London

Back in September, we had friends that asked if we wanted to take a trip to Paris with them. Of course we wanted to, but we had just gone to Italy/Greece earlier in the year. However, YOLO and FOMO are a real thing for Alex and me so we jumped on board! First off, tickets were only $450 out of LA. There's a cheap flight to LA from Provo, so this was a good decision! Our schedules with our friends were a little different so Alex and I went out about 5 days before them to go to London as well. 

Ok, let's talk LONDON. London is charming, clean, historic, and ended up having GREAT food. I didn't know what to think about the city before we went. They speak English, they aren't known for their food, it's pretty safe, they like tea :) ...we just really didn't know what to expect. I researched a lot on Pinterest (basically how I always plan trips) and we made a schedule. London is great because of the variety of activities (see list below). 

Here's some of the things we did while in London:

1) I'll just start with the one poor choice---Buckingham Palace. Never do it. It was long, boring, crowded, and stupid. Sorry, I said it. Seeing the outside was semi-cool. But don't watch the changing of the guards, I beg you.

2) Harry Potter tour---DO THIS IF YOU ARE A HP FAN!! It's called Tour for Muggles. You walk around the city and see different filming locations, places where J.K. Rowling wrote or got ideas for her book, etc. So much fun! (We also went to platform 9 3/4 on our own at the King's Cross station)

3) Borough Market---the best market you will ever eat at. Get the pulled-pork mac'n'cheese. BOMB. FREAKING BOMB. The market has food from all over the world. The Ethiopian food was a close second!! SO GOOD.

4) Ride in the double-decker busses (aka busses). Almost all of the busses are double-decker so you will ride one if you get a train/buss pas. It's so fun to sit at the top!

5) Hyde Park. Beautiful in the fall and there were still colorful leaves in late November. They had a winter festival at night that we went to as well.

6) TEA TIME. You will regret this if you don't go!!! It was my favorite thing I did in London. We went to the Orangery. You get cute little sandwiches, scones, desserts and wonderful tea.

7) Musicals. We saw Les Miserables and Matilda. Both so good and way cheaper than in New York!

8) Tower of London and Tower Bridge---so historic and beautiful. We watched a documentary on the Tower of London before we went. Really cool to see that history in person.

9) Westminster Abbey---where most of the royal family gets married (except Harry and Meghan) and the coronations take place. Gorgeous interior.

10) British Museum and Museum of Natural History. We saw the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, which was awesome. The Natural History museum was incredible and is HUGE! If I were to pick one, I would do Museum of Natural History. Both were SO great.

11) DAY TRIP---we took a day trip to the Windsor Caste (where Harry and Meghan are getting married and the queen lives on weekends), Oxford's campus, and Stonehenge! I'm SO glad we had a few extra days because this tour was amazing. All 3 were great sights. Stonehenge was my favorite!
12) Other Landmarks---Big Ben (sadly it was under construction), the London Eye (large ferris wheel), St. Paul's cathedral (we just looked at the outside because it was so expensive), House of Parliament (by the Abbey and Big Ben), Trafalgar Square, Notting Hill (all the cute houses), Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Harrod's (huge department store), Picadilly circus (mini Times Square)


Pictures from London:

Such a fun trip! We will definitely come back some day. 

xoxo,
kay