Trip Report: London and Cotswolds Highlights with Kristen Gonzalez

In episode 152 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, guest Kristen Gonzalez shares her eight-day family adventure through England with her husband and parents in their late 70s, highlighting their experiences in London and the Cotswolds during April. 

She details their thoughtful planning process, excellent transportation arrangements with XFA Cars, and memorable tours including Go Cotswolds excursions  (enter code UKTAVPLAN for a 5% discount for our UKTP community) and a Seven Sisters coastal day trip from London.

• Choosing the Cotswolds and London combination to showcase diverse aspects of England
• Using private transfers instead of driving or navigating train connections
• Taking two different Go Cotswolds tours to maximise exploration of picturesque villages
• Staying in Covent Garden as the perfect London base with excellent dining and entertainment options
• Finding the ideal balance between scheduled tours and free time for spontaneous exploration
• Enjoying unique experiences like a historic Royal Pub tour, afternoon tea on a bus, and Tower Bridge's glass floor walkways
• Discovering Mr. Fogg's Society of Exploration for cocktails and small plates in London
• Visiting the Seven Sisters cliffs and Brighton on a well-organised day trip from London

Kristen also offers invaluable tips for travel planning, particularly on booking ahead. Tune in for practical advice, inspiring stories, and plenty of laughs to help you plan your own perfect UK getaway!

⭐️ Guest - Kristen Gonzalez
📝 Show Notes - Episode 152

🎧 Listen to next

• Episode #136 – Unveiling the Cotswolds: Top Experiences and Insider Tips with Expert Lisa Benjamin
• Episode #115 – Essential Tips for Planning Your Perfect Cotswolds Adventure with Lisa Benjamin of GoCotswolds
• Episode #97 – Easy day trips from London by train (Part 2)

Need help planning your trip? Book your personalised itinerary consultation with Tracy and Doug Collins – UK travel planning experts – for tailored advice based on your travel style, interests, and timeframe. Book your consultation here.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Kristen's England Trip
• 6:20 Planning the Cotswolds and London Adventure
• 9:40 Transportation and Go Cotswolds Tours
• 19:19 London Experiences and Tours
• 28:59 Covent Garden Accommodations and Dining
• 34:29 Souvenirs and Travel Tips

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

In this week's episode 152 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, I chat with Kristen Gonzalez about her April trip to England with her husband and parents. We talk about their time in London and the Cotswolds, including two Go Cotswolds tours, a London day trip and some fantastic experiences in the capital. And, of course, don't miss Kristen's top tip for visitors at the end of the episode.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, Tracey Collins. In this podcast, Tracey 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, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 1: 1:04

Kristen, it's fantastic to welcome you onto the podcast this week to do a trip report. They're always my favorite things to find out. I'm just so nosy. I want to find out all about your trip, how it went, what were the great things were that you did. And I know, I know I can hear, I can hear so many voices from our listeners yeah, trip Report. We love Trip Report. So this is episode 152. I can't believe it. We are incredible. We are heading towards our half a million downloads, so that's also exciting.

Speaker 1: 1:40

Amazing. So I'm going to say a big thank you to all our listeners. We really appreciate you kind of tuning in every week to listen to me chat to people all about their trips, like Kristen. So, kristen, would you like to introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about you, where you live, how long you went to the UK for and who you went with. So a few questions to start with.

Speaker 3: 2:02

Yeah, I'm Kristen Gonzalez and I live in Alexandria, virginia, which is right outside of Washington DC, and we we just got back last month from our trip and we were there for eight days, not including travel, and I went with my husband and my parents who are in their late 70s.

Speaker 1: 2:26

So yeah, and was that a first time visit for any of you, or has it? Was it a repeat trip?

Speaker 3: 2:30

my parents. My parents have never been um. They're huge travelers. They travel all over the place, um, but they had never been. My husband and I were in the UK three years ago. We went to Liverpool, um, and we spent a few days there. We're big liverpool supporters, so we spent a few days there. Yeah, I know, try not.

Speaker 1: 2:50

Try not to judge I certainly won't judge and I can tell you, I can hear doug will be like oh yes, fantastic, the best, because you know he's also a liverpool supporter so he loved that. So I mean, the first thing that came to my head was like did he are? Are you Beatles fans or are you football fans? But obviously you're football. Yeah, fantastic, so obviously so this trip. You just went to London.

Speaker 3: 3:13

No, so actually we spent, we went, we flew overnight Easter Sunday, so we landed Easter Monday at 6.30 in the morning and local time and we went right to the Cotswolds. So we went for the Cotswolds three days there and then the four days in London.

Speaker 1: 3:33

Ah, perfect. I have to ask why did you? Why that split? Why did you choose the Cotswolds?

Speaker 3: 3:39

So it's funny, I got literally no help from my traveling companions what they wanted to do. I asked my dad and he said I want to go to a pub. That's what I got, and I said okay. And then he said I don't think I need to see London. And I said, well, you're wrong. So, just so you know that's incorrect. And then I asked my mom what do you want to see? And she said, well, you're wrong, so, just so you know that's incorrect. So, and then I asked my mom what do you want to see? And she said I just want to be there. Oh, that's OK, ok. And then I asked my husband, and of course we tried to look at some football, but we just too much, and my parents aren't big supporters. So we were like we're, we're going to to skip that for this trip and it's you know, it's a big chunk of time out of your day for not being supporters. So I was like we won't do that to my parents. So, um, but I asked him and he wanted to go. There's a a famous cigar store in London. Dive it off of London. And that was that's it. That's what I got.

Speaker 3: 4:46

So I said, well, I'm on my own and I've wanted to go to the Cotswolds for a very long time. And I actually saw on the Facebook page I kept seeing people that had booked the Go Cotswolds tours, and so the more photos I saw of the Cotswolds and of those tours, I said okay, I need to figure out how to put that in this trip. I wanted to also see the coast. So I was trying. I stared blankly at a map of the UK for like three months and I was like I don't even know where to start. Also, cause I was all I had no help.

Speaker 3: 5:18

So I said I really want to go to the Cotswolds, I really want my parents to see London, and that just seemed like the most logical kind of combination. When I realized how close the Cotswolds actually are to London, I was like, okay, this is kind of a no brainer. And then we were only going to spend two days in the Cotswolds. And then I started looking into the tours and they had the secret Cotswolds too and I was like, okay, so we're going to add a day. So I did that first. I kind of planned the Cotswolds first and then added the London, and so we really only stayed in two places. We only stayed in one hotel in the Cotswolds and one hotel in London, but I was able to kind of maximize our week there.

Speaker 1: 6:03

So yeah, lisa will be so excited, I'm sure she'll. She'll know that you, you, uh, you booked um, because you heard about them through the Facebook. Did you listen? Have you listened to the podcast with Lisa as well? I haven't yet, no, so Lisa has done a couple of a few podcasts as well. She's, she's a great guest. I think she's been on three times now. Uh, so so, and we've had a lot of people going. Oh, I'd love listening to Lisa. So Lisa, obviously, with her husband, owns Go Cotswold, so, um, they're fantastic. So that's really exciting to hear that. So so, let's, let's ask first of all, how you got around. So how did you get to the Cotswolds and then back to London and then, you know, back to the airport yeah, so we?

Speaker 3: 6:44

that was one of the other things that was kind of a sticking point. When my husband and I were in Liverpool a few years ago, there was a train strike and so I think I was a little, um, I was really nervous about using the trains because of that, and I know they're so polite in in Britain that they announce it ahead of time, um, but but it was still like just really stressful for me. And then also, even though my parents are well-traveled, I was reading some of the posts on the train Facebook group, specifically about having, you know, seven, eight minutes between trains and my dad just doesn't walk that quickly and I was like you know what? I don't want to change trains. So I was looking at different options.

Speaker 3: 7:24

We definitely didn't want to drive, being on the opposite of everything. We were opposite side of the car, opposite side of the road, and I've heard driving in the Cotswolds can be harrowing. So, um, we didn't want to do that. And, um, so I, actually I booked with Riz. Um, yeah, I, I, I booked with Riz. Oh, good, yeah, you booked with XFA. I'm telling you, your group made our entire trip. Oh, I did Our entire trip.

Speaker 1: 7:54

I love to hear it, because that's kind of what we're trying. We're trying to kind of provide everything that you could possibly want and because we honestly, we seek out the best, the best people for you to work with, the best tour companies, the best operators, and that. So we we kind of have full faith in everybody that we work with. And, to be honest, I've got to the point where I kind of feel sorry for people who do not have the Riz experience, because he is so popular he's amazing.

Speaker 3: 8:20

So we we didn't I was, I was sad because I didn't actually get to meet him. We had another one of his drivers who was incredible, but the communication was like nothing I've ever experienced, honestly. I mean, from the moment we landed, I had a welcome to you know, I welcome to UK text, and he was so incredibly thoughtful with all of his communication that we actually decided to book him to get back to London. So, um, yeah, I booked him to get because it was also, I mean, we've been up all night. Um, I think one of the mistakes people might make is, you know, flying all night and then jumping in a car in a country you've never been in, or we just didn't want to do that.

Speaker 1: 9:03

So, um, I wanted to be smart about it and we recommend that people don't do that honestly, because you know, even even to be honest, I mean I I'm used to driving on the left, but if I'm on a long flight, you know I don't want to drive like I mean I have risk picks us up, risk picks my parents up pigs later on the air, like we, we, we use that. You know the this, the people we work with we, we work with ourselves, and and uh, and we use them. So doesn't that just reduce the stress? You knew you're going to be met enormously. Yep, exactly so that's fantastic. So tell me about the go cotswolds. So that's fantastic, that's brilliant. Riz is going to love this. So tell me about your cotswolds and your go cotswolds tours.

Speaker 3: 9:44

Okay. So we stayed in Wharton and Marsh, based on one of the posts that I had seen. I decided to stay there because it had the train station and I booked our accommodations first. I didn't know how we were traveling yet, but I knew that they had the train station and I saw that the Go Cotswolds tours picked up there and I was like, well, this seems like an easy choice then. So we stayed in Wharton and Marsh and then we had that full day there. The first day we got there you know cause you're trudging through and fighting jet lag. So we walked around, um, and it was lovely.

Speaker 3: 10:19

I I instantly fell in love and I kind of started to think maybe we should have spent more time in the Cotswolds, but I don't think there's enough time for the Cotswolds ever. So, um, and then the next morning we did the go Cotswolds or Cotswolds in a day. The next morning, um, and that's, you know, it's a full day, it's like an eight hour day, uh. And then we had dinner in Morton and Marsh and then the next day we did the Secret Cotswolds, which is another full day. But it's just, it is the perfect way to get a really good sense of that area and the two tours are very different from each other, which I was really pleasantly surprised. There's a little bit more bus time and driving through the countryside in the secret Cotswolds tour. Um, but it was, it was perfect. It was absolutely the highlight to me, the highlight of the trip, because I've wanted to see the Cotswolds for so long. You have a really good amount of time and in in all the little places, and it was, it was perfect. I'm literally ready to move.

Speaker 1: 11:30

I've taken my mom on both of those tours as well, and my mom's in her eighties, and she, she, she loved them. She just and I mean she, she doesn't live that far out of the Cotswolds, but she just like she could sit and and and she, I mean we both learned quite a lot as well, because the guides are excellent that we had. So that was all kind of really good fun. You know, I like it because you've got local guides that know the place and know the area.

Speaker 3: 11:52

They can answer all your questions, you know, and I think that is just a great way to explore, because the Cotswolds are not an easy region to get around unless you've got a car, or taking a tour with like go Cotswolds is a perfect way to do it it is, and I loved the size of it because it's a very intimate group and it's not you're not on a bus with 40 people, you're 16 people, I think total and um that all both guides that we had were from there they've, you know, one of them grew up there and the other one had lived there for 30 plus years, so they genuinely love talking about the Cotswolds, like they just really love talking to people about it. And you know, teaching people history and you know I just I, absolutely I was so glad that we did those tours. It was. I would never have seen that much on my own. There's no way I would have been able to see all of that if I tried to do it on my own.

Speaker 1: 12:51

I know it's incredibly well organized and you get to see a lot of the best bits. Um, yeah, and what about your parents? Did they enjoy the Cotswolds? Was it kind of they loved it?

Speaker 3: 13:01

um, I don't think. I think that was the. I think my dad loved it. He, that was his favorite part of the trip, I think also because of the. You know, the rolling hills and the sheep and the, it's all that quintessential England, you know. And in the, what you picture, um, and what you see in the movies, and so he, he loved it. He loved the small town feel of it and he liked the, the pubs. Yeah, that's what he wanted to do and that's what we did. So, yeah, he, he really liked it a lot, and I think my mom just the thatched roofs and you know what's not to love about it, but it is it's. It's kind of what you picture, I think, when you picture outside of London, it's kind of what you picture, I think when you picture outside of London, it's kind of what you picture when you picture England.

Speaker 1: 13:47

So yeah, I definitely, I definitely agree on that so what was the weather? Like, because I haven't. I left the UK in February, so I haven't. I haven't been back for a few months. So how? What was it like when you were there? Was it all right? So?

Speaker 3: 14:00

we had the most incredible weather the entire time and I was blown away. Here I am, I'm carrying an umbrella and I have a rain jacket. We had rain our very first day and I don't even. It was like really drizzle, not even rain. The we literally did not see a drop of rain for the next seven days. It was absolutely perfect that's brilliant.

Speaker 1: 14:23

And the thing is with the UK weather as well. I said everybody is like expect the unexpected because you never honestly you never know what you're going to get absolutely so we were prepared.

Speaker 3: 14:33

But yeah, I actually got sunburned on part of our trip. I was like I was not expecting that, not at all so let's talk about London.

Speaker 1: 14:42

So you had four days in London. So what did you do when you were in London? What were your kind of highlights?

Speaker 3: 15:58

So we did a ton of tours. It's basically how we kind of tackled it. My dad sprung on me right before we left that he would like to do tea. He doesn't drink tea, so I wasn't expecting that, so rather than try to figure that out and my husband doesn't do tea either, so I found this bus tour that does tea on a bus. It goes around London, so it's not your most authentic way to do tea, but it was pretty cool, so we did that the day that we arrived. I've had fun.

Speaker 1: 16:50

Yeah, I think we we had a great time. Yeah, I've got I've got a whole article, um, about the different um afternoon teas and the different afternoon tea buses, because there are there's quite a few different themed ones as well, yeah, and they're all kind of a great way to kind of see a bit of london and that's kind of what I figured, so I added it.

Speaker 3: 17:04

I didn't plan a whole lot for the day we arrived in London because I didn't know how long it would take us to get in with traffic and things like that, so so I planned it for that afternoon so that we could just kind of go around London and um, it was really fun. So that's what we did the first day, um, and then the next day, so day. So we ended up being there during the London Marathon, which does change things a little bit. We were supposed to do the Changing of the Guard tour the Friday before the marathon, but it got canceled because of the road closures. So we did the Changing of the horse garden, which was really, was really cool I was so glad that we saw that and, um, a walking tour of Westminster city. So we had an amazing, amazing guide, um, again, I booked through um, I booked through your, through your link, through by um, via tour by eater I don't know how you say it Through your link, through Viator Viator, I don't know how you say it, but yeah, so we had an amazing tour guide. She was incredible. She was a local young lady from London and she was hysterical and she was awesome. She walked us through St James Park and over to the palace and it was very, very cool.

Speaker 3: 18:22

And then from there we did another tour. We walked around that part of London for a little bit and then we did a historic Royal Pub tour, which was I just wanted to do something that was a little bit unique. So we did that and it was awesome. We went to four different pubs and we had a guy who's actually an aspiring actor, so it was very full of life and, um, it was, it was fun. It was young man, he was hysterical, he told us a lot of really cool stories about, you know, the royals and, um, some of the like, the early, you know, head military people and it was really cool. So that was. That was pretty fun.

Speaker 1: 19:03

I always recommend doing a pub tour. That's one of my favorite things.

Speaker 3: 19:08

It's just so much fun. Yeah, yeah, and honestly I mean you could. You could do it on your own, but it's not as much fun and you don't learn anything.

Speaker 3: 19:16

So you know um, so, yeah, I was really glad that we did that, it was really fun. So that was Friday, and then I didn't. Yeah, I was really glad that we did that, it was really fun. So that was Friday, and then I didn't book anything for the rest of the day because it was already a ton of walking. We walked like seven, eight miles a day and my parents are almost 80. So you know they were troopers, but yeah.

Speaker 3: 19:39

So then the next day, on Saturday, so I don't know if you remember, but I said I wanted to see the coast, so the what I decided to do was I booked a tour to seven sisters, so, cause it's an easy day trip from London, so, and it included the train ticket, train ticket they even had a guide that met us at the train station and he rode the train with us all the way to Brighton to make sure that we, like I don't know, didn't get lost or I don't know. It was great, it was amazing, but it's, you know, like just over an hour from London to Brighton. So he traveled with us and then we met our tour guide in Brighton and we went to Devil's Dyke National Trust and Beachy Head and we saw a farm, a working farm in Sussex that's been in the same family for hundreds of years and that was a pretty cool thing to see. So it was a really cool thing to to see. So it was a really cool way to see. We saw the cliffs and it was a really cool way to kind of see the coast and go down onto the, you know, onto the beachy head, and it was awesome. I'm so glad that we did it.

Speaker 3: 20:52

It was a long day, it's like a nine hour tour, um, and then they give you the option to stay in Brighton. If you don't want to, you know, go back right away. They give you train tickets back and they kind of tell you how to get there. But so we stayed in Brighton. If you don't want to, you know, go back right away. They give you train tickets back and they kind of tell you how to get there. But so we stayed in Brighton for another couple of hours just to check it out, which is a totally different part than what we had been seeing.

Speaker 3: 21:14

So that was yeah, so that was cool. It was neat to see that we just kind of we went into a pub and sat and people watched and um walked around some of the shops and stuff. So that was really cool and that, like I said, that was like a full day that was.

Speaker 1: 21:28

It was like I think we were, we were gone for, I don't know, maybe 11 hours that day total it does sound like a really good tour and I will actually put a link to it in the show notes as well. So, if you listen, I want to do that too and I wouldn't mind trying. I mean, I go on loads of tours, but, um, it sounded really good and I like the fact that included the train tickets took me down there, which is really good. So I think it sounds like a really good day. Um, we often get asked over the cliff white cliffs of doma or such a popular destination and but the seven sisters, it's so, it's so lovely down there, brighton's gorgeous city, yeah, city, brighton and home, yeah, a really lovely place to go. So I'm glad that you, that you actually got a contrast, because you're in the cox walls for that kind of quintessential countryside, and then you went down and saw some of the beautiful south coast as well. So, really, really yeah, do it.

Speaker 3: 22:20

I really I wanted to maximize our week because I learned very quickly that you need a lifetime to see it all, so I just wanted to try to maximize our trip as much as possible and, uh, I don't know if my parents are going to be able to go back, so I just wanted to kind of tackle as much as possible and just see all the different parts and um, it just seemed like the best, all the different parts and um, it just seemed like the best way to do it.

Speaker 1: 22:45

So yeah, no, I think that's really good. Um, so was that the Saturday?

Speaker 3: 22:50

Yep, that was Saturday and then marathon day. I didn't plan much of anything because I didn't. I really just didn't know what to expect and it it was definitely, um expect, and it was definitely we were staying in Covent Garden. So we just kind of stayed over there because it's away from everything. So we did the Covent Garden market in the morning, which was amazing. I loved it. That's the other place. I was like, okay, well, I could definitely live in this part of London. I loved it so much. So my mom and I kind of walked around the shops and we did that in the morning. And then the only thing I had booked that day was I did the Tower Bridge tour. So I booked the last one of the day so that the marathon would be mostly over with and cleared out.

Speaker 1: 23:42

It runs over Tower Bridge, so that's a good yeah exactly.

Speaker 3: 23:47

So we did that and that was really, really cool, because you get to walk over the terrifying glass floors and see the engine room, and on London buses that's what you get to go all across.

Speaker 1: 23:58

There's a London bus below you, so it's really cool. I do like it.

Speaker 3: 24:02

It's a really good thing to do yeah, and so, um, that's what we did, and then I um made reservations for, uh the name just went out of my head, but it's like a famous fish and chip spot that's under right under the tower bridge, right underneath it, and it's like in a cave I feel like I should know that, but I've got a.

Speaker 1: 24:22

I've got a point as well. Well, I know, I can't think about it. I know what it is and we'll put it in the show notes, because I'm I'm drawing, yeah, yeah, um I should have written it down, but I did was it good?

Speaker 1: 24:33

yeah, it was good because there's lots of amazing places to eat in london, which kind of um. It kind of brings me back to the fact that you mentioned that you you stayed in. You stayed in covent garden. Now that just we get asked all the time about where to stay in london and we kind of go well, westminster area is really good, covent garden area is really good around tower, tower, bridge, depending on what you're doing is really good. But I but Covent Garden, for me, is just such a special area to stay in. The history of Covent Garden is extremely interesting. I'm actually going to do a podcast, hopefully this month, about Covent Garden and what to do and see, because it used to be a very seedy part of London. Really, yeah, covent Garden was not a place you wanted to go to.

Speaker 3: 25:16

Oh that's so interesting, I can't even picture that now can you, because it's such an amazing area.

Speaker 1: 25:22

But yes, it was, it was a great area. There's a lot of um. Yeah, a lot of things went on in Covent Garden so, but I'm going to talk hundreds of years ago. We're not talking now, because it now is right, very popular um, tourist destination um, and there's so much to do and see around common garden and so many amazing places to eat. So you stayed in common garden. Whereabouts did you stay, which we we?

Speaker 3: 25:44

stayed at the resident yep, um, the resident common garden, which was really really lovely and it's in. It's in such a good spot because you're in walking distance to a couple of tube stations if you want to get around that way, but there's also the black cabs were so accessible right there. Also because it's such a busy little spot and you're in walking distance to a million cafes and restaurants and so you can just kind of you can be done for the day and drop off all your stuff and then just walk a few minutes and be. I mean, you could have your choice of little pub or, you know, high-end restaurant. If you want cocktail bar, whatever you want, it's right there. Um, which was perfect, it was. It ended up being like the perfect little spot for us.

Speaker 1: 26:33

Yeah, we really are spot for choice. When you're there, that's my favorite place to go is the um the, the cheese bar. It's like a sushi bar for cheese. Oh, that's fun. Oh, honestly, it's my absolute favorite, absolute favorite I really love that pair the cheese up with just the most amazing uh, or just the most amazing parents.

Speaker 1: 26:54

I don't know how to do it, so I usually get myself a class support and then have the cheeses as I come around and that is, yeah, that is absolutely worth doing, if you're. But but it's a great area and also there's a lot of really quirky, cool shops as well. The market, yeah, the market. There's a few markets there, um, so it's really it's a lovely, lovely area. So, yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to actually doing a podcast all about the area yeah, I'll have to check that out.

Speaker 3: 27:19

That'll be interesting because I really really fell in love with that part of london I I really liked it. It was it's busy but quiet at the same time. I don't know how they, I don't know how that combination works, but, um, but it does it, it's. We never heard a sound outside and we're in, you're right in the middle of everything and I really liked it there a lot.

Speaker 1: 27:41

There's lots of theatres I was going to say it is a fantastic area. Everything is there, absolutely, and there's a wide range of accommodation in that area as well. I mean, I've stayed in Holborn, which is kind of you know, it's the same area, and I've stayed in the Z Hotel in Holborn, which is really reasonable when I've stayed there on my own. So you've got kind of a wide range of you know, because I know everybody goes.

Speaker 1: 28:06

Oh, it's so expensive to stay in London. It is, but it's expensive. You can find, you know, reasonable places. So were there any kind of? You mentioned the fish and chips? Obviously you places. Um, so were there any kind of? You mentioned the fish and chips? Obviously you went on the, the, the bus afternoon tea bus tour and you went to any of the some of the pubs. Are there any kind of meals that you had or anything stand out that you kind of go?

Speaker 3: 28:27

I'd love to eat that again so I, um, I'm not usually super adventurous with food, but when we were in the cotswolds I tried a game pie and it was venison pheasant and what was the other word? Partridge wasn't, yes, yep, and I was so terrified. I was like this is not something that we would eat here at all, but it was so good, I loved it. It was so good, and then I kind of became slightly obsessed with sausage rolls also. They're so good. I don't understand what it's they're so good.

Speaker 3: 29:14

We also went to there's a place called Mr Fogg's Society of Exploration, so there's like 12 of them, I think, in London. But we went there's one that's literally right across from the resident, and so we went down there and they have it's basically just uh, like appetizers and small plates, but everything was so good and the cocktails are really, really, really fun. We had such a good time in there. I'm so glad that we got to do that. Um, and you can, you don't even know it's there. It's because it's downstairs and so it's like in the basement, so you just live little door and you wouldn't ever even know to go down.

Speaker 1: 29:53

I know I like the. I know you shared a photo in the um in the Facebook group, so we'll have to put that in the show notes as well, because I know a few people said oh, where is that, where is that?

Speaker 3: 30:01

yeah, yeah, they have a train car right in the, in the middle of it, where you can, and that's where we ended up sitting, which was lovely, but yeah, obviously, like doug doesn't drink, but I will still see the fact that he said there's a train car there.

Speaker 1: 30:13

I'll get him down there for the train car and then I can just sit and have a few cocktails. So it works for me and it works for him.

Speaker 3: 30:19

Yeah, and if you're and if you love cheese, they have like the best cheese down there. I don't know what that is. Oh, it's called the vault. My husband just stepped in. It was called the vault, london tower bridge. That's the fish and chips restaurant that's under the bridge okay, I don't know about that one.

Speaker 1: 30:36

There's so many places to eat. If I ate in all the places in london, I wouldn't be able to get through the door.

Speaker 3: 30:41

That's why there's no, I know that. Yeah, no kidding, I know, between the, between the beers and and the food, yeah, um.

Speaker 1: 30:49

So what about did you? Did you buy any souvenirs when you were over there? Was there anything that, oh, I?

Speaker 3: 30:56

love the way you said I took an empty carry-on with me because I know myself. So I did. I bought a beautiful cashmere sweater in the Cotswolds and I also went into an antique store in Morton and Marsh and I got a porcelain jar an antique porcelain jar that toothpaste used to be. Oh okay, it has like the most beautiful design on the top. It's gorgeous. I'll send you a picture of it. Oh, man, so you can see it. And then, actually one of the more fun things that I did, my daughter asked for. I said is there anything you want me to bring back? She's in her second year of college and she said fun earrings. She was like, maybe like phone booth, oh, yeah.

Speaker 3: 31:44

And I thought, oh, this will be super easy to find. They don't exist. I didn't find them anywhere. I must have gone in 20 shops in London and I never saw them. So I actually bought a keychain and I made her earrings when I got home.

Speaker 1: 32:00

You know what I've done something similar with, I think London bosses on, I think I bought I don't know something like that, and then I just put them on, on, on. I got them actually somewhere. I need to find those because, um, yeah, it's true, actually I was thinking you should be able to find, yeah.

Speaker 3: 32:17

I couldn't find them anywhere. It's like I said, guys, this is an untapped market. Somebody needs to be making phone booth earrings because well they're not anywhere.

Speaker 1: 32:24

You know, I used to. I used to make jewelry. That's something I used to do. Maybe I should be making phone booth earrings you should, you would make a.

Speaker 3: 32:32

You'd make a fortune because they don't exist. So yeah, for anybody that wants them. They're hard to find, so I made my own, that's a great idea.

Speaker 1: 32:41

What about your, your parents did they? Did they buy any souvenirs when they're over? There was anything?

Speaker 3: 32:45

yeah, I'm gonna take those back yeah, it was um, mostly, um, mostly my mom, obviously, but um, she was looking for Christmas ornaments mostly. That's something that we've my whole family does that so I brought some back. Also, she was a lot more reserved than I was with the shopping we also we went into the store in Covent Garden, moulton Brown.

Speaker 1: 33:13

Yes.

Speaker 3: 33:16

So we both did that, and then she bought some things at the at the common garden market. We went into the tea shop that's there, which was gorgeous, so we brought back quite a bit of tea and some artwork, she actually, and she bought a t-shirt, which she never does, so yeah, oh, that's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 33:32

So you had enough. You had enough luggage space to bring it all back, so that's good barely barely. And then so was it the monday that you flew back. Yeah, yeah, and riz took you to the airport, or xfa cars, whatever it is, yeah that's brilliant yeah, yeah, so a brilliant trip. By the sounds of it, that sounds like you just had a fantastic time, which is a lot. I love to hear that that is so good.

Speaker 3: 33:58

I was not ready to come home at all. I love it there, so much.

Speaker 1: 34:03

You have to plan another trip, yeah, but um, I always end the podcast with the same question, so I'm going to ask you the usual question that I ask is what would, what would be your one tip that you would share with anybody planning a trip to the UK for the first time?

Speaker 3: 34:25

I think it's probably a common one, but it bears repeating because I've been thinking about this a lot. I booked everything ahead of time, all of it all the pub reservations, everything, all of it. I had it all done and I had it all organized and it just made everything so much easier. There was one night that we didn't. I didn't make reservations and I regretted it, because reservations work very differently in London. Sometimes you have to request them and they don't. They have to like get back to you, and sometimes it could be an hour. So if you're trying to find a place to go, you know. So the reservations are a little bit different than I'm used to here. So that would be my. My one takeaway is I'm so glad that I booked. I booked all the pubs, all the dinners, everything was ahead of time and it just made it really easy and I just made a spreadsheet so that I knew where I had to be at what time I think that it's such a it's such a good piece of advice.

Speaker 1: 35:21

Honestly, it really is Kristen, because I mean, I know, when Doug and I travel and we haven't done that bit of research or book somewhere, the amount of times that we waste walking around trying to find someone to eat yes, yeah, and you're tired, you know, at the end of the day and you're looking for a place to just stop and have dinner or whatever it is.

Speaker 3: 35:42

It's just, it's just nice to know exactly where you have to be and what time you have to be there, and you can always change it if you need to. But you know that way if you don't have the bandwidth to to try to figure it out, and it's just so much easier and I felt I was really glad that I did that because it just made it. It just made it so much easier and I didn't fill up every single minute of every single day. We knocked out a lot, we saw so much and I still we had time to just meander through shops and walk around, and if we want to stop and get a pint, we did, and so it was really nice.

Speaker 3: 36:17

And I think that people try to do too much, which is easy to do. And we did a lot, don't get me wrong. We crammed a lot in there, but I think it was nice, like the first day in the Cotswolds. We didn't, we had no plans, we just walked around and if we were hungry, we ate, and if we wanted to get a pint, we did, and if we wanted to go in the shop, we did, and so it was nice to not have like a constant kind of feeling like I had to fill every single minute. Um, and I think the booking things ahead of time help you to factor in that time also yeah, that's what you knew.

Speaker 1: 36:50

You could have that bit of kind of downtime relaxation because you had stuff planned so that you knew what you're going to be doing. So exactly you know it makes it makes absolute perfect sense. Well, it's been fantastic to talk to you, chris, thank you. Catch up about your honestly, about your trip. It's just, I love it. It's always great to hear and I mean I'm grinning from ear to ear You're grinning from ear to ear.

Speaker 3: 37:12

Yeah, I can talk about this trip for days.

Speaker 1: 37:16

It's so much fun. So I will ask you to send me some photos so we can share them in the show notes, and I will share links to the different tours that you took as well, because you very kindly booked through our affiliate links, which supports all the work that we do. So I just say from the bottom of mine and Doug's heart, thank you so much for doing that. Absolutely, it really helps, honestly. So, yeah, so it'll be on the show notes. Uktravelplanningcom. Forward slash, episode 152. Can you believe it? Um, but that leaves me and I'm going to say Kristen, to say until next week, happy UK travel planning for both of us. Yeah, so thanks so much.

Speaker 3: 37:56

Kristen, absolutely it was so nice to talk to you Both of us, yeah. So thanks so much, kristen. Absolutely, it was so nice to talk to you.

Speaker 1: 38:02

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favorite 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.