London Wasn't Travelled in a Day
I had big plans for my day in London. I had eleven things in my word document and a bunch more saved on my Instagram collections. So here is the first piece of advise, be realistic in your plans. It takes a lot more time to get from one place to the other than you think it does. You also want to give yourself enough time to enjoy where you are and maybe even change plans. Ultimately, it was a good day but it didn't go as I planned.
My day in London technically started the day before when my mom and I flew out of the Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida. We flew with a relatively new airline called Norse Atlantic Airways based in Norway. If you have the chance to fly with them I highly recommend that you do. It was a direct flight and very affordable of course pricing will depend on your destination, flight time, meals, and luggage. The way it is kept affordable is by having you pay for meals and luggage but everything is reasonably priced. Even in economy the seats were comfortable and had a good amount of space especially for an eight hour flight. My favorite part was the food that they served it was absolutely fantastic! It was by far the best food I have ever had on a plane and there was plenty of it. Norse Atlantic has a lot of cool innovations on their planes to make sure you arrive at your destination refreshed.
This trip was my first time planning a trip by myself and I wanted to keep it as affordable as possible. The first thing I did was do some research on how to travel on a budget. I found a website called Skyscanner that searches different websites to find the best deal on flights. However, sometimes websites like these can be difficult to deal with if something happens to your flight. To try and avoid this I would check the airline websites to make sure the deal was real. Ultimately, we purchased our tickets directly from the Norse Atlantic website and it was a great deal.
We landed at the London Gatwick airport at around 11:00 am but we didn't get to central London until around 1:00 or 2:00 pm. Be prepared for a long immigration line as usual. However, there are some really cool machines that are used to check the passports of U.S. citizens, U.K. citizens, and I believe E.U. citizens. Anyone outside of those groups has to go to the traditional line. There are a few different ways that you can get to central London from the Gatwick airport one of which is the Gatwick Express. When researching it seemed easy to figure out but when we got there it seemed that the train lines were cancelled or delayed. Luckily, you can use the regular metro line from the airport and it is really easy to find once you pass through customs just follow the signs. If you need any help finding your way the attendants are really helpful.
The London underground is really easy to follow, affordable, and an efficient way to get around the city. I highly recommend getting an oyster card they never expire so you don't have to worry about money going to waste and its simple to keep track of. You can also use contactless payment, however, you need to make sure you use the same card when you tap in as when you tap out so that you are properly charged and not overcharged. There are a couple apps available to use in London the TFL card app and the TFL Go app. The card app is used to keep track of your oyster card balance however, it is not available to tourists yet. The TFL Go app is really helpful you can put in your location and where you want to go and it will tell you exactly what metro line you need to catch, what stop you get off at, any line changes, and where you need to go from the metro stop.
If you are staying in London I recommend dropping off your luggage at your hotel if you can because it can be difficult to move around the city with luggage. There are a few different websites and apps out there that show you places that you can store your luggage and they make it easy to pay right in the app. However, do some research and read reviews before you use them because my mom and I had a bad experience with the one we used. The app was easy to use and my payment was secure but the place we booked was hard to find because the picture and name didn't match the storefront. We left our bags there because we had plans and our hotel was too far away but we made sure to hurry back. It turned out that our luggage wasn't placed in a locker or locked room just at the bottom of the stairs only for employees. Nothing was taken and our luggage was intact but it made us uncomfortable leaving it there. My advice is to have a secure plan and a back up plan for your luggage so you don't have the same trouble I did.
If its your first time in London one day won't be enough to take in the city. Even if you have been before a day isn't enough but that just means you have an excuse to go back. A great way to make the most of your time is to have one thing that you just have to do and that frees up the rest of the time for you to see where the day takes you. For me that one thing was visiting the Borough Market and trying the famous chocolate strawberries. It was really easy to get there on the tube using the TFL GO app and it was really close to the stop. We were there around 3:00 pm on a Tuesday in July and it was plenty busy but not overwhelmingly so. The line for the strawberries was long but it moves quickly and efficiently and it was totally worth it. They were the most amazing strawberries I have ever had in my life they were big, juicy, and perfectly sweet. The chocolate was high quality and a perfect match to the strawberries. If you have time the Borough Market is a great place to wander around but make sure you go on an empty stomach so you can try as much of the amazing food as you can.
My mom and I spent the rest of the day exploring the city. We first went to see Big Ben since it was being restored the first time we saw it and it was beautiful definitely worth the time. We took a breather sitting under the London Eye and from there we wandered around and we found a really lovely park in the middle of the city. We ended up in Trafalgar Square eating at a Pret a Manger that was still open before we headed to our hotel near the Heathrow airport.
Remember to relax, take your time, and don't over schedule your day. London is hard to enjoy if you are stressed about crossing everything off your list. Organize your day by putting the thing you want to do the most first so that you can make sure you get the chance to do it. Sometimes things don't work or you realize you would rather be doing something else so don't be afraid to change your plans. As I said London is an amazing city so make the most of it in the way that is best for you.
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