London, Wales, and a little bit of Brynna….
This year my middle daughter Brynna graduated from college. Not only did she do it in three years, and graduated Summa Cum Laude, she also maintained a 4.0 grade point average over all her collegiate coursework! To celebrate her success and the fact that she’s way smarter than I am, we told her that we would take her on a graduation trip to wherever she wanted to go (within reason lol), and she decided on London.
We flew American Airlines from PBI to PHI to LHR. Most flights from the East Coast of the US to Europe depart at night and arrive the following morning and this one was no exception. We left Philadelphia at 10:50 p.m. and arrived in London at 10:50 a.m. If you have a connecting flight within the US, make sure to leave plenty of time for your layover as if your first flight is late and you miss the European leg there is typically only one a day and that means you’ll have to wait until the following day (if there’s a seat available) and lose at a MINIMUM one day of vacation. When possible, try and make your first flight that international leg, so you know that there is no issue of missing a connection. That way if the international layover is late there are usually many more options to get where you’re going rather than just one flight a day.
Somehow the girls always manage to see celebrities and Brynna thought she spotted Josh O’Connor in the Philadelphia airport. A hilarious half hour ensued with Brynna surreptitiously trying to get a picture to confirm with her friends that it was him, only to find out he was also on our flight to London. When we arrived, Deb got in line for coffee and after a few minutes Brynna and I noticed that Josh was right behind her. We sent her a barrage of text messages and Debbie tried to surreptitiously take pictures of him and his coffee cup to see the name, but spoiler alert – she is not cut out to be a paparazzi and the mission failed so we’ll always wonder if it was really him.
At some point in time, Brynna discovered that there was a town in Wales called Brynna, so she put on her bucket list that she wanted to visit it one day. Since we were going to be in London, we initially looked at driving over for a day trip, but it was a 3.5 hour drive each way so we thought we might skip it. After seeing the hotel prices in London however, we decided that it would make more sense to stay 2 of our 6 nights in Cardiff and then make the drive to Brynna on our way back to London. I’m always up for seeing another country and we had not been to Wales before, so it was a win/win.
Because Heathrow airport is 45 minutes West of London, and Cardiff is about 2.5 hours west of that, we decided that we would rent a car at the airport and head for Wales as soon as we arrived. We figured by the time we got out of the airport and made the drive it would be pretty close to the 3pm check-in time at our hotel. Driving on the left side of the road is not as hard as it sounds, especially when you rent an automatic. Had I had to focus both on which side I needed to be on AND driving a stick it might have been a different story. We stopped for lunch in Slough with the intention of just grabbing a quick snack at Chicking to fulfill Brynna’s quest of finding the best chicken nuggets wherever we go, and had a heck of time as the directions kept sending us the wrong way, and there were many one lane roads that had traffic in both directions which was pretty scary – but after a few close calls we eventually got our food and got the heck out of there! (Sidenote, Chicking nuggets do NOT make the list top nuggets list lol!)
We stayed at the Royal Inn in Cardiff and got two rooms for two nights for a total of $336 – the same price we ended up paying for one hotel room for one night in London. Granted they were budget rooms, and they were pretty small – but Brynna got to have her own room, and the space was clean and comfortable. The hotel itself was nice and in a great location. There was no parking on site, but there was a public garage nearby and staying at the hotel got you discounted rates. Just beware of the super tight turns in the garage – we had a little heartburn trying to get out without scratching the car! Our original plan was to have dinner and then crash since we’d been traveling for 36 hours at that point, but the forecast for the following day was for torrential rain starting in the late morning so we headed out to the castle to try and get some pictures in the sun. The castle itself was closed, but we were able to get some pictures from the outside. We walked over to Hayes street and strolled through the shopping area to get a feel for the area. Then we had dinner at Wahaca, which is a Mexican chain eatery in Europe and went back to the hotel and fell into bed to try and catch up on our sleep.
The next morning we ate breakfast at a restaurant called the Cosy Club. It had a super-cute interior and a lot of good breakfast options. It also was one of the few restaurants open at 9 so we could get an early start on the day. One of the things that we didn’t plan for was that many places in Cardiff were closed on Mondays, so we weren’t able to visit things like the National Museum, or Spiller’s records or do some of the tours that you could do if you were there on a weekend. In hindsight it might have been better if we had planned to be in London on Monday as more things would have been open there. Cardiff is a very walkable city, and we visited the castle first thing as rain was scheduled for the rest of the day. You are able to enter the large wooden gates to the interior courtyard without paying, but if you want to take a tour inside the castle you do have to pay for a tour. The rain started up at about 11:00 so we spent a few hours wandering through the shopping arcades and visiting the Cardiff Market where we of course had try Welsh cakes at Bake Stones. Welsh cakes are a traditional sweet bread in Wales that are traditionally cooked on a Bakestone or griddle. We tried a few flavors like Jam & Cream, Nutella and Lemon Curd – yum!
Our original intention was to visit Cardiff Bay in the afternoon, but because of the rain we decided to head out to Brynna instead. Brynna has only 3,800 people, has one school, a few stores and two pubs which seemed to be the main source of entertainment. This did not deter my Brynna however and she insisted on standing in front of a street sign and the school that she claimed was dedicated solely to her. We headed back to Cardiff and wandered around the downtown area taking in the sights and shopping for souvenirs. We had reservations at The Botanist in Cardiff Bay that evening, but luckily we were able to switch them to the Cardiff location. The Botanist has a beautiful floral interior and we all had their famous hanging kebabs. They offer chicken, lamb, thai red prawn, salt and pepper pork belly, vegan or halloumi kebabs all served with pita bread, salad, jams, sweet chilis and chickpeas.
Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Bills which was another cute little restaurant with mismatched furnishings and great food. We took a drive by Cardiff Bay before heading back to Heathrow to return the car. We took the tube straight from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Piccadilly Circus which took about 50 minutes and was only 7£ each. On previous trips we have taken Uber into the city, and it was about 50-60£ so this was definitely a bargain. London is one of my favorite places to visit because there are so many things to do and see, so when Brynna chose London for her college graduation trip I was so excited – until I saw the hotel prices. We visited London in the fall of both 2017 and 2019 and average hotel rates were about $250, which at the time seemed expensive. I know prices have gone up in general, but I was completely unprepared for the prices this summer. City Centre hotels averaged about $150 more a night this time around. And if you had more than 2 people in a room, prices were even higher – if they were available at all. The Marriott for two double beds and a pull-out couch was $800 a NIGHT! This was a bit more than this working mama could afford, so we settled on the Zedwell Piccadilly Circus which felt a bit like a pod hotel but not quite as small. The room had two full mattresses on a bunk bed with railings on the top bed so it felt a bit more private. The beds had electric and USB outlets as well as lights at the head so you could power your devices, but other than that the only things in the room were a shower, a sink and a toilet. The “door” to the shower/toilet area was frosted glass so you would have to be pretty close to your traveling companions to stay here. We had to put our luggage on the floor and kind of move around it. That being said – if you have the, “I’m only going to sleep in it” mentality, it was clean and affordable, and the location was absolutely perfect – steps away from the Piccadilly Circus Tube station so we only had to wheel our luggage for a couple hundred feet.
Once we dropped our bags, we went for a walk to explore Leicester Square which is reminiscent of Times Square in NYC with an M&M and a Lego store along with tons of gift shops. There’s always something going on and it’s great for people watching. This is also quite close to Chinatown, so we walked through looking at the colorful lanterns and store windows as we went. After we walked around, we had dinner at El Camion which was pretty much run of the mill Mexican, then wandered through Trafalgar Square on our way to the Playhouse Theater.
Brynna is not as big a musical fan as we are, but I was not going to visit the London without seeing a show, so we limited ourselves to two musicals on this trip. That night we saw MJ, the Michael Jackson musical because I hadn’t seen it, it had good reviews, and I knew she’d enjoy the music. It was a pretty good show, and you couldn’t help but sing along. I really like bio-musicals like Beautiful, Jersey Boys or Million Dollar Quarter where they portray the musician’s life both good and bad, and although it was a good show, it was pretty clear the Jackson family had a lot of say in what they chose to highlight or not if you know what I mean.
On our first full day in a new city, we always like to do some form of sightseeing tour so we can see the sights and decide where we might want to go back and visit. On some trips we’ve done a segway, or a walking tour, but this time we chose an e-bike tour simply because Brynna had never done one. We used London E-bike Tour (very original name 😉) and I have to say we passed a good number of the most famous sights in London, and it was totally worth the price. We biked through Soho and Westminster, then crossed the Westminster bridge and rode through Southbank past the London Eye, ending up near Borough market then crossing back over the Thames on our way back to Soho. There were picture stops at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Globe theater, Borough Market and a couple of other places. Again, if you really want to stop and see one of these sights, this is not the tour for you, but it gives you a great lay of the land to discover what you do want to spend time on, and you cycle past things you might not have seen otherwise. At Borough Market for example, we had a 10-minute stop. This was enough to wolf down a donut from bread ahead, but if you are a foodie and really wanted to experience all the stalls you would need to go back. The bikes were pretty easy to ride, and you didn’t have to exert much effort, except for Brynna whose bike seemed to need much more peddling than everyone else’s. I’d say this is perfect even for those who might not be in top athletic shape (that would be us lol)!
After the tour we headed down Oxford Street toward Regent Street. Known as Europe’s busiest shopping street, it is lined with flagship stores, brand names and designer boutiques creating an energy that is quintessentially London. There is an eclectic mix of dining options ranging from quaint cafes to upscale restaurants so shoppers can refuel and recharge. We stopped in to see some of the more famous stores like Hamley’s Toys and Liberty of London. One of Brynna’s favorite brands is Gymshark and since they don’t (or didn’t until recently) have stores in the US she was excited to go in and take a look. For lunch we stopped at MeatLiquor, to aid in Brynna’s quest to find the best chicken nuggets in the world. The food was good, but I was more amused with the “photoloo” which was a porta potty turned into a photo booth 😉.
That evening we went to our second show of the trip. I tend to like the more modern musicals, but I try to see an older one every now and then so when my friend David recommended Cabaret I figured why not. I was intrigued that Cara Delevingne played the lead as I had never really heard anything about her except through the tabloids where not gonna lie, she seems a little bit crazy. According to David, her solo song was one of the best things he had ever seen. When you arrive, you get to visit the Kit Kat Club, where they’ve decorated the lobby to look like a club complete with dancers and musicians on display. We went straight up to our seats in the Dress Circle and an accordion and clarinet player decided to join us and played from the seats next to us for a good 25 minutes. The theater was small, and the production was in the round which meant there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. I think I’m just not a Cabaret fan, but overall but I could appreciate that the production was done really well. Cara was good in the role of Sally Bowles (who is also a little bit crazy), but I have to wonder if David saw someone else perform when he said her song was one of the best he had ever seen lol!
Thursday morning was a big morning and one of Brynna’s favorite parts of the trip. She is a major tennis fan and being in London meant a trip to the Wimbledon Lawn and Tennis Museum. The Museum was easy to reach on the Tube and the tour was very well done. The Museum itself had interactive exhibits that tested your speed or showed you the Wimbledon trophy and had an exhibit that focused on the clothes worn at Wimbledon over the years, which was really interesting. But the best part of the tour was being walked around the grounds to see Centre Court, the scoreboards, visiting the press box, seeing the Royal Box, and the players lounges all while learning about the rules for membership and anecdotes from the players’ time there. Brynna got to stand in front of the banner signed by all of the 2023 players and champions, and one of the coaches came out and gave her one of the tournament balls. We of course went to the gift shop afterwards which was majorly expensive, but luckily, I knew that ahead of time and had saved to make sure I could buy her a sweatshirt which she absolutely loves! Her next goal is to attend an actual match at Wimbledon one day.
After Wimbledon we made a quick trip to Nottinghill to see the pastel-colored houses and the antique market along Portabello Road. Brynna wanted to visit a market, and in London and there are so many good ones to choose from. Nottinghill is great, but afterwards we headed over to my favorite, Camden market for a few hours as it was large, and there was a lot of food and a number of stores so she could do some souvenir shopping. I love the alternative and funky vibe at Camden Market with the store fronts that are pieces of street art all on their own. It is people watching at its best. We each got something from a different vendor for lunch – Brynna had a chicken quesadilla at El Mexicano, Deb had the Honey Butter Fried chicken sandwich from Bill or Beak – Buttermilk fried chicken dipped in honey butter sauce with homemade jalapeno mayo, coriander slaw and pickles, while I had the Steak on Wedges from Asador – Ribeye steak on French fries with Chimichurri sauce and crispy onions. We were all happy with our choices. My favorite though was my liquid nitrogen frozen ice cream from Chin Chin Labs. I had burnt butter caramel and was allowed one topping. I think the others weren’t so sure when I chose marshmallow, but they quickly changed their minds after they tasted it! There are so many food options and stores you could spend a whole day here!
We took the tube over to Covent Garden and visited Neal’s Yard which is a quaint little area that is painted in really cute colors. Of course we went to the infinity tunnel just take a picture and wandered around a bit looking in the stores and marveling at the number of bike taxi’s in the area. We were super sad that Frenchie’s was no longer there as I have been dreaming about their Maple Bacon Scones with Clotted Cream for years.
Deciding on restaurants for this trip was a little bit difficult as Brynna only eats a few basic things like pizza or buffalo chicken sandwiches but wanted to go to places that had tasty food and Instagrammable interiors. Debbie is a bit of a foodie, who enjoys a nice ambiance, but really likes menus that have inventive food items. I fall somewhere in the middle. Do you know how hard it is to find a restaurant that has dishes like, “Baked aubergine topped with stracciatella, confit datterino tomato and hazelnuts served with charred romaine lettuce” ….. and also has pepperoni pizza lol??! Ave Mario was one of those restaurants that seemed to fit the bill. We almost missed it as above the restaurant in big green lighted letters it says Osteria Pizzeria, but on the door itself you’ll see Ave Mario in small letters. It looks like an unassuming little restaurant, until you walk inside and see the cute and hip red booths and the black and white striped walls. Take a trip to the bathroom and you’ll get lost walking through what looks like 3 completely different restaurants all with really unique yet different interior design. Even the bathrooms are fun as they are decked out with rainbow lights and references to the Sopranos. I had Home-made spaghetti with veal ragu and crunchy pistachios. Brynn had Pizza Parmatador – San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella flor di latte, spinach and Prosciutto Toscano, and Deb got home-made linguine with fresh local hand-picked crab, chili and a lemony butter sauce. We all agreed this was the best meal of the trip and all of the dishes were amazing. For dessert we of course had the “Incomparable Lemon Pie” which had 9 inches of meringue on top. Yum!
The following morning for breakfast we chose Rail House Victoria. The menu looked great, but what I think really got us was the pancakes with toasted marshmallows, coconut clotted cream, white chocolate, and banana-infused maple syrup – once we saw that we knew we had to go! The restaurant itself was so cute with couches, soft pillows and multi-colored wood. Deb ended up getting the pancakes, which were awesome, but I went with the sweetcorn fritters with fried St Ewe egg, pink pickled onions and yellow pepper sauce. It was a bit more corn than fritter, but strangely good. I’d say this came very close to Ave Mario as the best meal on our trip.
After breakfast we set off to the Wellington Barracks to watch the detachment of the Old Guard line up for inspection and then march down the mall with a band of drums to relieve the guards at Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guards. They usually line up at about 10:30 a.m. and arrive at the palace at 11:00 a.m. The palace itself can get quite hectic and you will need to arrive an hour early and push your way in to watch the actual changing ceremony, so the Wellington Barracks is an easy way to be part of the ceremony, get some good pictures, but not be crowded in with the masses. Brynna was most upset that they were still wearing their dark uniforms and had not changed over to the summer red which make for way better pictures lol! (She was even more upset when she saw that they were wearing them the following week 😉)
After the ceremony we walked down Birdcage Walk passing the Guard Museum, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. This was a first for us as Big Ben was under construction for years and this was the first visit where we actually got to see it! We crossed over the Westminster Bridge and looked for a woman Brynna had seen on TikTok who takes free pictures of tourists with Big Ben or the London Eye in the background and prints it out on vintage newspaper paper to make it look old. As luck would have it, she was working that day. The pictures are free, but she will take donations that go to support the project and they also support Ukraine. While we were in London, we never even exchanged our money for pounds as credit cards were accepted everywhere and she only took cash but was nice enough to do it for us anyway, so if you get the chance – give her a visit!
I LOVE street art, so a visit to the Banksy Tunnel (Leake Street Tunnel) is always on the itinerary for a visit to London. Graffiti is illegal on public property in the UK, but in this tunnel that runs off York Road and under the platforms and tracks of Waterloo station, it’s not only legal, but encouraged. Every inch of space is covered with murals and there’s always something new to see as everyone is allowed to come and leave their mark. You’ll see murals from professionals as well as people who are holding a paint can for the first time. In the few years since we’ve been there last, they opened an event space and even have a few pubs under the tunnel where you can get a bite or a drink during your visit. It’s a quick walk from the London Eye and well worth the visit.
Our original intention was to take a sightseeing cruise from Westminster to Tower Bridge, but the timing was off, and most people commented that you didn’t get to see all that much and spent most of the time stopping at the different piers. So instead, we walked along Southbank taking in the sights, like a local book fair and Shakespeare’s Globe theatre before crossing the Thames to visit Sky Garden.
You can’t visit London without going to the top of one of its many observation decks to get a birds-eye view of the city. One of the best places to do that is the Sky Garden located at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street. Visitors can enjoy spectacular views of the City of London and the glass walls provide an unobstructed sightline to famous landmarks such as the Shard, Tower Bridge, the Thames River, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The garden is full of lush greenery and there are several dining options so visitors can enjoy a meal or drinks while taking in the scenery below. Entry is free, but there’s a catch – due to high demand, there is a timed ticketing system, and the free tickets are released every Monday for the full week that is three weeks in advance of that Monday, usually between 9-10am GMT time. So, in our case they dropped on Monday, April 22nd for the week of May 13-17th at about 5 a.m. Tickets go fast so if you want to visit, set your alarm to get up and grab them. It may seem like a pain, but when you realize that tickets to the top of the Shard cost $42 a person, it’s an incredible deal! Pro tip, try and grab tickets for golden hour for even better pictures.
From Sky Garden we walked over to Leadenhall Market which was featured as Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies. When Hagrid and Harry walk through the market they enter the Leaky Cauldron Pub through a blue door. You can actually see that blue door at 42 Bull’s Head Passage, which in our world is an optician! Our original plan was to do a walking street art tour through Shoreditch on our way to dinner, but we were all so tired after 3 days of 20,000 steps that we took an Uber to the Shoreditch box park for dinner instead. We all have totally different tastes so having an area with a bunch of different options always appeals to us. I visited Black Bear burgers and had their original Black Bear – an aged beef patty with American cheese, smoked bacon, onion jam and garlic mayo. I rounded it out with their fries with a steak rub and dipping sauce and a very expensive and somewhat runny strawberry daquiri. Frozen drinks are just not a thing in Europe. Deb and Brynna both went to Guasa Bowls where they had a buffalo beef arepa (shredded beef marinated in buffalo sauce with cheddar cheese, pico de gallo and gherkins, a two little pigs arepa (pulled pork, caramelized onions, grilled goat’s cheese, pork cracklings with coriander) and cheesy sweet corn balls (sweet corn dough mixed with cheese and guava sauce).
After eating we waddled over to Ballie Ballersons. Have you ever taken your kids to a play park and really wanted to jump into the ball pit? Well at Ballie Ballersons you can! They have a huge, illuminated ball pit where you can channel your inner child, and when you’re done and realize your body doesn’t work like that you can have a drink! We were there when it opened and pretty much had the place to ourselves, but I can see how this would be wildly entertaining to do with a few drinks and a group of friends.
The following morning we had to head back to the states. Our flight left at 9:30, but we got to the airport early so we could try the lounges. This was the first year I had earned Platinum Pro status with American and was excited to try out the first-class lounges. I could only bring one guest into the lounges, so I started at the British Airways Lounge with Deb and then left to take Brynna into the Cathay Pacific Lounge. Being able to access the lounges is a great perk. Brynna and I were able to order breakfast from the table service menu and then found some comfortable seats with chargers near the windows to watch the planes go by. There were showers, continental breakfast items, drinks and alcohol all available to you. I was pleasantly surprised when Brynna and I were upgraded to first class on our way home. All in all it was a quick trip but a jam-packed one as we walked over 75,000 steps in our four days in London. I can’t wait to go back!
