Family London Tour! Day 1

No trip to the UK would be complete without visiting the capital, London! The gem of England and cultural capital of the world (…maybe). It’s a hell of a city and is definitely one of the most diverse cities in the world.

We had managed to find a very reasonable Airbnb near Euston station. Three nights 5 people for just under £400. Can’t complain with that!

Journey Down South

Our wedding was in the town of Skipton. Which is a great little village in the North of the UK. After checking out from Eden Cottage where we held our wedding ceremony we headed off down to London.

We managed to get a great deal on train tickets as we had booked a few months in advance. The total cost for all 5 of us from Skipton to London with a pen hour stop over in Leeds was around £90, so £18pp. Unbelievable!!

The journey down was pleasant and we had no delays either. Also when we were in Leeds we were able to have a quick drink in Leeds too. The pub was The Brewery Tap just a few minutes away from the train station.

London Flat

As mentioned we had managed to find and book a flat in London near Euston Train Station, which gave us excellent access into the city and for leaving to Liverpool when we checked out too.

As we arrived in the late afternoon we briefly headed out for a quick bite. After all the British food (minus Jinny’s mum cooking) which we had at the wedding and in Skipton, the family were served craving some Korean food. Thankfully London is the place to be if your looking for Korean food! We ended up at a place called Naru.

Then just round the corner was a Korean supermarket too. Where we got some snacks and food for breakfast the next day.

They had everything you could really want and at a pretty reasonable price. Once we got back, we rested up for our first full day of London!

Buckingham Palace

The first stop on our tour was to see the changing of the guards. Regardless Buckingham Palace is a great place to visit and next to green park. We decided to get there early as we read that it can be pretty hard to get a good location to view the guards.

We waited for about an hour and a half, then it happened!! Nothing…..nothing at all happened. Due to the severe (normal British) rain, it was cancelled at the last minute. Shockingly they do not give any updates in advance. But just let people know then and there if it’s been cancelled. Bummer. At least they have seen enough of Buckingham Palace to last them two lifetimes.

Westminster Abbey & Big Ben

From Buckingham Palace we decided to head towards the river Thales, passing past Westminster and Big Ben on the way. Unfortunately Big Ben is still being repaired, so we weren’t able to see it properly. But it was something to tick off the list.

We headed over to see the London Eye but as the weather wasn’t very good. Not only rain but by this point fog we decided against it. Especially considering the very high price of a ticket.

So headed off for lunch and found a reasonably priced place not far from the London eye. Good food, drink and service! Especially as we got there at the right time, people after us had to wait an hour, we were very lucky!

Trafalgar Square & National Gallery

After lunch we headed to Trafalgar Square because we wanted to head into the National Gallery to escape the rain and cold.

Despite myself having been to a London a few times in the past it was my first time going to the museum. I had heard that it is pretty amazing. The fact that it is also free entry too, makes it a must go travel destination as well. When we went there were paintings on display by CLAUDE MONET, JMW TURNER, VAN GOGH and GEORGES SEURAT. You can spend hours there. As they didn’t have Korean language we didn’t do the audio tour, but if it had been just the two of us then we would have and easily spent an entire afternoon there.

DYSON!!

The day we went to London was also the same day of Jinny’s mums birthday! What a coincidence. Earlier in the morning, Jinny’s dad has said he would buy her anything she wanted, to which she replied, DYSON! YES, she wanted a vacuum cleaner! Wow, it wouldn’t have been on my birthday wish list. But it’s actually because in Asia (Japan and Korea at least) they are around double the price of the UK.

Throw in the fact that we can also get tax free shopping and that Jinny’s parents run a restaurant in Korea, so they do need to constantly clean a big space everyday, a vacuum cleaner as a birthday present starts to make sense. Smart Mum!

In London there is the DYSON Demo store which is essentially the Apple Store of DYSON. Hell if your going to buy one, might as well buy it from the best store. So we jumped into a taxi and headed over to Oxford street.

Despite the fact we were pretty much a sure buy. The staff there were damn good. The best sales people we had experienced in the UK, professional, informative and not too intrusive. I was impressed.

Daily Korean Fix

With DYSON in hand we rushed back home to get ready for our daily fix of Korean food. We had booked into Kimchee which was a Korean restaurant not too far from our accommodation.

As you’ve probably realised, Jinny’s family loves Korean food. More than British food (and I can’t blame them), so we had another meal to look forward to. After researching we had found a nice place and it didn’t disappoint.

Food and drink were spot on. Prices were not too bad either. Staff were ok but nothing amazing. It seems that ordering more food mid meal is something they have never experienced before, but we got there in the end.

Liverpool!!

London trip, mums birthday, Korean food, how could it get any better?!? The super cup final of cause! It was Chealse vs Liverpool and Jinny’s brother who is a massive LFC fan was excited. We had intended to watch in a pub, but we couldn’t find one that was showing the game and has seating.

So we decided to go back home with booze to enjoy the game at our own pace.

It was an intense game, going to penalties, but thankfully for Jinny’s brother, Liverpool managed to win.

Despite the weather, it was a great day and we managed to see a lot of London. We had a full day planned for tomorrow. Our last day in London before heading to Liverpool!