Everyone has asked me what my favorite part of the trip was and honestly, it’s such a hard question for me to answer. I loved each part for different reasons. And each place I felt was wildly different from the last. My favorite part about London- soaking up and experiencing all the history. It was so special to be walking the streets and through their castles where so much history happened. It was so surreal and something I’ll never forget. Now, let’s get into how we spent the most perfect 5 days in London!

I’m going to break this down into days, because I just finished the whole post and it’s insanely long! Day III and IV will go live on Friday! Let’s jump into Day I & II!

Our flight left Orange County at 5 pm on Wednesday, May 13th, we arrived in Seattle at 8:15 pm and then took off from Seattle at 9:45 pm for the direct flight to London. We had the option of doing a direct flight from California to London, but that required flying out of LAX and well….we would literally do anything to avoid going to LA for like…almost anything lol. So having a little lay-over wasn’t a big deal for us and gave us a chance to let the kids stretch their legs before the overnight flight.

We also traveled carry-on only, so we weren’t worried about any issues losing luggage between flights or anything like that. How we managed to pack 4 of us in 4 carry-ons is insane but we did it! We basically traveled with 7 items total- 2 carry-on roller suitcases, 2 weekender duffle bags (which slide on and sat on top of our suitcases), and then 3 backpacks- one my husband carried, one I carried, and one smaller backpack that my daughter brought for toys and things for the flights (crayons, coloring stuff, etc). We bought 4 seats, so we technically could have also brought one more backpack but we didn’t need it and knew that we were going to buy another suitcase or duffle in Europe to carry home the things we bought. So the math, mathed and made the most sense to us. I linked everything we brought for travel here if you have LTK and if not, I’ll link some things as we go!

Each hotel we stayed at, we made sure prior to booking that we’d be able to get a crib in our room, which meant we didn’t have to travel with a pack ‘n play, which was key! We also didn’t travel with a car seat since most forms of transportation we were using, didn’t require it. We did however travel with one of our strollers! I’ll breakdown in a separate post the entire thought process on the stroller situation, because trust me, it was months of back and forth on that decision. In short we have the Uppababy Vista Stroller, a single B.O.B stroller, and a double B.O.B. stroller. In the end we decided to take the single B.O.B stroller. This we checked at the gate at the airport and they had it waiting at the gate when we got off each plane.

With the flight being overnight, we bought these for the kids, which transformed their seats into little beds. They worked perfectly and both kids slept the entire stretch from Seattle to London, which meant my husband and I were also able to get some sleep!

We landed in London at 3:35 pm London time, Thursday, May 14th. My husband used BlackLane to book us a car that picked us up at the airport and drove us directly to our hotel. I’ll never forget the drive over- first of all, the driving on the left side of the road?!? Doesn’t seem like it would be that big a deal right? But when you’re actually in a car doing it, it’s such a trip lol.

I didn’t have anything planned for the remainder of our day just because I wasn’t sure how we would all feel. But as luck would have it, we ended up having fun plans! Two days before we left the states, my dad casually mentioned that my uncle & aunt were also going to Europe but he wasn’t sure exactly where they were going. I picked up the phone and immediately called my aunt, and well- they were also going to London and were going to get there the same day as us! Their flight got in at about 11 am London time and my aunt was going for a competition (she does competitive ballroom dancing), and basically they were staying for 3 days for the competition and then they were heading to Ireland afterward. With all of our plans and her competition, we realized that if we were going to get to see each other, it had to be our first night there for dinner and we made it happen!

After checking in to our hotel and unpacking, we got out of our airport clothes and called a taxi to the restaurant my aunt made reservations for. We ate at Carlotta and it was FANTASTIC! Such good food and such a cool atmosphere, kid friendly as well!

After dinner, we all parted ways and we called a taxi to take us back to the hotel. I think doing this actually helped us acclimate to London time much faster, we just kind of finished the day on their time. We got back to the hotel, took showers/baths, and then cuddled in bed and watched a movie!

We stayed at the Pan Pacific London and other than the Disneyland Paris Hotel (which we’ll get too), this was our favorite place to stay!! It was so nice, everyone who worked there was so helpful, and we just felt right at home.

DAY I– Friday, May 15th

Our stay included breakfast from their restaurant each day, so we ended up just getting breakfast there because it was a) delicious, b) easiest, and c) fastest with the kids! It made it so easy to just start our days of exploring once we immediately left the hotel! I’d say this is something to think about if you’re traveling with kids!

After breakfast, we checked in with our concierge at the hotel to see what the fastest way to Buckingham Palace would be- we wanted to get there to witness changing of the guards which started at 11 am. If you’re planning on watching this, make sure you do your research! It doesn’t happen everyday, so this was something we prioritized for something we wanted to do first, and with our first full day being a Friday, it worked out perfectly! It is free to watch, but plan on getting their early to get a good spot because the ENTIRE area outside the palace fills up quick!

The tube was the fastest way to get there, so we walked about a half a block from our hotel to the nearest station, which was Liverpool Street Station. We had to get off and transfer somewhere along the way (I can’t remember where), but then we made it to Buckingham Palace! I will say, that was our first and last experience with the tube because it was crazy lol. The tube system is just not set up to make things simple/efficient for strollers lol. But we did it!

We found some space in the front along The Mall Road, which was so cool because the guards walked right past us as they were leaving the Palace!

Afterwards, we were able to walk to the front gate of the Palace to take photos and tell the kids a little about it and who lived there! Avery loved hearing about the real-life King & Queen.

Next, we walked over to St. James Park where we actually planned on getting lunch at a cafe, but we weren’t hungry and it was pretty chilly out, so we stopped at a cafe cart for some hot cocoas and walked throughout the park.

I booked us a tour for Westminister Abbey at 2:30 pm and as I learned in London, everything is supppperrrr walkable and suppppeeerrrr close together lol. So we ended up having a lot of time between activities because I allotted for unnecessary travel time basically. So after St. James Park, we walked towards Westminister Abbey just to make sure we knew where it was, and then we hopped behind the Abbey and made our way to Big Ben & Westminister Bridge. We shopped at some of the little street vendor shops, we got some London beanies for the kids, I got a I ❤ London shirt, and then we of course took photos on the bridge with that iconic backdrop of the River Thames, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben!

It was so beautiful and I actually had a pinch me moment where I couldn’t believe we were all there together. This entire trip was a dream come true and I think looking up at Big Ben was the first moment where I realized it was all real.

We made it back to Westminister Abbey for our tour, we did take the stroller with us, so the place (for the most part) is stroller friendly. There is a section where you walk up stairs and the hallway is very narrow so they ask you to leave the stroller behind, but by the time we hit that point, my daughter was actually asleep in the stroller and my son had fallen asleep in his chest carrier, so my husband stayed behind with the kids and I got to go be a major history nerd 😉

It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, walking through those halls. The tour comes with an audio tour so you follow along as the audio tells you what you’re looking at. They even have a kid friendly cartoon version that my daughter (age 5) actually really liked!

We finished our tour around 4:30 pm and that’s around when everyone started to get a little hungry. We walked around town just looking for a little pub to pop into, we got some classic fish & chips (which were amazing) and then mac and cheeses for the kids! I actually don’t even remember the name of the pub to be honest, sorry to disappoint lol!

After finishing lunch, we walked to Trafalgar Square and then past to SoHo for some shopping! Of course we had to stop by Hamleys, (the world’s oldest & most famous toy store) and it definitely lives up to the hype, that’s for sure! It’s a 7 story toy shop that has just about everything you can imagine! They do demonstrations and magic shows and dance shows in the front of the shop! It even has it’s own gelato shop inside! My daughter picked some toys and we actually came back here again on our last day in London because our daughter wanted to go back. The store is on Regent Street and if you have kids, you absolutely have to stop in while in London! Do not miss it!

One of my favorite parts about being on vacation is really the absolute absence of time. It’s like time just doesn’t exist, you just wander streets and go where you want to go, when you want to go. And with kids, that’s even more special because really your life usually runs around the clock and some sort of time schedule, having that disappear is really magical. We’d be out walking around in London at 11 pm, just after having dinner at 9 or 10 pm. I would NEVER even think of being out that late at home, unless of course we’re at Disneyland, in which case the same rule applies- time doesn’t exist.

After shopping and walking around, we walked back to our hotel to figure out where we wanted to eat. We ended up walking about a block away from our hotel to check out a place called BOXHALL. Which was basically a market area with a bunch of little eateries and dessert places. We ended up getting some pasta from a spot and then milkshakes from Soft Serve Society! After we ate, we walked back to the hotel to get ready for Day II!

DAY II – Saturday, May 16th

After having breakfast at our hotel, we started our walk over to the Tower of London! This had been a bucket list item for me, FOREVER. If you’ve never heard of it, visit the website to read about it! The Tower of London is a historic castle, prison, and home to the Crown Jewels. It’s so fascinating and I could not wait to visit. It does require a paid ticket and reservation time. I booked our entry time for the 10:30 am- 11 am window. From my research, people typically spent 3-4 hours here and we were here for about 4.5 hours. It was amazing! My daughter loved seeing all the crowns and jewels! It was such an amazing experience. And learning about all the history, albeit some pretty graphic- the beheading of Queen Anne Boleyn and the story of the Princes in the Tower especially, being there and walking the grounds was really something special. I learned just how twisted Royal history has been for centuries!

If you’re planning a visit and wanting to see the Crown Jewels exhibit, I’d definitely recommend going to the Crown Jewels area FIRST! I had read another blog warning about the lines for the Crown Jewels later in the day, so immediately walked straight to the exhibit when we got there- we just walked straight in, but by the time we left, the line was zig-zagged around the outside, and probably at least a 40 minute wait to get in. I don’t have photos of the crowns because they don’t let you take photos inside, which is a bummer but I’ll never forget seeing all the purple crowns!

Seeing Tower Bridge was also something so spectacular! And being able to view it from inside the Tower of London was amazing!

We ended up grabbing snacks at the cafe within the Tower and then had plans to go to The British Museum afterwards, we actually called a taxi to take us but the driver kindly let us know that no one was driving that way because their was actually a pretty big protest going on where people had lined the streets, blocking anyone from driving thru. The protest was civil, but not something we wanted to get into. Luckily the British Museum is free and I didn’t actually book a reservation, so we just decided we would pivot and skip it or circle back another day.

Instead, we actually walked from the Tower of London to St. Pauls Cathedral! It was SO stunning and we were lucky enough to be able to walk inside. We stopped at the cafe to grab me a matcha and then did some shopping at the gift shop.

One of my favorite parts of our trip as a whole was just learning and absorbing all the history and being in all these building that are SO old and yet, still exist and still function to this day. Princess Diana and the then Prince Charles (now King Charles) were married in this church! And the Queen’s (Queen Elizabeth II) 80th and 90th birthday celebrations were in part held here! Part of me wants to do posts just going through all the history of different locations because it’s been so fascinating to me but I’m sure a lot of you already know all about these places lol.

Anyway, after walking through the cathedral and stopping inside for a family prayer, we walked across the street for lunch! We ate at Franco Manca (it caught our eye because of the name), and it was SO good! Definitely recommend! The pizza was amazing!

We walked back towards our hotel just enjoying the city streets and after stopping by our hotel to drop off the stroller, we walked to a restaurant named The Ivy for dinner! It was recommended by my girlfriend and it was so good and such a cute atmosphere! They had live music from the bar and we got seated right in front, which was so cool for the kids! It felt like we had our own little private entertainment while we had dinner!

After dinner, it was back to our hotel for baths and some downtime! We actually didn’t make it back to the hotel until 11 pm! That’s when you know it was a good day!