Travel Diaries: London

Hello my favorite Internet friends!

I apologize that this post is way over due, (like 3 months yeeet), but this trip has been on my mind recently and I really am dying to share the pictures and itinerary info that never made it to Instagram.

Looking back, this summer was seriously insane and spent all over the place. I graduated from college in Boston back in May, moved back home to Chicago, spent some time in my hometown of Toronto, hit a few lakehouses, flew across the coast to stay at my boyfriend’s family’s home in Palm Desert, CA, spent two weeks west of Chicago at this middle of nowhere conference center for work training, AND made it to London with my parents for a little post-grad, pre-work celebration.

My dad had gotten tickets to Wimbledon for the men’s semis through his company and had planned to do some overlapping work while in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, he could only get his hands on two tickets, so my parents went and I did some explorin’ (and some shopping, duh.)

Doing 

Overall, we did a ton of walking and exploring different neighborhoods in the city. We took the tube most of the time, which was a fun way of feeling really immersed in the city’s way of life. The station near our hotel in Mayfair was pretty old, no AC, and the trains were SO tiny! You really had to push your way on, it was pretty miserable during rush hour. The worst was one night when we were going to dinner and my dad insisted we take the tube instead of uber- the platform was so crowded you could barely walk and it was hot AF. The train was delayed, people were pushed all up against us, and I was literally dripping sweat, it was the worst! Ended up fighting our way out and taking an uber.

We stayed at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, which was right by Oxford Street, a really prominent shopping area. The street is massive and has tons of shops on it, of course including a Zara and a Topshop. We spent a lot of time walking up and down and exploring the side streets- we found some really cool boutiques!

We also did some quintessential touristy things- I highly recommend doing a hop on/hop off double decker bus tour. There are a bunch of different companies that offer them. It’s a great way to cover a large portion of the city, learn some history, and be outside enjoying the sunshine. We got to see Big Ben, the Eye of London, the river, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus- we really went all over! We ended up staying on our bus tour all the way through because we were having so much fun.

We also toured the Tower of London, walked around the famous department store Harrods (in hindsight it would’ve been fun to book an afternoon tea), saw the peacocks at Holland Park, went to Kensington Palace, and ate at a TON of Pret a Manger’s, which are everywhere! I swear, they’re more common than Starbucks in the states. If you’ve never been to a Pret, they offer tea and coffee services and then have cafeteria style ready to eat food. They have unreal soups and sandwiches. You can even get a little plastic pod filled with smoked salmon, hard boiled egg, and avocado, or shrimp and quinoa salad. Tons of healthy and fresh options.

Another highlight of the tip was going into Notting Hill, which is famous for some of its brightly colored walk-up houses. We went on a Saturday so we could visit the famous Portobello Market, basically just a street market with everything from farmed goods to antiques. I got this delicious strawberry and pineapple smoothie served strait up in a pineapple. We didn’t have too much of a plan, we figured out which tube stop to get on and off at and then just kind of went from there. We did a TON of walking this day! We ended up finding so many chic and trendy boutiques and it made for some great people watching.

I had seen Notting Hill’s pastel colored buildings all over Pinterest and knew that if I was going to London, I just had to find them. They aren’t on just one street or anything, we found them just by walking around the area- we got off at the Notting Hill tube stop and walked towards the market from there. You can’t miss em since they’re so bright!! I of course had to snap a few pics in front, which turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. There were like three other groups of young people who had the exact same idea, so I ultimately had to make my parents wait 15 min while other people did their own photoshoots. Worth it.

By far the best thing we did was go into London’s West End to see the Book of Mormon!! Very crude humor so beware, but otherwise highly recommend. We were in stitches the entire time and there was something very special about seeing it performed in London.

Packing 

Even though we were in town during the tail end of July, the weather was a little all over the place, as is kind of expected in London. The mornings were always a little chilly, maybe mid 60’s, and then depending on whether or not it was a sunny day, the temperatures would pick up by the afternoon. We did have a few gloomy days, no rain fortunately, but they definitely made for cooler weather. I would always leave the hotel with a jacket but I would find myself taking it on and off continuously throughout the day.

In addition to bringing lots of layering pieces, supportive and practical (but still cute!) shoes were a necessity. I had packed my white converse which didn’t really get the job done for me. I ended up going into a few shoes stores to find something else to wear, that’s how bad my feet were hurting after a few hours! I picked up these super cool metallic sneakers from Ecco, which ended up being perfect! They were really comfortable and looked great with everything- I wore them with distressed jeans, shorts, dresses, really everything. My old Sperry boat shoes were a pretty good option too.

Based on the weather, in hindsight I would’ve packed more basic pieces that could be easily mixed and matched. I think I packed too many specific outfits that were meant to be worn exactly as I envisioned them. I’m notoriously a horrible packer so here’s how I would do things differently for a mid summer week long trip to London:

• 2 pairs of jeans, one casual one dressy
• 2 pairs of pants (maybe a pair of printed pants, coated denim, army pants?)
• 2 casual day dresses
• 3 jackets (maybe a jean jacket, a leather jacket (every girl had one on in London!), and a long, drapey, cozy cardigan that will easily fit in a purse so you don’t have to wear it all day)
• 5 tops (some casual day wear, some good for going out to eat)
• 3 pairs of good walking shoes
• 2 pairs of evening shoes

I also wish I had brought more accessories, definitely more hats, scarves, and sunglasses to mix things up! I noticed that people in the city were kind of dressed for Fall… People were in a lot of neutrals, scarves, leggings, even boots. If I had known, and knew that the weather would be as chilly as it was, I probably would’ve followed suit and stayed cozy.

Eating 

My family and I are huge foodies, so deciding which restaurants we were going to eat at was probably more important than planning what we were actually going to do! We ate at a wide variety of places, here are some highlights:

Cinnamon Kitchen: A must! This is a modern, small plate Indian restaurant in the heart of the city. Everything we ate was bomb.

Asia de Cuba: A really dare I say hip Asian inspired Cuban place. Super quirky atmosphere with Cuban artwork and books all over the place, kinda feels like a library. Awesome mojitos!

maze: Gordon Ramsey restaurant in Mayfair, European dishes with an Asian flair

Brumus at the Haymarket hotel: Seasonal fare, cocktails, veeery eclectic space so a fun place to go if you’re interested in decor

Christopher’s: One of our best meals, this place is upscale and elegant AF. They have a huge bar on the first floor, so they restaurant definitely serves up some killer cocktails. Some highlights include the grilled asparagus appetizer with a poached egg, the tuna tartare, the rock shrimp, pea, and mint risotto, and the blackened salmon. This place also has dessert martinis which is a fun option, think nutella, espresso, and chilli and ginger chocolate. Also be sure to check out this place for their amazing brunch!

I’m so thankful for my parents for such an incredible trip! It was such a special time in my life to go, what I wouldn’t give for some vacation time right now! Hope this post helps anyone potentially jetting off the London in the near future, let me know if you hit up any of the places I mentioned, I’d love to hear what you think.

Xo,

Meghan