I ordered everything online here, and it was delivered to my doorstep within about 15 business days. Chi Chi chose the pick-up option for her London Pass, so she purchased an Oyster Card at the automated kiosk in the Tube station at the airport. It was really easy to load and reload the Oyster Card with our U.S.-based credit cards as needed throughout our trip.
Hot Take: Riding the Tube in London was fairly straightforward, EXCEPT for when tracks diverged. Pay attention to what the front/side of the trains say about their final destination, because some of them change tracks along the route per that final stop. We almost ended up in a different part of town at some point, but Chi Chi noticed the change and we quickly got off the train and rerouted. Londoners were helpful with directions when needed, too!
After we settled into our AirBNB we walked back to the Tube station at Finchley Central. We waited less than 5 minutes for our train, which we rode on the Northern line (black color on a London Tube map, found here) to the Leicester Square stop. The commute couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes; that was pretty much our experience for the majority of our train rides in London. (The exception was the commute to and from the airport, which took closer to 40 minutes.)
 |
| *singing* "Never trust a (small) butt and a smile!" |
Next, we caught the Piccadilly Line (darkest blue on a Tube map) to the Hyde Park Corner stop (three stops away and less than 5 minutes). We strolled through the official gardens at Buckingham Palace, picking up some croissants and coffee before making our way to the front for the ceremonial changing of the guard at roughly 10:45AM.
Hot Take: Try to get to Buckingham Palace at least 20-30 minutes before the changing of the guard so that you can secure a good spot and snag some snazzy pics. Also, be a dear and check the schedule online here to make sure that this information is still valid for your trip.
|
We spent the rest of our day traversing the streets, taking pictures in red phone booths nearby and admiring that hottie Big Ben from different angles. We turned in early that night because we had a flight to catch to Paris the following morning and wanted to plan our chic "let's not look like unstylish American girls in Paris" wardrobe. Pinterest suggested Chuck Taylors and all black everything as staples. I chose to vary it a bit, which you'll learn more about in my next post!
