Last July, my sister, best friend, Chelsea and I went on an eight day trip to one of the coolest cities in the world (in my opinion, of course).
It all started in March when Chelsea, sent me a text message telling me she found a great deal on a trip to London. We have always said we wanted to go abroad together, we just had to pick the place. She saw this trip to London and that was it! We had our plane tickets and hotel reservation that night. The next morning at a 6:30am spin class I told my sister, Katie, of our spontaneous decision to book the trip and she immediately said she wanted in. Now, Katie has been abroad many times (which she reminds us of often) so I think we both felt really comfortable knowing she was coming along.
When I say London is one of my all time favorite cities, I am not exaggerating. The history, the culture and the shopping, I just couldn't get enough! I honestly wish we had more than eight days there and I cannot wait to book my next visit to this amazing city!
Where we stayed
Through the package, we got a hotel room at St. James' Court in Westminster. Being that none of us had been to London before, we were unfamiliar with all the different neighborhoods of the city. The hotel seemed nice from the pictures so we felt confident we would like it. We were right! Our hotel was literally steps away from Buckingham Palace and the underground station. We were able to walk to Westminster Abbey and The House of Parliament. It was beautiful inside and the staff was so accommodating! We may or may not have upgraded ourself to a bigger, nicer room, yolo right?!
Outside the hotel!
What we did
Like I said, I wish we had more than eight days. There is seriously so much to do and see in London, it's crazy.
Day One:
The first day we go there around 8am #tired. Our room wasn't ready so we decided we would walk around while we waited. We walked a few blocks over, and stumbled on Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard was on our "must do list", but I would say we could've skipped it and not missed out on anything.
When our room was ready, we went back to the hotel and took a looooong nap. After our nap, which if I'm honest, I could've slept all night, we forced ourselves to dinner. We walked up to the London Eye and found ourselves on a cute little street, so we popped into a pub. We ordered ourselves a bottle of Whispering Angel (which would be a reoccurring theme of the trip). The pub was called The Clarence and I highly recommend it.
Day Two
The second day of our trip, we took the underground to Kensington. We toured Kensington Palace and visited the Princess Diana Exhibit. It was amazing to see all her beautiful clothes and it brought tears to our eyes. They had quotes on the walls of things Princes William and Harry wrote to their mother - it was so heartfelt. If I thought I couldn't love that family more, I was wrong.
After Kensington, we met up with Katie's friend, Amy. She is from London so she took us on a little walking tour of the city. Lastly, We went on the London Eye. The views were amazing, although it was quite scary being up so high.
Day Three
On our third day, we had a reservation for tea at
Sketch. Our reservation was at 12 pm and we woke up at 11:30 #jetlag. We, miraculously, made it to the restaurant on time. It was a truly amazing experience. They brought us tea, caviar, finger sandwiches and dessert. We hung out for our full two hours, and loved every second of it. A definite must do.
After tea, we went shopping in Piccadilly Circus. It was really busy, being that it was a Friday afternoon, at lunchtime. We went in some cute little stores, bought souvenirs, and of course, had to go in Topshop. I really could've bought the entire store, but I had to restrain myself. After shopping, we stopped in a random pub for pints with fish and chips!
Fish and Chips after shopping!
Day four
Day four was rainy and cold. We decided to go to The Tower of London, it was very interesting to be surrounded by so much history. We then took the underground to Saint Paul's Cathedral. We climbed all 528 steps to the top of the dome, the views were spectacular even though it was a rainy day. After Saint Paul's we went across the Harry Potter bridge (not really its' name) to The Globe Theater.
View from the top of Saint Paul's
That night we had dinner at Nobu London and went to the most fun club (shout out to Amy for recommending it). The dinner was absolutely amazing - delicious sushi and obviously another bottle of Whispering Angel. Now, the three of us are not really "club" people, but we decided it might be fun to experience something new, and Amy said they had great music. They not only had great music, but they had a largest glasses of vino I have ever seen. So needless to say, we would definitely go back!
Day Five
We started the morning, walking to Harrods, it was packed, but I think it was definitely worth the trip, if only to see the outside of the building! The best thing we did on day five was visit the Princess Diana memorial in Hyde Park. We got ice cream cones, dipped our feet in the water, and sat in the grass. It was a lovely, relaxing day!
Day Six
On day six, we took a day trip to Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge. We really enjoyed Windsor and Stonehenge, but we decided be could've gone without the Bath portion of the trip. We went in the chapel that Prince Harry and Megan Markle are getting married, so that makes us friends, right?!
Windsor!
Bath!
Stonehenge
Day Seven
On our last full day, we decided we just wanted to stay in London and continue to explore the city. We started the day walking to get cheap show tickets. We got tickets to An American in Paris for that night. We then took a tour of Buckingham Palace, which is really cool because it is not open to the public all year round. It was surreal to be standing in all the same places as Kate Middleton and Prince Harry. It might've been my favorite part of the trip!
We did lots more shopping and got fish and chips at our favorite pub by the hotel call The Phoenix. That night we went to the show and really enjoyed it! After, we were starving so we did the most American thing - got Five Guys. We scarfed down our burger and fries! Then it was back to the hotel to wake up for our extremely early flights back home!
This really was a trip of a lifetime and I am so glad I got to experience it with two of my favorite people!
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Xo,
Kristin
