Need help planning our upcoming London/Paris trip

[Anonymous]

Yeah, OP, you will be looking at lots of car hires. Good luck with the greves in France and the UK

I assume you are bringing Nanny with you. Can’t imagine those ages of children sitting through Wimbledon matches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you'd like the Sloane St. area near Harrods, Hyde Park, the palace, etc. Very walkable. Doable on your budget.

I’m about to book my flights to Paris from London.

I remember liking the Harrods area.

A double dose of misery - CDG and LHR. CDG is on strike and LHR lost my husband's luggage as usual.

Yeah, not to mention they are a HIKE from city center.

I don't get it- if you want to go to London or Paris what are your other options? Fly to Amsterdam and then transfer to a short flight to London City? That seems to be not worth it compared to a nonstop to Heathrow. And both have reasonable train access into the city- LHR will be much better in the fall when the Elizabeth line is fully connected and you can ride it into central London without changing trains.

That doesn't solve their inability to handle bags though. We try to avoid transferring through LHR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, OP, you will be looking at lots of car hires. Good luck with the greves in France and the UK

I assume you are bringing Nanny with you. Can’t imagine those ages of children sitting through Wimbledon matches

Is Nanny permitted to work in the UK?

[Anonymous]

St David's Hotel near Paddington Station. Right where you would come in from Heathrow, if you take the Heathrow Express into the city. On a good Tube line/s

Hotel Boneparte in Paris. Nice comfortable small hotel in a quiet area, on central subway lines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of suggestions -- with the caveat that my accomodations budget is about 1/10th of yours, so our travel styles may be very different.

For a fancy hotel tea, I like Browns -- but the Shangri-La is supposed to have a very nice afternoon tea and presumably the hotel could help you with reservations. For a not-fancy tea with children, the Brigit's Bakery afternoon tea bus might be more fun. You will need reservations, especially to get on the top deck.

The Museum of London is really good and more specific to where you are than the British Museum (which is fabulous but which is filled with treasures from all over the world). I loved it as a kid.

I took my daughter to Hampton Court when she was 5 or 6 -- they had actors playing characters in the Tudor court, grounded in the history of a specific year (late in Henry VIII's reign) which she found magical. I don't know if that occurs all the time (this visit coincided with the Easter school holiday in the UK) but would be worth looking into. You can take the train to Richmond and then a boat to Hampton Court, or train all the way to Hampton Court.

I know you are set on Stonehenge, so just to share our experience there in the summer of 2019. We went straight from Heathrow, after picking up a rental car. When we arrived, around 9:30 or 10 am, it was pretty manageable -- we didn't feel like we were always on the heels of other people, I have pictures of my daughter without other people in them, and there were moments when you could be awed by the site. By the time we left, sometime after noon, it was a mob scene of tour groups with people ten-deep at the good vantage points. Get there early. I seem to remember a tour service that for $$$ got you in before it opened to the general public. If I had the money, I would use that.

Columbia Road Flower Market combined with a trip to the Hackney City Farm (and a late breakfast or lunch at their cafe) is an excellent Sunday morning.

Finally, on that highly-controversial stroller .... my daughter's first trip was when she was two, and we brought an umbrella stroller. Which is when I realized how few Tube stations are fully accessible. For a five-year-old, it may not be worth the effort.

We are early risers in the US but the with the time change, very doubtful we can get there before opening. I may have to rethink the long drive to stand in a line to wait in a long line to take pictures with a lot of people.

Dh doesn’t want to take the stroller. The last time I went (without kids) was before I had a smart phone and I walked everywhere. I’m assuming we will take cabs or Uber equivalent.

Why would you drive to Stonehenge? Having a car in London is not at all worth the hassle, and the train/bus combo is the same as or faster than driving.

Op here. I didn’t mean drive ourselves. We would get a driver. I looked up some tours and there is no way we are trekking to some bus terminal to get on a bus with other people and wait in line with them and come back. If we go, it will be a private transport.

Ha of course, should have predicted this from someone willing to spend $2k/might on a hotel.room.

This is funny. If you are that wealthy, why are you coming to DCUM for ideas when you could get some concierge person to tell you the best places and organize things?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, OP, you will be looking at lots of car hires. Good luck with the greves in France and the UK

I assume you are bringing Nanny with you. Can’t imagine those ages of children sitting through Wimbledon matches

Qui est en grève? One of the first thing I learned when studying French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why don't you try using Kid and Coe, which is like an a Air Bnb, but for families? They have nice properties and they vet everyone.

I ended up booking a suite and another room. We are bonvoy platinum so should get upgraded. Hopefully the rooms are connecting or at least adjacent.

I wouldn’t count on it. This summer is very crowded in Europe and we have not been getting any upgrades. You’re lucky if they even have a server at dinner, it’s that bad.

This thread is lowering my expectations a lot. My expectations were already lowered when we recently went to Hawaii. Service was so bad. Our room never got cleaned due to staffing problems and we couldn’t even get through to make meal reservations. We adjusted accordingly. We waited in line or ate whatever was available, not necessarily what we wanted.

Do I need to book museum reservations far in advance? I know we will want to go to Tate modern, louvre and Pompidou.

Looking for a tour for Stonehenge next. I know it won’t be exciting for the kids but I want to go.

It sounds like you’re a terrible planner. We were in Hawaii in Feb and had a wonderful time. I planned meals ahead of time for the most part, and we had excellent service everywhere we went. We are going to Italy in august and I’m planning everything now. Booked hotels and other important things several months ago. Booking museums and tours now. Given the current state of the world you have to adjust your expectations a bit and be prepared to improvise if necessary. Your expectations for having the perfect hotel room in central London or Paris for 5 people in less than a month is unrealistic.

I get not being able to plan trips far out. My husband’s job demands often mean I plan vacation for our family with less than a month, but I also understand that means we pay a premium and often aren’t able to get exactly what we want. When we can plan ahead I do so because I know we will be able to have the experience we really want and won’t have to compromise on things as much. Still, travel (and every experience) is what you make of it, so go in with reasonable expectations and some grace for the people in service industries and tourism that are struggling right now.

Italy in August will be a total $hit$how.

How kind. I don’t expect it will be a $hit$how at all, but again, I’m planning carefully and know that we will enjoy delicious food and beautiful sites regardless!

My parents traveled with a couple who had prepared a detailed itinerary for every hour of the whole trip. The wife broke her ankle the first morning... Bye bye

I agree it's good to have accommodation organized for peak times, but leave some flexibility. You may have booked the best restaurants but feel stuffed full after a few days, and just want some fresh fruit and bread by the river at some point. Do you not ever ask the family 'What does anyone feel like? Pasta or bbq or seafood?' The most fun I had at restaurant in Rome was a local place with no menu where everyone sat at a long table and shuffled along as diners finished. We had a long conversation with an Italian elderly couple, even though we don't speak Italian.

Of course I haven’t booked every minute of our trip, what I meant is, I have researched, planned and booked the things that are important to us - the main sites, nice places to stay, transfers, etc. I have or will book a few meals at places we don’t want to miss but otherwise yes we will wander and make spur of the moment decisions. I know we cannot do that for major tourist sites but also everything is refundable until the day before so if we change our minds and don’t want to do something we can adjust accordingly. I more meant that pretty much anywhere in Italy we will have good food and it’s all beautiful - so we won’t be disappointed just to “be” there.

[Anonymous]

Now you’re going to Italy, too? Sure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now you’re going to Italy, too? Sure

No, the Italy poster was just insulting me calling me a poor planner.

[Anonymous]

We stayed at Sea Containers London hotel. They have availability and are reasonably priced. Great location. Fun hotel. The kids loved being right in the middle of things.

In Paris, I would stay at a Best Western or see if any Air Bnbs have cancellations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We stayed at Sea Containers London hotel. They have availability and are reasonably priced. Great location. Fun hotel. The kids loved being right in the middle of things.

In Paris, I would stay at a Best Western or see if any Air Bnbs have cancellations.

Ha I think $2k/night OP is going to stay away from Best Western.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now you’re going to Italy, too? Sure

No, the Italy poster was just insulting me calling me a poor planner.

No, and I’m an np, you are objectively a poor planner if you expect there be the perfect hotel in the center of town with space for 5 people in less than a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now you’re going to Italy, too? Sure

No, the Italy poster was just insulting me calling me a poor planner.

No, and I’m an np, you are objectively a poor planner if you expect there be the perfect hotel in the center of town with space for 5 people in less than a month.

I am really happy with my hotel bookings and I was able to book within a month.

Dh and I have both been to London and Paris multiple times and it won’t be our last. I’m trying to keep things flexible because of the time difference. This will be my 5 year old’s first time in Europe.

We were planning to go on a trip to Europe in June 2020. The itinerary I currently have is basically the same as the itinerary I had in my head back in 2020. Only difference is we are going to Wimbledon. We are a big tennis family.

[Anonymous]

I visited London many times with my two kids at various ages. A few suggestions:

I wouldn’t miss the Tower of London. Kids really liked it too. It is incredibly popular and we ended up waiting in the hot sun for a long time to get to see the Crown Jewels. You’re nearby so suggest you get there early and go straight to the Crown Jewels line which gets very long. Then you can do tour when you come out.

I tried British Museum twice with my kids and didn’t stay long. Incredibly crowded and hot. London Museum was much better and thought they did a much better job with creating an engaging narrative. British museum was more just looking at stuff which my kids didn’t enjoy. Surprisingly, my 12yo DD still remembers seeing the bit about the great fire even though we went about 8 years ago. London museum is a couple of tube stops from Borough station or a quick bus ride so very easy to get to.

I would definitely skip London Eye. Overrated and always huge lines. Go see St Paul’s instead. Interesting history, very cool whispering gallery which kids enjoyed, views from the top. And less crowded. You can jump on a bus along Fleet St to Trafalgar Square afterwards.

I love Borough markets. The market part isn’t open every day so check their website. If you want fish and chips, there’s a good fish restaurant there (not cheap though) where you can eat in (rest those tired feet) or take out and eat at benches under the railway arches.

The walk from Borough market along Southbank to London Bridge is fun and entertaining. There’s a good playground for bigger kids. In summer, there’s often something fun for kids. One year, it was sandpits filled with coloured sand. If weather is nice, you can have a glass of bubbly on the huge terrace of Royal Festival hall and enjoy the view.

My kids loved the Princess Diana playground but you have to be clever with timing as they limit numbers. I recall seeing people and kids queued outside waiting to get in.

If your daughter gets tired from walking it may be easier to take buses rather than the tube. Often there are long walks to ascend/descend and between platforms. If London is hot (yes, it happens), I would definitely try getting buses rather than the unairconditioned tube.

I would include Hampton Court or Greenwich. Personally, I love Greenwich and you will be well-located for river ferry or train from Borough station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple of suggestions -- with the caveat that my accomodations budget is about 1/10th of yours, so our travel styles may be very different.

For a fancy hotel tea, I like Browns -- but the Shangri-La is supposed to have a very nice afternoon tea and presumably the hotel could help you with reservations. For a not-fancy tea with children, the Brigit's Bakery afternoon tea bus might be more fun. You will need reservations, especially to get on the top deck.

The Museum of London is really good and more specific to where you are than the British Museum (which is fabulous but which is filled with treasures from all over the world). I loved it as a kid.

I took my daughter to Hampton Court when she was 5 or 6 -- they had actors playing characters in the Tudor court, grounded in the history of a specific year (late in Henry VIII's reign) which she found magical. I don't know if that occurs all the time (this visit coincided with the Easter school holiday in the UK) but would be worth looking into. You can take the train to Richmond and then a boat to Hampton Court, or train all the way to Hampton Court.

I know you are set on Stonehenge, so just to share our experience there in the summer of 2019. We went straight from Heathrow, after picking up a rental car. When we arrived, around 9:30 or 10 am, it was pretty manageable -- we didn't feel like we were always on the heels of other people, I have pictures of my daughter without other people in them, and there were moments when you could be awed by the site. By the time we left, sometime after noon, it was a mob scene of tour groups with people ten-deep at the good vantage points. Get there early. I seem to remember a tour service that for $$$ got you in before it opened to the general public. If I had the money, I would use that.

Columbia Road Flower Market combined with a trip to the Hackney City Farm (and a late breakfast or lunch at their cafe) is an excellent Sunday morning.

Finally, on that highly-controversial stroller .... my daughter's first trip was when she was two, and we brought an umbrella stroller. Which is when I realized how few Tube stations are fully accessible. For a five-year-old, it may not be worth the effort.

We are early risers in the US but the with the time change, very doubtful we can get there before opening. I may have to rethink the long drive to stand in a line to wait in a long line to take pictures with a lot of people.

Dh doesn’t want to take the stroller. The last time I went (without kids) was before I had a smart phone and I walked everywhere. I’m assuming we will take cabs or Uber equivalent.

Why would you drive to Stonehenge? Having a car in London is not at all worth the hassle, and the train/bus combo is the same as or faster than driving.

Op here. I didn’t mean drive ourselves. We would get a driver. I looked up some tours and there is no way we are trekking to some bus terminal to get on a bus with other people and wait in line with them and come back. If we go, it will be a private transport.

Ha of course, should have predicted this from someone willing to spend $2k/might on a hotel.room.

This is funny. If you are that wealthy, why are you coming to DCUM for ideas when you could get some concierge person to tell you the best places and organize things?

She came here to brag about it, of course!