I’ve been planning this trip to the UK for over a year and it combined several things – a visit with Sean’s cousin Patrick, his wife Ali and their two boys Caleb and Ryan; time at the FIS office to meet coworkers in person after eight years of working together; my Huron University global alumni reunion; seeing longtime friends in the city; exploring more of the UK outside of London. It was Harrison’s first trip across the pond and my first time back in almost TEN years! To say it was a good trip would be an understatement. This was an action-packed international adventure with beautiful sights, delicious food, quality time with loved ones, and new experiences to make wonderful memories that I’ll cherish forever.
Our first full day we took the hop on hop off bus tour to give Harrison a view of all the major sights of London. We drove through Kensington and around Hyde Park, my favorite area of the city, stopped at Hamely’s toy store, and saw Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery before getting off to take some photos of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. London is a gorgeous city with such history and beautiful architecture. We walked across Tower Bridge, got back on the bus to go across the center of the city and then walked through St. James Park past Buckingham Palace to arrive at one of the top spots on my list to go to: Fortnum and Mason! I love this store filled with all the delicious teas and accompanying treats a tea lover could want.
I went to the office one day and loved meeting my coworkers in person. We went for a lovely lunch at the stunning Ivy Asia restaurant and had a happy hour after work with more of the marketing team. Harrison and Sean went with their cousins on a city adventure that included playgrounds at Hyde Park and seeing the crystal skull at the British Museum – this was a top request from Harrison.
The next few days were focused on family time together. We explored the Battersea station area and Battersea park, had a date night in Fulham with Patrick and Ali with pub stops and dinner at a local Ethiopian restaurant, visited Kew Gardens one of my favorite spots to see when I’m in town, and had dinner with my friend and colleague Melanie and her family in Wimbledon. Tons of fun exploring!
One of the special things we planned, with the help of our travel agent Erin Hoffman of Bluebird Sky Travel, was an afternoon Peter Pan-themed tea at Aqua Shard. It was fancy, creative, memorable and delicious with sweeping views of London from the Shard. The Adventure Tea, sausage roll, and desserts served on a pirate ship with “smoke” coming out of it were big highlights! I’ll cover more of this in my food-focused post from the trip. 😉
The weekend kicked off my alumni reunion activities and Ali and Patrick were kind enough to offer to keep Harrison so Sean and I could attend the first night’s event. They went to see a movie and had a great time. Sean and Harrison had more cousin adventures to The Science Museum, central London, Brewdog, lots of tube and bus rides, and Holland Park over the weekend while I attended reunion events.
Our London leg of the trip came to a close with a family visit to Churchill Pub with the most gorgeous flowers all around the outside and dinner at Indian restaurant Dishoom on Kensington’s High Street. Fitting to end the trip in my old ‘hood that I love so much. Seeing London through my child’s eye was quite an experience and very different from my college days as a young 20-something galavanting through town. That’s one of the best things about London that I’m learning as I get older – the city can meet you at any stage of your life with new and wonderful things to offer.
Major thanks to Patrick and Ali for hosting the entire week and being amazing – so generous, hospitable and fun with tons of great recommendations to make sure we all had a great time. <3
