8/20/22 

This is day ten around the world and I’m on a train right now. Today I’m going to be in 4 countries! They are Belgium, France, United Kingdom, and The Netherlands. I have just stayed London for a week and it was amazing. My favorite part was the Tower of London. The tower is a large fortress near the London bridge. It is where the Crown Jewels are held. There was so much fun stuff to do. On our last full day in London, there was a strike. All the subways were inactive and many of the busses as well. We took an Uber boat to get home… an Uber BOAT. We also saw parliament, Big Ben, Westminster abbey, and the London eye. The London eye is one of the biggest Ferris wheels in the world and takes 45 minutes to get all the way around! So far I’ve had a lot of fun and seen so much.  -Tucker

London is incredible! I love all of the iconic sights to see, and the cool architecture. It was awesome to see the set of Harry Potter! I still can’t believe we got to see it. I’m such a big fan of those films and books! While in London, you must just wander around the city. There is something new to see around every corner. They even have the iconic red telephone boxes! I thought those where just a hoax! The telephone boxes are all over the city. I thought that the Tower of London was really cool, especially the crowned jewels, even though you aren’t aloud to take photos. Another thing about London you might not know is there is an ice cream stand basically every 200 feet! It feels so weird to drive on the left side of the road. The double decker bus was awesome! They are so big I don’t even know how they get through the city so well! I can’t wait for our next adventure, and I hope you enjoy the video! – Ava

We caught some truly beautiful days in England. As my Dad would say, “better lucky than good”. It has been fun to see all of us try to get our heads around the breadth of history here. I feel very lucky to have been here long enough that we could get to know our neighborhood at least a little.-Dan/ dad

Tips and Tricks

Mom’s trip details-

This was my first trip to London so everything was just as new to me as it was for the kids. We did a lot of walking- nearly 13 miles in one day. We had a few must-do agenda items:

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Ceremony of the Keys

Harry Potter Studio Tour

Double Decker Bus

Buckingham Palace

For some reason, I became obsessed with getting us tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys, a tradition of locking up the Tower of London, dating back centuries. They release tickets (only £5) about a month-in-a-half in advance and sell out within hours. I would check before I went to bed and immediately upon waking in the morning and scored tickets about a month before the date. It was cool to be in the tower at night and learn about the Yeoman Warders who live and work there.

For the tower itself, I recommend going early and straight to the Crown Jewels to beat the line. At 9am, there was no line and we were able to take our time seeing the amazing exhibit.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/ceremony-of-the-keys/#gs.ae2s55

Harry Potter Studio Tour-

We all loved being on the set of Harry Potter. Waking though the great hall, looking at the costumes, walking through the forbidden forest and seeing the amazing details up close. I recommend booking early as it will sell out. Then you are stuck like us, buying more expensive tickets from a tour group that adds on transportation for a premium. 

2023 Tickets Now Available

Accommodations: We rented an Airbnb on the border of Chelsea and Kensington. Being able to have access to a small kitchen and washing machine was very helpful. We had a bus stop right near our place and we’re close tit he Metro. We purchased Oyster Cards and refilled them at stations. Catching a double decker bus was a lot of fun. 

My favorite site for planning was:

UK Travel Planning Podcast

They have a Facebook page you can follow and answered questions that helped us deal with a rail strike that impacted our travel. They are great!!