London Dreams

We’d been wanting to visit London for ages, so we finally made it happen in 2022. Since our family lives there, it was the perfect chance to spend some quality time with them. Our UK visas took about three weeks to arrive—but the VISA application process was a real headache.

They required travel history from the past 10 years, so one night we found ourselves digging through passport pages and booking emails to track every entry and exit date. We finally wrapped it up around midnight and submitted everything.

Pro tip: double-check your application carefully—any mistakes mean paying a small fee (about $1.25) just to email their support for corrections. It’s a bit frustrating, but that’s the system!

Day 0

We landed at Heathrow Airport and, while waiting for our brother-in-law to pick us up, savored a delicious oat milk latte at Caffè Nero.

Once home, we enjoyed some quality family time with our loved ones.

We planned our day trips for the next few days—here’s a quick snapshot, with more details to come in the following sections:

Itinerary:

1. Day 1 - Seven Dials Market & Covent Garden

2. Day 2 - London Eye, London Bridge, Big Ben, Birmingham Palace (Change of Guards), 10 Downing

3. Day 3 - Piccadilly Circus and another trip to Covent Garden

4. Day 4 - Night Hop on Tour for a lot of famous sights in London

5. Day 5-7 - Portobello Market, Boroughs Market, The Shard, Camden Market & Carnaby Street

6. Day 8 - Cambridge University

7. Day 9 - Cliveden Estate

+ a lot of beautiful pubs, restaurants and bars were involved through out our trip, I will share more about them below.

Markets

London is packed with beautiful markets—you could easily spend days exploring them all. We loved our day trips wandering through places like Covent Garden, Seven Dials, Piccadilly Circus, Portobello (yes, the Hugh Grant door is still there!), and Borough Market. Each market has its own unique charm; for example:

1. Portobello - has a lot of antique shops, the famous Notting Hill Hugh grant door. The market is surrounded by many cafes, cute little restaurants for you to try. We enjoyed a falafel sandwich and some Japanese food.

2. Covent Garden - They have beautiful boutique and designer shops with so many restaurants. They also amazing evening fun events like live music, dance and magic shows so pick up your favorite spot and enjoy your evening.

3. Boroughs Market - A beautiful and amazing spot to pick up some local cheese, chocolates, Olive oil, fruits and vegetables. We picked up some coffee in a near by cafe and walked around the market.

4. Seven Dials Market - Again amazing spot to spend the whole day or evening for shopping, events and amazing cafes/restaurant.

China Town

Cute Coffee Shops like @Roastingplang

Artist unknown

Shop, Walk, Eat and Repeat

There are so many places in London to walk around, you can literally never get bored.

Covent Garden - ILocated in London’s West End, this area is bustling with luxury shops, beauty stores, wine bars, upscale restaurants, and cozy cafés.

Covent Garden also features craft stalls at Apple Market and is home to the Royal Opera House. It’s the perfect one-stop destination for just about everything. Here’s how I’d plan a day there

1. Take the tube and get off at "Covent Garden" station.

2. Walk to the main area and get a coffee and French Macarons from the famous French spot "Laduree". If you missed the breakfast in morning, no worries, Laduree offered variety of selections for famous breakfast items plus Champagne. Try the Portuguese Pastel De Nata and don't forget to enjoy Tea at Chelsea Tea bar.

   
   

3. Walk around luxury shops and visit the Apple Market. Hungry yet, Enjoy lunch at one of the famous restaurants at the Piazza. Thank God, no advanced reservation is required for restaurants and cages here. Because in my opinion, London restaurants are notorious and too strict and ask for advanced reservations almost all the time.

After some delicious lunch enjoy some more walk around the area before getting a glass of wine at one of the beautofule wine bars. I suggest "Lade of the Grapes". Very generous Wine menu and their Castelvetrano Olivers are to die for.

5. Head to "The Punch and Judy balcony" order a drink and find a good spot to enjoy the live shows from their balcony. We liked the place so much, we went there twice. But please keep in mind, this is not a fancy seated/service area. You go to the bar, get a drink and pray to find a slot by the balcony.

6. Wrap up by enjoying some dinner, try - Cinnamon Bazar, Chez Antoinette, Buns and Buns or any other place you fancy.

You can find more information on Covent Garden and plan - HERE

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus—situated at the busy junction of five main streets. This open space dazzles both tourists and locals with its bright video displays and neon signs. It’s often compared to New York’s Times Square (New Yorkers, don’t come at me—I’m not comparing, just helping you picture what The Circus feels like!).

The Circus is a busy meeting place and when I say, I mean extremely busy and crowded. But it is a great place to find a traditional English pub and enjoy a pint along with many restaurants and cafes.

It’s also my favorite spot to catch a West End show (Theatre). When we visited in 2022, “2:22” was playing, along with classics like Les Misérables that are almost always running. Booking tickets in advance is a must for the best experience. For “2:22,” no need for fancy gowns if you’re not in the balcony—regular tickets let you enjoy the show comfortably in jeans or whatever you prefer.

if you get bored of walking around in the area then either head to - Fortnum and Mason to enjoy some luxury shopping or gift hampers OR to Trafalgar Square, both are under 10mins from the main junction.

As I said, there is so much to do that you can never get bored in London. I will talk about our experience or Cambridge and Cliveden in a separate post as it calls out for a special section.

Hope you enjoyed reading and planning your London trip already!