London Travel Guide: How We Spent 3 Days in London
Today’s blog post is all about our short, but sweet time in London! Before I get into the details, I will share that we were actually in London for a family responsibility on my husband’s side, so while we did get some time to explore and have fun, the main purpose of our visit to London was to spend time with his family and take care of some familial responsibilities. All of that being said, we still got to explore so much, both with his family and on our own, and we had an incredible time! Let’s jump into it.
Day 1: A Quick Day of Exploring London
Our first day in London started with a long travel day. We were on a red-eye flight from Montreal to London that lasted about 5 and a half hours, of which I hardly got a wink of sleep, and was probably one of the most uncomfortable plane rides I’ve ever had in my life. But, once we touched down at Heathrow at 9:30 am, I knew the exhaustion and hours of being uncomfortable were worth it. We got off the plane, made our way to border patrol, and headed into the city via the new Elizabeth Line (which was gorgeous, by the way!) all the way to Paddington, which we’d call home for the next three days.
When we settled in our rooms, we took a quick shower, changed, and got our day started by visiting Paddington Station to find some coffee, food, and of course, a little Paddington bear! We only had a few short hours before we had to make our way to Golders Green with my husband’s family to do our familial obligations, so we quickly ate, got some souvenirs, and went on our way to the tube to spend time with his family.
Once we finished up with our family responsibilities, we all took the tube to Cambden Market to explore, and of course, grab more coffee. We explored some shops, drank some coffee, ate some gelato and headed back to Paddington. From there, my husband, brother & sister-in-law and I all decided we should head down to Oxford Street; there, we did a little bit of shopping and exploring, and before I knew it, I could barely stand up anymore, so we had a quick Marks & Spencer dinner, and headed to bed. We had a big day of exploring Cheltenham and the Cotswolds waiting for us the follow day!
Day 2: Cheltenham & the Cotswolds
The next morning was a very early wake-up call at 7:30 am, which I was really not loving at the height of my jet-lagged exhaustion. At this point, it was 2:30 am back home, and I was feeling it. But, we got ready, made our way to the bus that was rented for us to get to Cheltenham, which is about a 2-hour drive outside of London, and off we went! I can truly say Cheltenham may have been one of my absolute favourite places we explored on this trip; like, still trying to convince my husband that we need to move there now! The homes were beautiful, and I couldn’t stop taking photos of every building we walked by.
While in Cheltenham, we had another couple of hours of familial obligations with his family to uphold, but once we finished up, we all made our way to Oxford to see the infamous Oxford University, which truly was an incredible sight. Did you know that university is so old, it pre-dates the Aztec Civilization? Crazy, right!?
We wrapped up our time exploring Oxford and the Cotswold area, got back on the bus and made our way back into London, where we all enjoyed a dinner together at a local pub called The Swan. Though I’m vegetarian, I couldn’t go all the way to London and not try fish & chips – and boy, were the best fish & chips I’ve ever had!
Day 3: Meeting New Friends in Chelsea
On our last day in London, we were pretty much free to do what we wanted, so while planning our trip, I reached out to my friend Stacey (follow her on Instagram!), who I’d be chatting with since 2019, who lives just outside of London, hoping we could get together to meet in person while I was there visiting, and luckily we made it work! But before we went to meet up, my husband and some of his family wanted to head down to High Gate Cemetery to see some of the famous people buried there. Though I wouldn’t have put it in my top experiences on the trip, the dates on the tombstones were so old, I could hardly believe it, and my husband had a great time, so I was happy that he was happy.
Once we wrapped up at the cemetery, we made our way to South Kensington to meet up with Stacey, and we spent the afternoon grabbing a little lunch and making our way to the Chelsea neighborhood to explore the Chelsea in Bloom exhibits that were on display while the Chelsea Flower Show was happening. It was extremely crowded, so we decided to get the heck out of there and take the tube to Kensal Green Cemetery to see if we could find the plaque placed there for Freddie Mercury. Plot twist, don’t waste your time – it was gone. 🥲 We looked all around the cemetery for about 20 minutes, finally found the place where it was, to discover the plaque was no longer there.
We parted ways with Stacey & her partner, and met up with my brother & sister-in-law for a few drinks and some snacks before heading back to the hotel for one last sleep in London before we made our way to our next destination in the morning – Paris! Read all about how we spent four days in Paris here.
And that’s it for London! I know the blogs are a little out of order, since we started in London, but I couldn’t resist writing all about my favourite city, Paris, first! Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter to make sure you don’t miss any blogs, and the Amsterdam recap blog post will be coming real soon
