When I first stumbled upon the National Geographic London store close to the Oxford Street Circus tube station, my initial thoughts were suspended as I was not really expecting such a NatGeo store.  I’d always imagined the National Geographic to be a magazine and a TV programme.

The wall of photos! Photo © National Geographic London Store, UK

 

So imagine my surprise, when I came across the NatGeo store. This store is huge! Endless racks of clothing, shoes, home and furniture lines rising over three levels! The only way to remember what I’d seen was to record it on videocam. I had no intention, at the time, to convert it into any podcast of sorts. Recently, however, I heard that the National Geographic magazine will now be available in Arabic and people can now subscribe to it, so that’s when I decided that it would be nice for Middle East based readers to see what an actual National Geographic store looks like.

 

Photo © National Geographic London Store, UK

There are not many of NatGeos stores in the world. The others are based in Singapore, Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, to name a few.

The discovery of the NatGeo store happened on a rainy day. That’s what London is like in the autumn. Unpredictable weather. But if there is one thing that I like about London, it’s this. You discover new things when you decide to walk rather than catch the tube from one London based tube station to another.  One of the things I love to do is catch the tube to the heart of London which, for me, is at Oxford Street. I emerge out of the tube station into the noisy, beating and bustling heart of the city and while everything and everyone seem to whirl around me, I stand suspended in time, breathing in the London air before I start to walk.

An indoor coffee shop at the NatGeo London store. Photo © National Geographic London Store, UK

It’s all about walking beyond the comfort zone of life, I guess. What’s on your list, that you want to do, but are afraid to do because it’s out of your comfort zone? You’ll never know the richness of life if you don’t take that next step beyond the comfort zone. On this trip, I discovered the NatGeo store. What will you discover?

 

Photo © National Geographic London Store, UK

I would like to thank the National Geographic London store staff for allowing me to use the photos for the purpose of illustrating this article.  You can access more of NatGeo London Store photos at Flickr.

Photo © National Geographic London Store, UK

 

Here’s our mini-video podcast of the NatGeo London store. Enjoy!

And here questions of type such if honestly strike me not much as I wrote everything higher. It is visible you simply you don’t want to read all this. As my parrot does.