London-Useful Information

We went to London in May of 2023. Our kids were 11, 9 & 4 at the time.

I wish I had known:

I would plan a little more time to get from one place to another. It always seemed to take a bit longer than we thought it would. 

How hard it could be to find luggage storage. Since we didn’t have a car; when we came back to London (from Belgium); we thought we could store our luggage at the train station, but it was full. We wanted to go to the British Museum before we made our way closer to the airport for our hotel. So we wound up searching for luggage storage on our phones. We eventually found a place, but that was a struggle. So; I would pre-research back up options if I went again.

To leave more time than I thought we’d need for meals. I knew they’d be slower; but I didn’t plan enough time between activities for sit down meals and the transportation to not feel rushed some days.

How thirsty we’d be! Water didn’t come with meals in most places unless we paid extra for it. 

Transportation:

I’m sure it is different at different times; but we found it quick and easy to get through passport checks and out of the airport at Heathrow when we landed.

We pre-booked the Heathrow Express train to get from the airport into London. That was very easy & we didn’t even have to leave the airport to get on the train.

We pre-purchased Visitor Oyster Cards for the Underground in London. We did that months in advance. They mailed them to us. They were easy to use. If I remember correctly; we had to tap in and out when we used the underground. The tricky part was two of our 3 kids were free (age) but each person had to scan a card to go in. We had to ask what to do. We were told to use the handicap entrance so that two could go through with one card. So we’d have one of us go with each of the free kids and then the 3rd person on their own. I don’t know if that is still how it works though. Definitely ask.

We could use our Visitor Oyster card part of the way to the Harry Potter Studio Tour that we went to; but then we needed to purchase a different kind of ticket to get the rest of the way there on an above ground train. There was a nice lady helping people when we went; so I wonder if it is a common tourist thing. 

We used Google Maps for anywhere we needed to go. It would tell us which underground station to get to; which train to get on at which platform too. It would tell us where to get off as well. It worked really well for us!

I would plan a little more time than you think to get from one place to another. It always seemed to take a bit longer than we thought it would. 

We flew into London, stayed a few days and then went to Paris, Belgium and then back to London. When we left London for Paris; we took the underground to King’s Cross from our hotel and then walked across the street to St. Pancras International Station. Going through passport control and security was quick and easy for us. We did pre-purchase our train tickets to Paris. 

Getting on a train headed toward the airport was not as easy. We stayed at a hotel closer to the airport the night before we left. Getting onto a train to get to the hotel was not easy. They were so full. 

Leaving London from Heathrow airport wasn’t too bad. The line through security didn’t take long. We planned to eat breakfast there. The place we ate was really good; but they didn’t have a ton of choices for places to eat.

Tips:

Take travel tissue packs. None of our hotels in Europe had tissues.

We use ROAD iD to order wristbands when our kids aren’t old enough to know our phone numbers by heart. We put their name, our names and numbers and where they’re from on them. It gives us a little more peace of mind while we’re traveling.

Toilets:

We went to a lot of places that had bathrooms available; so this wasn’t really an issue for us. 

Laundry:

Having laundry soap sheets for washing anything by hand in the sink that can’t wait was nice.

Shopping:

One of my favorite things to do is to go to local grocery stores to get our snacks. It is so fun to try foods that are popular where we are. It is always a good idea to take reusable bags with you. Some places will have you buy a reusable bag if you do not have one.

The best parts:

Seeing Tower Bridge

The Harry Potter Studio Tour

Borough Market

Luggage:

We each had one carry on and one back pack when we went. If you are using trains to go to other places, have a connecting flight or something; check luggage sizes and amounts allowed. We used public transportation. So making sure we could all carry our own bags (even our 4 year old, at the time) and didn’t have anything big was a must for us. 

Hotel we stayed in

London St. George Hotel 

Pros: 

They had a pre-boxed breakfast daily when we went. It was good too. Each one had a huge croissant, cheese, jam, milk, OJ, a cereal and applesauce. 

We were able to get a room with 2 full beds and a twin. With three kids, finding a hotel in Europe with three beds was not always easy. So that was nice. The room was a bit small, but it had a floor to ceiling window that brought in a lot of light.

It was close enough to an underground station to be convenient for walking. 

Cons: 

The fridge with the breakfast boxes wasn’t unlocked until 8:15 am when we were there. So the day we left early; we couldn’t have the breakfast that came with our room.

Our bathroom was super tiny. The shower was so small I’m not sure how my husband managed to shower. 

Our beds were really hard.