I’ve now visited the city for 3 times and, coincidentally, that happened to be about every 4 years. I keep coming back because I find London one of the most beautiful places on Earth, I love the old buildings, the streets, the people walk around trying to get to their every day jobs, the squirrels you always find in the parks, I even love the weather that changes every 5 minutes because it reminds me of the way our lives can go from thunderstorms to rainbows and sunshine in a matter of seconds.
My most recent trip to the capital was in the beginning of March this year, here is my travel diary as well as a few tips I have for anyone who might want to visit London.
The Flight
One of the many things that was different this time around: I didn’t embark from Europe as I did before, so instead of a 3-hour flight, I was on the plane for 8 hours and a half , plus the 1 hour delay. The good part is that I like long flights and they had some new movies that you could watch on the plane, so I found something to occupy myself with. It also happened to be a day flight, the return was a night one that completely messed my sleeping schedule, so if you have a lot to travel I recommend the day flights even though you “waste a day”.
We arrived at our hotel in the afternoon and directly went to sleep after dinner.
The Natural History Museum
On our fist official day in London we visited one of the most well known attractions – The Natural History Museum. It was a Sunday and we happened to arrive about an hour before opening, which I spent strolling around and taking a few photos in front of the “Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibition, which was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum, just on the other side of the street. Sadly couldn’t go in because we didn’t have time and the exposition was, of course, sold out.
However, if you do have the time, I’m sure the exhibition is worth seeing, as well as the V&A Museum, which I visited before and I adore.
Finally we got in the museum, which, to my surprise, had changed a bit over the past 4 years since I last saw it. We didn’t have time to visit all of it, but it was enough to refresh my memory and get an early breakfast tea.
If you go to London and visit the museum for the first time, I recommend taking at least half a day to see it and getting there early because the lines tend to get very long, as the museum is so popular among both tourists and locals, and you can visit it for free.
The London Eye
The past 2 times I haven’t even really considered visiting the London Eye because I found it too much of a touristic attraction, always a huge waiting line, and in my opinion, it seemed overpriced. If the group I travelled with wouldn’t have put it in the schedule, I probably wouldn’t have seen it this time either.
The view was indeed breathtaking and I got some nice photos and videos while in the cabin. However, I still wouldn’t cathegorise it as a “must see”, but if you have the extra time and patience to wait, it’s worth to see once, preferably after the Big Ben is out of renovation, so you can have the full experience.
After seeing the city from above, we stopped in a nice park just by and I was delighted to see that, yet again, the parks are just full of playful squirrels.
The Globe Theater
Also had the pleasure of seeing Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for the first time, where we didn’t stay for any plays (I would’ve loved to see Romeo and Juliet, but maybe next time). However, I think it’s worth visiting even if you don’t stay to watch any of the plays. We booked a group tour which I was really happy with, the guide was really nice and gave us just enough historical information about the place, without boring us with unimportant details.
The Lion King Musical
Also one of the things that I haven’t done any of the other times I was there – we saw 3 musicals.
The first day, it was The Lion King, then later in the week School of Rock and Matilda.
I was so amazed with the amount of work the cast and crew put in that show, which was flawless and left me with tears of joy while applauding for minutes, along with the rest of the audience.
I have never though of seeing any musicals while in London because I simply didn’t have the time and I probably wasn’t that interested a few years ago, but now I definitely recommend on going to at least one of the many held every night around the city. The Lion King was truly amazing and I’m pretty sure will impress people of all ages.
Dinner
We concluded the first day with dinner at Cafe Rouge, a beautiful French restaurant that I fell in love with because of the vintage styled decorations (didn’t take many photos though, the lightning wasn’t very good and all I could think about was the food, but you can definitely google it, or even better, go and see it for yourself).
Performing Arts Workshops
Our second day in London was occupied with a performing arts workshop.
One of the “purposes” of this trip was for me to try out something new – acting. And while I’m definitely no actress yet and don’t really plan on becoming one, the workshops were so much fun and helped me learn to coordinate better when working in groups.
The third morning we spent at the workshops and afternoon shopping on Oxford Street (one of my favorite activities :)).
The musicals School of Rock & Matilda
Also saw the musical “School of Rock”, which might have been the one that impressed me the most, as about 90% of the cast was formed of talented young kids that completely took over our hearts for the 2 hours they spent on the stage.
On the next day was full of laughter as we walked the old streets and performed a flash mob, we concluded with the show “Matilda” that I, again, adored. One of my favorite books (may or may not have read it around 8 times over the past years) made into a musical performed so beautifully by a talented, young cast.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter
On the penultimate day of our stay in London, of course we had the visit the iconic Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.
Pure joy is all I could see in every single one of the Potterheads there, no matter if it was their first or 20th visit. If you’re a fan, this has to be on your bucket list for sure. Also remarked a lot of things have changed and were added to the tour since I last saw it 4 years ago, so I do recommend re-visiting it if you have the extra time and money.
Buckingham Palace & St. Paul’s Cathedral
The last day in London was a relaxed one, we walked around and visited St. Paul’s Cathedral and The Buckingham Palace (pro tip: if you have the chance, visit it in the summer, the queen is in Scotland and the palace is open to the public, I saw it in 2015 and, as someone who learned about the royal family from a young age and also loves architecture, I found it one of the most beautiful experiences.)
Our day ended with an hour’s drive to Heathrow Airport and stumbling around the shops, buying a few magazines and a cup of coffee for the long flight.
I’m so grateful for being able to visit one of my favorite cities for yet another time and strongly recommend that you see it at least once, if you have the chance. I hope you enjoyed this article and if you visited or live in London and have any recommendations, comment them here or write me on Instagram.
Until next time…
?kisses,
-L
