On Sunday, October 5th, my mom and I woke up early because we had a day trip planned! We decided to get to the bus station early so we could stop by Starbucks before our tour. I was intrigued to see that they offered a pumpkin spice macchiato, which I’ve never seen on a menu in the U.S.! It wasn’t as sweet as I wanted it to be, so a bit of a disappointment.

Anyway, right around 9 am, we all boarded the bus, and we were off to Leeds Castle, which was about an hour and a half away. This is a historic landmark in the UK where many different queens have lived, including Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon. While the castle itself is only about 200 years old, the site has been around since the 800s!

Mom and I love a good castle tour, so we definitely enjoyed ourselves. One of the most recent owners of Leeds Castle was a woman named Lady Baillie, who used her extensive fortune to repair and restore the castle and all of its associated buildings. One of my favorite stories of this woman is how she would have dinner parties but would stay upstairs until a few hours in, and then reluctantly join the group. That’s my kinda girl!

My favorite part of the castle was, of course, the library. It was so beautiful! Look at this window seat – can you imagine spending your mornings with a cup of coffee and a good book and staring at this view? Sigh!

After touring the castle, Mom and I strolled around the grounds. We poked around in the gift shop, where I got a beautiful leather bookmark, and then I wanted to find the bookshop that was listed on the map we were given. We had a hard time finding it, until I realized I was looking at the map wrong and it was in an entirely different area of the estate. Womp, womp!

We had about two hours to enjoy the castle and its accompanying attractions before it was time to board the bus again and head to our second stop of the day: the Cliffs of Dover. Since I have seen the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, I think my expectations were a bit too high. These cliffs were fine, but we were pretty far away from them, and this was more of a quick photo-op stop than anything else. We had maybe 20 minutes here. Apparently, though, if you squint hard enough, you can see France in the distance. (I did not see France, but I also wasn’t sure what I was looking for.)

Also, during this stop, my mom took a tumble! She was trying to step onto a sidewalk to get a photo, and lost her footing and fell right onto the rough pebbles. I was not a very good daughter when this happened. I am usually a very good daughter, but I always get nervous when my mom falls (did she hit her head? can she stand? is she okay???), and it manifests as panic. A nice older man stopped to make sure she was okay, and she said she was, and so I was like, “Well, get up then. People are staring.” LISTEN, I SAID I WAS NOT A GOOD DAUGHTER. I AM NOT PROUD OF THIS. My mom gave me a death glare, and even the older man was like, “She can take a moment if she needs it.” Anyway, my mom’s knee was a little bruised, but she was ultimately fine. And I apologized.

Once we were done at the Cliffs, it was time for our last stop of the day, which was Canterbury Cathedral. What a beautiful place! It was founded in 597 AD (but rebuilt in 1174 after a fire), which is just something I can’t wrap my mind around. This is also the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, who is the spiritual leader of the Church of England. Even cooler – they recently announced that the next archbishop is a woman, and the first woman to hold this position. Great job, England!

The architecture of this cathedral is stunning. Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’m allowed to walk around in a place so holy and reverent. And it really made me think a lot about my faith and how different religion is treated in England than in America. Of course, I’m just seeing the touristy parts of England, so maybe I’m naive and things are just as bad there as here, but it just feels like the church there is about loving people and helping people. With the rise of Christian Nationalism in the U.S., Christianity doesn’t look anything like that here, which is really sad.

After viewing the cathedral, we were given about an hour-ish to explore the town of Canterbury on our own. My mom and I poked around in a few gift shops where I bought a cute mug, some bookmarks, and some souvenirs for friends. Then, we found a pub for lunch where Mom ate a whole meal (yay!) What I found funny is that there was an NFL game playing in London at this time, but there were no TVs in this pub showing that game. Instead, it was all about the real football (aka soccer to us Americans).

Soon it was time to board the bus and head back to London! This was an excellent day trip and I really enjoyed myself. Plus, our tour guide was fantastic. She was personable and was great about giving us quiet time throughout the bus rides, so we could relax.

There’s not much else to say about this day! We got back to London around 6 p.m., got an Uber back to our hotel, and then relaxed for the rest of the night. Oh, except I was hungry and we decided to walk to the McDonald’s that was near our hotel. I wanted a McFlurry, some fries, and, for some reason, they had mozzarella sticks on their menu, so I had to get those, too. (A very healthy, well-balanced dinner, I know.) This McDonald’s didn’t have any seating—you would order from a kiosk and then wait for your number to be called. When we were there, we saw one woman steal a McFlurry from the drinks table, and then, when she was called out on it, she caused a ruckus. And then another man was being super rude to one of the workers, and McFlurry Stealer decided to yell at him, and then he started recording her as they were yelling at each other, and I was like, “Oh my god, am I going to be in some random viral video?” We got out of there before anything else crazy happened, but whew. I was not expecting that!

What a day! Castles, cliffs, cathedrals, and catfights – oh my!

On Saturday, October 4th, my mom woke up with a bit more pep in her step. She was still not 100%, but she felt good enough to do the Tower of London tour we had booked for the morning. (I probably would have done this solo if she wasn’t up to it, since it was close to the hotel and only a few hours.)

We had breakfast at the hotel. I didn’t eat much, as I felt a little queasy and started to worry I was getting sick, too! But the queasiness went away after a few hours. After breakfast, we walked over to the Tower of London for the tour. We got to walk the iconic Tower Bridge on our way over, which was great!

We met with our tour group, which was mostly Americans. The Tower of London has such a fascinating history! There have been a lot of beheadings and killings of traitors on those grounds—who knew?! Plus, it’s been the residence of many kings, and the current King of England could decide to live there if he wanted. Right now, it’s mostly home to all of the Beefeaters, aka guardians of the Tower, and the Crown Jewels. The tour guide mentioned you can sometimes see cats roaming around the Tower grounds because many of the Beefeaters have pets, but alas, I did not see any. 🙁

After a tour around the exterior of the tower, we were finally let in to see the Opening Ceremony. We were part of a few other small tour groups, and one of the Beefeaters came out to greet us and give us more history of the Tower, what a Beefeater’s job entails, and why they do the Opening Ceremony every day (they also do a Closing Ceremony at the end of the day). And then we got to see the procession of guards who essentially “opened” the Tower for the day. There was a little, “Huh. So that was it?” to the whole thing, so I don’t know if it’s 100% necessary to see it if you tour the Tower of London, but would probably be much cooler for younger kids to see.

(It was so underwhelming to us that after we toured the Crown Jewels, we were taking a break on a bench and my mom asked, “So where do we go to see the Opening Ceremony?” LOL.)

We got early access to see the Crown Jewels, which was actually insane. Like, I got to see the largest diamond ever? And actual coronation outfits? And the crowns that the royals wore?! With my own eyeballs?! That’s so wild. No pictures are allowed in the Crown Jewels so you’ll just have to take my word for it, but it was an incredible experience and… as our inside joke goes, worth it.

After a tour through the Crown Jewels, we could walk around the Tower grounds for a bit if we wanted. Unfortunately, I woke up on Saturday with the worst sciatica I’ve had in ages. Because let’s just add more ailments to my list, why don’t we?! I had been sleeping on my stomach more often during this trip because it felt better for the upper back pain I was experiencing, but that meant more pressure on my lower back, and hence, sciatica. And while my mom was willing to walk around more if I wanted to, I needed to get off my feet. So we left and headed back to the hotel.

We were hanging out in the lobby of the hotel, playing on our phones, and I decided to do some research on other things we could do in London today. Our original plan was a pub tour, but my mom didn’t feel up to doing that (beers + nausea is apparently not a great combo?!) so it was time to pivot! I gave her a few options, like doing the river cruise and strolling around the city, visiting a museum, or finding a theatre show to attend that evening. I was surprised when she chose the show!

So, we booked tickets to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo Theatre, and then I booked us a reservation at a nearby restaurant for dinner. Woohoo!

We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon, napping and reading in the room, and then got ready for our fun night out.

First, we had dinner at The Alchemy Bar, which was within walking distance of the theatre. We had our typical fare for dinner—a burger for me, chicken fingers for my mom. We are very sophisticated diners, I know. (They served her dish in a chicken-shaped wire basket!) I also decided to get a drink at dinner because they had a bunch of fun drinks that would fizz and smoke and change colors. The drink came with a syringe with an extra shot of… something?! I added it to the drink and it was very yummy!

And then it was time for WICKED! Here’s where I admit that before seeing this play, I knew nothing about the story of Wicked. I haven’t had any desire to see the movie. I’m just not much of a theatre girl, so it never occurred to me to learn more about it. But also – that meant I went into this play with no expectations and blind optimism that this would be a fun experience.

We got great seats at the theatre, especially since we booked at the last minute, and I was enraptured by this performance. The performers were insanely talented and I couldn’t take my eyes off Elphaba for anything. She was so dynamic and the perfect casting. I was in tears at the end of the play because it was just such a beautiful story, and man, what a great performance!

In the cab on the way back to the hotel, I texted Bri to tell her I got it. She is my theatre girlie who has seen so many shows and just wants everyone to love theatre as much as she does (without pushing her obsession on anyone). And now I understand. I get it. I understand why people love the theatre so much. WHO KNEW?!

Anyway, that was our Saturday! We got to do some fun London things and I am very appreciative that my mom was feeling better and able to get out and enjoy London again.

I wasn’t sure how to document our third day in London, since it wasn’t the day we had planned at all.

Our original plans were a day trip to visit Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. I was looking forward to this day trip most of all, and we had an early morning wake-up since we had to be at the bus station by 7 a.m.

Unfortunately, Mom woke up in the middle of the night feeling terrible. She had chills, nausea, and a general feeling of malaise. She tried to rally by taking some ibuprofen and drinking a Coke, but she was in no shape to spend 12 hours on a bus, zooming around the U.K. We canceled the Uber and the day trip.

In those groggy early morning hours, I thought she just needed some extra time to rest and we could still find some fun things to do in London for the afternoon and evening. I quickly went back to sleep (and since I was exhausted, I wasn’t too mad about the extra sleep!) and then spent the morning playing on my phone and reading my book. At some point in the afternoon, my mom was feeling well enough to venture out for lunch.

We first stopped at a bookstore that I had spotted during our first day in London when we were waiting for our tour bus. It was a small shop a few steps from our hotel, and it was very cute. But surprise! I did not buy any books. I just didn’t see anything that grabbed my attention, so I left empty-handed.

I probably should have bought this book, tbh. Everyone is always mad at me all the time, right?!??!!

Then, we walked over to the pub that was near our hotel for lunch. The menu at this pub was rather lackluster, and my mom didn’t have much of an appetite, so she only ordered a basket of fries, but only ate a few. I had a burger that was fine, but not extraordinary.

My mom was feeling pretty terrible at that point, so we went back to the hotel. I was able to stream the latest episode of Survivor (my mom watched some of it before she fell asleep), so that was fun! And then I took a nap, too.

We didn’t do much for the rest of the day! I was chatting with Amber about my mom feeling ill and not being able to do our excursion, and she recommended that we call our travel insurance to talk to a doctor. This would a) get my mom some much-needed prescription medication and b) give us documentation for any future travel insurance claim we would make. (Which we did have to make, as we wanted to get our money back for the day trip—it was too late to cancel it when we decided not to go.)

So, my mom had a telehealth call with a doctor in London who gave her a digital prescription card. She could go to any nearby pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled. Luckily, there was a Boots pharmacy right near our hotel, but our navigation woes continued as I could not find it using Google Maps. We walked around for way too long as I tried to figure out which secret entrance would lead us to this magical pharmacy. (I’m assuming that’s the reason I couldn’t find it?!) I finally gave up and ordered an Uber to drive us to a different pharmacy.

We got another Uber back to the hotel (these Ubers were costly, too—close to $80 round-trip, but there was no way my mom could take public transportation) and I ordered room service for dinner.

It wasn’t the Friday we thought we were going to have, but luckily, my mom was able to rally for the rest of the trip, even though she continued to feel poorly.

You may be wondering why I didn’t go on the day trip by myself or do some adventuring on my own. It didn’t even cross my mind to leave my mom alone for the day trip. I would have been gone for 12+ hours, and I didn’t want her to be on her own if she got really sick as the day progressed. Plus, I get anxious that something has happened to my mom if she doesn’t immediately answer her phone when I call her. Do you think I could have handled being away from her for a whole day and not knowing how she was doing?! I would have been way too anxious to enjoy myself.

And while I probably could have wandered around the city for an hour or two, it was the one rainy day of the whole trip (we got so lucky with the weather!). It was actually the perfect day to stay inside, napping and reading.

Have you ever gotten ill while on a trip? 

Our second day in London was Thursday, October 2nd, and we had a busy day planned: the London Eye, touring Westminster Abbey, another bookstore visit, and a stroll around Hyde Park. Oh, and we also planned to try public transportation for the first time!

We had a 10 a.m. ticket for the London Eye, so we wanted to leave the hotel right around 9:30. I woke up first, took a shower, did my hair and some light makeup, and then we had breakfast at the hotel. (Overall, the hotel breakfast was pretty meh; we weren’t huge fans.)

Our hotel was a few steps from the London Bridge tube station, so we walked over, and this is where things got a bit tricky. Truthfully, I should have done more research on getting tube tickets, but I figured I could easily figure it out while I was there. Unfortunately, the kiosks at the front were unhelpful, and we had to go to the ticket office, where I bought two day passes for 40 pounds.

Anyway, we got our tickets and found the correct line for where we were going (thank you, Google Maps!), but apparently, there are two separate types of lines: overground and underground. We needed to be underground, but I had just followed the first signs I saw, which led us to the overground. Oy, vey. Even with Google Maps guiding my every step, I still get lost! Eventually, we found where we needed to go, and I was able to navigate us to the London Eye from there. Whew!

I really loved the London Eye. Sure, it’s touristy, but the views were incredible, and it was one of the first times I wanted to pinch myself and think, “Omigod, we’re in London!” It’s a slow-moving ride (about 30 minutes) and you’re in an enclosure with about 10-15 other people, but it didn’t really feel too cramped, and we were all good about taking pictures and then moving out of the way for other people.

Near the end of the ride, one of the women in our pod turned to her partner and asked earnestly, “Worth it?” about the experience. For some reason, this tickled my mom and me so much! We immediately made eyes at each other when she said it, and then all throughout the trip, kept asking each other, “Worth it?” over the silliest things.

After the London Eye, we poked around in the gift shop where I bought some postcards (which I have yet to send out, lolol), a magnet, and a Christmas ornament. And then we were off to our next excursion of the day: Westminster Abbey!

I’ll mostly let the pictures do the talking here, since what is there to say about Westminster Abbey? It’s gorgeous and reverent and filled with so much history. My mom and I did the audio tour while we walked around and took time to sit and listen when we needed to. (We also paid extra to visit The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which were interesting, but not sure if it was 100% necessary.)

We spent a few hours at the Abbey, and then hopped back on the tube to go to a bookstore! Daunt Books had a location in Marylebone, which was halfway between Westminster Abbey and Hyde Park. I was able to navigate us successfully (hooray!), and as I stepped into the bookstore, my mom left me to search for a restaurant. She parked herself at the aptly named The Marylebone and got herself a local IPA, while I browsed the bookstore at my heart’s content.

This bookstore had multiple levels, and I spent quite a while deciding what I wanted to buy. In the end, I wound up with two books and the cutest bookstore tote. (PLEASE LOOK AT THE COVER OF THE AGATHA CHRISTIE NOVEL! How could I not buy the book?!)

After my bookstore browsing, I joined my mom and ordered lunch, which was pizza. The pizza in London wasn’t great (most of it was Neopolitan-style, which isn’t my favorite), but it kept me fueled for sightseeing at least.

Then it was time for our last adventure of the day: Hyde Park! We decided to Uber there since our feet were aching and it was going to be a bit of a hassle to get back on the tube. This was the path of least resistance.

To be honest, we didn’t do a ton at Hyde Park. We rented out a paddleboat for 30 minutes, which was nice. Mostly, we coasted in the water, not doing a ton of paddling. The weather was great and the views were gorgeous. It looked like we were in an idyllic fall postcard! After our paddleboat adventure, we walked around the park for a bit, but we were getting pretty tired, and our feet were killing us. This is the part of travel that I like the least: All the walking! My feet are not equipped to walk 10,000+ steps on a daily basis, which I really need to remedy.

Anyway, we had quite the adventure getting back to our hotel! First, we walked about 15 minutes in the wrong direction because I read Google Maps incorrectly. Then, it took us forever to finally get out of Hyde Park and to the tube. And then, when we got to the tube station, none of the directions on Google Maps matched the lines at this station or the places they were going. I was hella confused. We must have been at the wrong tube station or in the wrong part of the station? I have no idea.

Here’s where I say, I TOLD YOU SO, to every single person who assured me I would have no problem navigating public transportation in London thanks to Google Maps. I knew I’d figure out a way to get lost because I am so terrible at navigation. And I did! Muahahahaha.

Anyway, I was not in the mood to do more navigating, so I made the executive decision that we would take the tube to the station that seemed the closest to our hotel and then get an Uber for the rest of the way. And that’s what we did!

We finally got back to the hotel and immediately decided to find something to eat ASAP. We didn’t even want to go back to our room because I felt like if we did, we wouldn’t leave. We considered stopping by the pub that was close to our hotel, but it was crazy busy and we knew we wouldn’t get a table anytime soon. So, instead, we found a spot at the bar in the hotel restaurant and had a nice dinner. I also had a prime view of the bartenders, and I don’t know what it is about watching bartenders work, but I find it so soothing. (One of them was also super cute, so that helped, too, ha!)

And that was day 2!

Do you have any great inside jokes from travel? 

On Wednesday, October 1st, my mom and I arrived in London right around 8AM UK time (which was 3AM to us!), and we hit the ground running!

One thing that will become quite apparent from these trip recaps is that my mom and I are bougie travelers, especially when it comes to transportation. We were a little apprehensive about navigating the tube with all our luggage, so we opted to hire a private driver, which our travel agent arranged. The hotel was quite the drive—around 90 minutes—so it was nice to do it from the comfort of a private car.

It was a beautiful drive through London, as all of the trees were exploding with fall colors, and I was just in awe! I spent most of the ride looking out the window. (Also, every time I tried to look down at my phone and play a game, I got super sleepy!)

We arrived at the hotel right around 10am, and thankfully, our travel agent had blessed us with an early check-in, so after a short wait, we were able to go directly to our hotel room! Yay!

Our view – the tall building in the back is the beautiful Shard!

Even though I desperately wanted to lie down on the bed and nap for at least a few hours, we knew it was more important to keep going. So we unpacked our luggage, freshened up, and then left the hotel to find the hop-on/hop-off bus we had booked for today.

It was much harder to find the bus stop than I had anticipated. I thought I found the right one, but when the hop-on/hop-off bus pulled up, I realized multiple different companies were running these tours! So we had to find the correct bus stop that corresponded with our tour company, which was harder than I thought! (If my mom and I were ever on The Amazing Race together, we’d fail miserably at navigation.) Eventually, we found the right bus stop and within a few minutes, a bus was pulling up and we “hopped” on.

Our goal was to ride the bus to Picadilly Circus, where we would eat lunch and then visit a few bookstores before hopping back on to take the river cruise (which was included in our package). Unfortunately, the ride to Picadilly took forever. We were starving, especially because we hadn’t eaten much on the plane and didn’t have breakfast. After two hours of riding on the bus, we were finally getting closer to the Picadilly stop when the driver stopped the bus at a location and left the bus. The comedy of errors continued because, yep, it was time for a shift change.

Not to be dramatic, but I really wanted to die at this point because I was so hungry and annoyed, and it took a good 20 minutes for the new driver to get on and continue our journey. We always have the worst luck when it comes to public transportation, and this was no different. Sigh.

Eventually, we made it to Picadilly and decided to stop at the first restaurant we found, which ended up being a Hard Rock cafe, ha. Nothing says, “Welcome to the U.K.!” like visiting a restaurant I can go to in the U.S.

Our meal there hit the spot, though! This is also when I realized that restaurant culture in the U.K. is vastly different from the U.S.—for example, in the U.S., once it looks like you’re finished with your meal, the server will take your plates and then ask if you want the check. In the U.K., you have to ask for the check and let them know you’re finished with your meal. It can seem like inattentive service to Americans, but it’s just the way restaurant culture works in another country (imagine that!).

Afterwards, we headed over to a bookstore! Our first stop was Waterstones, which had multiple levels and a gorgeous Agatha Christie section that I wanted to pocket away for myself. It had her books along with Christie-themed puzzles and notebooks and knick-knacks. As an Agatha Christie fan, it was a friggin delight!

I left with an armful of books, even though I told myself I was only allowed to buy two per bookstore. But there were too many books that I wanted! Plus, U.K. covers of books are vastly superior to U.S. covers, so I wanted to get as many cute books as possible.

Once we had checked out at Waterstones, it was time for the next bookstore of the afternoon: Hatchards. This bookstore was a lot smaller but so beautifully curated with gorgeous bookshelves, fun gifts, and multiple levels of bookish goodness. I only bought one book at Hatchards, which I considered a win.

By this point, we were a bit tired. Our feet were sore, and the jet lag was getting to us. Plus, my phone had died a few hours prior, and I really wanted to charge it. The thought of finding the bus stop for the hop-on/hop-off bus and dealing with a long drive back to our hotel was too much for us to bear. So instead, we grabbed a black cab for a quiet, smooth drive back to our hotel. I mean, when in London, you have to take a black cab at least once, right?!

We got back to our hotel around 5pm, promptly fell into bed, and woke up a few hours later. Oops! The nap felt so good, though, so I’m not even going to be mad about it. I wish we were the type of travelers who can be go-go-go all day and rally on the first day in a new country, but that’s just not who we are. Instead, when we got up, we meandered down to the hotel bar where we got drinks and I had a small pizza for dinner. Easy, peasy.

Oh! And while we were sitting at the bar, I realized that we had completely forgotten about the river cruise. We had even paid extra for this excursion in our hop-on/hop-off bus ticket. Sigh! I blame jet lag. We never ended up taking the river cruise during our trip, womp womp.

And that was our first day in London: Some bus shenanigans, two bookstores, five books, one delightful nap, and a missed excursion.

What kind of traveler are you: go-go-go on that first day or take it easy to combat jet lag?