Love Us Some London: How to Spend One Day
1st off, I can’t wait to go back!! Love me some London even tho we were able to spend only one day there. We landed about 8:30 am at Stansted Airport, took the Express train to London to the Liverpool Street Station and transferred to the tube (metro). We bought the Express tickets at the ticket machines at the airport, in case you are wondering the easiest way to get to London from Stansted. At, the Liverpool Street Station, I bought a day pass that even included transportation to Heathrow where we were staying the nite and flying out of the next am. Big Dog already had a loaded Oyster Card, purchased before leaving home. It’s supposed to be a better rate on public transportation. Mine was stolen with my wallet in Paris. Ugh! Originally, we had planned on being in London for 2 days as starting and ending stops on our trip, so the Oyster cards seemed to make sense. Really day passes are only 13 pounds or so and may be the most economical option. The tube (metro train) and buses are included for unlimited rides all day. The buses aren’t just any buses, they are the big shiny red ones! And speaking of public transportation here, how cute are the taxis in London?! Some are wrapped in ads and cartoons, but a good portion are just little black wagons.
Back to our day. We started by going to Abbey Road. We had to dodge the traffic on the busy street, along with other fans, recreating our version of the iconic crosswalk picture on the Abbey Road Album cover. Abbey Road Studio is also right there. We got as close as we could, but weren’t able to go in. Of all of the things we could do in London, this was what Big Dog was looking forward to the most. Next we started the Hop On Hop Off Bus tour as planned. 1st bus was great-live guided tour-very informative and funny. Jumped on various buses as the day went on, some were just prerecorded narratives where we used ear plugs. The 1st bus and guide was our favorite. This is a great option for a short time in London or just to get an informational overview of London before you start exploring. I would actually do it again the next time. We were advised of the best stops to get off to eat, explore attractions or shop-like Harrod’s. All of the main sites are on the routes including Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, etc. One of the best parts was at Buckingham Palace. As we got closer we saw a couple dressed to the nines…and then noticed they weren’t the only ones. Of course, I had to know, so I asked some ladies (all dressed up in their classy frocks and fascinator hats) if they were coming or going to an event. In her heavy English accent, one warmly answered that they had just come from a garden party at The Palace. What a life!! Sure enough, as we got closer to the gates, more and more fabulously decked out men and women emerged from the gold tipped, heavy iron gates. Lots of men were in their military attire. Some just in suits. As we were taking a selfie, an Englishman leaving the place offered to take our picture. I love London! We really encountered some of the nicest people.
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Big Ben was covered in scaffolding during our visit so we really didn’t get a good look at it. We didn’t even hop off and explore there since it was under construction. At one of the stops, we ate at a great pizza and salad place called Franco Manca. We opted for salads since we had consumed a major amount of pizza in the last couple of weeks. The salads were delicious and we did have the sea salt & rosemary ‘bread’ which was actually pizza crust. Very good. Couldn’t resist!
After charging my phone, while grabbing a burger (I know!), we made our way to Heathrow Airport. We met a group of nurses from Louisiana and Mississippi on the train on the way. They were a fun group who had also spent most of the last week in Italy. We had gone to some of the same places and compared notes on our busy trips. We concluded that we were ready to go home to relax. Or at least rest up for the next trip!
Once we got to the airport, we made the trek to our hotel. There are a few hotels there, but ours may have been the greatest distance away. It had a cool neon lit vibe and obviously pretty new. Made some tea and confirmed the travel plans and times for next am. You guessed it, we were flying out early again!
It’s been a fabulous experience traveling all over Europe. This was our last stop. Hope you enjoyed this post and the posts of all of our other stops too. Never could I have imagined all we would see and experience as it actually turned out to be. You always have an idea, but we were amazed over and over again. It’s much easier to travel in Europe than I envisioned while planning, so I’m ready to go back anytime now!
Big Dog’s Review: When Lulu was planning our trip and asked what I wanted to do in London I had one answer, Abbey Road. Being a big Beatles fan I wanted to visit Abbey Road studio and walk across Abbey Road at the crosswalk just like the Beatles. Lulu captured the photo perfectly by getting out in the middle of the street at the very same angle the photographer did back in 1969. Compare our photo with the album cover, perfect!
Another artist that I like from the 1970’s and later is Gary P. Nunn. He pinned a song called “London Homesick Blues” with the famous line “I want to go home with the armadillo…” y’all know the rest. The song also mentions the Marble Arch Station, where we got off the subway at Hyde Park. There we boarded a hop on hop off tour and saw the sights. As Lulu mentioned, many of the famous landmarks were being worked on all over Europe and Big Ben was covered with scaffolding. But, overall the tour was fabulous. We hopped off for a great lunch at Franco Manca.
An interesting thing happened at Buckingham Palace, a garden party had just ended and we saw many patrons dressed up in awesome military uniforms and the ladies in beautiful dresses.
London is definitely a place we will return to in the future and spend more than one day. At that time we will travel up to Liverpool, I hear they have a great Beatles tour!
Between hotels or luggage lockers. 
Marble Arch London 
Theater London 
London Backpacking through Europe 
Such an amazing trip!! One day I WILL get to travel overseas and visit all these fabulous places ou write about.
Yes you will Annette!! Something to look forward to!
I loved London! We spent four days there in 2017. Big Ben was in scaffolding then too!
What an amazing trip you had! I enjoyed seeing Europe with you.
Thank you Cindy!
Wow! How long does it take to pretty up a clock?! Lol
Looks like a great day in London. I haven’t been yet but it is on my list!
I hope you have more than a day, Eva!!
I’ve enjoyed traveling all over Europe with you through your stories and pictures. Thank you for the fun!
Thank you Alice!! Glad you could join us!!
What an adventure you must have had!
Yes for sure! Good memories!
Looks like a lovely time! I’m part English, so I always wanted to go to London.
Oh nice! We loved it there!
Such a fantastic trip! The salad and rosemary bread looks amazing!
Yes, I’m all about the food! Haha
Awesome pictures! Would love to go to London someday
Thank you Alexis! I hope you get to go soon!
London is one of my favorite cities. Your photos brought me back. Visiting in December – fingers crossed.
I hope you have a wonderful experience, Sandi!
I can’t wait to go back to London! We visited over Christmas and everything was closed!
Oh bummer! That’s good to know tho… Thanks Liz!
Looks like you had an amazing London experience!
Most definitely!
I would LOVE to go to London some day!!! Looks like you had a great trip!
I hope you get to go Misty!
I spent a day in London and it happened to be the marathon weekend (we didn’t know when we booked the trip!) and so want to go back and explore when it is less crowded! And Big Ben needs to be finished!
Yes, I want to really see Big Ben!
I actually spent a weekend in London – was at a conference in Banbury for a week and took a side trip before leaving. I was on a double decker tour bus and what do you know….we saw Prince Charles. It was a complete whim! But so much fun and excitement on the bus.
Are you serious?! That’s amazing. Love it!
Looks like you were able to pack quite a bit into one day!
We gave it our best shot!
This looks like a great trip, and I love your pictures
Thank you Rachel!
This looks like a great trip! the food looks great!
It was wonderful!
Amazing ideas if short on time. Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures.
Thanks Kate! Yes, would love to have longer and do tea next time.
Looks like a blast! I love your Abby road photo, my dad is a huge Beatles fan!
Thanks Alyssa! We had to dodge cars and work for it!! Lol
What a great adventure.
Yes, thanks Sabrina for visiting!
London is high on my list. You guys accomplished a lot!
We tried, Heather!
We just went to London last October. We would love to go again. I may just plan a summer in Europe in a few years.
I’m so ready to go back!! Want everything to be open and fun tho! Praying that’s soon!
Looks like you got to see a lot in a very short time. I love the Abbey Road Crosswalk photo!
Thanks Douglas! Yes, we tried to pack in as much as possible!
Seems like you were able to get a lot in with the short amount of time there! The hop on hop off bus is always a great idea in a new city. Great Photos!
Thanks Bonnie! Yes, we’ve enjoyed the HOHO buses a few times in our travels.:-)
What a wonderful way to see London in such a short time! I’m hoping to go very soon!
I hope you can too, Holly!
I loved the Beatles reenactment! I have loved your adventure so much! I wondered how you were fairing after your pic-pocketing experience! My heart is happy to see you are still enjoying every minute!
Thanks so much Erica! Yes, we kept going 🙂 Lot’s more adventure to be had!
What a fantastic trip! you’ve given me some ideas! I have family in London and there are some places you’ve mentioned I’d love to check out next time I’m over there! I still need to make it to Abbey Road!
Oh that’s great that you can go see family and share the experience. Hopefully soon!
I love London! You have lots of great photos and tips! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Tricia!
Your pictures are fantastic and fun. I haven’t been to London in over twenty years but still remember it as an amazing city to explore. This post makes me wanting to go back and take the kids!
Thank you Kristin! That’s so nice to hear! I would love to go back with my (grown) kids. 🙂
This looks like such a fun day! with also some learning mixed in as well. I will have to add it to my list of places to visit down the road!
Thanks Alexis! It was a great day!
Oh how fun! Abbey Road would be SO great to see and visit! I loved all your photos. Looks like an absolutely wonderful time! That rosemary sea salt bread looked amazing too!
Thanks Ramae! It was all wonderful and would love to go back!
Glad to hear you enjoyed London! I live around the corner from Abbey Road and always love walking past there 😀 sounds like you managed to get a lot done!
Vicky that is so cool that you live in London, especially by Abbey Road!