Last Minute London

I made a massive passport mistake right before Thanksgiving. Although I knew my kids passports expired in 2016, I didn’t think much of it. Not only that, but I never bothered to check the passport requirements for the two countries we were planning on visiting over Thanksgiving break, Germany and Amsterdam. It turned out that both countries have the same minimum requirements: Your passport has to be good 3 months past the date of return. We planned to return home November 29th, which means their passports needed to be good through February 29th. My kids expired in early February. So, when we went to check in for our flight to Amsterdam we were turned away!

Now we were flying standby, so I had not bought plane tickets. I believe if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to, the system would have stopped me. At least I would hope there is something in the computer system to stop this from happening.

So, there we are at the airport looking at each other like what now. We went and sat down at some tables and started searching where else we could possibly go. Seattle has a direct flight to London, so we checked and England’s requirement is that the passport only has to be good through the date of return. We were good to go and off to London we went without doing any planning or research. And, no I’ve never been to London or even in England.

I decided to make a mayday call on Facebook and ask my friends and fellow travel bloggers what we should do in London. I got such a huge response I was blown away. They literally helped me plan the entire trip! Our trip went incredibly well and I want to share the advice and recommendations of things to do in London they gave me with you!

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14 Travel Blogger’s Advice for What to do in London!

Laura Vogel at Momaboard – See the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, eat at Borough Market, and check out the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park.

Monique at Mo Travels who has a great post on Getting Around London recommended: The natural history museum, check to see if there’s an interesting exhibit at V&A they might enjoy, a show, London Tower, hop on hop off, and just walking around. She also has a post on M&M World.

Kerri at I am the Maven – Postman’s Park and The Tate Museum

Desiree at Stress Free Baby who has a great list of things to do in London recommended: Do the hop on hop off red bus–my tour guide was great. Hop off at Big Ben, walk over the bridge past the House of Commons, jump on the London Eye, then take the boat over to the Tower of London…pay for the tour because it’s so incredibly interesting. That’s where you’ll see all the Crown Jewels.

Angela at Traveling Karma recommended The Shard and The Tower including the Beefeater tour there.

Fadra at All Things Fadra recommends – Have tea, eat Indian food, go to the British Museum. Go Tate Modern to laugh at modern art. Also, buy some cheap last-minute nosebleed seats for a show. And go to Covent Gardens

Dia at The Deal Mommy recommended – If the weather is good, the Princess Diana playground is top notch. If you like shopping, be sure to visit Primark

Sarah Ricks from Very Hungry Traveller recommends getting 1/2 price tickets for theater, the Wax Museum, riding the a double-decker bus, go to tea at the Victoria & Albert where it isn’t too expensive, eat a pub lunch of baguette, cheddar cheese & Branston; eat lots of Cadbury chocolate – it is WAY better in England than in the U.S.

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Kirsten at Kids are a Trip who has a post: A Traditional Christmas in London: Holiday Celebrations Around the World recommended visiting the Tower of London, Globe Theater, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster.

Heather recommended the London Eye for its amazing views along the Thames river and Parliament and Big Ben. She said the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London were a huge hit with her family. Her children also loved climbing the 500+ steps to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral and they enjoyed the Whispering Gallery along the way.

Sarah at the Family Travel Times recommended taking a trip to Camden market, where you can go to the Cereal Cafe and Chin Chin labs for liquid nitrogen ice cream. We also loved ClueQuest, which is fantastic. If you’ve never been, do visit some of the museums, especially the Science and maybe British or Museum of London which is excellent. If it’s not too cold, take a river boat cruise down the Thames with a guide as that’s great fun and you learn a lot too. Tower of London is also fabulous, but pricey…The Globe is great and Tate Modern and a trip to Borough Market for some food.

Donna at The London Mum recommended Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and Winterville in Victoria Park.

Nichola at Global Mouse Travels has a great post on 20 things to do in London with Children at Christmas. Plus, she recommended heading to Southbank, it’s a great area to hang out in….Covent Garden will be lovely at this time of year, all set out for Christmas (and lots of nice places to eat)….See the Christmas lights and visit Harrods and Selfridges.

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