In October of 2022, I took my first trip to Europe. It was an amazing trip and I learned so much. I can not wait to go back and go to new places as well! 

During this trip, I didn’t have any itinerary or much planning which was both freeing but also very overwhelming! I’m hoping that this upcoming series of blogs will help you get an idea of things you might like to add to your itinerary or maybe some tips from what I learned during my last trip. So if you stick around you can look forward to blogs about every place I visited. Including London, Heidelberg, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, and Paris. Keep in mind that in every place we went to we were only there for a couple of days. For instance, in London, we flew in early on the first day and then had another full day in London before our flight to Frankfurt early on day 3. Anyways, it was 2 days and only 2 days so there is a whole list of things that I would love to do on the next trip.

Amount of time stayed

We chose the amount of time that we stayed in London based on how much time we were able to be away from home and how much of our time we wanted to spend in the other locations during our trip. We didn’t prioritize London when planning because we knew that we only wanted to get a chance to look around until we got onto a flight to Germany. We ended up going with a flight that landed in London early in the morning and our flight to Germany left early in the morning one day after we landed. In total, we had close to a full 2 days inside of London. If this is your first trip and you love England and the United Kingdom then I would recommend more time. (I mean, duh, right, lol).  Everyone has a different way of traveling but I would say that if you like London you should try to stay here for at least a week. If you’re not sure if you like London but you want to see what it’s like then I would recommend you try a shorter trip similar to what we did. Pick out a few places you know you’d like to see and pay to go into some of the places that you think might be interesting. Otherwise, you’ll wander around without anything to do and get bored pretty fast… SPOILER: That’s exactly what ended up happening to us in Paris and we got very confused, overwhelmed, and… bored, quite frankly. Hopefully after reading about some of the places we went, and some of the places I want to go back to, you’ll have plenty of ideas of where to go and won’t be bored at all. 🙂

We could’ve stayed longer

Looking back now we definitely could’ve stayed longer in London, but I’m glad we didn’t because we had no clue what we were doing, and jet lag affects how tired you are so it also affects the way you think. Duh lol. The first day we were in London we were very tired and very confused about where we wanted to go so we did most of our sightseeing that day, which was pretty handy for getting used to the trains and buses. We also knew that since London was not our main focus this trip we decided not to take any tours of the popular tourist areas because we just wanted to see the popular landmarks and sort of get a general feel for the city and area. Because of that, it didn’t take us long to visit one landmark and move on to the next. I think that is the only reason we were able to see as many places as we did on our first day. 

Not too much to do, just too little time to do it.

If we had stayed longer we could’ve found a lot more things to do and places to go, but our biggest surprise was not only having too many places that we wanted to visit but just not having enough time to visit the places we went to. Everything took longer than it was planned to. When we visited The Hampton Court Palace, even as someone who does not stop and observe pieces of art and architecture, it was so much larger and full of art and history that, for some reason, I wasn’t expecting, but it was hard to not stop and truly look to take in the history and construction of everything.

Flights

Hotels

For our hotel, we stayed close to the airport since we had an early flight coming in and out of London. We were also able to save some money by staying by the airport and that’s always a plus. We stayed at the Moxy by Heathrow Airport and it was very nice. Quite small when in comparison to most American hotels that I’ve stayed in but it seemed to be the norm compared to the Parisian Moxy. We never ate at the restaurant in the hotel because there were a lot of interesting restaurants around the area and we also had plenty of places inside of London that we wanted to try. At the time I’m writing this, the price for the Moxy is $107 a night. We paid a price… for the hotel. I’m sorry, that’s not helpful… I do not remember how much our hotel nights were but we chose a hotel that was further away from town so it was cheaper and closer to the airport. I would recommend the Moxy that we stayed in if you are in a similar situation where you are only in London for a few days and you have an early flight that you need to catch. Otherwise, I would probably recommend a hotel closer to some of the areas you are going to want to visit.

Why the Moxy:

I got lucky here and my dad was the one that paid for the hotel because with the Moxy we could use his Marriott points so that is what we used for this hotel.   

I’m not sure where would’ve been nicer and we might have been able to find something cheaper but at the rate that it would’ve been cheaper we would’ve needed to pay more for public transportation just like we did close to the airport or had more inconvenience so we chose the Moxy. The room was small but bigger than the room we had at the Moxy in Paris. It worked for us. We wanted to spend more time outside of our hotel than inside which is usually the case for our vacations so we just needed a place to sleep comfortably and shower. The rest we could figure out. 

I would recommend the Moxy if you aren’t staying a long time inside London, you’re okay with paying a bit extra for transport, and you have an early flight leaving London. Otherwise, I would say that you might want to look at something that would better fit your needs. Like something closer to the center of London or something with more flash and accommodations if you enjoy hanging out inside of your hotel.

Transportation

We bought an Oyster Card for transportation and that was a good move. I remember thinking that transportation didn’t end up costing much. Especially if you compare the cost of using Rideshares for an American vacation. 

We took both Buses and the Subway/Train AKA “The Tube” inside of London. It was honestly mind-blowing, as an American, how well their public transportation worked. Surprisingly it’s not even what “Transportation Nerds” consider to be the best transportation in the world… This means that there is something even better than what’s in London… *more mind-blowing happens*.

Moving on. I’m writing this blog much later than when we traveled to London and I have since been to Washington D.C. which is considered to be one of the places that American public transport is best… In comparison to D.C., London Transportation wins! However, I will give D.C. credit for more accessible train platforms. D.C. wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t pay as close of attention to either cities accessibility as I should’ve but when you are lucky enough to not have to pay attention to that, you pay attention to other details. I did notice more elevators and subway stations marked with accessible entrances in D.C. than I did in London. They existed in London but were further apart than they should’ve been.

In any case, I recommend planning around public transport if you’re staying in London. Outside of London, I’m not sure how great the transportation system is.

Unexpected Problems

1. Couldn’t find Toilets… always further down than anticipated

If you need the restroom… Look down, or be ready for the stairs. When I brought this subject up to my Mother she started recalling how the toilets at a mall we went to were the same way and she was shocked at how short the actual toilets were… I specified that I do not mean that the toilet itself was short, I mean that it was down at least 2 flights of stairs… almost everywhere. It felt like people in London only poop in caves. I’m kidding of course, but, seriously, in a lot of places in London (and Paris) the toilets were much further down than in America

2. Not Having enough time

I’ve already mentioned this plenty of times so I won’t elaborate much more but it was truly an unexpected problem. I’m aching to go back already. I can’t wait to make it there again and explore more.

Those are the only unexpected problems I can think of, surprisingly! Everything went much better than I thought it would and we kept ourselves very entertained while we were there.

Food

Okay, this might be controversial but we enjoyed the food in London. Am I saying that food in London is going to be equivalent to all the food in England, no, but the places we ate inside or just outside of London were pretty good. 

Here is a list of all the locations we ate at and a short idea of where it ranks for our favorites while we were in London. Keep in mind that we ate at these restaurants once so we don’t have multiple experiences and things might have been better than usual that day or vice versa… Just keep an open perspective while reading and don’t immediately decide if these places are the best or worst after my simple review. Also, If you want a little more info on each location check out my post with all the locations and reviews listed here.

• The Prince Of Wales (pub) – princeofwaleskt8.co.uk – Both my dad and I are set on coming back to this place with the rest of the family. Amazing baked camembert, it was the star of our meal here! (just thinking about it makes me hungry)
• Nando’s – Very good, I don’t know if it was the mixture of exhaustion and hunger but it was fantastic as the first place we ate in London.
• The Flying Egg Cafe – Close to the hotels near the airport, a nice hearty breakfast, I would say a good place to try and see if it’s your thing.

Attractions

London is a capital city so there was more than enough here to fill a week’s worth of time and it suits all different types of people so it has a lot of Interesting things to see.

My best piece of advice is to list all the things and places you want to see. Even if you get all those places by googling “things to see in London”. Then, do some research on how you want to see them. For London, there are all the royal palace areas and if you are really into one of those locations then you should visit and pay for the ticket to go inside certain areas of the palace or wherever you are thinking of visiting. The Tower of London had a lot of information and cool things to look at on the outside without paying to get in. But, if you were a big history person and you loved the history of the tower then it would be worth that entrance fee to see everything inside. Make sure you leave enough time to truly enjoy the spot because there will be lots to see. I know the tower is a good example of somewhere I’ll be paying to enter the next time I visit because the history they displayed on the outside was so interesting.

The Royal Palaces are museums… Leave enough time to treat them like museums!

Also, remember the locations of some palaces when you’re planning to visit and how the crowds will be different. For example, when we visited the Hampton Court Palace it was not super busy with tourists but it had a couple of school field trips because it wasn’t in the middle of the city. The Tower of London had a bunch of tourists and a bunch of school field trips so even though it probably wasn’t as busy as it could’ve been it was busier than other locations since it was inside the city.

We went to…

The outside area of the tower of London, and sightseeing on our first day there. It gave us a good way of figuring out transportation and knocking some of those must-see spots, like Buckingham Palace, off our list without needing to be very awake because I can tell you that we were tired. 

On the second day, we went to Hamptons court palace, out for food, and ended the day with the big Ben and the London eye… which wasn’t running and I was okay with that lol. Eventually, I’ll be brave and make myself get into an eye (heh never thought I’d write that down…) whether it’s Orlando or London… eventually, maybe. 

The Hampton Court Palace

The Hampton Court Palace was very cool. This was the one location that we spent the most of our trip in London because it took a whole day to explore. It had 2 different sides to the palace. There was the older side/”domestic Tudor” (according to Wikipedia) that Henry the 8th used which had a huge kitchen space with a very impressive fireplace; and then there was the “newer” side that was built for the later generations of the monarchy. They tore down a part of the original Tudor palace and built a more modern Baroque-style section of the palace. 

What we would’ve done if given more time!

As I said previously, we wanted more time in London. This next bit is very long; but, if you’re wondering about things that you should plan to visit while in London, here are some great ideas! 

The Library

We were looking forward to going to the British Library inside of London after going to the Tower of London and seeing all the old scrolls and illuminations that are in the library. To be honest, we hadn’t thought about it beforehand because my dad isn’t a big Library fan and I didn’t realize how much stuff the library was going to have. 

Museums

We didn’t go to any museums on this trip and we didn’t plan to go to any museums. 

I already knew that it wasn’t probably going to be either my or my dad’s favorite thing to do. Looking back, thank goodness we didn’t try to go to any because we would’ve had to skip something else. 

However, there are tons of museums inside London and the majority of them are free or pretty cheap. They are on our list for the next trip.

Ridden the Eye

I’m not a huge fan of heights… or carnival-style rides… But, I think this would’ve been a super cool experience. Just looking out over London to see the different buildings and cityscapes. It’s on my list… although, I might need some convincing to ride it. The cost to ride varies based on which ticket you choose but at a base cost, it’s about £30 when purchased online.

Maybe a Buckingham Palace tour

Is this necessary for me… maybe not. My mindset is a form of “when in Rome… do as the Romans do… or stuff that might be cool in Rome”… Lol. So when in London, I think it might be cool to go on a Buckingham Palace tour. I will be looking for the cheapest/best option for the tour no matter what.

Walked the Princess Diana walk

As we were walking to Buckingham Palace we saw the large metal… plaques you could say(?), on the ground in St. James Park walkways that signified if you were on the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. If we went again I would plan a day for the walk. It was a beautiful park and, for me, it would be fun. The walk is a 7-mile-long circle so it’s not a walk in the park… It’s a walk in 4 parks. A goal for me nonetheless. 🙂

Gone shopping

I was worried about not having enough to do while we were in London so I had taken the time to research different bookstores to visit inside of London and I was kind of excited about the idea of browsing some neat bookstores… maybe with a coffee and some music…

I also would’ve loved to go to more thrift/second-hand stores. Secondhand stores were much more prevalent inside Paris but we also just had a day in Paris where all we did was walk around to other stores. So I would like to have another one of those days but inside of London. 

I had also seen some sort of video on social media a couple of years back about a HUGE fabric store inside of the London area called Fabrics Galore. And while it may be dangerous, mostly for my wallet, and a terrible idea to go shopping for fabric when checking extra baggage costs so much… I still want to. Lol. So it’s also on my list of places to go.

Eaten more

Yes, haha. The food we had was, for the most part, very yummy. I would’ve loved to have gotten to try more places and more cuisines! London is just one of those beautifully diverse cities that has so much to offer… Especially when it comes to different types of food!

• Gotten nice english tea

I don’t feel like I seized the opportunity to get the English tea time that I would’ve loved! So for my next trip I’ll definitely be looking up different Tea spots to try out.

• Worried that food would be bland

We were worried about the food at first because everyone warned us about English food. We even packed a travel-size container of “slap yo’ mama” cajun spice mix in case it needed something extra. To our pleasant surprise, I think we managed to avoid those places. I had a recommendation for Nando’s which isn’t English food, it’s South African. It was amazing! We did stop into a pub and oh my goodness we had some baked camembert with toast and it was fantastic! The other food we ordered there was also good but the baked camembert really stole the show.

* Dad’s Opinions, Dad’s Takes, Dad’s Corner

Dad followed along on this trip so he gets a corner dedicated to his notes of the trip… I’m not sure what I’m going to call this section of the blog yet so stick around while I play with different names.

TLDR: Dad liked the price and convenience of staying closer to Heathrow Airport even with its downsides. The pros outweigh the cons. However, he would not recommend this for Paris. In comparison, the hotel in London by the airport was much more convenient than staying close to the airport in Paris. 

He also agreed that London is a future trip for him as well but he would really like to bring the whole family next time.

• Stayed close to airport and the adjustments that includes

I mentioned before that we stayed near the Heathrow airport because of the ease of transportation to and from the airport and the prices weren’t terrible either since Dad had his marriott points… Lucky me! 

When we were picking the hotel we looked at transportation, cost, and reviews. We ended up going with something close to the airport because we arrived early in the morning and we had already checked to see if the hotel would take our baggage if we got there early and they agreed. They ended up having our room ready for us in the morning too which was fantastic! But also, we knew we had an early flight to Germany at the end of our trip and we wanted to help that go as smoothly as possible.

The hotel was cheaper than options that were closer to the heart of London by about half at the time when we were visiting; but the transportation was more expensive because of the trip we had to make every day to get into town. From Heathrow it wasn’t too terrible but we had already decided that we were going to spend the extra on the transportation instead of the hotel. Keep in mind that they raise the price of public transportation to the airports as well so the normal price of a trip going somewhere else is lower than the price going to the airport. I can’t imagine what the transport from Gatwick would’ve looked like… However, I also haven’t done any research on it… But there is also the factor that it takes that much more time to get to wherever you want to go.

Now, with all of that being said. We stayed close to the airport in Paris and that was not near as convenient as London. We were farther away by basically an hour, it was more expensive transportation wise, the trains are super unpredictable and that’s the best, cheapest way to get to the hotels near the airport so if you don’t have an alternative route planned in Paris your life gets kinda hard when a train is unavailable. We would stay close to the airport again in London and we would not in Paris.

• Not enough time to do more things 

Even though Dad is not much of a museum person or a sightseer, he also agreed that we should go back and that there just was not enough time to see all the things we wanted to. He thought that the palace was going to take a lot less time but with the audio tour and all the history it took a long time and we didn’t even make it through the Gardens. He also really enjoyed talking to the people working in the palace as well. He’s never really had an interest in remembering the different royals and the history of it all but when he got curious about the different people the audio tour was talking about and ended up having a whole discussion on “Farmer George” with one of the workers. An important story because if we had just rushed through we wouldn’t have had that interaction and while I wouldn’t know to be sad about it I think I still would have regretted not spending as much time as we did.

The End

Thank you so much for sticking around until the end of my ramblings. I think this was one of the most eye-opening trips I’ve ever taken in my life. As an American, you kind of only learn about The United States and everything else is just an afterthought. Most Americans are also not lucky enough to have the money to experience places outside of the US or they are taught that it just isn’t possible to pay for a trip overseas. I am very thankful that I was able to experience this and I can’t wait to make it my goal to experience new places like this in the future. I hope you stick around for all these new adventures with me and that you hopefully learn something that encourages you to visit a place you dreamed about all your life!

With love and excitement – Anna

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading my blog. Please feel free to comment if you have any extra tips and tricks for a first trip to London. Hope you found something useful or just entertaining while reading. Have a fantastic day! -A <3