Hello friends!!! Here is the long awaited post on what we did in London! Jacob and I were in London March 26-29, 2022. In this post I will be recapping where we stayed, what we ate, our daily itineraries, what I wore and the transportation we used in the city.
Where we stayed:
81 Kensington Gardens Square, Bayswater, London W2 4DJ
What we ate:
1 Kensington Court Place, London, Greater London, W8 5BJ
4 Grosvenor Square (Entrance on South Audley Street) London W1K 2HD
64-68 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1AZ, United Kingdom
Leavesden, London, Watford WD25 7LR, United Kingdom
The Regent’s Park, Hanover Gate, London NW1 4NU, United Kingdom
Brook St, London W1K 4HR, United Kingdom
Day one:
We landed in London at 9:45 am after a direct red-eye flight from Atlanta. 10/10 recommend melatonin for the flights. I took some when we boarded and slept the entire flight, it wasn’t incredible sleep bc I was on a plane lol but sleep nonetheless.
We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel we stayed at. We were on a time crunch for the lunch reservation we had so we quickly dropped our bags at the hotel, got ready in the lobby bathroom (this was a struggle bc Europe bathrooms are tiny, it’s a crime) and power walked to lunch.
We went to The Builder’s Arms. It was definitely one of our better meals in London. In case you didn’t know, the food in England is quite bland. I had the roasted chicken with truffle parmesan fries. The fries were delish! Jacob had a burger bc #merica
After lunch, it was off to find some caffeine and start sightseeing. We first headed to Kensington Palace. It was so crazy to stand in front of this palace that I’d heard so much about and always dreamt of exploring. We didn’t do any tours because it was closed due to the vid. Kensington Palace is located in Hyde Park. This park is huge! It’s so beautiful, but seriously we walked foreverrrr. It was pretty packed since it was a Saturday. So many locals with picnics, friends, family, and games. Looked like the perfect place to spend your weekend. Hyde Park is home to the Princess Diana memorial and many statues, water fountains, and several restaurant options.
On the other end of Hyde Park is Buckingham Palace. Y’all this place is huge. The detail in the gates and structure of the palace is incredible.
Now was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Our hotel was on the opposite side of the park so we rented some public bikes to get back quicker. We used these bikes so much in London. They were so affordable and it was a great way to see the city. It’s a very bike-friendly city with bike lanes, mostly everywhere. I DID NOT like biking when there was no bike lane. The anxiety was real. Europeans are crazy aggressive drivers.
We freshened up and took a quick power nap once we got to our room and headed out for dinner. We tried to do one nicer dinner in each city we went to. For London, it was 34 Mayfair. My mom had been following them on Instagram for a while and told me to go. It’s a fun trendy spot with a great menu. It was verrrryyyy pricey, but by far the best meal we had in London. I had the truffle mac n cheese. It was divine. So rich! Jacob had the lobster pizza, this was incredible! We looove lobster!
After dinner, we walked around Oxford Street before taking an uber back to our hotel. Oxford Street is the main shopping district in London. It was quite busy, it was also a Saturday night. I love window shopping and browsing at fun stores.
Day Two:
We started day 2 out with Starbucks for breakfast. We wanted something easy and something we knew we would like lol. Once we grabbed our starbucks we hopped on the train and headed over to Westminster Abbey. The train was super easy to use and it was the most affordable and easiest way to get around the city. The area was beautiful and there were so many sights to see. Westinster Abbey was stunning. We absolutely loved going there and observing the sights. Definitely a highlight of the trip. It wasn’t very crowded which we appreciated.
After Westminster Abbey, we walked a little down the road to Big Ben. Unfortunately, it was under construction but beautiful nonetheless. This area was much more crowded but still great opportunities to get a good look.
Right down the road from Big Ben, is a Red Phone Booth that has a perfect view of Big Ben and is a great photo opportunity.
By this point, we worked up quite the appetite and were in need in a quick lunch. We ended up at Pret. Pret is a grab and go restaurant. There is literally a Pret on every corner in London, so we took it as a sign to go there. I had the broccoli and chicken soup with some fruit and Jacob had a panini with chips. It was good, but nothing like American food lol.
Across the street from the Pret we went to was the British Art Museum. There wasn’t a line so we took that as a sign to take a quick browse around. It’s a free admission and a good activity for rainy weather, but I would not say it’s a must see.
London is a very bike friendly city with a lot of bikes you can rent throughout the city. We rented some bikes and biked along the water to Tower Bridge. It was a beautiful and easy drive because of the separate bike lane that runs along the road. Tower Bridge was so beautiful and had some great views of the city. The Tower of London next to the Bridge was really cool to read about and held a lot of interesting history.
Next was time to head to Watford Junction. We took the train to Watford Junction, there we got on a Warner Brothers bus that took us to Warner Brothers Studios to The Making of Harry Potter. This was definitely a bucket list item for me. I was so excited. The attention to detail and design that went into the making of this tour was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even Jacob, who isn’t a Harry Potter head. If you find yourself in London, I highly recommend this experience. We were there from about 5pm-9pm. We had dinner at the food court and had delicious desserts after the tour. Come hungry! It is a lot of walking, but you’re so interested in the tour, I didn’t notice my feet hurting too much until the end. We took the train back to our hotel for some much needed rest.
Day Three:
Each city we visited, we left a free day on the schedule to give some room to do things we didn’t get to or more opportunity to explore an area that peaked our interest. This was a “free” day in London. We went to the British History Museum first. It’s a huge museum with so many exhibits. We didn’t stay long but did enjoy our time there. After the museum, we biked over to Rengent’s Park. This park was beautiful and a must see in my opinion. The gardens were so well taken care of to wander but also to take some time to rest and relax. We had lunch at The Boathouse in the park. There are several restaurants in the park. The pizza was one of the best in London!
After lunch, it was time to head to one of my favorite things. A tea party! I scheduled a tea party at Claridge’s. It was so lovely. I wore this stunning purple dress and felt like a princess lol. The tea party was quite expensive just a heads up but was a major bucket list item for me. The tea included finger sandwiches and delicious pastries. I absolutely loved this experience and highly recommend but Jacob might think differently lol.
After the tea party we were simply exhausted. We took the train back to our hotel and called it a night early to rest up for our day of traveling to Paris! That Blog Post will be coming soon (:
What I Wore:
Outfit 1 / Outfit 2 / Outfit 3 / Outfit 4 / Outfit 5
Transportation:
The train is the way to go. We just touched our phones to the gate and that charged our card and was the cheapest option.
We also enjoyed biking around where there were bike lanes available. You can google bike rental London and stations will pop up on your maps!
XOXO,
E.
