Our Trip to London
In early March, I flew from Jacksonville international airport to London Heathrow airport to meet up with my boyfriend, Cosmo, and his family. His mother has been living there on and off for a while so we were taking his spring break time to visit her. Here are the details of our trip as well as pictures and tips.
Day One:
I flew from Jacksonville International Airport to London Heathrow Airport and arrived at about 10 am. I met up with my boyfriend’s brother, Stephen as we arrived at a similar time. We then took the Underground to meet up with Cosmo and his mother and dropped our stuff at the hotel. We stayed at the Travelodge in Wood Green; our room had a nice view overlooking the city and two small beds. It had a lot of space to move around and a large accessible bathroom.
We then walked to The Toll Gate Wetherspoon for a late lunch. We went to Wetherspoon quite often as they have many locations throughout London, are cheap, and very relaxed. I had a very exciting meal of chicken tenders, chips and a cider (Chips are equivalent to what we call French fries in America and what we know as chips are called crisps).
After that we went back to our hotel to take a nap as the time change and hours of travel were wearing on us. We then caught a bus to SoHo, the China town of London, to explore and grab a late dinner. We went to a China Buffet which was similar to the ones we are used to in the United States. We stayed in SoHo for a bit longer then took the bus back to our hotel. It was a long bus ride due to the busyness of Saturday night and a lot of stopping. It was fun to people watch and see a lot of the city from the bus. I should also mention that this was a red double decker bus, one of the staples of London. I believe we got back and went to bed at around 1:30.
Tip: If you have an iPhone, set up Apple Pay on your phone before going to London. I rarely had to pull out my card because most places allowed Apple Pay, but more importantly, it was super easy to pay for the Underground and Buses by just tapping my phone instead of having to buy their bus cards.
Day Two:
Due to the late night and long travel hours the day before, we slept in on day two. I had coffee in bed thanks to Cosmo and the instant coffee provided by the hotel. Then we walked to a different Wetherspoon location, Spouters Corner where we had an English Style Breakfast. This was around noon, so the only options they had for breakfast were the All Day Brunch, and the Small All Day Brunch. They were the same thing, but the small version had half of what the regular had. The breakfast consisted of a fried egg, a large sausage link, chips (again, Chips would be considered Fries in America), bacon, and BEANS. It was not a skillet or an omelet to say the least haha. I didn’t mind it because I wanted to experience the different foods, but it was interesting. The beans weren’t the beans we are used to in America either. They aren’t Bush’s, they have a sauce on them that tastes vaguely like Ketchup. Are you inspired to try an English breakfast now?
After breakfast, we walked around Wood Green. Wood Green is one of the many sections of London, located on the North side. We also took a bus up to Alexandra’s Palace where we walked around and ate some of the snacks we packed.
Tip: Wetherspoon locations are all throughout London. They are a great place for affordable meals, public bathrooms (including accessible ones), and a relaxing hangout spot. You order from an app and they don’t really mind how long you stay there.
Day Three:
Woke up late again (oops), then we headed out to catch a bus; first stopping at a coffee shop called Lucia’s, because coffee is important. I got a caramel macchiato as that has been my go-to drink lately. We got on the bus and took it to one of the Underground Stations where we embarked on a long trip southbound. It wasn’t far in terms of mileage, but it takes a long time to get from one side of London to the other. We stopped at Finsbury Park to walk through it and check out the skate park. Then we hopped back on the underground and went to the British Museum. I enjoyed the museum because of the architecture and sculptures. I’ve really enjoyed taking small pieces of paper and pens to museums and doing quick sketches of what I see. We stayed at the museum for a few hours until it closed at 5 o’clock. I swear Cosmo could spend days there just reading all of the plaques.
After the museum, we walked to Oxford Street just to observe all of the people and stop in a few shops. I finally bought a jacket to wear as I didn’t bring warm enough clothes. I got a nice tan blended wool coat to try and blend in with the locals. We also stopped at a crape stand. They had dessert crapes but I got a ham and cheese one. It was pretty good, kind of greasy because of the cheese. After that we went to a chain chicken place to grab dinner. We took the bus back to the hotel and stopped at an Off License store to grab some cider and snacks.
Tip: Pack the right clothes. I packed a light jean jacket and a lot of sweaters for this trip. I was able to manage with those for the first few days and it was bearable, but a jacket definitely made being outside for long periods of time more enjoyable.
Day Four:
We started day four with a great breakfast at a Turkish Cafe in Wood Green. I got a spinach and cheese pastry and a mocha hot drink. Both were very good and I enjoyed them quite a bit better than the English Breakfast from the day before. We then stopped at a thrift store, because those are the best places to shop. I got a plain white mug because it was homemade and unique. Cosmo got a really nice sweater (I picked it out of course); overall a successful thrift trip. Cosmo and I then took off for the morning and walked all of the way from Wood Green to Finsbury Park. Not a long walk, but they sure pack a lot of things in to see. If we took the underground to get there, there would have been two different stops along the way.
We stopped at Finsbury park to try and find his brother at the skate park. It took us a lot longer than it should have and we decided to go directly up a massive hill. When we met up, we all took the Underground to Central London. We got off at Green Park which is near Buckingham Palace. We spent a little bit of time in Green Park, then stopped to see the palace. No sign of the Royal Family, how rude of them to not come out and meet us.
After checking out the palace (from outside the gates of course), we stopped at a park and ate lunch. We had picked up some sandwiches and drinks. There are a lot of places that offer meal deals which consist of a sandwich, side dish (fruits, vegetables, crisps, etc), and a drink.
Tip: Thrift. I just really like thrifting no matter where I am. Thrifting is great because its cheaper, you’ll find more unique things, and its better for the environment.
Day Five:
We started day five by taking the Underground to the London Eye. We grabbed some coffee and snacks to go, which we ate on the Eye. The London Eye is sort of like a Ferris Wheel (or Observation Wheel) and takes about 30 minutes to go all of the way around. Each bucket is glass and gives you a 360 degree view or the city. I really enjoyed this attraction as it allowed us to see all of the buildings and streets from an almost birds eye view.
After the London Eye, we hung around the area then went on the London Eye River Cruise. The tour guide talked about the area, specific buildings and reminded us that the Tower Bridge is not in fact the London Bridge. I enjoyed this activity because it was helpful to know what we were looking at and some stories to go along with it.
After the boat tour, we took the underground and bus system to Greenwich, a different section of the city. We hiked up the hill and came to the overlook, where we were able to see a lot of the city and watch the sun go down. We ate our dinner which was one of the meal deals. After hiking back down, we went to another whetherspoon location. We played a game of Uno and had a few drinks.
Tips: Go to London in the off season if you can. Although it was cold, the lack of other tourists was very nice as we didn’t have to wait in line for anything.
Day Six:
We had great weather on day six and were even able to take our coats off for a bit! We started the day by being productive and doing some laundry as we were running low. Then Cosmo and I stopped at Ella’s Bakery in Wood Green. It was a Greek bakery, so naturally Cosmo had to tell the workers that we were both Greek (he’s 25% and I am less than that). This led to them speaking Greek and us staring at them blankly. Remind me to learn more Greek before we go to Greece. We picked up a loaf of bread and a few pastries; my favorite was the feta cheese one. We took these back to the hotel and shared with the rest of his family for breakfast.
Then Cosmo, Stephen, and I headed to Tates Modern Art Gallery which was pointed out to us on our boat tour, and it was free so why not! When we got there, we couldn’t bring ourselves to go inside and miss the good weather so we walked around outside for a while. We crossed Millennium Bridge towards the St Paul’s Cathedral. We didn’t go inside, but took some pictures and admired the exterior Architecture. We then walked back across the bridge and went into the gallery. The contemporary art went over our heads a bit, but it was cool to see. One exhibit stood out to me in particular. It was a room filled from bottom to top with books that were wrapped in fabric. Each book had a name written on it in gold lettering. These names were of first or second generation immigrants, both well-known or not.
After the gallery, we walked over to a famous pub called Anchors. This pub is famous because Shakespear, and many others used to eat there way back in the day. I got London’s well known dish, Fish and Chips. Honestly, wasn’t super impressed because I’ve had a lot of Friday Fish Fries in my life, but hey it was a huge piece of fish, so can’t complain. I was supposed to get crushed peas (a common side dish in England) with it but we were told they were out so I got regular peas instead. Still unsure why they can’t just crush those peas. Cosmo and I then walked towards the Shard, a large building designed to look like broken glass. We didn’t go in, but walked around it and headed to the skate park that his brother was at. We stopped there for a second then headed to another Whetherspoon and relaxed until taking the long underground trip back to Wood Green.
Day Seven:
We had a very exciting last morning in London which consisted of getting tested for Covid at a local pharmacy. At the time of us traveling, the requirement to return back to the United States was a negative Covid test within 24 hours. This was a pretty simple process, just had to fill out some paperwork, show them our passports, and tell them our travel plans. Then we took one of the rapid tests and got the results later that night- all negative.
After our testing, we took the underground to the British Library. It is the biggest library in the world in terms of catalogued items; it is a pretty large building in terms of physical size as well and I liked seeing their architecture plans via their 3D model and drawings. They have a Treasures Gallery containing the Magna Carta and other political, literary, and scientific documents. I walked around and looked at some of the artwork on the pages but ultimately I didn’t spend too much time in there. I ended up reading and people watching. There was a cafe, a restaurant and a lot of people studying for hours.
We then walked to an Indian Restaurant nearby. I believe this was the first authentic Indian food that I’ve ever had and it was great. We all tried to order different things so that we could try a variety of their menu. The restaurant was nice too, pretty small and family owned.
Tip: Make sure you know what you need to travel to and from the country you are visiting. During Covid times, some require testing, quarantining, and/or vaccinations.
Comment below to let me know if you like this blog style as I will be sharing more trips in the future!
