I had just one weekend to explore the land of Shakespeare and fish n chips, of Will and Kate and Big Ben, and there is no way I could have done it without one handy little pass. The London Pass is the best decision I made during my two days in the UK version of the Big Apple, and I saw things in London I would never have seen without it. For just £80 I was able to see eight London greats in my two days which in admission prices alone would have cost me over £200—in time it would have cost me much more than the 48 hours I had just in standing in line to wait and buy tickets.
First of all, get the mobile app. You don’t even need wifi or data to access your pass once you have bought it and added it to the mobile app. All you do is go to the ticket window at some locations and directly to the entrance line at others and they scan the barcode right on your phone and voila! You’re in! The app also tells you the best attractions to go to and gives you a map of the city—again all without wifi or data which is super helpful for travelers. So here is what I did and where I went with my London Pass.
Day 1
A Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour was included in the London Pass! One whole day of travelling London and learning the history of the powerhouse city while riding in a double-decker bus. It was a great way to travel to all the various spots we could see with our pass and those we just wanted to drive by and hear the fun facts about.
Westminster Abbey was our first stop because of how busy the infamous abbey gets. We knew that the abbey is closed to tours on Sundays because it is still a functioning place of worship even after ten centuries. The interior of the structure was just as immaculate as the outer structure. Walk through time as you gaze at the resting places of greats like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin. An audio tour is also included with the London Pass and you can listen to the building’s incredible history as you walk up the aisle, envisioning Kate Middleton striding toward her Prince just a few years before.
Buckingham Palace was open to the public while we were visiting, a rarity as it is still often frequented by Queen Elizabeth, though as we were informed it is her least favorite of the royal palaces. We would have had to pay extra to go into Buckingham though, and so we decided that photos of the front were enough and we would see the backside of the palace and the Royal Mews. I had no clue what a Mew was when we walked up to the back of the palace, but I was greeted by the sweet smell of hay and the more pungent scent of manure. The horse stables at Buckingham were so incredible, though! Not only did we see a few of the Queen’s horses, we got to see all the carriages which carry the Royal family through the streets of London during important events.
Back on the bus we went around to the Kensington area of London. We walked through Hyde Park and saw the beautiful Serpentine Pond where countless swans (all owned by the Queen!) swim peacefully despite the multitude of dogs chasing sticks and people passing by on everything from bikes, roller blades, and hover boards. The Palace itself was beautiful and full of incredible exhibits for tourists to enjoy. The Palace is actually now the residence of Kate and William, but sadly we didn’t get a glimpse of them on our tour. The best exhibit we saw was all the beautiful gowns and outfits worn by Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, and Princess Margaret through the years.
We ended the afternoon with a mini shopping spree on the packed Oxford Street where there are more shops on one road than anywhere else in the UK. The Hop on Hop Off Bus service was done by 5pm when we decided to head home, and we took the metro back to Victoria. We wished we had bought the Oyster Card for the $5 because we were told that after 48 hours of being in London, you can actually get the $5 back as it is more of a deposit. After the initial $5, you just keep adding money to the card and it is actually cheaper to travel with it. Also you need an Oyster Card or a contactless credit card (which don’t exist in the US yet, we’re still getting used to the chip readers) just to take the buses which are actually a dollar cheaper than the metro. We ended up buying one on our way out to Leicester Square to spend the night living it up London style.
Day 2
After attempting to live it up London style, and only making it until 1am, we decided to take the Thames River Ferry cruise Sunday morning around 10am as our mode of transportation for the day. After the quick phone scan, we were right on the ferry from Westminster Pier to the infamous Tower Bridge. We hadn’t been down to the Thames (pronounced the Temes) River yet, and seeing all the incredible London icons such as Big Ben and the London Eye from the murky water was incredible. We heard more history of the sites and took some super touristy photos at the back of the boat where no one else was crowded around.
We got off at the Tower of London. We knew that the Tower held the Crown Jewels, but we didn’t expect it to be so HUGE! We took two hours just exploring all the exhibits in this Roman-built fortress. There was a display on all the armories, one on the influence of WWII on London, and even a history on the Tower’s usage as an interactive zoo – not the best idea when there’s baboons and tigers running free. One King even had a pet polar bear who he would put on a chain and let float around in the Thames. The Crown Jewels were as beautiful as could be imagined. The scepter alone used at coronation holds 530 carats of diamonds!
We had lunch at the cutest little outdoor seating area right at the base of the Tower Bridge. There were food vendors selling pizza and ice cream and the most incredible hot dogs I have ever had. The bartender at the beer tent was playing the best oldies mix I have ever heard, and all in the mean time we had the most incredible view of the Tower Bridge, our next stop.We were going to just walk over it. But, no surprise our pass let us in to the exhibit that goes through the actual bridge and follows the top of it. But, this bridge experience is not for the faint-hearted because the floor is made of plexiglass, showing all the cars driving bellows and the Thames flowing beneath them! We just happened to go up right as the drawbridge actually opened up beneath us so that it was us, one giant sailboat, and nothing but the Thames!
We walked to the other side of the bridge and began following the Queen’s Walk, first stopping at the HMS Belfast because it was yet another exhibit included on our pass and we had time to kill as it was only 1 in the afternoon. My sister, one of my travel companions, was bored by this point of all the palaces and castles, and so a WWII ship was just what she needed. I, on the other hand, was not thrilled with the tiny spaces and ladders leading from floor to floor on the ship. But, you literally got to explore EVERYTHING on the ship!
We continued along the Queen’s Walk, disappointed when we passed the infamous Borough Market because it’s closed on Sundays, but we could envision the multitude of vendors and smells under the green tent. We passed souvenir shops and adorable restaurants, but we were on a mission to get to the place where famous words were woven into a language only really liked and appreciated if you were a college English major like myself.
But, even if you were a high school student who dreaded when Macbeth was on the summer reading list and you had Sparknotes pulled up on your laptop, everyone can still appreciate the magnificence of England’s William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s Globe is an incredible replica of the original theater of the 16th Century. It is not in the exact location of the original theater, but the site was excavated and the building was recreated as it had been built during the Elizabethan times with an open, thatched roof, and custom timber railings and all. We were lucky enough to be on a tour when the production of the evening was practicing, so although we didn’t get to a show in London, we at least got a little preview.
Our final event was the only one not included on our London Pass, but we were able to get discounted tickets through the Hop on Hop off tour. We had heard the varying opinions on riding the London Eye—the views are incredible, it’s packed and you get no view, it’s a once in a lifetime chance. We decided to take our chances. The line looked long, and in hindsight we wish we had gotten in line sooner so that we had been up in the air as the sun set. But it was near dark, 7:30 in September, by the time we got to the front of the line. Beside us, two couples getting on the same cart as us. Behind us, 15 screaming middle school girls and a tired-looking teacher. Great. But, by the grace of God the teacher couldn’t move fast enough to the front of the line and the cart we were in moved off the platform, meaning we had an entire pod with only four other people! London at night on the London Eye is nothing short of spectacular. It was the perfect ending to a whirlwind 48 hours in London.
