London 2014 {Part 1}

This past August I was able to take one of my dream vacations to London, England. The only thing I would ever change about this trip is the length of time we were there because while 10 days sounds like a large chunk of time it wasn't nearly enough to see and do everything we wanted. I guess that means we have to go back!



We arrived at Heathrow airport on the 18th and after taking a train to the metro we got Oyster cards and navigated to our first hotel. [We wanted to do a little bit of luxury and a little bit of money saving which is why we stayed in 3 different hotels]. It was just like our hotels in the states except a little bit smaller than we were used to. We ended up taking a nap falling asleep once we were settled and woke up around 8:30pm. We figured we should still make the most of it though and headed out into the street to see Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey at night. We headed back to our hotel before the Underground closed and ended up stopping at a random kabob place for fish and chips (I know, weird but it was the only place that had it at 11:30pm and it was good!)



The next day was time for our Warner Bros Studio Tour! It took us almost two hours all together or riding the metro and then taking a bus (double decker!) to get there but soooo worth it. I'd recommend getting your tickets ahead of time, pretty much at the same time you buy your tickets to London. But be sure to check the date that you purchased your tickets for because we had a mini fiasco when it turned out that we went on Tuesday and our tickets were for Wednesday (the day that we had MegaBus tickets to go to Wales). I was about to have a meltdown worthy of all the children around me as my dreams were about to slip through my fingers...luckily we paid a small fee and we got to go in that day. And it was amazing. I was really disappointed with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida (although now that they've done an expansion it might be slightly better) but I was not disappointed with the Studio Tour. How could you be disappointed when you were literally seeing the props and sets and sometimes even allowed to touch them? This took most of the day but at night we decided to go to Piccadilly Circus, walk around and visit the Sherlock Holmes pub since we are big fans of the show.





The following day we hopped on a MegaBus and headed to Cardiff, Wales for 2 days. We stayed in this budget hotel that was nice but tiny - literally the entire bathroom floor was the shower floor with a sink and a toilet thrown in and the way you turned on the electricity in the room was to put your key card in a reader on the wall. We spent these two days sightseeing which included: Cardiff Castle, Cardiff University and the Animal Wall.

Sadly all of these pictures are on Carson's laptop so I don't have access to them right now but I'll upload them when I do!

When we got back to London on the 22nd it was time to visit the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister Lives! It was awesome to see the castle, the guards and we even saw someone be let in through the gates. Sadly the queen was not there when we visited. The London Eye was pricey but worth it. The views of the city it gives are amazing - and I even managed to look most of the time despite my debilitating fear of heights.



  

The first part of our trip was amazing and I'll let you know about the second part next week! What's been one of your most memorable trips?