The London Travel Diary: Visiting Buckingham Palace
I’m back from London & Paris and I’ve finally sorted through my photos from my trip. So I’m excited to share the London & Paris travel diaries, a day by day recap of everything I saw, ate, and bought while there.
Today’s post is going to be a recap of day 1. Be sure to check back throughout the next couple of weeks for days 2-8.
I was going to do two separate travel guides, one for each destination, but to be honest, this trip was very last minute (I booked everything 2 months in advance) as I ended up tagging along to a trip that my sister and her friend had planned. So since it wasn’t the exact trip I had envisioned when I thought of my first time in London and Paris and I didn’t hit most of my bucket list items, I will save the official London & Paris travel guide for when I’m able to return and create my dream itinerary.
Nonetheless, I still had a great time, so I thought I’d still share what I got up to while in London & Paris. Hopefully, this can still give you some ideas of what to do, eat & drink, and where to stay if you’re traveling to London and Paris anytime soon. This was an eight day trip, and each day was jammed packed, so I thought I’d take you day by day, starting with our arrival to London on Day 1.
May 23, 2023
After rushing from a very last-minute nail appointment, I made it to the airport and through the security for my 3:40 pm flight with about 30-45 minutes to spare. Since it was going to be a 10-hour flight, I stopped to get some pizza, a canned cocktail, and a bottle of water to hold me over until the first in-flight meal. I flew Virgin Atlantic in an economy seat and to say it was tight would be an understatement. I sat in the window seat next to this really nice older couple, which made the lack of space bearable. After eating my pizza and airline snacks (something called crunchy corn nibbles in a Smokehouse BBQ flavor & a Fever Tree ginger ale), I forced myself to get some rest. I slept through the first meal but woke up in time for breakfast, which was an egg sandwich on an everything bagel, yogurt, and a breakfast cookie.
May 24, 2023
An hour later, around 10 am UK time, we were landing. Getting through customs and picking up my luggage was seamless. I had booked a private car a few days before via Blacklane, so I headed to meet my driver. He was right on time to collect me and my bags – we headed to the car park and got on the road. It was about a 50-minute drive to my room at The Hoxton Southwark, so I settled into the back seat, smiled after noticing the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car, and watched the greenery turn into rows and rows of townhouse-styled buildings as we got closer to my destination. We arrived and my driver helped me bring my bags into the hotel.
After heading to the front desk, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my room was available to check into early. Knowing my introverted self, I decided to stay in my own room, which was great as it gave me a chance to recharge at the beginning and end of each day. I headed up and dropped my bags, then went back downstairs to get my sister, who arrived shortly after me. Her room wasn’t ready yet, so we dropped her bags in mine and then headed back to the lobby to meet our friends and have lunch.
If you’ve never been to a Hoxton hotel, I highly recommend you check them out. Read the full review here. I’ve stayed at the one in downtown LA, so I was happy to see that this was where the group was staying in London.
After a quick lunch in the lobby, everyone’s rooms were ready, so we parted ways and freshened up, before grabbing an Uber to our first stop, which was Buckingham Palace. I love architecture – I could walk around looking at beautiful buildings all day – so I really enjoyed seeing the palace and the gardens around it. I also love pretty parks and was happy to see the lush green St. James Park nearby. We didn’t spend a lot of time there, so I’d love to go back and just wander around next time. From there, we walked to The London Eye with stops along the way to take pictures at one of the infamous red telephone booths in front of Big Ben.
We stopped at a little eatery near The London Eye to get some Fish & Chips and wings, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Madera at Treehouse London. Madera was a cute restaurant and the staff were so friendly – they brought us two rounds of complimentary daiquiri shots and brought me a brownie to celebrate my birthday. The brownie was so good and I don’t even eat brownies, so that’s saying a lot.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our early train ride to Paris.
Come back for Day 2 of my London & Paris adventures and subscribe to never miss a new post.
xx,
