It's a strange phenomenon, but so typical of London: Canary Wharf is an indoor maze. Maps won't save you, no matter which app you use.
When I actually got there, the Rooftop Garden ended up redeeming it for me.
I just want to make some new friends in East London, so, naturally, I came to CW to find a bar. I wasn't too bothered that the area wasn't busy, if I got drunk enough, it definitely wouldn't be a problem. Once I got off the DLR, I hopped onto Apple Maps and typed in 'bars Canary Wharf' and clicked on directions for Big Easy. Maps took me around Canada Square, all while my GPS kept changing directions.
I was completely stranded in the business capital as people around me – from the same age group, might I add – were rushing to get elsewhere. They knew where they had to go and I, funnily enough, did not.
Still, I didn't want to ask anyone for directions because with my attention span, I don't think it would be any better. Plus, the challenge of working out my bearings and the process of discovery proved somewhat stimulating. There were loads of signs with directions throughout the squares and the rest of CW, but none of them pointed to that 'boat thing in the middle of the dock,' which was my understanding of where Big Easy was from my trips on the tube.
So I went around Canada Square, through Cabot Square and the CW Shopping Centre and finally came out at Fairgame, which was bustling with people my age, looking like they're having a fantastic time.
Fairgame wasn't my destination, however, so I trudged on to Big Easy but decided to take a detour to a quieter sports bar to work on a hypothetical press release for Versace.
At the end of it all, I was, somehow, transported into Fairgame. The curiosity got the best of me. The prices were exactly what I expected: elevated, but I can understand it all, with games to try all around you and Elton John on your tiny cocktail, which is what I ended my night with.
(I didn't eat him, I didn't know for sure if he was in fact, Edible Elton.)
It's always best to find a friend who knows the area to take you around. If you're like me, and you've moved here alone, you are going to have to start off as that friend, for when others visit. For the meantime, you are just going to have to pull through and look like an idiot in the outside of CW until you create your own internal map.
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