated. It was a great way to dip into so many different cultures and try so many different foods and it helped me build an understanding of cultures! During this trip I believe that I will take so many different techniques and ways of running my businesses from the hospitality life in London. I want to integrate that culture feel within my future endeavors because it truly did change everything from just a trip to an experience. It gave so much room to learn and a new understanding to learn the backgrounds of food, history, and a story that builds on so much. Having the story and the why’s of all of these places really gave me a huge appreciation to the founders and it made me see everything in the eyes of the people who started this as just a dream. When you want to create a brand I believe now that the why is what will drive it all home for the full guest experience. It’s something that’s in marketing is strategic, even for social media to bring crowds in it makes a good promotion. I think this trip has shaped my hospitality views as I want to shape my journey into something meaningful, not just a job but a life goal. I want to be the leader that is dependable and that will take care of their workers because everyone was so happy at their jobs, they all wanted to work because these businesses actually took care of their employees a lot better than expected. I think I am going to keep traveling and next time I travel outside of the school, I want to try and tour more places from the alcohol industry and continue to grow and learn on the organic ingredients and the why’s behind making your own alcohol.