24 Hour Layover In London

February 20, 2018

Back in the fall, I had a short stopover in London. Here is what happened in 24 hours.

My most recent visit to my favourite city was the starting point of a two week European adventure. You might recall that at the end of last year, I impulse purchased very inexpensive roundtrip flights that took me from Vancouver to Dublin via London, and then back home 14 days later. In order to make my budget-friendly Euro trip work, I had to deliberately “miss” my connecting flight to Dublin, which gave me 24 hours in London, before flying out to Malta the next day. This was really tough for me to do, as I’m a huge rule-follower and it really broke my heart to have to lie in any way. I did what I had to do though, and hopefully I never have to cheat the system ever again.

London In November

This was my first time experiencing Autumn in London and my goodness, what a combo. I flew in on a Thursday in the middle of November, and was quickly reminded how much Europe loves Christmas. They go mad for the holidays and I welcomed their enthusiasm with open arms. My biggest regret is that I’d packed my carry-on full and didn’t leave any room for shopping of any kind. Such a rookie mistake. Though, I was trying to be conscious of spending, so I suppose it was all for the best. The weather was chilly and a winter coat and gloves were required, but I was also, as I often am, greeted by a beautifully sunny day in the city.

24 Hours In The City

With such few hours in London, every minute was precious. I had to maximize my time from the very beginning. This started with my flight over. I was able, thanks to my new airplane sleep routine, to get some rest on the 9 hour journey across the pond. This is crucial for a red-eye flight and something I normally cannot achieve. It’s a game changer for these shorter trips, I tell ya! My next hack, was that I made plans with a friend that I had to head to straight from my flight. Having a restaurant reservation kept me accountable and gave me the momentum to push through any sort of jet lag.

My focus of my 24 hours there was to eat delicious food, walk as much as possible, browse the stores, and say hello to some of my favourite iconic London spots. Here is what I managed to accomplish in 24 hours.

Carnaby Street

My flight landed late in the afternoon and I was, as mentioned, on a mission to dinner with my cousin and her fiancé. From Heathrow Airport I loaded up my Oyster card and took the tube to Oxford Circus. When I emerged from the underground, the sun had just gone down. The bright lights and crowds of people brought a huge smile to my face. The pulse of a big city gets me every time.

I rolled my suitcase over to, Dishoom, one of my go-to London restaurants. My cousin had made an early dinner reservation for us at their Carnaby Street location. We had a great catch up and the loveliest meal. They introduced me to their specialty Black Dal dish, that I don’t know how I hadn’t tried before?! It was so delicious that we ordered two for the three of us to share and I still think about it sometimes months later. Yum! Everything we ordered was mighty tasty and we ended the meal with a round of chai teas, because we’re just crazy like that.

We wandered past Liberty London, en route to Oxford Street, as I needed to pop in to Marks and Spencer for a couple of things. We all parted ways and I took the tube to my accommodation. Thanks to a darling friend, I was able to score a free night’s stay at her flat. She was back here in Vancouver awaiting visa approval at the time, and I just so happened to be in town on the first day she was paying rent for a then empty room in London. Her roommates were kind enough to take me in for the night and I am so grateful for the amount of money they saved me and how welcoming they were.

Notting Hill

In classic jet lag fashion, I woke up at 5 AM, starving and completely ready to start the day. Since it was still dark out and there were 2 other women in the flat (with jobs to get to that day), I didn’t want to wake up early and disturb anyone before their alarms went off. I decided to use my awake time productively, and researched healthy vegan breakfast spots and stumbled upon Farmacy Kitchen. I figured this beautifully decorated gem in Notting Hill would be the perfect starting point for a day of wandering. I eventually fell back asleep for a few more hours of rest before my big day in London!

Sitting in a booth along the wall, I ordered a coffee and my very first smoothie bowl, admiring my perfect people watching view at Farmacy. A small group walked in and were the last to be seated before the restaurant closed briefly in the afternoon. I made eye contact with the young woman and then my focus immediately darted to the adorable dog they brought in with them. “I wish they’d allow dogs at some restaurants in Vancouver,” I thought to myself, as I burned my mouth sipping the coffee, desperate for a caffeine lifeline. The group sat at a table across from me, my view of them partially blocked by the bar.

I continued editing some photos from the night before and utilizing wifi to map out the rest of my afternoon, when their little dog barked and it hit me. I knew this Daschund! The barking pup was Martha! I’d been in the UK for only a few hours, but that familiar woman I’d made eye contact with was none other than Tanya Burr. If you don’t know Tanya, she is a mega famous British YouTuber and someone I’ve watched online for years. There she was, having lunch with her husband, also YT famous, Jim Chapman. Did my best not to draw attention to the fact that I was having a major fan girl moment, so I only took a stealth, unnecessarily zoomed in blurry photo of her to send to Adam. Determined to play it cool, I was going to approach her when she got up for the washroom (she’d have to walk right past me) and I wanted to tell her that I was a Canadian fan and wish her congratulations on her newly released Christmas book. Unfortunately, when this exact scenario played out, she seemed completely unapproachable and I decided not to even bother. Really too bad that I didn’t get the chance to meet her, that would have really made the entire experience beyond epic.

Portobello Market

I then made my way over to Portobello to browse the market stalls, which I hadn’t really visited since my first trip across the pond. My master plan was to be in the area to try the veggie burger at Honest Burger, but I was still full from my darn breakfast. This is the problem when you base you day around meals LOL. It was still fun to wander around and I decided to venture further in Notting Hill towards the beautiful colourful homes that Alex showed me last time we were in town. Find out which streets are the best here.

Hyde Park

My walk continued towards greenery and I ended up on Bayswater Road, which runs alongside Hyde Park. I entered the park as soon as I could and continued the parallel path within the park itself, until I hit the Italian Water Gardens. If I’m being completely honest, after I took in the beauty of the gardens, this was my lowest few hours of the day. I was beginning to fade energy-wise, had to pee SO bad, and was starting to get a blister from this touristy trek. I powered down Hyde Park Place until I hit the McDonald’s across from the Marble Arch. I’ve never been so happy to find a clean and free restroom! I put a bandaid on my foot and honestly, I felt like a new person!

Oxford Street

I only had a few hours left and decided to take a look around Primark. Which, was a special kind of retail torture, considering I had no room in my bags. That Oxford Street location is also madness, the crowds were truly next level. I ended up in a Primark vortex of sorts and spent far longer in there than I’d anticipated. I still wish I could have feasibly taken home a cream coloured teddy coat that was only £25 and looked/felt amazing. I settled on some small gifty things instead and quickly grabbed a veggie wrap at a takeaway spot nearby.

I took the tube and hustled to my friend’s place and stuffed my new purchases into my suitcase. In this tired moment, I deemed Uber the best means of transportation to Heathrow. Which, of course, ended up being the wrong choice. Rush hour and price surges made my trip to the airport beyond stressful and ridiculously overpriced. If I’d just put the effort into taking transit, I would have arrived about the same time and for a fraction of the cost. A good reminder that my mission of this trip was to be conscious of spending and to not automatically take the lazier option.

Ended up breezing through security and was still an hour and a half early – classic. I texted with Alex and found her buying sunglasses at the duty free. Which is where my London adventure ends and my Malta one begins. More from this trip will be on the blog soon!