Tips for Making the Most of a London Layover: Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore

This special episode was originally recorded for the Germany Travel Planning Podcast, where Tracy joined Cate to share insider tips for making the most of a London layover.

Turn your short stop in London into a compact yet rewarding adventure. Learn how to plan 24 to 48 hours in the UK capital without feeling rushed, from choosing a central base to making the most of every meal and moment.

Discover how to stay smart, move efficiently and see a few essentials deeply rather than frantically. We cover where to stay, what to eat, and how to fit in the top sights while leaving time to simply enjoy being in London.

In this episode:
• Why Zone 1 locations make the perfect layover base
• Hotel and area tips around Covent Garden, the British Museum and Borough Market
• How to combine Tube, bus and river boat travel, plus when to book a black cab tour
• Food favourites: Borough Market picks, Pick & Cheese, Café in the Crypt and the V&A café
• Afternoon tea tips: traditional vs themed and when to book
• Must-see highlights: Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and the V&A
• Why Greenwich belongs on even short itineraries and the best ways to reach it
• Christmas in London: best lights routes, timing and warmth tips
• Pacing your visit, footwear and layers to stay comfortable
• Easy day trips from London, including Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury and Windsor

If you have enjoyed the show, please leave a quick review or send us feedback via text. We love hearing from listeners, and your comment might even get a shout-out in a future episode.

📝 Show Notes - Episode 172

Tracy was a guest on the Germany Travel Planning Podcast for this episode.

For more information and to book a consult or video review, visit our website UK Travel Planning.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Episode Context
• 0:52 Why London Layovers Work
• 3:25 About Tracy & Platforms
• 8:25 Where To Stay: Central Vs Beyond
• 14:12 Covent Garden And Hotel Picks
• 21:16 Proximity To Tube And Footwear
• 24:58 Food Favourites And Borough Market
• 32:39 Afternoon Tea: Themes Vs Tradition

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Planning a layover in London. In this special episode, I'm joining my friend Kate from the Germany Travel Planning Podcast to share insider tips on how to make the most of a shortstop in the UK capital. Whether you've only got a day or two, there's plenty to see and do.

SPEAKER_01: 0:14

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, from picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

SPEAKER_02: 0:49

Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planner Podcast. Today's episode is a little bit different. I recently joined my friend Kate on her Germany Travel Planner Podcast to chat all about how to make the most of a layover in London. Whether you've only got 24 hours or a couple of days to explore, we share lots of practical tips and ideas from where to stay and what to see to some of my favourite food spots and ways to make the most of your time. So if you're flying through London on your way to or from Europe, this episode will help you turn that quick stopover into a mini London adventure. So let's dive into my chat with Kate from the Germany Travel Plan and Podcast all about planning the perfect London layover.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27

Hi Tracy. So excited to talk with you today.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30

Hi, it's unusual for me to be on the other side of the mic. So it's uh it's lovely to see you again today. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00: 1:36

Pretty good. Well, so let's start with your introduction. Go ahead and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_02: 1:43

Okay, so my name is Tracy Collins. I'm the creator and writer and voice behind the UK Travel Planning website and podcast and the London Travel Planning uh website. Uh so basically, yeah, podcaster, content creator, uh lover of all things, UK. As you can hear, I'm from the UK. So um work with my husband, who's a train expert. So we do a lot of uh work around trains in the UK. So yeah, we have a Facebook group and Instagram and YouTube as well.

SPEAKER_00: 2:12

Well, I'm so excited to talk with you today because I have used your website because Erin and I have spent quite a bit of time in the UK recently, in the last couple of years. And so I have used both of your websites and I know I've asked you questions, I've used your Facebook group, and everything is just fantastic. So the topic for today is doing a stopover in London, because I know a lot of people that a lot of clients that I've worked with, um, they do a stopover in London either on the way to Germany or on the way home. I've done that several times. So I thought, let's bring Tracy on to talk about London. And um, you know, we're we're just gonna kind of go back and forth and answer some questions so that anyone listening who wants to do a stopover, this will give you some ideas of where you can stay and what you can do, and get some insider tips from Tracy.

SPEAKER_02: 3:04

That sounds good. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 3:05

Okay, so the first question is: do you have a favorite area that you like to stay in in London, or is there a favorite hotel that you like or recommend?

SPEAKER_02: 3:15

Uh, interestingly, we we tend to stay in different parts of London, mainly because we're trying out different hotels and different areas so that we can give kind of up-to-date recommendations. Um, I used to live and work in London, so quite often when I'm there for a longer period of time, I do stay down in East Putney because it's fairly easy to get up on the district line straight into central London. But I do recommend for first-time visitors or if you're planning to do a lot in central London, which I imagine that's what you're going to be doing if you're visiting for the first time or only there for a few days, um, that it's actually easier to stay in zone one, which is kind of where all of the main sites in London that you'll want to see, like Buckingham Palace and Tower of London and the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, they're all in that kind of area. So it depends really what you want and what you're after. So, you know, I my preferred area if I'm going and I go on my own and I'm up with Doug, actually with him probably as well. He'd say the same. Is that we really like the Covent Garden area because it's there's great restaurants, there's a great vibe, uh, it's just there's some really good shops, and it's just there's the theaters in that area. So it's a it's a really good area, and it's also obviously well served by the tube and public transport, so easy to get around. So that's one of the areas that we do enjoy staying in.

SPEAKER_00: 4:33

Yeah, I you know, I can I can recommend a couple of hotels. I think they're that I've stayed in some of those locations as well. I was actually making a list before this, and I was trying to think of all the different places I've stayed over the years, and um, and it's been in lots of different locations, and each one has had its pros and cons. And um, and especially if you're just gonna be there for a couple of days, staying like very, very central to where you can walk to everything is so great. I did that, I did that one time when I was in the UK for work, and I stayed at the Lime Tree Hotel. I don't know if you've heard of that one, but um, it was really great, and the location was fantastic because um I could walk to Buckingham Palace and everywhere else, and it was just really nice. They had a really good breakfast. And then uh recently we stayed at the Tavistock Hotel, which is near the British Museum, and the hotel was great, except it does not have air conditioning in the summer. We were there in January, February, so it was okay. Um, we stayed there because we had a lot of hotel points, so our almost two-week stay was free. So, you know, I really liked that hotel because of that. And the location was great, it was a little bit quieter, and uh we could still walk to a lot of things. And then um, I guess actually, most recently, when we were there for um the Christmas season, we stayed in an apartment near Borough Market because we had never stayed in that location before. We've been to Borough Market several times, and I really liked that too. But I wouldn't recommend it for just a short stay because it was, you know, it took us a lot longer to get places. But I loved being walking distance from Borough Market.

SPEAKER_02: 6:02

Oh, yeah, that would be good. I'd enjoy that too. Um basically I I think you just have to think about your your travel style, your your what do you need out of accommodation, what do you want, uh, and then look at what you want to do and see in London and then choose that. We do have an article which kind of can matches up like the areas and what would probably appeal depending on, you know, if it's if you're a family, if you're traveling solo, depends what you want, really. Um the main thing that we do advise is honestly is that you stay in central London, that you do not waste your time on public transport getting in and out of London. It's just, you know, you don't really want to be dealing with the rush hour, getting into the center. I know I don't enjoy that, so I wouldn't recommend that you do that, really.

SPEAKER_00: 6:42

Oh, yeah, yeah, completely. And we've uh we've had times where we've taken the tube different places and we finally just left and walked because it was so crowded during rush hour. We could not get on the tube, and I'm very claustrophobic, so that also is not great. And we were like, no, we'll just walk for 40 minutes, that's okay. So being within walking distance is a really good idea. And I, you know, you mentioned uh some guides you have on your website. I will link to those because you have really, really great hotel guides and lots of fantastic information um that will help people narrow down where they want to go, where they want to stay. And you also have a map that's similar to the map that we have in our Germany travel planner. Do you you have hotels on that map, right? Because you have one for London.

SPEAKER_02: 7:26

Yes, yes, we do. We have one for London, and that does have hotels for and it's also you can you can uh go through the tags of the different areas and have a look at what hotels are available in that area with a kind of write-up and have and have a look at photos and and see if that that suits. And also we've got public transport so you'll be able to see how close the tube is because I mean I am I'm nearly 60 and I don't this is an excuse on age, but I I'm happy when I walk around London to do all the walking all day. Um, but by the end of the day, I'm starting to flag, and I just for my feet, I just know that I don't want to be spending an hour walking back to my accommodation. So I always look for somewhere that is like five minutes from a tube station because I just know that by the time and I've done 20,000, 25,000 steps in a day, which you can easily do in London. Um I just by that point, by the time I get back, I just want to get back to my accommodation and just chill out. And I don't want to be having to consider how I'm gonna get back. And I know we we often do consults with people who and I know London accommodation is expensive, don't get me wrong, I understand that. But sometimes when you have to get back by an overground train, not even the tube, and then you've got to take a bus and then you've got to walk. Believe me, it's not it's not fun. Maybe if you're in your 20s and got full of energy, but I just I just know that's not something that I want to do at this point.

SPEAKER_00: 8:46

Oh, yeah, totally agree, totally agree. Like when we stayed in Borough Market, we thought we really liked it because it was a little bit quieter and we had we were there for almost two weeks, I think. So we had plenty of time. But I definitely would not stay there for just a short stay because you'd be spending all of your time walking and public transit and that, yeah, and that'd be not be as fun. So we mentioned Borough Market, and um, I know uh we were we were talking a little bit about this before we started recording about the fish and chips place there. And I'm not really a I don't love fish that much, but I really like the fish and chips at Borough Market. We go back there anytime we're in London to get the fish and chips there. So let's talk about food. Um, do you have a favorite restaurant? Do you have uh favorite food? Something you really like to eat when you're in London?

SPEAKER_02: 9:32

Okay, this is a great question, Kate, because I love talking about food. So first thing I always do is I head to Mox and Spencer's Simply Food and I'll load up on the the goodies that they have. I particularly like the cherry cake and the meal deals, which are basically you can get a sandwich and a drink and a fruit or pack of crisp for a reasonable price. They're really good. So we tend to do that. But when it comes to eating out, um, there's a few places that I really, really love, and I think there's a bit of a cheese theme going on here, but anyway. So pick and cheese, which is at the seven dials near um Comic Garden, it's basically like a sushi bar for cheese. Honestly, it is the best. I absolutely I always go back there, and they pair the cheese with the most amazing, different, different things. It's like you you just can't believe what they pair it with, and it always works. So I always have a glass of port, and then I just sit and do the the sushi train but with cheese. So that's really cool. Um, another one I really like is Capacasin, which is in Borough Market, uh, which is uh raclet, which is um Swiss, so the cheese, uh, and pickles and potatoes, and it's really funny because obviously on TikTok they they're quite famous for their their uh toasted cheese sandwich, you know, and I get in the cue for the raclette and go, you guys are missing out, honestly. Uh so I would recommend that when you go back, Kate, is to go to Cabricasin. It's amazing, it's really good. And also, if you're in Borough Market as well, you should have a humble crumble. They're not just in Borough Market, but uh if you're there anyway, definitely go and have a humble crumble because they are delicious, absolutely delicious.

SPEAKER_00: 11:05

So I have to interject here that I saw these places when we were in London and we did not stop at them. And I have regretted it ever since. So it is on my to-do list. Like we saw that cheese place, we stood outside and we're like, that looks fun, but we're not hungry. And then we saw the other places at Borough Market, and I was like, okay, we have to come back. So definitely stop at those places. They looked so good.

SPEAKER_02: 11:26

Yeah, no, absolutely. And then places to go that I always recommend as well uh to go and eat Cafe in the Crypt, which is St. Martin's in the field. It's a church, so it is in a crypt, so the cafe is in the crypt of the church, and it's just off Trafalgar Square. So if you go to one of the museums, you've got the National Portrait Gallery or National Gallery, then go and have lunch uh at the cafe in the crypt. It's great. Um, so always recommend that. Um, and the other one which I really love is the cafe at the VA Museum, which is actually the first museum cafe in the world, and it's Art Deco. So if you have I love Art Deco, it's beautiful, it is the most beautiful place to just sit and have. You can go and have afternoon tea, or you can just go and have a sandwich. It's it's not cheap, I will say that. It is quite expensive, but it's really worth it because it's just so pretty.

SPEAKER_00: 12:40

Oh, that sounds great too. Oh, I have to go back. I have to go back. I uh you know, I have to plan another trip to London because there's always like I have this ongoing list of things that I still haven't seen. It's amazing like how much there is to see there. So I can also add um Gale's bakery. Whenever I see a Gale's bakery in London, there was one in Brighton. I I don't know if I've seen it anywhere else, but um, whenever we see one, we stop and we get something because they have the most amazing hot chocolate. It's not super sweet, and it's delicious, especially in the winter. And um, and then all their baked goods are so good. They're sandwiches and pastries and stuff. So we love that. And I think we could do a whole episode just on MS because their food haul is amazing. We eat there all the time. I mean, like they have cookies and chocolates and like ginger, um, chocolate covered ginger cookies, I think. And um Aaron loves the jelly babies and you know the yogurts and I mean everything. And they have all the prepared foods. There, there's salads we really like. We have meals that we really like that we we go in and we get all the time. It is the best, it's the best place to go.

SPEAKER_02: 13:56

A hundred percent. Absolutely. Go into Marks and Spencer's and uh especially if you're staying in South Catron as well, just they have really good deals for for dinners, for lunches. So, yeah, and it's very nice food.

SPEAKER_00: 14:08

One more thing, since we're talking about food. Of course, everyone wants to do afternoon tea when they're in London. What do you recommend for that?

SPEAKER_02: 14:17

Uh, to be honest, the first thing I say is decide what sort of tea you want. So, do you want a traditional afternoon tea or do you want a themed afternoon tea? Um, so I I am working my way around London trying afternoon teas because I have to do it, it's part of the job. Um, so I've tried lots of different ones. I've tried some of the afternoon tea buses. So if you want to try one of those, you can go and sit on a bus and have afternoon tea while you're driving around London. That's really cool. If you want afternoon tea that's themed with a view, Peter Pan at the Shard is a very cool one to do. Um, Fortnummer Mason is very traditional. If you want the traditional one, I actually did uh I had the afternoon tea at the Royal Exchange, which was a lovely as well and beautiful settings. I will just mention, I forgot to mention this about food as well. If you do go to Fortnite Mason, the one uh Piccadilly Circus, do go and have a Scotch egg because they are the inventors of the Scotch egg. Now, I I love if you don't know what a Scotch egg is, it's basically a um boiled egg and it's encased in sausage meat and then breadcrumbs, and they are delicious. And the picky lily that goes with it there is amazing as well. They actually invented it. So if you want to go and try something, and honestly, it's really tasty. Go to I think it's the second floor on Fortnum and Mason. Go and try that. But when it comes to afternoon teas, honestly, the London is your this uh your oyster. There's so many to choose from. There's so many ones for kids, there's so many very traditional ones, there are so many just fun ones. I've done Alice in Wonderland, there's uh Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one. As I say, I've done the Peter Pan one, I've done some traditional ones. There are just so so many. So just think about what sort of foods you want if you want the themed stuff, which is a bit more, it's cute, or do you want to go for the kind of very traditional one? And also, I just want to say that it's afternoon tea, not high tea. High tea is something very different, um, and that gets mixed up very often. High tea is a more a sit-down hot meal, um, which is was it kind of a I associate with a north and a northern uh England, and uh uh but a lot of people around the world will call afternoon tea high tea, which is kind of a different thing. I even think some places in the UK are now starting to call it high tea, which is a bit sad because it's actually afternoon tea.

SPEAKER_00: 16:30

Well, if you ever need somebody to uh try out all the different afternoon teas in London, let me know. I will go with you.

SPEAKER_02: 16:38

Oh, absolutely. I often get invited actually to afternoon teas, and I have to be careful because when you travel in such a lot, it's so easy to put weight on. So I try to limit myself to like one a week, really. But yeah, it's very tempting.

SPEAKER_00: 16:53

Yep, I I know that very well. Um, okay, in between all the delicious food that you can eat in London. What is your favorite museum or site?

SPEAKER_02: 17:04

Okay, well, anybody, anybody who listens to the UK Travel Plan podcast was know will know what I'm about to say at this point. I absolutely love the VA Museum and I always spend at least three or four hours there. And actually, I have I love the cast courts. So in the 1800s, they kind of did casts of all these famous places and statues and buildings from around the world so that people in London could see them, because obviously not everybody could afford to travel. Um, and it's amazing because it's it's not stuff that the British stole, it's not stuff that we took from anywhere, it's just stuff that we made copies of. Um and they're just it's a wonderful, they're lovely to go and sit in as well because they're quite. I I don't know if you've been in the cast courts, Kate, but they're they're they're huge rooms, high rooms, because they can actually accommodate all these large casts of buildings. Um, but I just sit in there usually for a good hour and just sit and enjoy looking. I don't know, it sounds a bit weird, but I just love it. Then I'll go and have have a cup of tea in the cafe. Um, and then I'll go and choose a different part of the museum to go and explore because there's so much to see in the VA. And and honestly, it's a museum that I've only discovered in recent years because in the UK, all kids go to the Natural History Museum, the science museums next door. So you've got those three museums kind of all in a row. Obviously, the British Museum is very famous. I went there again as a child. Um, and the VA always kind of escaped me. Um, but since I've started going there, it's now an absolute must visit when I'm in London. So I highly recommend. They've got fashion through the ages, which is amazing. The jewellery collection is just beautiful. Uh, it's amazing. It's just such a fabulous museum.

SPEAKER_00: 18:40

I really enjoyed that one too. I I think that was probably my favourite one. Like I've been to the British Museum, I've been to a few other ones, but I was surprised how much I really enjoyed the VA.

SPEAKER_02: 18:50

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I I really recommend it. It's it's if you're gonna if you're into museums and you want to want to just some of the stuff they have there just it blows my mind, really. It's just fabulous. And then it's really interesting because I we I'd not been to Rosalind Chapel, but I saw it at the VA, and then I was living in Edinburgh earlier this year, I was doing a house sit there, and so we went to see the real Rosalind Chapel, and it's and you can't take photographs inside Roslyn Chapel, you're not allowed to, but it's really interesting that you go and see these things that you've seen or in the VA and then see them in real life. They've also got a statue of the copy of David, and and some of the things they've actually got they made copies of have actually been destroyed, so it's it's good that we have those copies.

SPEAKER_00: 19:34

You know, one thing that I really liked, uh I've done this twice, is Parliament. Have you done that? Where you go in and watch them? Yeah, it was yeah, I I did that once uh because I had nothing to do after I arrived. I couldn't get into my hotel room, so I was like, well, I'll go watch Parliament because I can at least sit down, you know. And then I went and had tea in a scone. And then I took Erin on our last visit, and it was really, really interesting to watch them discussing things and just sort of seeing seeing that in action. I really enjoyed that. And it was pretty easy to get in, didn't take very long, and and I was surprised at how how easy and it was you know a little bit different from other um other things that we've seen.

SPEAKER_02: 20:15

Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, you've we've kind of talked about museums, but there's so many kind of obviously landmarks and historic buildings to go and see. So um, I highly recommend that if you visit in London for a few days, that you do not miss the Tower of London and please don't just see it from the outside, which I've heard people say, I've seen the Tower of London, and how did oh, I just saw it from outside. No, you need to go inside. You really need to go inside and experience it. Um, it it's a fantastic, it's a fantastic the history of it is amazing. Uh, and also I would say go into Westminster Abbey for sure. Take a tour, take a tours of these places, please, because you will learn more or read up before you go, because otherwise you're just looking at you're not gonna know really what you're seeing or uh understanding any of it, really. Um, so Westminster Abbey, I would say, is the most St. Paul's Cathedral, it's also beautiful to go and have a look at. Um, I did Evensong just after Christmas this year at St. Paul's, and it was lovely, it was a very lovely experience. Uh so that's really enjoyable. So there's there's a lot. Buckingham Palace is amazing to go in. I did a small group tour of Buckingham Palace a couple of years ago, just before actually the King's coronation, and that was that was fascinating and really interesting as a as an English person to go in and see that because you know obviously I've seen all this all my life, but I'd never actually set foot in it. Uh so that was really cool. Basically, a lot of places in in London you'll find that you're walking in the footsteps of well, you are you're walking in the footsteps of hundreds of years of history, and it's it's fabulous, it really is.

SPEAKER_00: 21:42

Is there anything that you would think is kind of like a really unique experience that that you would recommend?

SPEAKER_02: 21:50

Yeah, you know, I'm always recommending people go to Greenwich, and I think it's often people, especially on a first-time trip, they don't consider Greenwich at all in their itinerary. And I'm like, honestly, you're missing out. Greenwich is a fabulous place to go and visit. Get the Uber boat down to Greenwich. Um, there's the Cody Sark uh there, which is a tea clipper. I think it's the oldest tea clipper in the world. I don't know. And then uh you've got the Greenwich Meridian, so you can go and stand with your foot in each um hemisphere, which is worth going to see, and actually the observatory on the top of the hill. It's a bit of a hike up there. Greenwich Park itself, you've got the Queen's House, which has got a good collection of um some artworks in there, and the tulip staircase, which many people don't know about, which is so so pretty to see. I'm supposed to be haunted, apparently. Um, and also there's a Royal Naval College there and the Painted Hall, which is just fabulous. I don't know if you've seen it, Kate, but the painted hall is beautiful.

SPEAKER_00: 22:45

Yeah, we went out there basically just so that I could stand on the line and fulfill my second grade dream of standing on the line and getting a picture. And then we did go into a couple of I'm trying to remember as you're talking, I'm pretty sure we did some of that.

SPEAKER_02: 22:57

Yeah, like go to Greenwich and go, don't just go for the the um observation, go for a plan, plan most of your day there. You can take a picnic, there's some really good pubs there, there's a good market on. Uh so you can just go and have a have a whole day in Greenwich. It's a lovely ride on the boat down there and back as well. Um, take the if you've got kids, great, they can run around the park as well. Uh yeah, so definitely, definitely Greenwich. I think it's uh often overlooked and it shouldn't be because it I really think it should be a must on anybody's uh London itinerary, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00: 23:29

You know, there's also a boat. We I mean we took the boat out, but we took the bus back, and it took us probably an hour to get back to where we were staying, but it was really interesting, you know, and just to kind of go through all these neighborhoods and and that was really fun. So um yeah, boat out and bus back in. That was really great.

SPEAKER_02: 23:47

Yeah, we often say to people it's like don't just get the tube because you're under the you're underground, so you're not seeing anything. I mean, experience the tube. I'd definitely say go on the tube. But but buses are really good. Um, you can walk, you can just walk a lot. You will walk, you will walk a lot in London anyway. Um, but yeah, the public transport is is really good. Don't be scared of it, is another thing. We do have guides to all of the different how to use the boat, how to use the even a black cab, like how to hail a black cab, how to use the tube. And we're going to be putting more stuff on YouTube as well, guides of that. You know, how do you pay for it? Because we often get asked about that, you know, countless contactless, or do I need an oyster card, all that sort of uh those questions come up.

SPEAKER_00: 24:26

I know another experience that you've talked about before is a black cab tour. And I know after I heard you talk about it, that's another thing that's on my list. Go ahead and talk about that a little bit because it sounds like so much fun.

SPEAKER_02: 24:38

Oh, it really, really is, and it's so popular. So many of the people on our Facebook group of the reviews are fantastic. So so we partner with some really we we work with some very, very, very good companies. And Discover Real London Black Cab Tours is one of those. Um, and they you actually could do a touchdown tour. So if you're landing, they'll pick you up from Heathrow Airport and take you into London and give you a tour before you even get into your accommodation. So if you're landing at seven and you can't get any accommodation until one o'clock or two o'clock, they'll pick you up and give you a tour of London and completely orientate you. You can go and see all the main sites. And the advantage of uh having a black cab is they can go places that nobody else can go. They can park outside Westminster Abbey. I've got a picture of myself outside Westminster Abbey, um, and I've got the black cab, there's the red London phone box, there's Westminster Abbey, and there's me standing in front of it going like this is amazing. These are like icons of London and have all in one picture. It's it's amazing. And we've been dropped out, you can get dropped off just outside Buckingham Palace and then take your photos and then get picked up a few minutes later. So, because trying to get Buckingham Palace is a bit of a walk, like buses can't go near it, and you can't, you know, you that's your best way to get to it if you've got any mobility issues as well. It's a really good way to get close to Buckingham Palace. Um, and the guys can take you, you can say this is what I'd like to see, it's my first time, I'd like to go and see this, see this, see this, and and they can take it and then they can take you to accommodation. They've actually just um I've only just shared it with my Facebook group yesterday, but they've got a Christmas lights tour as well, which I really want to do, um, because uh look London at Christmas is one of my favorite times. So, yeah, there's lots of different tours that they have. So you can have a look on the website, you can contact Ollie, uh, who runs Discovery London Black Caps and say exactly what you want. Um, and then and then he can he can put that together for you. But it's it's so good, it's so popular that I everybody raves about it. You'd honestly feel like royalty, you really do.

SPEAKER_00: 26:36

I know that's something I want to do so badly, and then it sounds like so much fun. Um, but we'll put links to everything that you've mentioned in the show notes, so anyone listening, you can go check that out. And then we'll also have links to Tracy's um website and podcasts and everything, so you can get more information. So the last thing that I want to talk about is something you just mentioned, which is London at Christmas. Because we've been there at that time too, and it was so much fun. It was just beautiful. And I love being places where, yeah, I love being places around Christmas because you know, Germany is the most amazing place for Christmas. And so if you're going to Germany for Christmas markets, stop in London because I think it is also pretty amazing, but just in a little bit different way. But I love the lights. Like we made a point to go to as many of those streets that have these beautiful and unique light shows. And um, oh, it was so much fun. What do you like to do in London at Christmas time?

SPEAKER_02: 27:32

Well, I think if you've actually hit an L on the head there with what you said about the lights, because we Doug and I did a trip around um a lot of European countries last December, and Germany honestly has the best Christmas markets. They are the best. But the best Christmas lights that we saw and that we've seen anywhere are in London. They are fabulous, and they have different themes. And like I was mentioned about the black cab tour as well. The good thing about when you take one of those is that that's with a um a London black cab, they've done the knowledge, they know their way around London, they know the side streets, the best way to get you to those lights that will avoid the traffic. Um, so like they know it like well, they have to know it like the back of their hand. Um, because seeing all the lights, there's they're all over the place. And even last year when I was there trying to see all the lights, I was in and out and trying to walk around, trying to do as much as I could um and see them. So sitting in a black cab would have been the best way to do it, honestly. But I just love the Christmas shops as well at Fortnite and Mason, Liberties. When they have the Christmas shops, oh, they're just just so pretty, so beautiful. The atmosphere is amazing. Covent Garden is beautifully decorated, so you need to go to Covent Garden as well. Um, I I don't know, I just think it's so magical. I've loved it since I was a child going to London at Christmas. It's just there's so much about it. It does get really busy, I will say that. So you need to be prepared, and it can get a bit cold, so you need to make sure that you you know wrap up warmly. I've done a couple of their um Christmas like bus tours as well. So if you're sitting on the top of a bus, you need to make sure you're wrapped up warmly. But it's just ah for me, it's like the best city in the world to spend in the in the lead up to Christmas. I really enjoy it. But I'd like to mix that up with the Christmas markets because honestly, the Christmas, the German food and the the atmosphere and the Christmas markets in Germany was just excellent. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00: 29:27

Yeah, it was funny when we were there. Um, you know, we were enjoying all of these really great things, but then we go to the markets and we're like, okay, we enjoy this, but yeah, Germany, that's where they really excel. But there are so many other things on, I mean, it it was awesome. We loved it. I would absolutely go back in at Christmas time. I mean, I'll go to London anytime, but you know, Christmas time was, yeah. That was really wonderful. Okay, well, Tracy, do you have any final tips you'd like to share for anyone doing a stopover in London?

SPEAKER_02: 29:55

Uh yes, first of all, say do not try and overpack your itinerary because we see that all the time. Don't underestimate how tired you can get actually walking around London. So I don't know, we all do that. We all uh try to put too much in. Uh second, I'd just make sure you've got comfortable footwear. It's really important uh you think about that, that you pack layers. Um, and the last thing I'm actually going to say is is take a day trip out of London. If it's your first time in and you've got enough time, do choose somewhere to go out because London is a wonderful city to visit, but it does not it Don't encapsulate the whole of the UK, it doesn't represent the whole of the UK, that's for sure. Or even England. So to take a day trip, you can very easily get to Bath, you could go to Oxford, you could go to Cambridge, you could go to Canterbury, you could go to Winchester. There are so many. Windsor is very close by. There's so many amazing places. So do consider a day trip as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:46

Excellent. All right. Well, thank you so much, Tracy. And um, I will put links to your websites and to your podcast in the show notes. But go ahead and uh remind everyone what your websites and your podcast, what what are the names?

SPEAKER_02: 31:01

Okay, so our website is uktravelplanning.com and the podcast is of the same name, UK Travel Planning. Uh, you can find that on all of like Spotify and Apple. It's on all of the major players. And we've just actually hit half a million downloads, which is very excited for us. So um it's doing very well. And also you can find uh our anything about London specifically. We do have London information on that SAP, but we do have a London-centric website, LondonTravelplanning.com too, which has got lots of information on that. We've got Facebook groups of the same name, but also on YouTube at uktravelplanning.com and Instagram, uktravelplanning.com. So it's very easy, it's just UK Travel Planning, London Travel Planning. Alright, thank you so much, Tracy. Uh, thanks for having me, Kate. It's been lovely to chat with you today. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But as always, that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning!