Hollydays - London

30 Jan

To start my travels of 2018 there was really only one place to go... London. It is probably my favourite city in the world with Amsterdam close on its heels. But London will always have a place in my heart.

I decided to do a quick 5 day trip to London because my family has loads of January birthdays so what better way to start off the year with a few surprises!

I arrived in London on the Thursday morning only to find out I had left my credit card in my jacket pocket...in Canada. (Not recommended) thank goodness for Apple Pay because I was able to reload my Oyster card and make my way down to my dads office, so he could treat me to lunch haha.

*sidenote* if you plan on visiting London I would highly recommend an Oyster card especially if you’re not going into many zones you can click here for more info.

I bummed around my way through an incredibly Windy City to stay awake, by visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tate Modern, and The National Gallery (which are all free). After that I met up with dad grabbed a bite and then headed “home”.

Once I figured out almost everywhere now takes Apple Pay Friday was a bit more adventurous, I slept in for starters as jet lag settled in nicely (usually it’s not this bad), so I stumbled into down slightly after 2pm grabbed a bite to eat and wandered around Covent garden, Leicester Square and south Kensington (by accident). I always manage to walk a lot more then intended when I go to London as I am better with the underground as opposed to the streets. Either way I managed to make my way to 6pm before the surprise was set in motion, my uncle and I had planned to meet at Kings Cross station to surprise my aunt and it worked perfectly - my dad and I spotted them just as they hopped on the escalator and I snuck in right behind them, when my aunt spotted me her face was priceless. She works so hard to take care of everyone else it was so lovely to surprise her. We went to Carluccio’s for dinner (you can never go wrong with Italian).

Then we spent her birthday in London together on the Saturday.

We went to the VandA, which is also free except for certain exhibits, they currently have a Winnie the Pooh exhibit on which we had hope to go and see but unfortunately it being a Saturday everyone else had the same idea and decided to go as well so all the tickets were sold out. After we all had enough wandering and hunger set it we popped along South Kensington and found a lovely little restaurant tucked away in the corner call Muriel’s Kitchen, which was amazing and had something for everyone. I had a breakfast bowl, my dad had chickpea curry, my uncle had shepherds pie and my aunt had a burger, so if you’re traveling with picky eaters (or not) I would highly recommend it!!

Sunday was the day of surprise #2, as it was my uncles (dads brother) birthday later that week. That too went off without a hitch we left London around 8am so we could get there slightly before lunch. As my uncle was out Sunday morning we were able to sneak in before he arrived home.

I am not a huge morning person but once I have food in me I’m a more tolerable, if you’re looking for relatively healthy options for food on the go I would suggest Leon or Pret. Those are my personal two faves, this Sunday morning I went with Leon as they have egg cups to go.

Once we arrived and surprised, the rest of the family came over and the day was filled with treats and Pictionary, balloon animals and lots and lots of part poppers .

We arrived back in London shortly after 9pm making it a long day, but the benefit of taking a direct coach is that you can sleep haha!

Monday rolled around - I hopped on the train and headed to the airport, and just like that I was sleeping in my own bed.

Although London is my most visited city there’s still so much for me to see and do. It was my first time going to the V and A, when I went in the summer it was my first Broadway show. So if you’ve been and feel like I’ve missed something out let me know I’m already creating a list for next time!

The list so far includes: