London. A Few Travel Tips and a Historical Pub Tour.
- jillaripa
- Nov 18, 2024
- 8 min read
I recently spent sixteen days in Europe, and I am dying to share with you all about the beautiful places we visited and how grateful we were to have had this opportunity. If you’ve read any of my stuff, you know I’m a rambler and a story-teller, so you can expect a lot of that, along with a few tips I'd like to share (mostly from lessons we learned the hard way) in case you’re planning any trips across the pond!
First, let me tell you about my husband, Hector. He is a researcher. I mean…wow. He tends to wake up in the middle of the night, and when he does, he learns things. When we travel, he plans everything. He’ll ask me if there’s anything I want to do, and then he finds the best of the best in every place we visit. For instance, he said something like, “we don’t really need to go to Universal Studios in London to see the Harry Potter stuff, do we? I mean, since we’ve been to Orl--” That’s where I cut him off and informed him that we most certainly did need to go to Universal Studios in London to see the Harry Potter stuff. He just laughed a little, nodded, and went to work researching the best tours and times. It’s good to be loved. On top of my requests, he reads all the reviews and deep dives into all the things a person should know about the city. The weather. The restaurants. The tours. The sites. Everything. He’s amazing at that. I mostly focus on what I should pack. Which in this case was way too much.
Tip: Packing. Honestly, with all the research Hector did about what the cities would be like and how the weather would be, I had no excuse to get this wrong. And, it wasn’t my first trip to Europe, so I really should’ve known better. I packed ten dresses, y’all. Feel free to laugh at me and judge me harshly because…yeah, I wore two of them. I did wear all seven jackets that I packed and all eight pairs of shoes, but I decided for our next trip, I will limit myself to one checked bag. If it can’t fit in there, I don’t need it. I would love to be one of those cool travelers who could just take a carry-on and be fine, but let’s face it, that’s never gonna happen. I can assure you that I will never again check one bag and carry on another. I can’t tell you how unnecessarily stressful it was to roll two suitcases down the cobblestone streets getting to the train station. I might’ve worn all eight jackets, but I could’ve done with two. And don’t get me started on eight pairs of shoes. Lesson learned.
London. That’s where we started our trip. Actually, it began with a little road trip to Austin because Hector found a direct flight from Austin to Heathrow, so that was a no-brainer. We had to figure in the cost of parking, but Hector did some great research on that too. If you look hard enough, you can find discounts on some of the airport parking lots. And you know by now that Hector looked hard enough. So even though it wasn’t inexpensive, it was so much better than it could’ve been for that many days.
Tip: Always dig for deals.
So, the adventure began as we drove over to Austin and spent the afternoon hanging out there. We went to one of our favorites--Lazarus Brewing--and had some tacos and a beer. We’ve been doing the Keto thing, so the beer and the tacos were a real treat and a great way to enjoy the beautiful Austin day and kick off the trip. We arrived at the airport early in order to avoid any airport drama, and I have to tell you--this is a must. You just never know what can happen with an international flight. We didn’t really have any drama, but it felt so calming to be through security with plenty of time. I was lucky that they let me check my second suitcase for free!
Tip: Get to the airport early. If nothing else, you will have peace of mind and no stress.
We flew overnight, which I highly recommend--especially if you are able to sleep on planes. For us, it means we can fly while we sleep and then be ready to go when we arrive. That’s not to say that we don’t experience jet lag, because we definitely do. We just plan on sleeping in a little some time in the first couple of days to help with that. Otherwise, we just keep going and sleep when we get home! In this case, we arrived at Heathrow, and we had our first experience with the train. We stayed at Airbnbs the whole trip (again, thanks to Hector’s diligent research), and our London host had given us very specific instructions on how to get to the flat. Still, the first time you buy tickets for the train, it can be daunting. And people are pretty impatient at those machines, but we figured it out fairly quickly and headed to our platform. While we were waiting, we must’ve seemed a little confused, and a Londoner was quick to help us with directions and to assure us we were at the right place. Honestly, we found that to be the case all over the city. Londoners were extremely polite and helpful.
When you get to the train, you’ll see “mind the gap” painted everywhere, and a woman’s voice says it over and over while people are boarding. And it’s a good thing. There is a pretty big-sized gap between the concrete and the train, and if you don’t “mind it,” you could break an ankle or in my case maybe break one of the wheels off your many pieces of luggage.
Our host had given us the perfect instructions, and we were able to walk to the flat from the train station pretty easily--even with the luggage. We stayed in Soho, right in the middle of all the action, and it could not have been more perfect for us. We had all kinds of restaurants right outside our door, and it was invigorating to just leave our flat and immediately start walking the city.
Tip: Neighborhoods in London. If you are planning to go to London, research the different areas, and try to find a spot that matches your vibe. If the hustle and bustle is not your thing, there are other areas that are a bit quieter, and honestly you can’t go wrong. London is a wonderful city!
It’s interesting that people have told us before that we didn’t need too many days in London. They said we would see all the sites in one, maybe two days, and then we would be ready to see another city. If I could play a sound effect for you right now, it would be that red buzzer with the big “X” visual from Family Feud. That’s how wrong those people were. We LOVED London!! We could have spent all sixteen days there!
We didn’t even really spend time unpacking when we arrived, which is not typical for us. Hector had booked our first tour for that afternoon, so in the same clothes we wore on our road trip to Austin, we took off to explore.
First, we quickly ate lunch at this casual restaurant, called Checkpoint, that was just beneath our flat--right outside the door. In fact, the black door you see in this picture was our front door! Then, we headed to the meeting spot for our first tour. It was a walking pub tour that took us through the Blackfriars, St Paul’s Cathedral area, and Fleet Street.
St. Paul’s Cathedral was probably the most spectacular site in the city. Its steeples and peaks burst upward from so many places in the city, but to see it up close on our first day and to learn all about its history was truly special. In the Blackfriars, The pubs all had historical significance, and along the way from pub to pub our guide would stop and give us fascinating information about different areas and buildings. He had great stories about how things were established and about destructive events during WWII. It’s an interesting perspective to think about how much the European cities had to rebuild after the war. We haven’t really experienced that in the United States, so it was absolutely inspiring and fascinating. We visited a pub called, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where the likes of Dickens and Voltaire hung out together. Oh, yeah, and Shakespeare. My brain was exploding. Our guide took us back to a room in that pub where a FIRST EDITION Tale of Two Cities was hanging on the wall!
In one of the other pubs, called The Viaduct Tavern, we went downstairs to see an old prison cell they discovered. We got to walk into it and see how small and dark it was. I have to admit, I didn’t stay down there for too long! In another pub, we saw where they used to have cock fights. There was a small balcony upstairs where people would watch and bet on the fights. So crazy!
We walked around Shakespeare’s neighborhood and saw the place where he actually put on most of his plays! I had never heard of it; I had always only known about The Globe, but we saw the place where his scripts were kept safe when The Globe burned down. If it hadn't been for this location, we would not have his plays today. Can you imagine? When you walk through these areas, you can feel the energy of the past. So much was created there, discussed there, destroyed and rebuilt there, kept sacred there. All of that was alive and buzzing in the air as we walked. It was surreal.
As we walked along Fleet Street, our guide talked about his father who was a journalist there. He had grown up hearing stories about how people on Fleet Street fought for stories and spent late nights writing those stories after hitting the pub several times throughout the day. We loved the personal stories he shared with us about the area; it made it so special. And every time I saw a sign that said, “Fleet Street,” I was singing the opening to Sweeney Todd in my head. We stopped at St Bride’s Church where the idea for the modern wedding cake was born. You can see in the picture where the inspiration came from, as a poor would-be groom baked a cake to impress his soon-to-be father-in-law. It was the first-ever tiered wedding cake based on the spire of that church.
That tour was one of our absolute favorites of the trip.What a great group of people! I had the best conversation with this guy who was also a big Lord of the Rings fan! So fun to nerd out with a stranger-made-friend from Scotland! We ended the evening at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurants, Heddon Street Kitchen, and had a great meal! I tried venison, which I don’t think I’ll try again, but it felt adventurous to try something new. By that time we could hardly see straight, we were so tired. But day one in London was a day full of history and lively conversation. A day will we not soon forget!
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