England - London/Stratford Upon Avon

Here is some helpful information for you to know before you travel to England? Here are some of the best places to visit in England?

Overview –

You do need a passport, but not a visa is you are just vacationing in London from the USA.

When traveling with children, they need a passport as well. We were traveling with our granddaughter. We had papers that were notarized from her parents. We also carried all the health insurance documentation and a permission to treat should that be necessary. If you are traveling with children, make certain that they know that they will likely be asked questions when entering the country. The agents were very friendly to our granddaughter, and they made the questioning more of a little game asking her who we were and who her parents were. Also where she lived.

The electrical outlets and voltage are different in London. You will need an adapter to charge your phones and batteries. Our hotel provided one while we were staying there, but the bed and breakfast in Stratford didn’t. We ordered this one off of Amazon.

Gatwick Airport is tricky to get around. There is a North Terminal (it seems to be where all the flights leave) and a South Terminal (where the taxis, buses, and connections to the trains leave). A free train connects the two terminal. 

The Oyster Card is a card used for transportation in and around London. It works for the buses and the underground. Just touch the card to the black pads on the turnstiles. (I kept looking for a place to insert it.) The card does not work on the trains. It can be purchased at the airport visitors center in the South Terminal. Any funds not used will be refunded at the end of your stay. If you paid in cash, you will be given cash back (in pounds). If you use a credit card, it will be credited back to your account. Be sure to get your refund in the South Terminal prior to going through security at the airport. Also, get a map of the underground and the bus schedule/routes. Google does work very well though, to get around on the busses at least.

The trains are used for transportation out of London. They can be very expensive so be sure to have done some research on travel expenses. Just because you have a train ticket doesn’t mean you will get a seat. The train we took to Stratford was very crowded. Fortunately, some very kind people moved places to allow us to sit near each other. It was very difficult traveling with our luggage, because it does not get checked. You take it with you on the train. Buses do travel outside of London, but they are not always reliable, and they are also the slowest mode of transport. When traveling in a small group, a taxi or an Uber driver might be the way to go. Uber drivers are not dependable in Stratford Upon Avon. We were able to successfully use an Uber driver from Warwick Station to our bed and breakfast in Stratford.

Changing of the Guard – This ceremony does not happen every day, so be sure to check the schedule if it’s something you really want to see. The best viewing area is at the barricades in front of the fountain facing Buckingham Palace. You might bring a folding chair with you. It’s actually more of a parade. The horses and the guards enter from the left and leave from the right. I'd skip this if I were to go back to London. Also, be aware of your belongings. It's known for pick pocketers. A smaller version of the changing of the guard happens at the Tower of London. We preferred the one at the Tower. The first two rows of photos are from Buckingham Palace. The last row is from Tower of London.

A fun way to see London is to ride on the top of the double decker buses. We took the bus as much as possible. Google let us know which bus we needed to catch to get to where we wanted to go. Be sure to look for a map.

Buy your tickets for attractions/events ahead of time. We were able to skip many lines by purchasing our tickets online and having them printed out. Most tickets didn’t require you to choose a specific date or time for entry, but if the places do take reservations you might consider making them, especially for the War Room. We were not able to go into this attraction because it was sold out the entire time we were in London.

London Eye – nice views of the city. No reservations needed.

London Eye River Tour – A short river trip with a guide pointing out the landmarks visible from the river. It travels from the Eye to the Tower Bridge. The tour does require reservations. This is a nice thing to do at the beginning of your trip because it gives a nice overview of the city that will help with navigation later in the week.

Westminster Abby – A beautiful church where many royalty, military leaders, high ranking government leaders, and accomplished historical person are buried. The admission includes an interactive audio guide. No photography is allowed inside the church. No reservations needed. Check for hours. 

St. Paul’s Cathedral – Another beautiful church. Photography is allowed. Climb to the top of the dome to experience spectacular views of the city and the whispering gallery. Be sure to check the days and hours that they church is open. We weren’t able to enter because it was closed. No reservations needed.

Churchill War Rooms – We saw the entrance, but the tickets were sold out. If it’s something you are interested in seeing, book ahead of time. We looked for tickets for over a week and didn’t get them. I’m told that the area has been left as it was during WWII. It gets very high reviews. The tickets were sold out the entire time we were there.

Tower of London – It’s a great historic museum of sorts. The crown jewels are in one of the buildings. Many historic artifacts are on display. When we were there, a great interactive activity for kids was taking place. Mini-reenactments of historical events took place. Guided tours are included in the costs, but you can also walk around on your own. Photography is allowed everywhere, but the building housing the crown jewels (there is another small area housing some jewels and photography is not allowed there either.) This was our favorite stop on our trip. We purchased our tickets ahead of time, but didn't need reservations.

Tower Bridge – Visible from the Tower of London. It’s fun to walk across mostly just to say you walked across it. The views are nice and it’s a short walk. There is a nice area on the other side of the river that has shops and such. In the center of the bridge there is a place with a glass bottom. I did not want to pay the admission to see this. No tickets are reservation required. When we were there a vendor was selling hot roasted nuts. I didn’t have any cash on me.

Trafalgar Square – An open area in the heart of Central London that features a large fountain and several monuments. It’s a fun place to feed the pigeons although this time I didn’t see any pigeons there. I’m guessing we were too late in the day for that.

Piccadilly Circus – the night life area of Central London. Highlights for E was the M&M store (4 floors) and the Lego store. We went at night and the lights were beautiful. It’s the area where the theaters are located. Chinatown is there too. There are many places to eat here.

Harrods – A huge fancy department store. We didn’t see much of it, but we did walk around all the food places. We also visited the toy shop. They sold Our Generation dolls and accessories, which is a Target brand. We also shopped in their gift section. The food was beautiful. We bought pastries and wanted to have coffee at the coffee bar, but there were no empty seats.

List of what we are hoping to do and see:

Shop and eat at Harrods - a great place to get souvenirs. We were able to do this. The food mall at Harrods is incredible. There are all types of prepared foods available. There is not much seating so I’d plan to eat it somewhere else. Also, there is a Harrods shop at the airport. I’d wait to buy my souvenirs there.

Trafaligar Square - feed the pigeons and hope to see the pigeon lady. She is really good with the pigeons and will set pigeons on your extended arms, your shoulders, and yes, your head. It's a fun photo opportunity. We got to Trafaligar Square later in the day and the pigeon lady and the pigeons weren’t there. I don’t know if there is a pigeon lady anymore.

West Minster Abby- If you happen to be there on a Sunday, it's a great place to attend church. It's a great experience. We went on a weekday and so we were able to do the entire tour. Headsets with recordings are included in the tour. It was really nice to find out about the history of what we were seeing. No photos are allowed so if you want to see what you saw later, be sure to buy the guide book.

Buckingham Palace - I want to see the changing of the guard. We stood at the fountain for hours waiting to see this event. I was told that this was the place to stand. I’d definitely change locations if I were to do this again. I’d stand just behind the barricades in front of the fountain I’d stand at the fence in front of the palace. There is no one place to stand to see everything. It’s more of a parade and a mini-concert. The concert takes place in front of the palace and the parade takes place on the road that runs behind and between the fountain and the palace.

St. James Park - there is a single guard that you can go and stand by him for a fun photo opportunity.

St. Paul's Cathedral - you can go up to the bell tower. There was a practice taking place inside the day we were there and so we didn’t get to go inside. We also got there later in the day. I’d definitely place this higher on my priority list if I go there again. I was disappointed to not get to go inside.

Tower of London - a castle where all the crown jewels are kept. You can go in for a charge and see some really fun artifacts and the jewels. This was the highlight of the trip. We had so much fun here. It’s also a great place to watch a mini-version of the changing of the guard. You can see it really well.

Tower Bridge - you can walk across this iconic bridge. Great views and a nice walk. The park on the other side offers a great view for photographing the Tower of London.

Millennial Bridge - a new pedestrian bridge in downtown London. We saw this bridge, but ran out of time to walk across it. Also the weather wasn’t great while we were there.

London Eye - a massively huge ferris wheel. It takes an hour to go around. It offers great views on London. We did ride this ride mostly because it’s an iconic tourist trap. I’d only do it again if the weather was nice for good views.

Experience a High Tea somewhere - that's yet to be determined. There are a lot of them available on Groupon. We enjoyed High Tea at The Brasserie in the Tower Hotel. The views from the restaurant were incredible. They serve a lot of food for two people. We ordered extra tea and scones for Ella, but we didn’t need the extra scones. We were able to get a groupon for High Tea for two. The restaurant is an easy walk from the Tower of London. The Tower of London does not allow re-entry, but we found a very nice guard that we spoke to prior to leaving for our tea reservation. He told us that if we came back to his gate, he’d allow us re-entry.

Hard Rock Cafe - can't go to London without going to this iconic place. It's filled with Beetles memorabilia. We didn’t make it to Hard Rock. We were too busy enjoying the other sites of London.

River Cruise down the Thames River. We went on the river cruise right before going on the London Eye. The cruise requires reservations; The Eye does not. The departure gate is right at the London Eye entry.

Windsor Castle - I don't know if we will be allowed to tour because of the royal wedding, but we're going to at least see it. We didn’t make it to Windsor.

Warwick Castle - this is a really nice castle filled with Madame Trousseau's wax figures including Winston Churchill. The figures represent the household and the staff of those that lived, worked, and visited there. In the courtyard, there are knights, jesters, and other period costumed people. It's a lot of fun. We enjoyed Warwick castle. We did not enjoy the train ride to get to the castle. The train was very crowded. I’d advise to travel at a time other than the commute. The castle tour was fun. We enjoyed climbing to the top of the wall and walking around. They had a little interactive story time for the kids, but it’s aimed at pretty young children. Ella enjoyed it, but I think she’d rather have had more time to tour the castle and its grounds.

Stratford Upon Avon - there is so much to do and see in this quaint little town. I know we will visit at least one bakery. We will see the areas that Shakespeare frequented. We had so much fun here. I wish we’d had at least one more day to have spent here. Our favorite fish and chips were here. We also found a great coffee shop with good pastries. The walk along the river was fun. They have a large grocery store in town. It’s a great spot to buy tea and cookies (biscuits) to take home and share.

Lodging:

We are staying in historic buildings that are run like bed and breakfast places. Out hotel in downtown London was very nice. It was expensive though. We enjoyed our bed and breakfast in Stratford. Everyone was very accommodating with our granddaughter.

Transportation:

We plan to use public transportation for all of our travels. It's quite easy to navigate around using the trains. The buses are not too difficult either. I'll write more about the passes that we choose to use. We ended up using taxis more than we’d planned because Dave just wasn’t able to do the walking. It was a bit tricky using the buses at first. We finally got a map and a schedule that really helped out.

What we actually did - 

We flew into Gatwick Airport and took the train to Victoria Station. Our hotel, Nadler Hotel, was located very near Buckingham Palace. We were very nicely greeted. The hotel is very secure. There are a great many shops including a small grocery store and cafe located within easy walking distance. We found a great cafe for breakfast just around the corner. Pret A Manger. I heard it was owned by McDonald’s, but I did a search and found that while McDonald’s used to own a stake in the restaurant, it no longer does. The food is all freshly made from good ingredients and is delicious.

Day 2 - We headed out to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. We were told to stand in front of the fountain for the best view. That was a mistake. There is no perfect place to stand especially if you have a child with you. That being said, our granddaughter loved the horses. The best place to see the horses is just behind the barricades in front of the fountain. The horses enter and exit from the road that runs behind the fountain. They circle around the fountain on the road the runs between the fountain and the palace. We sure would have benefited from folding chairs. It was a long wait.

After the changing of the guard ceremony was over, we walked around the parks surrounding the palace. They are beautifully landscaped and are home to many beautiful waterfowl.

We walked our to the Parliament Buildings to get our first view of Big Ben. We were disappointed that the famous clock tower was surrounded by scaffolding. On the plus side, how many people can say they got to see the tower surrounded by scaffolding? We enjoyed seeing the statue of Abe Lincoln in from of the Supreme Court Building. We paid to tour Westminster Abbey. That was worth every penny. It was so interesting and full of history.

 Things I’d do differently-

• I’d arrive at the airport early enough to shop for souvenirs at the airport (North Terminal) prior to leaving for home. Harrod’s, Paddington Bears, Starbucks, Manchester United t-shirts at the Adidas store were all there and tax free. I could have saved myself quite a lot of money and time had I known this merchandise was available at the airport. You can’t get to it when you enter the country because of having to go through customs. Almost everything I purchased could have been purchased at the airport. I did not see any souvenirs from Buckingham Palace at the airport. Also, shopping bags do not count against your carry-on luggage.

• I would visit the London Eye and the river cruise later in the day leaving more time to visit the churches, Trafalgar Square, and museums in the day.

• I would buy tickets prior to my trip for the War Rooms.

• I would visit Trafalgar Square and St. Paul’s Cathedral earlier in the day in the hopes of seeing the pigeons there and also being able to tour the inside of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

• I would skip the changing of the guard. If I did go, I would stand at the barricades in front of the fountain facing Buckingham Palace. I would try to take a folding chair with me as it is a long time standing. There are mini-changing of the guards ceremonies at places like Tower of London. You can get much closer to the guards at this location.

• I would carry pound coins and pence so that I could make the souvenir pennies (I guess they are pences in England).

• I would stay in a hotel on the outskirts of central London and use the buses and underground to get around. Dave disagrees with me on this one. He enjoyed being in the heart of the city. There are benefits to both places, I suppose.

• Many businesses require at least a 5 pound purchase to use a credit/debit card.

• Certain businesses (I know that the gift shops affiliated with Buckingham Palace) give you forms to turn in at the airport so you get the tax refunded if you spend over a certain dollar amount. A helpful tip is to make fewer, but larger purchases for the best return on the taxes. Be sure to turn in the forms prior to going through security. They did not have Buckingham Palace souvenirs at the airport. Also, the English Breakfast Tea from Buckingham Palace is delicious.