Like the majority of people, it’s been over a year since I have been on any kind of trip or holiday, so, I decided to spend the bank holiday weekend in London with a couple of my friends, Karolina and Bart. We got incredibly lucky with the weather as it was averaging 24 degrees every day, after raining for the last few weeks. That’s English weather for you!
We got the train from Basingstoke to London Waterloo on Saturday, once I’d finished work at 6pm. It cost £23 to return on Tuesday with a 16-25 railcard. Bargain! We then got the tube from London Waterloo to where we were staying in Hammersmith, which cost roughly £5. We stayed at the Abercorn House, which is basically a hostel. We had a private room and bathroom with a double bed and a bunk bed, costing us £10 each per night. Probably the cheapest room you’ll ever find in London. The hostel was a 5 minute walk (if that) from the underground. I couldn’t remember the pin to my suitcase and so me and Bart sat there punching in every possible combination till we found the one that worked (only I would do that). That evening we went to spoons, which was located round the corner from the underground and had plenty to drink.
Day 1
On Sunday, we woke up, got dressed and headed to the underground where we had a McDonalds’s breakfast, then got the tube from Hammersmith to The British Museum, getting off at Russel Square, to walk through the garden on the way there.
There was literally no queue at all for the museum (the current situation has made London a great place to visit as there are virtually no tourist queues) and we got inside within a minute of arriving! The museum itself was empty, with plenty of room for social distancing. We went to the museum as Bart loves to collect coins and was particularly interested in their collection. The Egyptian era is my favourite, I enjoyed reading about the pharaohs and there sarcophagus’.
We spent a couple of hours wandering around and then got the underground to Tower Bridge, getting off at Tower Hill. We took a walk up towards the bridge and stopped off for an ice cream and took in the incredible view of the Thames river and the Tower Bridge. I even managed to get a photo with the London red bus going across the bridge too!
We then took a walk across the bridge to see the statue of the girl and the dolphin, which I did want to take some photos of with the bridge in the background but the fountain wasn’t on so it didn’t look as good.
Although, we did walk down to the dock where the boats usually pick you up for the boat tours along the Thames and got some more good photos there with the bridge in the background.
After this we took the underground to Waterloo and walked towards the London Eye and across the bridge towards Big Ben, although Big Ben is just a big statue of scaffolding at the moment! There was a man playing the bagpipes on the bridge, which made us all want to visit Scotland. And the smell of chocolate engulfed the entire bridge.
We then took the underground from Westminster to Tottenham Court Road for a quick lunch at spoons (again! We basically lived off of spoons and maccy’s). After lunch we had a walk down Oxford Street for some afternoon shopping before shops shut at 6. Karolina and I both bought new dresses from Zara (which I wore the next day) and I also bought a couple tops from Bershka.
That evening, we were still full from our late lunch at spoons so me and Karolina just ordered some waffles later that evening. After walking 26,000 steps that day we were all too knackered to go anywhere else and so just chilled in the evening.
Day 2
The next day we woke up and decided to chill out and enjoy the English sunshine, so we headed to the underground to get the train to Green Park. We got ourselves some drinks and snacks from the Tesco Express nearby and headed to the park to enjoy a picnic on the grass. We spent a good few hours there, sunbathing, having a laugh, drinking and eating fruit.
Afterwards, we headed to Notting Hill via the underground and had a walk down Portobello Road to see the market and I lived out my Notting Hill fantasy (in reference to the movie) but unfortunately didn’t find myself a Hugh Grant. We wanted to get the underground from Ladbroke Grove back to Oxford Street for some more shopping as we didn’t quite finish it all the day before, before the shops shut, but the tube station was closed and so we had to walk all the way down Holland Park, which wouldn’t usually be so bad but with the heat and it being uphill, we were all a bit worn out, especially Bart who carried the bags (sorry Bart!)
When we got to Oxford Street the queues were massive and I think we had all given up at this point so tried to head back to Hammersmith, but again the underground station was closed so we had to walk to Piccadilly Circus. Following what was a very stressful journey, we all collapsed in our room for a while p, had a power nap and then went out for a spoons (I told you, we practically lived on it) for our final dinner before playing uno in the evening.
Day 3
We packed up our things, checked out of the hostel and headed back to Waterloo to get the train back home. We had a great trip to London and I definitely would recommend going while tourism is quiet and London is much emptier than usual. It’s a great time to get all the attractions in that you possibly can, without having to queue for what seems like decades! Social distancing is possible in all parks and shops, with majority of people wearing masks when indoors, so if you’re worried about travelling into the city during this time, I personally would say there isn’t an,cu tho worry about as long as you are sanitising frequently!
Thankyou for taking the time to read my blog! Below are a few more photos from our trip,
More photos from our trip
