I visited the UK for the first time in December 2019 for a work trip and spent most of my time in Cambridge, the cutest quaint town I have ever been to. If you’ve seen the movie “The Holiday” with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, then you know exactly the town I am describing. Cambridge is a town located about 1 hour outside of London. I spent the week there for work, and was able to explore the area during my downtime. On the weekend, I took the tube (train) down to London for the day and that is when I fell in love with the city. I visited London during the holidays, so they had all of the stores decorated with lights and fun Christmas activities for the family.
I was fortunate enough to head back to the UK in January 2020, again for work, however this time my mom and sister tagged along with me and we had a blast!
Where We Stayed
We arrived in London on an overnight flight from the States and stayed at The Resident Covent Garden. I really wanted to stay close to Covent Garden because when I visited London the first time, this area was my favorite. The hotel is about a 7 minute walk to Covent Garden, which is where you can find plenty of stores for shopping. Along the way you will also pass a variety of restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops. There are also a few train stations nearby which gives you easy access to hop on the tube and head to another part of town.
We ate at Pasta Brown twice during our trip in London because we were just so obsessed with their seafood pasta. This was one of the best Italian foods I’ve had in a while. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are staying in the Covent Garden area and looking for Italian food.
Buckingham Palace
Of course you can’t visit London without stopping by Buckingham Palace. We went early on a Sunday morning and were able to see the Changing of the Guards. This is a ceremony where The Queen’s Guard hands over responsibility for protecting Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Palace to the New Guards. The entire ceremony took about two hours, so plan accordingly if you do decide to attend the ceremony.
Peggy Porschen
After Buckingham Palace, we made our way over to the cutest tea shop, Peggy Porschen. Peggy Porschen is every girls dream cafe´. From the moment you walk in the door, you are greeted with everything pink and the amazing smell of delicious cakes and pastries. We didn’t have reservations, and luckily only waited about 15 minutes to be seated, but if you plan on visiting, I would definitely recommend to make reservations. We checked out the pastries and cakes, and then sat down and enjoyed brunch. We ordered hot chocolate (which came with pink marshmallows), tea, cakes, cupcakes, croissants and pancakes. Everything was delicious!
Burger and Lobster
Since I was there for work, I didn’t have much time to explore the city other than the weekend, but one restaurant that I would highly recommend is Burger and Lobster. If you love lobster rolls (and burgers), then this is the place for you. I would say this is one of the best lobster rolls I’ve had and the service was so good. I ordered the B&L combo which gives you both a lobster roll and a burger, with fries and a salad. The fries are to die for. I also highly recommend ordering the Gruyere Spinach. It was delicious.
Getting Around London
There are a couple ways to get around the city. Black cab, Uber, and the Tube (train). Black cabs are the cute cars you see in all the movies that are filmed in London. These are a little more expensive than taking an Uber, but they are just super cute so I would recommend it for at least one ride.
Uber is super easy to access and is the second cheapest option.
The tube (train) is the way to go and super convenient way to travel throughout London. I would recommend purchasing an Oyster card because you can just keep adding money to it when it runs low.
Final Thoughts
London is truly a beautiful city to visit. From the people, to the historic buildings, the food and the shopping, you will not be disappointed. I loved my time there and can not wait to go back in the future.
Comment below and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for visiting London in the future.
xo, Faby
