This past week, I had the opportunity to travel to London with my dad’s basketball team. He’s the head coach at Marist for men’s basketball, and they played at the Basketball Hall of Fame London showcase. My mom and I have been planning this trip for weeks- with all of our free time we had to find things to do. We stayed for five days, and in that time we managed to see all the sights and visit all of the iconic places. I am very excited to share my itinerary from the past few days- from tours to tea time.
Taking a trip to Europe means one of many things: a very, very long travel day. We left Marist’s campus with the team a little past two Wednesday afternoon and did not arrive at our hotel until eleven on Thursday morning. There’s a five hour time difference, but either way, it was quite a trip. Once we arrived in the hotel room, my mom and I took an hour long power nap before having to get ready for our first activity. We stayed outside of Central London on Canary Wharf, so to get to the heart of the city we either had to take a cab or the train. We took a car to the Corinthia Hotel, where we would be having afternoon tea before taking a double-decker bus tour of the Christmas lights.
When I stepped into the Corinthia Hotel, I was amazed. The tea room was decorated with nutcrackers, brightly lit Christmas trees, and large red and gold ornaments that hung from the ceiling. After spending time in London, I can assure you that there is really nothing better than afternoon tea. If you’re a tea person, I totally recommend doing your own at home. Once we finished our finger sandwiches and scones, we headed out to where the tour was meeting. Although we spent most of it shivering, it was worth it. As we turned every corner, the lights continued to get more impressive. Buildings were decked out and the streets were bustling with people. We even managed to get a perfect view of the annual tree lighting in Trafalgar Square. As I went to bed that night, I was exhausted, but excited for the next few days.
Something you should know about my mom and I is that we are serious shoppers. We dedicated our second day to shopping on Oxford Street- the one and a half mile long street packed with stores. We visited Harrods and Selfridges, two of London’s luxury department stores, which are the equivalent to New York’s Saks on Fifth Avenue. We ended up having a late lunch at a very Instagrammable cafe on the fourth floor of Selfridges called Elon Cafe overlooking the city. The walls were covered in pastel pink and the entire cafe was decorated with carnations. Sadly, our shopping day was eventually cut short so that we could have dinner with my dad and the team.
We woke up early the next morning and took a car to Central London for our tour of Westminster Abbey. Our car dropped us off right in front of Elizabeth Tower- more popularly known as Big Ben- and we grabbed coffee as we headed to the Abbey. Our tour was around two hours and was quite impressive. I imagined what it was like for the church to be filled with people during the Royal Weddings. After the tour, my mom and I had afternoon tea at the cafe in the Abbey. The rest of our day was jam-packed, we walked to Buckingham Palace and saw the guards, and then all the way to the London Eye. If you didn’t know, London has a ferris wheel in the middle of the city, and I convinced my mom to buy us tickets. London is known for its rainy and cloudy weather, but even through the clouds it was an amazing view. You could see all of London at the top, from Parliament and Big Ben all the way to the palace. We knew that since we would be at the game the next day, we should be making the most out of our day, so my mom and I decided to stay for dinner. We ate at a traditional English pub and had Shepard’s Pie and Sticky Toffee Pudding to get a taste of the culture. We then took the train back to the hotel, watched holiday movies, and drank champagne until we fell asleep.
Our last full day had less sight-seeing, but was just as exciting. It was the day of my dad’s game, and I have to say, the arena they played in was unbelievable. They had a great crowd- the arena has ten-thousand seats and a good amount of them were filled. The game was close and we were on the edge of our seats, but they pulled out a win. Afterwards, we took the train back to the hotel and finished off our trip with a family dinner.
Visiting London during Christmas time is something that everyone should add to their bucket list. It was an incredible experience, and even though bundling up from head to toe is a must, the beauty of the lights and decorations make up for it. We crammed a lot into the five short days that we were there, and although it was hectic, it was a trip I will never forget.
this made me want to go to london really bad