Who Needs the Hop on Hop Off (London, England)
We flew from Barcelona to London Stansted with Ryanair. Although the flight was delayed over 8 hours, we still tend to book with Ryanair, as they have some of the cheapest flights we have seen.
We booked our hotel "Ramada" in the Docklands with Expedia. It was the best deal we could find for three people together.
During the flight the guy in front of us heard our foreign Canadian accents and gave us all kinds of tips on places we could go in London. He had a West Ham United top on so it wasn't surprising he was telling us about when we could see a West Ham United match. He said there was an exhibition match we could see for cheap. He gave us some tips on where we could go to get some authentic cockney pub food. It was nice of him to give us all the tips but we had some plans already.
We flew into Stansted, London, and took a National Express coach bus to Victoria. It was about an hour ride. Once we got to Victoria we grabbed some food at Pret A Manger and headed to the tube station. Our hotel was in the Docklands, so we had a couple transfers to get to the hotel.
We put down our stuff and got ready. My uncle met us at the hotel and we headed out for dinner.
It was a fine evening for a walk. We walked towards the restaurants in the docklands. |
We weren't sure where we were going to find vegan food but it turned out to be no problem. We ate dinner at a Lebanese place in the docklands called Al Masar. It was really great food. After dinner we went on the Emirates Line which is a London cable car. It was a wonderful way to see London at night.
We started with taking the tube back to Victoria station.
We walked to Buckingham Palace which is something you have to see if you haven't before. The guards were changing so it was extremely busy. We tried to get in there but it was hard fighting the crowd.
It was a little overwhelming around the UK parliament since there was two different protests going on at the same time. It was hard to tell what the protests were about exactly without getting right in there.
St. Margaret's Church |
We left Big Ben and walked to the London Eye another well known tourists sight in London.
There is usually huge queues to get on the London Eye. It was about 40 minutes for us to get on which wasn't that bad.
It was a beautiful day for sight seeing. We bought tickets for the London Eye river cruise and we able to get on the boat right after the London Eye.
The cruise took us up the river Thames and the guide pointed out all the most famous sights along the Thames. He told us a little bit of trivia about each of the buildings and the bridges.
We saw St. Paul's Cathedral among other sights along the Thames.
London Bridge is the most boring looking bridge. There has been a bridge there since Roman times. A lot of people mistakenly think that Tower Bridge which is much more interesting looking is London Bridge.
We went under Tower Bridge and the circled back to the London Eye.
The Shard |
Drinks! Pimm's Lemonade. |
We had Tofush and chips!! |
After dinner we went to the half price Leicester Square Box Office and bought tickets to The Commitments. The play was a lot of fun. The cast were great singers. No trip to London is complete without seeing a show in the West End. It was showing at the Palace Theatre.
Lovely old theatre |
Check out was 11am, we woke early and got ready for our journey to Gatwick. We took the train to Gatwick airport and hired a taxi to take us to the hotel. (It was a Mercedes Benz)
We checked into our hotel, and asked what there was around to explore.. turns out we were in the middle of nowhere.
We had lunch in the hotel. It was a golf club. We were able to get the spicy bean burgers made vegan.
Relaxing. |
Sorbet |
Hotel lobby. |
The next morning we got up at 5:30, and took Mom back to Gatwick airport and she flew home. We took a train to London and then took the Mega Bus back to home to Birmingham. We decided to take the Megabus home from London, as it is still relatively cheap last minute compared to the trains.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post and want to see more of London, check out our post on "Vegan Youtuber Meet-up and Camden Town, London"
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post and want to see more of London, check out our post on "Vegan Youtuber Meet-up and Camden Town, London"
Wow, great photos! I wish I could visit all these olaces ine day!
ReplyDeleteWe hope you can too! Travelling is a wonderful experience.
DeleteIt sounds like you had such a fun time! I want to go to London so bad.
ReplyDeleteLondon is great! Hope you get there!
DeleteI'm so envious of all your amazing travels! London is definitely on my list, hope to do it this year.
ReplyDeleteHope you get there this year! One of our favourite places.
DeleteAbsolutely great information. Thanks for sharing. Would love to visit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
DeleteI would love to travel there. I dont like to fly though so that limits where we go on limited time. Your pictures definitely tell a story of the area.
ReplyDeleteYou could cruise there!
DeleteIt sounds like you had a great time with your mom. London is one of my favorite cities in the world, the history is really my favorite part! My mom got London Bridge and Tower Bridge confused the first time we ever really spoke about London. That Tofush looks great!
ReplyDeleteYeah we had a lovely visit with my mom. That tofuish was delicious!!
DeleteThis is a lot of fun! I'm sure you guys had a great time touring London. It looks like you made good use of your time there. It's always nice to have an itinerary that you can follow.
ReplyDeleteLondon is great! We made it back a few times.
DeleteOMG it was so crowded at Buckingham Palace, no wonder if they made the security much tighter. I wouldn't dare to squeezed myself in there. I find your video clip, kinda funny because of the tourists reactions.
ReplyDeleteHave you take a photo of the outside of the Palace during night time? I imagine it will be beautiful with lights on.
Everywhere is crowded in London. We have. It is in our editing pile of posts to write.
DeleteI had a ton of fun in London! I've been several times now, and I've taken both the tube and buses. If you want to see the city the bus is the way to go, but the tube is so quick! Once you figure out how to navigate with it, it's easy!
ReplyDelete| diaryofasouthernmillennial.com
Yeah, i agree. The bus is a better way to go. The tube is amazing, but you can't see anything. Although, it is an experience on its own.
DeleteLooks like an absolutely beautiful place and the food looks greattoo
ReplyDeleteIt was fantastic.
DeleteI'm glad that you had fun experiences! London is my dream come true to be there, I'm hoping to visit there this year
ReplyDeleteWe hope you get there soon! It is a great tourist city.
DeleteI always love exploring the city on my own. You get to see so many amazing things on the roads. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. Can't wait to visit London.
ReplyDeleteWe hope you get there! We love London and have been serveral times.
DeleteI've always dreamed of going to London. I do hope that we get the chance to go there with our daughter. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a dream come true! Hope you make it there.
DeleteI love RyanAir, there is not much much I can't put up with when it comes to their prices.
ReplyDeleteI know! Their flights are cheaper than trains in England.
DeleteNever tried Megabus. I once went with Flixbus which was a nightmare.Eurolines I liked though...
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to do the hop on hop off bus tour. Been living here in London for so many years and have never done it. So I'm waiting for some friends to visit who are keen on hopping on haha :)
It is pretty similar to the flixbus. We haven't been on a hop on hop off bus either. It's too expensive in London.
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