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In April, my dreams had finally manifested: I was finally getting to travel overseas to work. After a decade of working, I had flown thousands and thousands of miles, including close to fifty trips to San Francisco, but the only international trip I’d taken for work was driving to Vancouver. Finally, finally, a customer in England wanted us to come visit for a meeting. I will go more in depth on my week-long sojourn to London in another post, but if you want a quick snapshot of my trip, read on:
LONDON, ENGLAND
Length of stay in London:
6 nights
Where I stayed in London:
-2 nights at London Marriott Marble Arch
-2 nights at Crowne Plaza Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield (for work)
-2 nights at Montague on the Gardens Hotel near British Museum
The Marriott Marble Arch was exactly how you expect a Marriott to be. The restaurant next door was terrific. In the rooms, they even had US outlets, so you could use your own blow dryer or straightener if you had one.
I thought the Crowne Plaza was also incredibly nice, although we really only stayed there to be closer to our meetings. When you checked in, they had little drinks and bites in the lobby. The restaurant/lounge wasn’t that great but it did have a lot of space for us to work.
I found the Montague to be incredibly charming and darling. The room was even blue and white striped!! I’ve written a guest post on the Montague for a roundup elsewhere, will link when that comes to be.
Why I visited London for a work trip:
A customer at work FINALLY wanted us to come and present in person during a two day workshop. I went a few days early to prepare, and then stayed an extra two days to travel on my own. I had visited London and the UK for about ten days in 2017, so I had done a lot of the major touristy stuff then. With work and all, I could only tack on a few extra days to my trip. I came one day ahead of everyone else, and stayed two days later.
Highlights of visiting London:
- Finally visiting the V&A museum, which is unbelievably free and believably amazing.
- Getting free travel overseas, FINALLY.
- Finding my cell phone.
Lowlights of visiting London:
- Lost my cell phone IMMEDIATELY, although a very kind man named Ray at the Bond Street tube station found it.
I was wearing a dress with big pockets and a jean jacket with not-so-big pockets. My phone slipped out of my pocket as I was exiting the Bond Street tube station. I realized it very quickly and retraced my steps without luck. I ended up going back to my hotel, bringing up Find My iPhone on my iPad and having my sister call my phone until someone answered. Thank you Ray! - Being so jetlagged I couldn’t sightsee as much as I wanted to.
- Catching bronchitis somewhere in London and being incredibly sick for the few weeks after my trip.
What I did while in London:
-Visited the V&A museum – I love that you can walk right in from the underground station!
-Took the train to Hampton Court Palace on a stunningly beautiful day
-Bought a Historic Royal Palaces membership so I could also get into the Tower of London that day, which is my favorite activity in all of London. Sadly I was minutes too late for a guided Beefeater tour.
-Ate at Dishoom which was legitimately amazing. Worth the hype.
-Saw the Great British Bake-off The Musical at Noël Coward Theatre. This was a last minute buy, and it was utterly charming. It has since closed, which is sad because the women in it could SING.
What I didn’t do in London:
-I had grand visions of waking up early to go rock climbing at a nearby indoor climbing gym, and then visiting a different museum or site each day before or after working. That…did not materialize. I ended up packing in most of what I wanted to see on the last day.
-Visit the British Museum even though I was staying around the corner from it. I’ve been before and the timed entry lines outside were enough to convince me to do other activities.
Approximate trip cost of my trip to London:
Airfare: $Freeninetynine
Hotel: Montague was £185 per night.
Food: $honestly no idea but Dishoom was about $100 total, as I got some sides to go
Entrance fees: £65 annual for Historic Royal Palaces
Travel: £37 for Heathrow Express roundtrip, £20ish for the train to and from Hampton Court.
This was a fairly affordable trip for me since work covered the airfare, and four nights of hotel, plus most of the train cost since I had an Oyster card or used Apple pay for fares.
A trip report is a quick summary or overview of my trip, intended to allow me to capture what I did quickly without the full formatting of an itinerary or post. Check out what other trips I’ve taken:
–Big Island Hawaii
–Sailing the Midcoast of Maine
-Congaree National Park in South Carolina
Books I read in London:
I read a lot of books set in and around London. I love cozy mysteries and historical fiction. Here are some of my favorites, all using Bookshop links:
- London Seance Society, by Sarah Penner – I love a spooky mystery!
- Spare, by Prince Harry the Duke of Sussex – I mean, obvi you have to read about royals
- 84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff – correspondence between the author and the owner of a bookshop during the war
- The Ghost Map, The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson – about how a physician used science and maps to stop a cholera outbreak
- Mudlark, by Lara Miklem – the history that can be found walking along the Thames is unreal!! I wanted to do a mudlarking tour but I just couldn’t fit it in.
- The Royal We, by Heather Morgan and Jessica Cocks – one of my most favoritest books ever, about a fictional royal prince marrying an American commoner. You might know them as The Fug Girls or Drinks with Broads, definitely check this out.
If you visit London or find this information helpful, please let me know. Follow me on IG: @HiFriendsItsLaura
