Travel Diary: London Trip 2018

I hope everybody has had a great bank holiday weekend and hopefully you were one of the lucky ones to not have to go to work.

I have had this weekend booked off for ages and I was meant to go to Creamfields but someone backed out. My other half had the time off too so we decided a trip to London would be a good idea. I had never been to London before and to be honest I was a little bit scared to go, especially with all the terrorist attacks that they’ve had recently and the crowds also put me off going. Eventually, Josh managed to talk me into it and we booked it all the day before we went. I am now so glad I decided to go.

Day One

On day one, we set off from Leeds at 9 in the morning and arrived in London just after 11. On our first day we didn’t really do that much but we still had a good day. I was really nervous to get onto the tube but I absolutely loved it. When we arrived at our hotel in Kensington around half 11-12ish we couldn’t check in until 3pm so we decided to dump our luggage in the hotel and go about our day until 3pm came. With not being able to check in until then,  we had to find something to do and close by. Josh realised that he needed something for his e-cig so we ended up trapesing all the way over to Wimbledon or somewhere close by to go to a shop. We managed to find a shopping centre and he got what he needed. There were some problems with his e-cig and he needed other things so this dragged the time on more so it was soon time to check in. After checking in, we decided to go to the National Science Museum which wasn’t bad but wasn’t the best. We were happy we got free entry. It did have 3 floors though which is good for free entry. Whilst at the science museum, we did a virtual reality thing where we were meant to be landing the space station back onto earth with a guide from Tim Peake and that was probably the best bit as it felt so real. It was also the first time I had ever used virtual reality. After the science museum, we decided to walk around Kensington and see what was there. We ended up in Kensington High Street which was really good and into Kensington Gardens & Palace which was also really good. I got a few photos and that was just day one. It all of a sudden started to rain really heavily and we only had hooded jumpers on which was so annoying as we were soaked. We settled at going for some food at our favourite chain Italian restaurant which was just down the road and then going back to the hotel for the night.

The picture below was in Covent Garden.

Day Two

Day two was our busiest day by far. We didn’t arrive back at the hotel while at least 11pm. We decided to go sight seeing around central London and some close, surrounding areas. We started out in Covent Garden which is the high street of designer shops for anyone who wasn’t sure and then it has a few bars and restaurants and a market hall. To be honest I was probably the least impressed with it and I didn’t think I would be. It didn’t seem like much. I also ended up nearly passing out after climbing 193 steps out of the tube station, since I thought that would be quicker than waiting in a long queue for a lift. Wasn’t I very wrong! After Covent Garden we had a walk down to Drury Lane which was also nearby. I didn’t realise that it wasn’t a street just full of theatres. We wanted to book to see the School Of Rock Musical at the Gillian Lynne Theatre but the tickets were almost £100 per person so we decided to pass on that. We were gutted that they were the only tickets left but we also did much more with that money so it didn’t spoil the trip for us. After deciding against booking it we went into Central London and saw everything there from the London Eye to Westminster to Big Ben and much more, it was a shame that the Big Ben was all scaffolded up though. I am pretty sure that during the same day we also visited Canary Wharf and had a cocktail by the water and huge glass buildings. The thing that did scare me the most was getting the DLR driverless train to Canary Wharf. I hated the thought that there was no driver on the train and just a conductor on board just pressing buttons to make the train set off. The final spot we went to was Tower Bridge and we managed to catch it when it got dark which was amazing! It looked stunning lit up and all the nightlife just below the bridge was also amazing. We didn’t realise how late it was and we were absolutely starving so we went to another Italian which was close to Tower Bridge and it was amazing, also pretty cheap to say how posh and expensive the restaurants around it seemed. After food we decided to go back to the hotel because we were absolutely shattered!

This picture here is of St James’ Park with the backdrop of the Queen’s guards museum and the London Eye. I absolutely loved St James’ Park. I thought it was stunning and so quiet and peaceful and the squirrels came really close to you for food.

Day Three

As if we didn’t fit enough sight seeing in on Saturday, we decided to continue it into Sunday. Unfortunately the weather was awful and it just rained all day! We still didn’t let it spoil the fun though. Josh didn’t bring a raincoat with him so he wanted to go shopping for one and we ended up on Oxford Street. This was such a bad idea. He came out with a North Face coat and a Topman jumper and I came out with a new jumper even though it’s not jumper season yet, a mug which to be fair was a gift for someone and yet another pair of Lilo & Stitch pyjamas which I really didn’t need but got anyway! Not bad for an unplanned visit. After Oxford Street, we went into Central London again and had a ride on the London Eye which was an amazing experience. A little scary and throws you off balance a bit but worth every penny! After the London Eye, we went into Piccadilly Circus to go to M&Ms World which was amazing! 4 floors of M&M goodies. It was so overpriced though but I still came out with some pyjamas. We then went up The Shard after which was also amazing! The only thing I wasn’t keen on in The Shard was the lift. It was a really quick lift so it made me feel very ill and we had to go up 72 floors! It was well worth it at the top though. What I liked about it was the fact that you could pay in and spend however long you liked in there. You weren’t limited to any time whatsoever. I expected the staff to only give you an hour or so. We also got a voucher on entry for £10 off a bottle of champagne but we weren’t bothered about that to be honest we just wanted the view and it was the expensive Moët & Chandon one so it would’ve cost a fortune even with the discount! Once we had done in The Shard, we were both soaking wet from the rain, freezing cold and both in pain with previous injuries so we stopped off at one last place, Pudding Lane before we went back to our hotel. We thought that Pudding Lane still had quite old buildings on. We thought that the buildings that had burnt down had been rebuilt but still back in the day if that makes sense. We were very wrong anyway with whatever we were thinking! All the buildings had been replaced with new office blocks and things like that. We were pretty gutted. After that we just went back to our hotel and Josh ordered a Dominos and then we went to sleep. 

This picture below is a view that I managed to get out of a non rainy window in The Shard of the London Eye. I love how you can also see the clouds coming over the city. 

Day Four

Day four was our final day and unfortunately we didn’t take any photos because there was nothing to see really. We weren’t leaving London until 9.30pm so we had all day to do whatever. We started our day by going to a Houses of Parliament shop near Westminster for a specific gift for my dad but unfortunately they had nothing to do with what we wanted so we had to look at other options. We then went over to Madame Tussaud’s and realised that we were going to be paying £30 per person for 2 hours and it just didn’t seem worth it at all so we passed on that one. After that, we headed over to Knightsbridge for the big Harrods store. It looked very posh and fancy and that was just the entrance! We had a bit of a look around but not that much as we were a bit skint from everything else that we did. It was one hell of a store though! I couldn’t believe that there were just tons of Chanel bags just casually lined up on a shelf for people to buy. How the other half live eh? We then made the big mistake of going to Westfield shopping centre in Stratford! Oh my gosh! It was heaving. We couldn’t cope. The crowd was horrendous. Josh was out vaping every 5 minutes and I just couldn’t be bothered looking around all the stores because they were so big and crowded! It made Meadowhall in Sheffield look dead. Also our tube journey took the mick! It took us like half an hour to get there. It was so boring. I managed to get a sneaky look in the Missguided store though and that was really nice but I didn’t see anything I really liked enough to buy. I also had a look in the Disney store and came out with a Tigger teddy and a Stitch notebook for myself and then a Mickey and Minnie London one for my mum. We gave up looking round after 2 hours it was far too busy and confusing for us. I would’ve probably had a better chance of understanding the underground map than I would getting around that shopping centre! I almost forgot as well, we went to the Shrek adventures gift shop for my mum and grandma’s presents. After Westfield, we decided to go back to the hotel, grab our luggage and set off home. It was a good job that we set off when we did. Our tube train got stopped on the way to Kings Cross since someone on the tube just randomly started screaming for no reason whatsoever. It was just completely out of the blue and someone pulled the emergency alarm as they didn’t know what was happening. I must admit we were pretty scared when this happened as we just heard screaming and that the train had been stopped. After all the recent trouble they’ve had down there it could’ve been anything. We still don’t know what it was but we were scared and worried that if we were stuck for a long time not being allowed to come off the tube that we would’ve missed our train. Luckily, our driver got the safety team from the underground station we were at to deal with the passenger and we set off after a few minutes of being stuck. We finally made it to our train but didn’t have time for any food so we had to go into a small Waitrose store and buy some bits and pieces and then we headed home.

Overall, we had a great time and I would definitely not hesitate to go again. My favourite parts have got to be going up The Shard, going to M&Ms World, going on the London Eye, using the tube and much more. My worst parts have got to be Covent Garden, our hotel breakfast wasn’t great and of course the tube incident was very scary. Otherwise everything else was great. 

Where would I go next time?

If I was to go again I will admit that I still didn’t get to see everything I wanted to. I would definitely go to the National history museum, the fashion and textiles museum, the Roald Dahl museum and so many more. Whilst in London this time I wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum but in a few weeks we’re going to Manchester for my dad and Josh to have a tour around Man United, so me and my mum are going to the north version of it in Manchester. I didn’t want to go to the big one in London just in case it made the Manchester one seem like a let down.