I can't believe I'm even writing a blog for this; I very rarely venture outside my pocket of the west coast! A friend invited us to her UK wedding and of course I took up the opportunity to explore outside the US.
I'm breaking this up into three different blogs because there is a lot of info! Check out my Tips and Tricks for London and Coffee shops in London.
I was not fully prepared for the full day of travel. We left Monday morning and got to London Tuesday afternoon. Be prepared for some major jetlag!
We stayed at the Bedford Hotel - located in the center of everything. Almost all of our destinations were walkable which was worth it so we could take everything in! The hotel was very quaint. There's a restaurant/bar inside as well as garden seating in the back.
Since this was my first time, I had no idea what I was doing. We mostly stuck to touristy things and absolutely loved seeing them! Here's a breakdown of everything we did:
Covent Garden:
Covent Garden is an area full of shops, pubs and restaurants. This was a place we found ourselves the most because there was so much to see and do!
London Eye/Big Ben:
The London Eye area is VERY touristy. I loved seeing it for the first time and the view on the bridge was amazing, but It'd prob be last on my list when we back. Big Ben was really cool to check out though!
Oxford and Regent St.:
This area is a HUGE shopping destination! It kind of reminded me of the Vegas Strip. Hundreds of stores to check out from casual fashion to designer luxury.
We did find a really good bar off Regent St. called Slug and Lettuce. The food was delicious, and the drinks were so cute! On the weekdays they do BOGO on cocktails - so good! There are multiple locations of Slug and Lettuce so don't fret if you're not near the Regent St location.
Buckingham Palace:
We caught the end of the Queens Jubilee so sadly we couldn't get very close to Buckingham Palace because they were still taking down the Jubilee construction, but I think normally you can walk right up and even take a tour!
Abbey Rd:
Of course, we had to visit the infamous Beatles site. Nearby is the Abbey Road Shop full of Beatles merch and other artists that worked with Abbey Studios.
Not too far from Abbey Rd is an official Beatles store and just a few steps down is the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
Kings Cross:
Kings Cross was a madhouse! It's an active train station so plan ahead if you are there only for the Harry Potter store. The line for Platform 9 3/4 was very long so plan for that as well! Photos were near impossible to get so I'm sorry for the lack of content! I do have some videos saved under the LONDON highlight on Instagram.
Jack The Ripper Museum:
This was probably one of my favorite things we did. I'm very interested in the minds of serial killers and Jack the Ripper was a very intense individual. Known as the "Whitechapel Murders" you can go around the area to each victim's location or the museum offers tours. They have plaques of each victim which I thought was really cool.
There are some videos on my Instagram if you want to see some of the inside! It's £12 for adults.
I absolutely LOVE London! I loved the people, the history, the charm. It's such a beautiful place. I hope this blog helps and I hope you get to visit one day.
There's more under the LONDON highlight on my Instagram if you want to see pics and vids from our trip. And check out Tips and Tricks for London and Coffee Shops in London for more!
-xoxo, Aimee