I started my trip with three days in London. (Quick reminder: I went on the Highlights of Europe trip with EF Ultimate Break – NOT sponsored!!) Every place listed here will be in my Google map linked down below for easy access.

https://goo.gl/maps/3dagCq1T2maDvtmU7

Day one

We had a driver pick us up from Heathrow and take us to the hostel, YHA London Thameside. It was pretty nice and the area seemed more relaxed than downtown, which I liked. Part of our group walked down from the hostel to eat at Leadbelly’s. We immediately learned the importance of having enough cash to not have to split the bill – our waiter seemed so annoyed when the six of us were struggling to put money in, but he offered to split the bill for us, thankfully. After walking around the area by the Canada Water tube station, we got ready for EF’s welcome dinner.

EF includes a welcome dinner as part of the trip to get to meet your tour director and other people on the trip, so we all took the tube to the Marquis Cornwallis for traditional fish and chips. I also tried Pravha lager, a light beer that was decent. That night we walked around Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. We were there during the Women’s World Cup so Piccadilly Circus had giant billboards advertising the English team, which was so cool to see! The entire time we were walking around the area, I honestly felt like I was on the set of a Harry Potter movie. I’ve dreamt about being in London for so long and it didn’t feel real!

Day two

The next morning, we were on a bus tour around the major landmarks of London. We started at Tower Bridge (not London Bridge). We then went to Leadenhall Market, which was J.K. Rowling’s inspiration for Diagon Alley! I am a huge Harry Potter fan and could immediately recognize the area. It was so cool to see. The majority of the scenes in Diagon Alley weren’t filmed here due to the size. However…around the corner, the London Migraine Clinic’s door was used as the door to the Leaky Cauldron! It’s painted bright blue now but it’s instantly recognizable.

Next, we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Princess Diana got married. We didn’t have time to go inside, but the outside alone is stunning. St. Paul’s was consecrated in 1300 (meaning it was dedicated as a Christian space of worship then, but it was built even earlier). The amount of history in London alone is just indescribable. St. Paul’s also survived the German Blitz in World War II – this photograph is incredible.

Buckingham Palace

We ended our bus tour just in time at Green Park by Buckingham Palace. Random tip – when we were there in early June, the pollen count was super high and there must have been a certain kind of tree in the area by the palace because everyone was having issues with sneezing and pollen getting into their eyes. I had to go buy medicine for hay fever at the pharmacy really quick and that helped. It only seemed to be in that area though. I would even start having issues as our train pulled into that station by the palace. No clue if that’s common though.

The day we were there, it happened to be the day of the Trooping the Colour celebration. (The link explains it in much further detail, but it is essentially the Queen’s ‘official’ 93rd birthday celebration.) We got SO lucky and got to see her pass by in her carriage. We then walked around the St. James’s area, then returned to the palace grounds about a half hour before she was scheduled to be on the balcony for the royal flyover. We were held way back as the street was blocked off and couldn’t even see the palace from where we were standing, then somehow we got lucky and were able to make our way all the way up to the gates of the palace!!

I can’t even describe how exciting this moment was. We were so, so close and were able to be in front of the Victoria Memorial fountain. I’ve been obsessed with the Royal Family for a long time now (there goes my shot of playing it cool with a prince) and it was so exciting to see the Queen, the whole Cambridge family (including Louie!!) and Prince Harry and Meghan (marking her first public appearance since the birth of Archie).

Trafalgar Square and St. James

While we were in St. James and Trafalgar Square, we stopped by Fortnum & Mason. This is known to be the Queen’s grocery store and it certainly looked the part. It was very elaborate and had just about everything you could want in there. They have a space for afternoon tea if you’re interested. Next door is Hatchard’s, known as the Queen’s bookstore. I didn’t stop in, but it is the oldest bookstore in the United Kingdom – so cool!

We also went by the National Gallery. The building itself is beautiful and there are so many notable paintings inside. Even if you’re not an art history nerd like me, you’ll certainly recognize some of the work from art class in elementary school. The best part? It’s free!

After the excitement of seeing the Queen, we walked around and went down Old Bond Street (I believe it’s the Mayfair neighborhood?). It has some of the most iconic designer brands out there – Gucci, YSL, Givenchy, Prada – and even if you don’t go in, it’s worth just looking at the storefronts.

We also went by the House of Minalima, the graphic design studio responsible for all the Harry Potter films. I thought it would be more of a working studio, but it just seemed to be a museum and shop. It was still very cool to see nonetheless.

King’s Crossing

We also made our way over to King’s Cross station. It was cool to see but very out of the way. This is where the iconic Platform 9 and 3/4 photo op is. However, it was an hour and a half wait in line for a $10 photo and we were starving, so we just took a photo of someone else doing it! Right next to the station is Granary Square, a very local shopping area. They had some boutiques and restaurants. I wish I had known this beforehand – the Youtube Creator Space is in the area, which would have been cool to drop by.

Going out in London

Later that night, we tried to go to Sketch (after reading that Fran Acciardo went on her spring break and saw Alex Pettyfer and Chris Hemsworth!!) but it was Saturday night and they only took reservations, and we were certainly not dressed properly! If you’re going, I would recommend getting reservations in the afternoon for the pink gallery room and packing a skirt or a dress to wear. I would have been so underdressed in my jeans!

EF organized a pub crawl for us with some other groups (I actually ran into two girls that went to KU, just on a different EF trip!). This included going to the Zoo, Tiger Tiger and the Piccadilly Institute. Out of the three, I think Piccadilly Institute was probably the coolest space. I had an Aperol Spritz which I wanted SO badly to like, but it was terrible! I am sensitive to alcohol but I had several other girls try it and they agreed it was terrible too. It’s highly debated on the Internet…

Day three – Oxford and Windsor

The next day we took a trip to Oxford and Windsor! Windsor, the Queen’s castle and residence, was first. It’s very cool if you’re a nerd about the Royals or British history and the grounds themselves are beautiful. We toured the State Apartments and I loved St. George’s Hall. You can’t take photos but it’s still so worth it. We also saw St. George’s Chapel, where Meghan and Harry got married.

Oxford was incredible! Made up of 39 colleges, it’s one of the oldest universities in the world (and the oldest in the English-speaking world). I thought Christchurch and New College were the prettiest. Christchurch’s dining hall was the inspiration for the Great Hall in Harry Potter, but they couldn’t film the movie in there because there’s only room for three tables in the space and they had to fit four tables for each house. You can tour it, but we didn’t have time and the line was crazy long.

The Divinity School in the Bodleian Library was used to film the infirmary scenes and the ballroom dance scene. There was a wedding going on at the time so we couldn’t go in – imagine how much that must cost! Radcliffe Camera is beautiful from the outside, but you can’t go in unless you’re an Oxford student.

New College has a gorgeous chapel. It also has the iconic quad where they filmed the scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Malfoy being turned into a ferret. They also have the oldest dining hall in Oxford. We got to peek in and see the menu – it was a quintessential English meal.

The downtown area of Oxford was super nice and had several souvenir shops. We ate at Franco Manca and had really good pizza (there were of these restaurants throughout London) and the best lemonade I’ve ever had.

Thoughts on London

There were no trash cans ANYWHERE! The city was SO clean. Everyone was incredibly polite and the British stereotype rang true with everyone we experienced.

London was a great introduction to the trip. They have a great tube system that set the foundation for the rest of the metros throughout the trip – and the fact that they speak English helps!

xo, Hannah