Arriving at Heathrow airport, we were all exhausted. After 24 hours on a plane with very little sleep, we were really overwhelmed to find it only early morning when we walked out of the airport and surprisingly it was hot!! Really hot, not like hot at home with all it’s humidity, but hot. The gauge said only 23, but it really was like our 30, maybe even hotter. For the first time, I immediately had an appreciation for why the English suffer when the temperature gets over 30 degrees. While London was calling, on that first day, all we wanted was to shower, cuddle our girl and sleep!

I had been taught a tip many years ago by a seasoned traveler, to do our best to stay awake until night hits the country you have landed in. I’m going to say this tip was a triumph, but staying awake for another 10 hours made a delirious! Miss R thought it hilarious. Our Chelsea accommodation was lovely, but you can imagine our disappointment when we found we had no shower, only a bath ?

After a long sleep, 14 hours a piece, we were feeling fresh and ready to tackle London town. I cannot explain what we felt as we came up from underground at Westminster station, smack bang into Big Ben, but I did cry many tears of amazement and gratitude. On that first day we walked 30 kilometers without having a clue how far we were walking. There is so much to look at!

That first day we walked from Westminster station and Big Ben over to the South bank, back over the bridge to Buckingham Palace, through the most gorgeous gardens and on to Piccadilly Circus and Lester Square, and all around West End. I couldn’t resist a cheeky pub lunch and a beer which was spectacular.

It was truly overwhelming how much there was to see and do. We didn’t spend a cent this first day on anything but our lunch and the one ticket in and out of our Chelsea accommodation. Purely a sightseeing day, with plenty to feed our senses.

Our third and forth days were spent exploring at a slower pace, with tours of Buckingham palace, the Tour of London (which is still our favourite experience) a walk through Hyde Park and a very fast walk through Whitechapple, the only place in all of our English tour that I felt uncomfortable.

You cannot take photos inside Buckingham Palace, so the only picture we have is this view from the back.

The lake was my favourite part of Hyde Park, although these monuments are also amazing!

Honestly Harrods was not high on my priority list, but my goodness I am grateful The Builder insisted we go. Two things struck me about Harrods, the sheer beauty of the building, and the money. I have never seen so many wealthy people in one spot, it made for superior people watching.

We had many amazing experiences in London, but I do think the Tower Of London is the one that surprised us the most. We simple stumbled across it as we were trying to get out of Whitechappel, we had assumed it was simply a tower and didn’t have a great deal of interest in it. I’m so glad our day lead us to it, as the Tower Of London is not just a tower, it is a place of great history, top of my must see list!

If you are still with me here, thank you. It’s a long post, but I felt need to wrap up our first few days in London in the same way we felt about it, a great big jumble. I feel you could easily spend months here and still be finding new things to see every day. We left London on day five, exhausted but happy and excited to be heading to our girls home town of Andover.

Have you been to London? What was your favourite place to visit?

Nicole xxx