‘GLOBAL EDITION’ ENGLAND

YEAR VISTED:
2024-London & Surrounding Region

———- LONDON, ENGLAND ———-

EXPERIENCES: Travel has always played an important role in our families life. So much so it should come as no surprise that we decided to take an international trip when my oldest daughter graduated from high school. When we asked her where she most wanted to travel to she said, “Paris… and you know what Dad, London is really close too.” Therefore, we planned a European vacation and London was the first stop on our two and a half week adventure. We flew into Heathrow Airport and thankfully the approximately 9-hour flight was smooth. However, the vacation got off to a rocky start as the airline cancelled our flight one day prior to our departure date.

When they finally re-booked us the airlines had us on a flight arriving two full days after our original arrival date. This would have cut our four night stay in half and drastically reduced our itinerary. My wife, whom we nicknamed the “M-V-P”, spent over four hours on the phone working out a new travel itinerary that would allow us to keep our original arrival date. When it was all said and done we arrived within two hours on the day we were originally scheduled to arrive; Mom definitely earned the trip’s MVP Trophy! However, getting there on the same day meant we no longer had a direct flight from Sea-Tac (Seattle) to Heathrow (London). Rather, we flew from PDX (Portland) to LAX (Los Angeles), had a short layover, and then flew to London. All things considered, this was a small price to pay to have our vacation start on the date it was originally planned. Besides, during our layover we took the opportunity to exchange dollars into pounds. While the exchange rate is almost always better through a local bank, with all our pre trip travel confusion it simply worked best for us to conduct the exchange at the airport.

It’s also worth noting, nearly everywhere we went throughout Europe accepted credit or debit cards. After arriving in London, checking into our hotel, and getting the family settled, our first outing was a tour of the city on a double decker bus.

The bus tour led us around downtown showing major landmarks such as Big Ben, London Tower, London Bridge, and Parliament. I always recommend starting a trip with a tour such as a Hop on Hop off bus so as to familiarize yourself with the surroundings.

On the bus tour, we learned that the city of London has strategically placed iconic telephone booths at various locations throughout the city. While they are no longer in use, they make for wonderful photo opportunities.

Following our bus tour, we walked back to the hotel and couldn’t resist taking a handful of zany pictures with the “dog and bone”. We enjoy walking new cities as it is amazing how many interesting destinations you simply stumble upon by doing so. However, in London you also have to ride in a taxi (Hackney Carriage) and the London Underground (Tube) is extremely efficient as well.

Arguably the most famous landmark in London is Tower Bridge. The bridge opened in 1894 and today people come from all over the world just to get a glimpse.

There are two tour options; 1) a tour with a guide and 2) a self guided tour. We chose option #2 and enjoyed wandering through this historic bridge at our own pace. Following the conclusion of our morning tour we walked the length of the bridge.

The day we went the weather was absolutely beautiful making the views over the Thames River unreal.

The actual bridge in-between the two towers has a glass floor, which makes for unique viewing options.

Adjacent to the bridge, on the north bank of the river, is the Tower of London.

Construction on this castle first began in the early 11th century. Over the course of a 1,000 years it has infamously been known for being a fortress, a palace, and a prison. It is amazing to think of all the history this place has witnessed. Since the early 1800’s, it has been open to tourists and today over 3 million people visit per year.

The Crown Jewels are housed here and the prison and ghost tours are extremely popular as well. A highlight for us was seeing the Yeoman Warders, popularly known as the Beefeaters, up close and personal. They have been guarding the Tower for over 500 years!

While we simply didn’t have enough time to book tours at every location we were interested in, we did make sure to do a large portion of what is known as the Westminster Walk. Altogether there are twelve attractions highlighted on the walk. We began exploring on the opposite bank of the Thames River from the Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster) and Big Ben.

We crossed the Westminster Bridge, walked through Parliament Square, and admired the Palace from what felt like every angle.

Parliament buildings date back to 1097 – again it is amazing to think about the history these walls have witnessed. From there we headed northwest where we found ourselves admiring the outside of Westminster Abbey.

This of course is the traditional site for coronations, marriage, and burials of the British monarchy. Trafalgar Square is also a part of the Westminster Walk, which is the geographic center of London. We took pictures in front of the two fountains and admired the four lion statues appearing to guard the square.

While not technically a part of ‘The Walk’, we also wandered through Picadilly Circus. This would best be explained as a smaller Times Square in New York City.

Buckingham Palace is “the official London residence of the British monarch”, as outlined on the website http://www.buckinghampalace.co.uk. It was built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham and today it boasts 775 rooms.

While we were unable to coordinate tickets during a time that fit our schedule, tour tickets are available during the summer months. However, we were able to claim a fantastic viewing site to witness the Changing of the Guard. This grand tradition dates back to the 17th century and occurs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays promptly at 11:00 am. Each year thousands of people come from all over the world to see this time honored tradition.

Hyde Park is an estimated 5-minute walk from Buckingham Palace. Therefore, following the Changing of the Guard Bailey and I decided to explore the park. We rented bikes through an online app called ‘Lime’, which was fairly easy to do.

We set out following the water, which we later learned is called The Serpentine. Seeing as the park spans 350 acres we certainly didn’t get to all of it. However, highlights for us were stumbling upon the Peter Pan statue, seeing geese & swans frolic in front of the picturesque Serpentine Bridge, and experiencing the beauty of the Kensington Gardens.

At the conclusion of our bike ride we struggled to park the bikes as you can only park them in designated areas. However, we no longer had WiFi access and were therefore unable to access the app showing us where we could and couldn’t park. While Bailey and I laugh about the episode now, at the time it was super frustrating and extended our trip nearly forty-five minutes.

The London Eye, built in 1999 as a way to celebrate the millennium, has quickly evolved into a major tourist destination.

While other cities have followed suit by building a similar looking Ferris wheel of their own, to my knowledge London’s was the first. We took advantage of booking a designated time slot when purchasing our tickets. As a result we walked up, moved right to the front of the line, and enjoyed the impressive views of London.

HOTEL / RESORT: We stayed at The Rubens at the Palace, a 5-star hotel across the street from Buckingham Palace.

This place lived up to it’s reputation in every way imaginable; amazing location, fantastic amenities, and impeccable service.

We ate breakfast their daily where we enjoyed traditional English breakfast food such as marmalade on toast, black pudding, and of course the Full English.

In the afternoon we enjoyed English Tea, and on a handful of occasions drinks in the New York Bar. In every way imaginable we could not have been more impressed with this place.

RESTAURANTS: While technically not a restaurant, Borough Market is a must visit for food. There are over one hundred food stalls, stands, and restaurants spanning over four acres.

The girls were most excited to order chocolate covered strawberries and we also enjoyed a meat, cheese and olive plate at a quaint market area eatery.

A lucky coincidence for the girls was that their good friend from town was traveling with her grandparents in London the same time we were there. As a result we made plans to meet up for dinner. We selected a location close to the Tower Bridge, the historic Dickens Inn. The building was originally a warehouse and was opened by the grandson of famous novelist, Charles Dickens. Today they offer cozy indoor or outdoor seating and a solid array of classic British meals.

Judging from our pint glass souvenir collection, we have now visited somewhere between twenty-five and thirty Hard Rock Cafe’s. While all are unique locations they are very similar in what they display on their walls, what music they blare on the speakers, and of course their menu items.

However, Hard Rock-London has the distinction of being the first HRC. When Eric Clapton, and soon after Pete Townsend, donated their guitars to be displayed over the bar they unknowingly contributed to the start of the Hard Rock franchise that today has expanded to nearly two-hundred bars, casinos, and restaurants worldwide. The highlight of Hard Rock-London is the Rock Vault tour. The museum is open 7-days a week, is free, and is located in the basement of the restaurant. The vault room is relatively small but there are some amazing rock n’ roll memorabilia items displayed. The artifacts that most stood out to me was a coat owned by Elvis Presley, David Bowie’s guitar, Madonna’s concert worn bustier, a antique chair owned by Freddie Mercury, and John Lennon’s military jacket. All were worn or used in concert.

When in England I feel like it is a good idea to belly up to a bar, watch some futbol, and enjoy a pint. We did just that at a couple of establishments that were semi close to our hotel. The first was The Shakespeare, a classic looking British pub located across the street from Victoria Train Station.

The second was the The Albert, which was built in 1862 and managed to remain standing during the bombings of World War II. We ate on the 2nd floor where we discovered the Prime Ministers Gallery proudly displayed on the wall. Both were fantastic choices to enjoy the ambiance of a quintessential British Pub.

STADIUMS AND/OR SPORTING EVENTS: We have not attended any sporting events in England.

ADVENTURE(S) AND/OR NOTABLE DESTINATIONS: Who knew in 1969 that the picture selected to adorn the Beatles Abbey Road album cover would go on to become celebrated as one of the most famous and iconic photos of all time?

Today, nearly fifty years later, people still flock to Abbey Road in an attempt to recreate the picture.

If you are thinking of visiting, I would definitely suggest going early or late in the day on a work day if you want any chance of missing crowds. There is also a webcam (google EarthCam-Abbey Road) that should help you plan your trip and possibly take your photos. Across the street from the famous crosswalk is the Abbey Road Recording Studio. Their webpage advertises the studio as the most famous recording studio in the world. A few of the artists that have recorded here are, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Ella Fitzgerald, Oasis, Radiohead, Ed Sheeran, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Frank Ocean, and Adele.

Besides touring downtown London, we also booked an all day bus tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Oxford. The positive to traveling this way is that it is low stress; someone else drives you to the location and does all the planning. The negative is that you are traveling with a group of strangers and you only have a pre determined amount of time at each location. Ultimately we decided this was the best way for us to see as many sites as possible within our designated time frame.

Our first stop was Windsor Castle, the royal residence of the monarchy. The castle was built in the year 1070 by William the Conqueror.

While we were not permitted to take photos inside, we did get to take a self guided tour inside the state apartments. St. George’s Chapel is another main attraction within the castle walls.

Unfortunately, we visited on a Sunday and the chapel was off limits to the general public. This tour was a great experience and if time wasn’t an issue we would have liked to spend a full day here. This is by far the most beautiful and best kept castle I have ever visited.

From Windsor, we bussed the hour and a half to Stonehenge. For a variety of reasons this is a site I have wanted to visit for what seems like forever.

There is just something about the mystery surrounding how it came to be, combined with the mysticism regarding the purpose for the stones that has always interested me. While we merely spent an hour there, it did not disappoint. We walked the paved circle, took family pictures, and enjoyed taking quirky individual photos with the one of a kind stones in the background.

Oxford, was the last stop on our bus tour where we were given a couple hours of free time to explore at our own pace.

We walked around the outside of multiple University buildings, explored a major downtown square, and enjoyed fish n’ chips and a pint at the Kings Arms Pub.