Over the Dec 2022 / Jan 2023 Holidays I spent 10 days in London & Edinburgh. I was lucky enough to be visiting a friend who was there for work, so I got free housing with them and got to spend some of my days with a mix of my friend solo or them + a group of their friends. Other days I had to myself and I spent the time exploring at my leisure. I’ve been to London a few times before so I didn’t have a burning need to see every museum or show. I let myself just be on vacation, taking long afternoons in a pub reading with a mulled wine or walking through a favorite neighborhood. And eating many many yummy things.

Here is an outline of everything I got up to, along with some logistics:

Logistics

Flights - booked with Chase travel points on JetBlue, flew into Gatwick.
Hotel - I stayed with my friend (best perk ever)
Money - As with traveling anywhere international these days, I used my credit card for most things and got a few pounds out from an ATM to have on hand for change. EVERYTHING uses tap there so as long as you have tap on your credit card or on your phone wallet you’ll be golden.
Transit - I was in London for a while but ended up not going crazy with the tube & did a lot of walking. So I just got an oyster card and topped it up as needed. Works on the tube & buses which is great.
Phone - On my first day I stopped into a Three store and got a sim card for my older iPhone that still has a sim card slot (they have e-ones if you have new phones too). It gave me something ridiculous like 50GB of data for a month, for $20. Made navigating around, and posting to Instagram, much easier. Not to mention SO much cheaper than any of the international travel plans most of the US phone providers have.
Best little tool to have in your pocket: a copy of the handy London map guide. Mine was a solid…. 7 years old? Still works like a charm. It has detailed maps of all the different central London neighborhoods inside, and then a tube map on the back.

what I got up to Day by Day:

Day 0 (12/25) - Travel day

CHS -> BOS -> Gatwick: Just a flight day, spent it trying to nap on the plane

Day 1 (12/26) - First day, mostly just wandering and catching up with friends

Arrived to Gatwick, had to take a bus into town because there was a train strike. I luckily had Wi-Fi in the airport because I had to pre-book a bus ticket online to be able to get on (there were too many bookings to get on without a pre-bought ticket). Definitely more cost effective than a taxi from Gatwick but what an ordeal. Usually there’s a train, if it’s running do that instead.
- Key tip: before going to the UK check if there are any strikes happening, especially if they mess up airport to downtown travel. If so pre-book bus tickets via the national rail / bus website to save yourself the hassle of finding airport Wi-Fi when you arrive and trying to book while you’re walking through the airport trying to find the bus stop.
Once I got to town and dropped off my bags I spent the day with my friend. We mostly walked around, did some shopping, had random food, there may have been a nap in there, and met up with another friend for dinner & dessert close to my friend’s hotel before crashing early to try and out-run the jetlag.
Oh, and we visited the venue for the show my friend was working on. One of my favorites :)

Day 2 (12/27) - Exploring Day with Friends + Dinner Out

The friend I was visiting had some work to do during some of my trip but this day was free so a group of us went and explored around Covent Garden. We made stops in Neal’s yard and had lunch in Chinatown. My friend and I tried to walk from there all the way back to Kensington but got rained on, so we caught a bus and made our way to a lovely pub for some mulled wine to get warmed back up.
For dinner I went to Wulf & Lamb in Chelsea and had a lovely vegan dinner. See my full vegan restaurant wrap up here. After finding a cute little hotel bar around the corner for a nightcap I made my way back to the hotel for another early night after a day of much walking.

The best hidden gem area of Covent Garden

The Yard itself. There’s also a lovely skincare store under the blue windows.

Very expansive Xmas lights displays - Part 2

Mulled wine at every pub is one of the best parts of the holidays in the UK

Day 3 (12/28) - Museum Morning + Notting Hill shopping + A Night at the Theatre

Breakfast at Urban Baristas, an Australian breakfast place in South Kensington. Very good.
Made a stop at the TKTS booth in Leicester square when they opened to see if anything good was playing that night. I ended up getting a nicely discounted single ticket to see the Book of Mormon, success!
Morning at the Tate Modern museum, see the full post here for the exhibits we saw.
Made my way up to Notting Hill and had lunch at Farmacy. See my full vegan restaurant wrap up here for more about them.
Spent the afternoon thrift shopping at all the charity and vintage shops in Notting Hill & along Portobello road.
I had a late lunch so I grabbed a quick to-go dinner from the Tesco Express vegan line. Everything is like… 2-3 pounds and actually good. So helpful Tesco.
Then it was off to the Prince of Wales theater to see Book of Mormon (incredible show) and a mulled wine at the pub after for dessert before bed.

Day 4 (12/29) - Ted Lasso Life in Richmond, A Quick Stop at Kew Gardens, and Dinner at Silo

Started the day off early with an excursion out to Richmond. Yes THAT Richmond of Ted Lasso Fame. I stopped in a vintage shop and a book shop, took a stroll around Ted Lasso set locations in real life, had even had lunch in THE pub they use in the show (bless them for having a scarf for photos). For even more Lasso / Richmond photos see the full post here.

After exploring Richmond in the morning I walked up the road about 15 minutes to visit Kew Gardens. Key tip, they close at 3…. so because of my dawdling (read Ted Lasso fangirling) in Richmond, I only had an hour to take a stroll through the grounds. I barely got to see inside one of the big greenhouses, but I definitely recommend taking more time there. It was incredible. For more photos of what I did see, here is the full post.
I made my way back into central London to my hotel and had a quick rest & a change before meeting my friend and hopping the train out to Hackney for dinner at Silo. That dinner was so incredible it got it’s own blog post. What a meal. It was a bit of a trek to get there from South Kensington where we were staying, but it was so worth it. If you’re in London I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re in the food world and/or appreciate extremely thoughtful intention behind every dish and source, this is the spot for you.

Day 5 (12/30) - Books, Strolls, and Dinner Out

This was a pretty random day of walking around London, stopping into the main Piccadilly location of Hatchard’s to do some damage book shopping (for everywhere I got books on this trip see this post), and then taking a meandering stroll all the way from Piccadilly back to South Kensington passing through the parks, waving to Buckingham, and seeing some lovely holiday lights along the way.
After that long walk I had dinner reservations at Holy Carrot. For my very mixed review of that, see my full vegan eats post.

Day 6 (12/31) - Fulham Game & Ringing in the New Year

This day was very special for me. I did a short walk in the morning but the main event was making my way over to Fulham. I had lunch in a lovely little shop in town because of course, of all the days I was there, it was raining on this one (classic England). But it was all worth it when I got over to see Fulham v Southampton and see my boys win at home! I’ve been a Fulham fan for over a decade so getting to see them at the cottage is always a treat!! For more pics around the stadium & of the game, see the full post here.
After the excitement of the game, it was time to head over to the local pub back in Kensington and ring in the new year with a bunch of my circus friends <3

Massive shout out to my family friends for getting me a ticket this close to the pitch!!!

Day 7 (1/1) - A Walk in the Park, More Books, and Dinner at Dishoom

New Years day started a little slow, so I kept things simple and took a nice long walk in Regents & Hyde parks, doing a full loop to see many of the various statues. For a full set of photos see the gardens post here. I love how folks can just walk their dogs off leash in Hyde Park (well behaved dogs but still).
After a long walk I decided I needed a few final books (again, for all the bookstores check here), so I stopped into two Waterstones locations to find the editions I wanted. Then I made my way through the lovely Notting Hill neighborhood over to Farmacy for a second time because it was that delicious and I just love walking through that part of town.
The evening was spent at a massive group dinner at Dishoom with all of my circus buds, it was so good but I managed to get zero photos of the whole night. Oops. Definitely recommended if you love Indian food!
Again, for all the veggie friendly eats I visited: Full food post here.

Day 8 (1/2) - Train up to Edinburgh, Initial Sights & Walkabout, and a Whisky Tasting

There was a train strike while I was in the UK so I wasn’t sure if I could get up to Edinburgh at all, but luckily it all worked out and I could! I did a FULL itinerary of Edinburgh but here are the highlights. I got the hotel & train tickets a couple days before and anything else I needed tickets for I pre-booked on the train on the way up.
Train was about 4.5 hours of gorgeous countryside, which got me into town around noon. I had a snack on the train from the café car so I could hit the ground running when I arrived.
After dropping my bags off at the hotel, I did a self-guided walking tour around the old town with my guide book and then made my way to a whisky experience / tasting. Can’t recommend doing that enough. Then it was time to freshen up for a nice walk across town and dinner at Holy Cow.

The Whisky Experience right next to the castle was amazing

Day 9 (1/3) - Full Edinburgh Day - Castles & Books & Pubs & Dinner

I only had one full day so I made the most of it. I was up at the castle when they first opened and was there following the audio guide around for a few hours. Then when the chilly winds at the top of the mountain got to be a wee tad too much I stopped into the tea room right at the castle for a vegan high tea for lunch. Best surprise find.
After tea I went to the Real Mary King’s Close (interactive museum) which was very interesting and such a unique way to learn the history of Edinburgh. Then I took a walk across town for… you guessed it… more bookstores. On the way back across town I stopped into a pub called the Jolly Judge for a mulled cider and a dram of whisky to warm me up as I enjoyed an hour or two of my book.
Finally it was time to get ready for dinner at David Baan, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant.
So. Much. Walking. Again, full Edinburgh post here.

Day 10 (1/4) - Last full day in the UK, Back to London

My last full day in the UK was mostly transit. I spent 4.5 hours in the morning on the train, got back to London, went to my hotel there to re-pack my bags, grabbed a quick burger, and then hopped on another bus down to Gatwick (the train strike was still in effect).
At least the train on the way back to London had some beautiful scenery and even this special rainbow.
Due to the super long bus process to get to the airport, and my very early morning flight the following day, I stayed at one of the Gatwick airport hotels overnight. Was it nice? No. Did it give me a place to sleep, a place to charge my phone, and a quick shuttle to the airport early enough for my flight the next day? Yup. Works for me.

Day 11 (1/5) - Gatwick -> JFK -> CHS

Back home just in time to pick up my dog on the way home from boarding. What a trip!

Thanks for coming along on my holiday trip to the UK. It was definitely a bit all over the place but I had fun. Hopefully this can give you some ideas of various things you might enjoy as well.

Cheers & Happy Travels, V

All photos taken on a first-gen iPhone SE