This October, Kat and I spent a week in London on holiday. It’s been somewhere we’ve wanted to go for years and the trip did not disappoint. Figured I’d write about the trip here so we can relive the great time we had and maybe share it with family and friends.

Sunday

Day 1, we arrived at our hotel around 10am. Our room wasn’t ready, but we were ready to explore. South Kensington is a super cool area, and there was a lot to see within walking distance.

We grabbed coffee from Blank St in the South Kensington Station Arcade, and made our way to Hyde Park. It was about a 15 minute walk, and we passed by the Natural History Museum and V&A. We didn’t get too far into the park, but saw the Albert Memorial, and the Royal Albert Hall across the street.

We then made our way down to Chelsea to do some exploring and shopping.

In Chelsea, we got to make our first top into Boots for a few necessities, and our first stop into Waterstone’s as well. I don’t think we bought anything on that visit, but did some recon for later. We also popped into Oh My Cream where Kat got some skincare.

Chelsea was overall pretty quiet, but it was also early-ish on a Sunday.

We had lunch at Pret - we haven’t been able to have it since all the locations in Chicago closed during the pandemic. The cheese toasty was excellent, and we got salt and vinegar crisps made with 100% British potatoes. The UK seems very proud of their produce, and that’s kinda neat.

It was colder in London than we expected1, so we made our way up to Kensington High Street to Uniqlo to get Kat a heavier coat. Uniqlo always comes in clutch, and there were so many of them in London (the Google says there’s 13, it felt like there was one on every high street).

On the way back we passed by the V&A again, and saw the brick walls were really beat up, missing some big chunks. Turns out that was all damage from the Blitz, and they left it in that condition as a way to remember what the city went through in WWII. It was kinda moving.

By then our room was ready, so we got checked in and settled into our room. There was premier league on the telly, and it was neat to watch it locally (aka not in the morning) for the first time.

We had booked in for a Sunday Roast at The Cadogan Arms for dinner, a 200+ year old pub about 15 minutes from our hotel. It was a drizzly walk over, but I think that just made it feel even more like London.

We were seated in the cosy basement which was luckily a lot quieter than the upstairs dining room and bar. We had some Cauliflower and Onion Bhahi as a starter; Kat had the Mushroom and Lentil Pie Sunday Roast, and I had my first real English Fish and Chips. Tribute cask ale from Cornwall. It was a delightful dinner, and well worth fighting off the jetlag to enjoy.

Monday

Our first full day in London, and we sure packed a bunch into it. We got off to an early start, and grabbed a pastry and coffee from Gail’s, right next to our hotel and the tube station. We ate in the little market on Exhibition Road. The pastry was fine, it didn’t blow us away but was tasty enough for the price.

We took the Piccadilly line into Piccadilly Circus. The Tube was super efficient and we took it all over London while we were there. I loved the tube2.

Piccadilly Circus was pretty quiet before 10am, and it was really nice to walk around without too many people. The Rapha store and cafe was bustling with people stopping by on their commutes, but most stores didn’t open till 10. We did some shopping once stores did open - Muji, Arket, Gymshark and Weekday.

And of course, Liberty. It really felt like we were in London now. Since there’s no Thanksgiving in England (and Halloween isn’t all that big), they already had their Christmas stuff out. I’m sure it’ll ramp up more as we get to December, but it was still wonderful.

There were all these neat side streets around Soho, and super cosy. Heddon St was one we wandered down, and was a lovely, quieter experience.

Then it was time for a snack, and we couldn’t not get a vegan sausage roll from Gregg’s. We ate them in Leicester Square, and they were fantastic. Great flaky crust, tasty seasoned fake meats, everything we hoped they would be and more.

After that, it was time for some touristy wanders - Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, followed by a walk down Whitehall St where we inadvertently caught the changing of the guard (a little underwhelming, but was fine for just wandering by).

Then we hit some of the highlights - New Scotland Yard (where all the British Detectives solve their murders!), Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.

As we wandered around looking for lunch, we came across a lovely little pub across from the Coroner’s Court - The Barley Mow. It was quiet at lunchtime, but the foood was delicious - Vegan Burger for Kat, Chicken Bacon and Tarragon Pie with mash, gravy and leek salad for me. It was one of the highlights of the trip - a quiet lunch in a lovely pub, good food and ale.

After that, we wandered down along the Thames to the Tate. Along the way we saw MI5 from the 007 movies (and it’s actually MI6 in real life). The Tate was amazing (and free!). Kat got to see The Lady of Shallot, and of course there was a bunch of other great art there as well.

Jubilee Line -> Piccadilly Line -> Ampersand Hotel (so easy!).

We had dinner near the hotel in South Kensington, at a place called Sushi Shop. We split a roll and each had a Katsu Bowl. After dinner we explored South Kensington and Chelsea a bit, saw the Thin Houses and stopped for a drink at Jak’s bar to end the evening.

  1. We knew London was chilly at this time of year. But last year when we went to France at the same time of year it should have been chilly there too. Instead, we got slammed with a heat wave and our sweaters were unused for much of the trip. But I suppose we should have known lightning doesn’t strike twice. ↩

  2. The payment system was really neat - you tap at the station you enter, and tap out at the station you leave. Price is based on the Zone you begin in and the zone you leave in (most of our trips started and ended in Zone 1). So you can transfer as much as you need to get where you need to go at no additional cost.

    The Tube was also super efficient. At peak hours, many of the lines (Piccadilly included) ran every 2-3 minutes. At off-peak hours, it was like every 5 minutes. The stations were always very busy, but with the rate of trains coming and going there was minimal wait. Also with that frequency, it felt like every time we transfered lines, we’d get off one train and the next would be there and we could just hop on. Super efficient. Sure there were some delays, but if your baseline is 2-3 minute frequency, having to wait 6 minutes isn’t too bad.

    I could write a lot more about the Tube. ↩