London, England

October 19, 2016

When I thought about stepping off the plane at Heathrow I imagined swimming in a world full of crisp button downs, beautiful accents, and a lot of rain. While, I was right about two of those things, London surprise me by being almost identical to Washington D.C. with the exception of the accents, currency, and driving on the left side of the road. My time in London was a whirlwind between exploring, Harry Potter tours, and even a pub crawl my time in London went by way too fast and I cannot wait for the day that I step back into the Burberry catalog. 

WHERE TO STAY

I highly recommend, if you are a young traveler like me, to stay at the Astor Hyde Park Hostel. Not only is it a beautiful and grand Victorian era town house, but it is located in a great neighborhood and within a five minute walk to Astor Hyde Park, Natural History Museum, and the metro. The hostel has a great common room and houses all young travelers. I loved every second of staying there, just beware that there are no elevators. So if you stay on the top floor and overpack like me find a boy. 

DO

Do go to Stonehenge and Oxford!! It's a little bit of a bus ride, but SO worth it. Trust me, Stonehenge is so much better in person than as your screen saver. And if Harry Potter and beautiful architecture are your thing then you will love Oxford. I just went for the day, but I would highly recommend doing an overnight!

CAN'T MISS

Astor Hyde Park

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace 

The London Eye

London Harry Potter Tour & King's Cross Station

Big Ben, obviously

EAT/DRINK

Poppies Fish and Chips - you have to

Ruby Blue  - super cool and more upscale, awesome balcony

Bar Soho - more causal, very quirky and hip