Our European Vacation: London with Kids

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We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, and a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

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As we traveled through England (just London, actually) and France, I kept notes and tried to record our travels in detail so that we could remember the good, the bad, and the strange. In fact, prior to our departure, I read through our 20+ year old journal that FishPapa and I had recorded on a previous trip to France. It was really helpful in getting my mindset ready for this adventure.

Notes like this came in handy:

When you see a bathroom or a grocery store, make good use of it because you don’t know when you’ll find another one.

The following series, chronicling our month’s stay overseas is meant to be a guide for the curious as well as for those who are planning a similar journey. Travel with kids is good! Even when it’s hard.

The installments are written in the time that they happened. Think of this as an excerpt from my journal, like Captain Kirk’s log, only I’m not him:

Momdate: London, September 2014

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

Neither FishPapa nor I had ever been to England, but over the years we’ve developed a great love for British culture. Most of our favorite tv shows are British. Most of my favorite books are by British authors. I am unabashedly a Kate-watcher, just as I followed Princess Di when I was a young girl.

While we contemplated switching our trip to England instead of France and/or including Scotland into the itinerary, we decided that this first trip would be mostly France, bookended by stays in London.

As it turned out two different British airlines (Virgin and British Airways) both had good rates and nonstop flights from California. A few months before departure, I found a great sale on Virgin Atlantic. Done. LAX to London (and back) for less than $800 per person.

So to London we went. Our first stay was in Kensington and Chelsea at the Premier Inn on Cromwell Road. Premier Inn is a budget hotel chain in the UK. I read lots of hotel reviews on tripadvisor before booking it.

Aside, I wish I had done all my booking earlier than I did. We just weren’t sure what our itinerary would be, so I delayed. The saying is true, she who hesitates, wastes a ton of money! If I had been more confident in my choices, I could have booked many of our options earlier or paid in full at the start for discounted rates. Now I know for next time!

Accommodations

As it was, our stay at the Premier Inn was a good one. All the staff were extremely friendly, most from countries other than the UK. The hotel itself was clean and fairly spacious. We were placed in two rooms on the same hall on floor “negative one”. It was basically the walk out basement level of a series of row houses, much like you see in the rich man’s neighborhood in Oliver Twist.

We ended up paying 718 pounds for two rooms for three days which works out to be about $1256 or $209 per room per night. London is not cheap! This was a “budget hotel”. That said, that’s about what we could expect to pay for accommodations for our family in some “vacation locations” in California, so it wasn’t a horrific price.

It looked a lot like American hotels except for weird quirks like two buttons to flush the toilet (a small button — and low water pressure — for #1 and a large button and more powerful flush for #2). Yes, potty stops prompted much discussion among our children. Another interesting observation of the kids: the bathroom light switches are often outside the bathroom, not in. They found this quite odd.

Unlike American hotels, Premier Inn did not have free wifi. I think it might have been advertised as such but it was only free for 30 minutes a day, and it was as slow as molasses. After that you had to pay. Since the room was already so pricey, I opted not to pay another ten pounds for wifi. That was probably a mistake.

While this was a sabbatical and I didn’t mind unplugging, I still wanted to answer emails and share pics with our family. We also found it really lacking since we needed to research the next day’s sightseeing and couldn’t do so all in 30 minutes.

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

Another amenity that would have made our stay better would have been a small refrigerator and microwave. The hot water pot was great, and we did a fair number of picnic meals from the grocery store, but we ended up wasting small containers of dairy that we couldn’t keep cold. I had a small cooler and could have bought ice for  a few pounds at the grocery store, but it didn’t seem worth it for the small amounts of food I needed to store. It was hard to adjust my shopping mindset to buy for just one meal at a time.

Next time, I’ll consider getting a larger cooler or renting an apartment hotel with an efficiency kitchen. Yes, there will be a next time! I can’t wait to come back. I think I’d move here if FishPapa could get a job here.

Transportation

Ours was a comical trip from the airport. We took the tube from Heathrow since it was so much cheaper than a cab or the Heathrow express. Going the budget route is how we roll most times, but with it comes some inconvenience.

Getting our bearings in a new country, finding a cash machine, buying transport cards, and navigating the tube is challenging with eight people along. Add 8 small suitcases and six smaller bags and it’s quite the adventure. We survived, but not without some short fuses and hurt feelings.

My kids are used to a pretty chill, California suburb with little to no foot traffic and riding around in a car everywhere. Landing them in busy, busy London was a bit of a shock. The boys had a rougher time with it and we discussed a lot of culture shock and discontent those first few days.

(In retrospect, the fact that this was in an English-speaking country probably softened the blow a bit.)

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

Within the city for three days, we tried out a number of modes of transport. Since I’m cheap, I said let’s walk to Kensington Gardens, much to my husband’s chagrin. It was a long stroll. Long. Especially when your six year old is tired and has new shoes and a sore foot.

Later that day we got around town via the tube and the bus. Both were really systematic — once you figured out the system.

It took awhile to figure it out.

We bought Oyster cards (prepaid transport cards) for us three adults (anyone over 16) and then were able to buy short-term visitor discounted child cards. This gave FishBoys13 and 12 half off fares. The littles, ages 10, 7, and 6 rode for free.

In addition to the London Underground and the bus system, we also took a regular train the day we went out to Leavesden for the Harry Potter Studio Tour. We actually took two different tube lines to get to the station early that morning. Early. It was an adventure that we pulled off really well.

Food

Right before we left, I spent a fair amount of time researching restaurants and grocery stores, I was incredibly relieved to find that grocery prices were comparable to here. While I had intended to get most food at the store, my best intentions did not always come to fruition. Lack of refrigeration played a big part in that as well as
general fatigue or disorganization.

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

I do love the grocery stores in London, though. There were so many ingredients I would like to try at the stores, especially since they are products I can’t buy in the states. I was able to get breakfast foods (cereal, milk, yogurt, fruit) for about $12 pounds for the eight of us.

We did grab sandwiches in some places because it was easier than trying to pull something together at the store when we were all hangry.

A couple restaurant experiences that stood out to us:

Prince of Teck – We ate at this pub/restaurant on our first night in town. We’d walked up and down Earl’s Court Road, checking out our different options. Despite the fact that Prince of Teck didn’t have super low prices, my husband liked the vibe, so we took a chance.

We were the first to be seated upstairs, and the waitress was great about putting tables together. She basically went out of her way to make us super comfortable. Since we were fighting jet lag and trying to adjust to meals at weird times, we decided to split a few plates. We ordered two fish and chips plates, the pot pie special, and sides of salad and mashed potatoes.

Everything was really great food. The staff was super accommodating about my inquisition about ingredients; especially about the nut allergies. The pot pie was tasty; the fish and chips solid with an awesome house made tartar sauce. The girls gobbled down the salad and potatoes.

The beer and wine list wasn’t super extensive, but it could have appeared so to us since where we live great wine and micro brews abound. We collectively gave the food an 8/10, but the experience was a 10, with extra props to our waitress Sharon for making us so comfortable. (She was an Argentine who spoke perfect American English. She sounded like she was from California.)

Total spent, including beer, wine, and tip: 54 pounds

Pret a Manger – This is a chain here in the UK, but I noticed that there are locations in NYC as well. We really enjoyed our sandwiches from this shop. Think Panera, but better and made to be easily portable and ready to grab and go. Super yum.

Total spent for sandwiches for eight and a couple drinks to share: 27 pounds

The Flag – This pub is near the Watford Junction Station where we picked up the shuttle to go to Warner Brothers Studio. The staff was friendly, the food was so-so, but at least the prices matched the food. They were cheap. It was a traditional pub experience where we had meat pies and fish and chips. FishBoy17 had a full English breakfast, something he’s been wanting to try for years. He was thrilled to discover that the baked beans weren’t really sweet.

Total spent, including one beer and a tip: 36 pounds

Subway – Yes, we had Subway. I don’t even like to go to Subway in the States now that I know more about their ingredients, but the kids had seen the sign and kept “casually mentioning it”. Since it was the cheapest option on hand one night, we went for it — and were disappointed. The sandwich was fine, but after other, better quality meals of fairly comparable prices, we were disappointed.

Total spent, including a few drinks: 23 pounds

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

Tesco – Tesco is a large grocery chain that also sells other things like clothing and electronics. At first I thought that meant it was like Walmart, but Mark and Spencer offers the same range of products, so I don’t think they are the same animal, necessarily.

Both had good prices on food, but I was extremely disappointed that M&S’s food shop, Simply Food, slapped a nut warning on practically everything they sell. Obviously it was a “CYA” disclaimer, but it was disconcerting all the same. Tesco, on the other hand, had lots of nut-safe options.

One of the heartiest meals we bought was at Tesco, grabbing cheese, meat, bread, hummus, carrot “batons”, and a selection of pre-made salads. We tried out the string cheese shaped like spaghetti, but it wasn’t super chilled, so the kids were a little creeped out.

The hummus and the grilled vegetable couscous salad were amazingly good. AMAZING. We will definitely do a repeat of this on the way home.

Total spent: 39 pounds including a bunch of cheese we chucked because the kids didn’t like it and bread, apples, water bottles, and Nutella we saved for the next day.

One of the most frustrating food challenges, besides lack of refrigeration, has been our battle with a food allergy. Many stores here were overly zealous with their “may contain nuts” warnings. See my note about Marc and Spencer’s Simply Food above.

Most places were very accommodating to check on the ingredients, but it was definitely a challenge. Some folks knew exactly what I was talking about, but others just looked at me like I was nuts. No pun intended.

Amusements

We spent three days on our first leg in London. That was enough to get our bearings, but not enough to make us want to leave. We only scratched the tip of the iceberg in terms of attractions and amusements. By the start of our third day, however, two kids had sore throats, so we were a bit slowed down. So it’s just as well that we didn’t go too hard or long.

What we saw:

Our European Vacation | Life as MOM - We just got back from a month abroad where we visited London, Paris, a handful of cities in Western France. We explored, rested, and learned a ton about ourselves and the world. This is the first installment of our adventure.

Kensington Gardens and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground – The littles had a great time at the Peter Pan-inspired playground. The larger gardens are immense and we didn’t have time to fully explore them. You can rent bikes throughout London, so that is on the list to do in the park on the second round.

We had amazing weather, overdressed in jeans and jackets. London is just beautiful! Particularly when the sun is shining.

The Natural History Museum – I had heard great things about this museum, so my expectations were high. I opted not to pay a pound for a map upon entrance which proved to be a mistake. Since we entered on the east side of the museum, we almost missed the majestic main hall which is AMAZING. Fishpapa said we should buy a map at the start, and cheapskate me should have believed him.

Once we got our bearings — and left the rather boring red zone — we had an amazing time exploring the dinosaur exhibit. It was the best I’ve seen anywhere. We spent about two hours in the museum and shut the place down. We didn’t quite see it all, but since it’s free, we can easily go back.

The Warner Brothers – Harry Potter Studio Tour – this was definitely a family highlight of our first stop in London. It took a fair amount of navigation to get out there, and it wasn’t cheap to do so, but it was a great outing for our family. See my full review here.

That was it for our first stop in London. We arrived on a Monday night and headed to France on Thursday. That gave us two days to get our bearings, overcome jet lag, and see a few sights.

It was hard to leave London, knowing that we hadn’t seen the biggies: Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Parliament, or some of the other museums we wanted to see. But, we left optimistic, knowing that we’d have another couple days on our return leg.

Click here for the next leg of the journey: Paris, the First Time

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28 Comments

  1. I just found exactly what I was looking for yesterday! EEEKKK London is EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!!!

    1. London is expensive, but there are ways to make it cheaper. This time round we’re staying in a lot of Premier Inns. They are generally less money. I’ve had to search their site directly rather than rely on booking sites.

  2. We ate at McDonalds in Prague and in Lucerne if that makes you feel any better. $11 for a salad in Switzerland. We often went to the McDonalds when I lived in Vienna because they had the best ice cream sundaes! Instead of a plastic cup they had edible cups (like cones) with ice cream and hot fudge. Wish they would do that here in the states!

    I have a question for you about journaling…we are traveling down the Pacific Coast Highway the last two weeks in April next year with our three kids (11,9, and 4) and I don’t want to be tied to social media (Instagram specifically) as a way to document our trip with the information I want to include about each stop. Do you have any tips for journaling and keeping track of information for memory keeping to go along with the photographs?

  3. Ahhh. I could see how you wouldn’t really know what you are spending.
    Very interesting about your bank getting you a better exchange rate. I had no idea that was even a possibility. I just wanted to thank you so much for being so incredibly detailed in your posts about your trip. A lot of things that people leave out, are just the things I really wanted to know.
    I can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

    Amazing that it only took you 2 years to save for it. Amazing. How did you do it? Any tricks?
    Just goes to show you that when you have a goal spelled out, you can attain anything.
    Are you thinking of taking the family back again soon?

  4. Oh yes I would have to look up the exchange rates and I know that changes.

    Wow, $3,000 under budget is amazing. How did you do that?
    How did you come up with budget? If you don’t mind me asking, what was your budget?
    How long did you have to save up for this trip?
    I am just so amazed and proud of you that you did this for your kids. Amazing. So many times society tells you that when you have a big family you have to give up on certain dreams. I am glad you had the courage to dream, and the will to make the dream come true.

    1. It sounds odd that we didn’t know what we were spending, huh? We would withdraw cash from our bank via ATM but they never told us the exchange rate. Unless I logged into our bank, I didn’t know how much we had spent. With spotty wifi and hackers we didn’t want to take a chance logging into the bank, so we just guestimated. Turns out the bank got us a better exchange rate than what google was reporting.

      We saved for two years. in 2012, I priced everything out and then added another $5K for inflation. 🙂

  5. Thank you so much for including the prices on everything. So very helpful to see how much a international trip would cost for my family of 6.
    I hope that you keep doing that for the upcoming posts.
    It would really help me in terms of coming up with a budget before we go.
    Keep up the great work.

    1. Keep in mind that the exchange rate changes daily and prices in other countries fluctuate as well. Budget more than you think you will need. I came home and did the final number crunching to find that we were 3K UNDER budget. That was really nice to know.

    1. Yes, I’d love to hear more about that too, particularly regarding the international flights. Love your blogs!

  6. I am loving this post – we are spending Christmas in Paris with our 4 homeschooled kids this year (home exchange, interwebs – don’t get any ideas!!)
    Two of my kids are also nut allergies, so I am very eager to hear your experiences with the nut products in Paris.
    Thanks so much for your great posts – so fun to read.

  7. Loved this post! It felt like I traveled to London with you this rainy morning. Thank you!

  8. Next time you travel look at air bnb you can rent an apartment for a week with a kitchen and it can sometimes be cheaper than a hotel

    1. We did look into that option as well as vrbo and were not pleased with the options we found or their conditions. Many required a cash deposit on arrival and the cost breakdown didn’t really pan out. In Paris we found a hotel with apartments and that worked out perfectly for us.

  9. For those of us who have NO idea what a pound is equal to, I wish you would have translated the American equivalency on the food prices. Glad you had a great time!

    1. That number changes daily. For the curious, you can simply google “pound to dollar” and it will tell you the equivalent. Today every pound is worth $1.60 so a 10 pound meal was $16.00. For those who want to plan a trip based on the prices, it makes more sense to know the price in pounds as that is less likely to change in the next few months than the price in dollars.

  10. Thank you for posting the prices for things, it is making me see that with some planning, travel with my 4 kids is a possibility. I am hoping at some point you could share the overall budget and how it compared to what you actually spent. Can’t wait to hear more about your trip!!

  11. That reminds me… Did you notice in, I can’t remember if it is M&S or somewhere else, they have a spot I the fridges with “dinner for two under 10£”. It has a starter, main, dessert and even wine for two people. I thought that was a great idea and my friend who lives near London told me that they get hat once in awhile for a nice, easy dinner after the kids are in bed.

  12. Thank you for including some prices. It makes it easier to see if this is something another family could plan. I’m not an Anglophile however, we did find out last year that we have relatives across the pond(hubby’s side) which makes it a little more interesting to me. I still favor the idea of a tropical locale(like maybe the Philippines which I spent time as a young woman) but it is interesting to see that with a year of saving our family of 6 could afford to visit.

  13. Funny to see M&S mentioned. I thought that was a Bermuda thing since that is where I’ve seen that store! 🙂 It makes sense since Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory! Can’t wait to learn more about your trip!