Latest / UK Travel Planning / How to Plan a London Itinerary: Expert Tips, Must-See Landmarks & Common Mistakes to Avoid

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How to Plan a London Itinerary: Expert Tips, Must-See Landmarks & Common Mistakes to Avoid · UK Travel Planning

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Finding a London itinerary sounds simple until you actually try to do it.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: In this episode, we break down the biggest mistakes visitors make, what's really worth prioritising, and how to experience London without rushing or missing the magic.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Each week, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Before we get started, we'd like to thank our sponsor, Walks and Devour Tours.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: If you're planning a trip to London, you'll already know the challenge.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot you want to do and only a limited amount of time to fit it all in.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's where the right term makes all the difference because you want experiences that are the best use of your time with more access, less waiting, and a deeper sense of the city.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's why we recommend Walks and Devour Tours.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: They offer walk-in tours and food tours designed to make your time count, often with early or after hours entry.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: You'll also be with exceptional local guides who add the stories and context so you leave with a richer understanding of what you're seeing and a trip that feels genuinely memorable.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: If you're visiting London as a couple with family or you simply prefer a more intimate experience, walks and devour tours also offer private tour options.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: To learn more, you'll find the link in the show notes.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Now let's get into this week's episode.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Hi everybody and welcome to this week's edition of the UK Travel Planner Podcast.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this week my guest is a returning guest who was on the podcast a few episodes ago, talking all about eating uh your way around London.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: So uh Becky has agreed to come on again today to talk about building a London itinerary, which is um something I do a lot on my on my London travel planner website and my UK travel planner website.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: But I really want to chat to Becky because of her experience living in London and working in London to see what what advice she could share with us.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um so hi Becky, welcome back to the podcast.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Tracy.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's lovely to be back with you again.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if uh for those of you who haven't listened to episode 186, the first thing I would say is straight away after this episode, go back and listen to it.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's only a few episodes ago.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: But if you haven't listened to that episode, it'd be a good opportunity now, Becky, just for those people to just do a quick introduction and say what it is that you do, uh where you live, and just a little bit about yourself.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yes, my name's Becky.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: I walk, well, I walk and work for Walks and Devour Tours.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um I am working as a uh tour guide currently.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'll be delivering some of the tours if you book in with us.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but also I'm uh working in the background, um, uh filling in for my colleague Charlie, who you guys may know from previous podcasts, um, while she's away.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, working as a guide, uh, helping to uh keep the tours running in the background and um absolute history nerd, basically.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I I think that's quite exciting as well.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So if you listen to this podcast, a new book on a walks tour, there's a possibility that Becky, you could meet Becky, which is amazing.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I know Charlie actually met a few of our listeners uh in in Edinburgh last year, and uh it was lovely.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: She said she felt like a she felt like a star.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you never know, Becky.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: You might meet some of our listeners on some of the tours, which would be great.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing, look forward to it.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: And Charlie absolutely is a star.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: She is, she's lovely, she really is.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Now, let's dive into um creating a London itinerary because that is something that we get asked about all the time.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and people get really kind of uh quite anxious and a little bit stressed out about planning at the time in London.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: And from your experience, because obviously you meet loads of visitors from the job that you do, what do you think it is that people find hardest to to decide when they put together their their London itinerary?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a really great question.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing that I think I've seen the most from people, I think where when you're traveling so far, and and and for many people, this might be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It might be, you know, something really special they're doing, they're traveling a long way to get here.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so there is so much in London to do and see that I think quite often people fall into the trap of I've got to do absolutely everything.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I see examples of people's itineraries and they are absolutely jam-packed.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they are crammed from start to finish.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and my question tends to be to people who really want to sort of fit as much in a day as possible is when do you when are you giving yourself some downtime to basically just go and and and experience the city and just soak it up without necessarily having to actively do anything.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think part of that is also knowing what you can fit in in a day in different parts of London.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if you're going to the ABBA experience in the evening, which is in East London, you might not necessarily want to be, you know, over in Kensington and West London in the afternoon and then having to rush over on public transport or jump in a taxi.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: So part of it is part of it is time planning in the sense of fitting it all in, and another part of it is distance, knowing the things that work well together because they're in a similar area, and and London is so vast that if you're a newcomer to it, it's it's very easy to kind of get lost before you even get here.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know that's absolutely true.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: And that that we help so many people with their London itineraries, and that is something that is a question that I ask all the time is like, where is that downtime?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because um it's exhausting, and you know, I can fall into this same trap because I get very excited about the fact I've got a month in London or even two months in London, and I think that I'm gonna go and see every museum in London, I'm gonna go do all I have these grand schemes of what I'm gonna do, and I have to pay myself back, and I'm really experienced because you just get so excited to think, oh, I'm gonna do all these things.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then and then, as you say, if you don't, you've got to plan really strategically because what will tie you out as well as waste your time is trying to get across London to go and see different things in different parts of the city.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a good idea when you're sorting out your itinerary to look at exactly what is in a particular area and what you want to do that entire day.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you've booked dinner somewhere uh in Covent Garden, like say you don't want to be, you've got to think, are you gonna do a day trip out of London that day and then get back?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: Are you gonna have time to go and do that sort of thing?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's really important to kind of like look at your whole day and put the kind of the jigsaw of the pieces together.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, some of the best times in London I have are actually just you know wandering through Greenwich Park or uh you know, popping into to a shop and having a wander around.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Liberties in particular, I really like, you know, just that sort of thing.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean obviously for for all of us, we all have our different things um that experiences that we like to do.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm sure anybody listening to the podcast will know exactly what the things are that I like to do because I I I wax lyrical for hours and hours about the things that I enjoy doing and say these are really worth you trying out if you're gonna go to London, but obviously everybody's different.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: But what do you think, uh based on the feedback, because you you meet a lot of lot of people on your tours, what do you think are the London experiences or moments that um you believe or you have heard leave the strongest impressions on visitors?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think um if it it does it's it depends on on what the guests' interests are, most definitely, but I think the universal thing for everyone, no matter what they're coming here to do or see, is just how old some things are.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think you know it's one of the most visited attractions in London, but it is for good reason.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: When you go to the Tower of London and you have someone point to, you know, if you're on a guided tour, you have someone point to that tower in the middle, that white tower, and you go, that's a thousand years old, give or take.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that was built when William the Conqueror came here and basically started, you know, what has now become our modern, you know, English-British monarchy.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's it's looking at things like that and seeing that deep connection that you are walking in the footsteps and you are walking potentially on top of, you know, a millennium, two millennium plus of history that's gone on before you.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and to have have a direct connection with that, I think people find quite special.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think the other thing on a more kind of social level that I think people get most out of London is um is just the kind of welcome that that people get um when they come here.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think you know, if you if you if you're coming to a big city, I think there's a certain perception, you know, we're a big city, millions of people, we might not be that friendly.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: But um just in terms of day-to-day act uh interactions that people have with people, you know, you're going on the tube and you might be quite intimidated by the tube if you've never uh travelled on a transport system like this before.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: But there's always someone you can ask, and you know, there might be someone there to help your luggage if you're you know on the Elizabeth line from Heathrow and you've got lots of heavy, heavy bags.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's those little moments of kindness that people get um out of being in London that that that really resonates with people.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've had quite a few people say to me, Londoners are so kind, and that really warms my heart because you know, sometimes the perception from elsewhere is otherwise.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, we we say it all the time, everybody is so friendly.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: And if you if you need some help or you're not sure, there's always somebody that will and quite often if people see that you're a little bit confused and you're not sure where you're going, people will come and ask you if you need any help, and that that's always revealing.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'll say that people will will, you know, they will they will offer to help you if you think that you you don't know where you're going.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: And if you if you are lost and you're not sure, just just ask somebody because uh people will always always want to help you, that's for sure.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very friendly city.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I kind of that kind of goes nice into my neck next question is where do you think, you know, like how visitors' expectations, how do you think they compare to what they expect visiting London to be like, and visiting some of the kind of the major London landmarks which they may they may have been dreaming about since they were since we're small children?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and how do you think their experiences are kind of better and more intense, I think, um if you do that via a tour?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think uh the the thing that tours really do for people is is give people that that additional context and that and that knowledge without having to maybe you know click through things on an audio guide or or read a guidebook as you go along.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: That helps you uh I I'd say that kind of method, although it's very useful, um, means you'll you're still kind of passively viewing what you're experiencing.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the thing, you know, if we take Westminster Abbey, for example, again, one of London's top attractions.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's again so old, so steeped in history, st so, you know, people might have seen it on the television from you know, watching the coronation of King Charles or you know, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's there's so many more deeper layers to that.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're just going around Westminster Abbey on your own, you might look up and go, oh, well, you know, this is this is all great and very beautiful, but having someone like a guide there in there with you, telling you stories about, you know, some of the kings and queens who were buried there, um, telling you how it came to be that this wonderful building even exists, you know, um, you know, and the fact that several hundred years ago it was it was basically a wasteland and then got built and remodelled and reshaped over time, and as the centuries passed and as new kings and queens come into play.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it just gives you that extra special feeling being with a guide, you know, they're they're they're giving you they're giving you that that that human contact and that and that enthusiasm as well that tells you, you know, look up here.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: This may look quite unassuming to you, but it's got something really deep behind it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it really helps bring uh a space to life, I would say.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think so.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, so I used to be I was at one point a history teacher, and um I used to teach history in a very much a storytelling way, um, because I knew the kids would would remember it and they'd learn it and they'd enjoy it more if they uh that they learnt it in that story kind of story format rather than you know, uh reading a boring textbook or or worksheets as it used to be.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: But I think even and I'm not a must say, I'm not a massive fan of um audio guides because you tend to, you're just kind of immersed in your audio guide, kind of wandering around.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you miss the opportunities that you have when you're with a guide of actually asking the questions that you kind of things you might miss for a start off, things you're not sure of that you can get that, you can get that explanation.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: So it gives it just gives you some much more of a deeper understanding of what you're actually looking at, which is why I always encourage people when you're putting the itinerary together and you're thinking, okay, I want to go and see some of these major sites, why it is worth considering having a tour for that.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Not only that, but also you you get to skip the line, so you're not standing around waiting for hours to get into some of these places, but it just makes that your experience so much more immersive and meaningful.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, totally agree with that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's um it's it's great, and uh the ability of our guides to tell stories and some of the things that they come up with is great.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, we we know two tours are the same for that reason.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: We cover the same things and we cover the same subjects and spots, but you never know, you know, your guide might have a particular um historical interest that might align with yours, or if you talk to them about what your interests are, they might have some knowledge that they happen to know that ties in with that.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you're absolutely right, asking those questions, not be not being afraid to actually go to your guide and say, actually, this is the stuff I'm really interested in, because you never know what kind of deep level of research your guide has been going into, and they might have something wonderful to tell you or show you that you wouldn't get elsewhere.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that I always it also takes it back again to when I was teaching, you know, sometimes um some of the kids would ask something that I wasn't necessarily sure of, and I would make sure that I'd find it out for the next time I saw that class.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess it's the same for guides as well.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: If somebody asks you a question or there's a particular interest coming up, is that you're probably gonna go and do more research so that you know if that comes up next time, you're gonna be able to answer and give loads of knowledge and experience and knowledge from you know whatever you've you've been reading about.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Guiding is a is a lifelong learning process, you're never gonna stop learning for sure.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's perfect.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that's that's that's the same for all of us.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I have I don't know how many times I've been to Westminster Abbey or the Tower of London, and I learn something new every time I go there.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I want one thing I want to ask, because obviously when people are putting together their itineraries, they're thinking about some of the major big hitters that you know, everybody wants to go to Tower of London, everybody wants to go to Westminster Abbey, most people want to go and see Changing of the God and Buckingham Palace.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: How would you recommend people putting the kind of big musty landmarks?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: And and and I know I'll get criticized.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: People say, well, that they're only that should we call them musty?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, to me, they are the big hitters and the things that kind of typify London, so it would be good to even to just go and experience those.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: But if people wanted to do some kind of the smaller or um sort of more immersive experiences, how would you can you combine them?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess really what you're saying is really on a tour, not only are you getting some of that that you kind of get an experience of the of visiting someone at Westminster Abbey, but you also are getting that kind of immersive experience too.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so tours are a great way of doing it.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I will I would always say, because again, packing itineraries, I would say if you can and if you've got time, never aim to do more than one tour in a day.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but with that tour, depending on where you're ending, you might have something very cool that you can go and do afterwards.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: So with Westminster Abbey, for instance, you can go and have a lovely guided tour with one of our guides, get that really deep knowledge, you go and see the historic guard change as well, which is just around the corner.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you're not walking too far to get there.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then by the time you end your tour, you'll be somewhere in the region, you'll be around Whitehall, around Horse Guards Parade, you're round the corner from Trafalgar Square, so that's a wonderful site, just to view just for the spectacle of it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you've got spots for lunch around there, um, you've got Leicester Square and Covent Garden around the corner, and then you've also got um the National Gallery as well.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So taking that all as an example, if you do that Westminster Abbey tour in the morning, you know, you can find yourself a nice spot of lunch in the area around Trafalgar Square or Covent Garden.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you've got the National Gallery, which you can spend the afternoon going in for free at your own pace, um, though the the gallery does have its own guides as well, um, so you can get more of an explanation of the art that you're seeing.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: But if you just wanted to spend an afternoon whiling away the time in a beautiful building just looking at some fantastic European art, you know, from the last few hundred years, um, then that's a really nice way to combine uh a guided tour and something very immersive with a little bit more leisurely at your pace kind of downtime.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, other things that don't involve a tour, maybe.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I took I talked about ABBA earlier as an example.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of guests are telling me that the ABBBA experience is really, really popular.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but they might not realise that it's actually quite a ways out in uh in East London near Stratford, um, which is very, very accessible by public transport.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you might not want to be doing something in central London on the afternoon of you going to that experience.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So in Stratford, you've got the newly opened VA storehouse, which is basically an extra part of the Victoria and Albert Museum where you can go and see so many of the things that they can't fit into the museum, and they've got lots of it.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you've got, you know, Stratford areas, uh, very up and coming these days.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: You've got the old Olympic Park, the canal side, uh, Westfield shopping centre, so you can find some spots for dinner before you then go along to your ABBA experience in the evening.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so it's about looking at those sort of small little pockets of where you're gonna be at a particular time, and then looking at sort of what's directly or or shortwalk close to it.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that will make a lot of travellers' lives a lot easier.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I am just gonna mention that this is Stratford in London, not Stratford upon Avon, which is um.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, thank you, Tracy.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: I I I just know I I'm gonna have some listeners who's gonna be a bit confused thinking Stratford, because the you'll only have heard of Stratford upon Avon, aka Shakespeare.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: So this is this is Stratford in London.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: So uh a different different place completely.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's an absolutely good point uh to make, and and it's and it's true as well what you're saying about having having one of those kind of big hitters in a day is is enough.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um doing doing two is exhausting.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what about combining um some sites and experiences that work extremely well uh in a day?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I know um walks do have a London in a day tour.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: I've done that one before.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: So do you want to talk a little bit about how that works?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the beauty of that tour is that it's getting you from Westminster um to East London at the tower.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you're doing it after lunch by riverboat, so it's it's a day tour, and you know, full disclosure here, it's a fair amount of walking.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've got to be prepared to get your steps in if you want to do this tour.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: But it it um it allows you to get a really good basic introduction to London in a day uh that covers two of our main uh sites in in different areas of town.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you you start off in the morning at Parliament Square, you get to see the wonderful houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh your guide will take you into the the Abbey.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as Tracy said, it's skip the line.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh you're you're going in via a special entrance with your group.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: You'll get uh a lovely amount of time with your guide in the abbey, um, but but not too long.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: You'll get basically the highlights of the place as you go in.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then afterwards you'll do a walking tour, depending on what day it is.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if guard change is on, you'll check out the guard change, you'll get to see Buckingham Palace.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Get to walk up the Mall and see Trafalgar Square.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then you break for lunch and you get a really decent good hour-long lunch.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: The guides are brilliant at providing recommendations for lunch spots in the area.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you know you can ask as many questions as you like and get the food that you want.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then after lunch, you meet back up, your guides will get you onto a boat and you do a lovely river boat that takes you uh down to the Tower of London where you will um get to finish off the day.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you get to see the crown jewels, um, you get to um see the White Tower, uh, which goes through um uh uh a great history of uh of armory and imprisonment during the time.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um you get to check out all of the little hidden spots in the tower with your guide as well.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: So one of my favourite ones is the Beacham Tower, which is where uh a lot of people, a lot of political prisoners were imprisoned, and you've still got the scratchings on the walls from the graffiti showing who these political prisoners have been supporting, um, which is just fascinating to just see and transport yourself back in time.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the great thing about the river boat is that you get to see all of those wonderful things on the city skyline um that make London so iconic and that you see everywhere.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you get to see the Shard, you get to see uh the Globe, um, the Millennium Bridge, St.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern, all of these things you get a lovely view from the river to see.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a really good way of helping you connect the dots in terms of where things are um during your tour, but giving you um a flavour of two different places in London um without, you know, having to feel like it's particularly rushed.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a good long walk, but it's a it's at a decent pace.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good day.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: I've I actually have done that London in a day uh tour.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um I did that with um Melissa Jones, who's been on the podcast um a couple of times.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh she was travelling in in London solo, and I joined her on the tour, and we had we had an absolute lovely day.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it meant that I could take all sorts of lovely photographs at the Change of the Guard and at uh next to a red uh telephone box, and then uh I went to took it to cafe in the crypt for lunch.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we we had a lovely day.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: Those kind of you see the child of London experience with a guide, you experience Westminster Abbey with a guide as well.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it's a really well it's it's a busy day, but it's a well-paced day.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I highly recommend that.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: And you kind of touched on there as well the fact that you do um the the trip down the Thames, which is fantastic, and it's that's one way as well to kind of you're slowing the pace down.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um other things, other experiences that you would recommend that people consider to, you know, if they've had a couple of full-on busy days that they can what what are ways they can kind of slow down a little bit?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: What things could they do?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, um, oh, there's so many things.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I could do probably a whole podcast job just on that alone.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I would say so.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: One of my favourite things to do personally is a walk along the riverside.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, pick a spot.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you're staying near to the river, you know, join the river close to you.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Personally, my favourite stretch is if you go from if you head across Westminster Bridge um and um and walk down the river past the London Eye.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you've got a lot of time, you can, you know, have a lovely leisurely stroll um towards London Bridge.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can pop in at the Tate Modern Gallery along your route.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can check out the outdoor bookshop that's um opposite the British Film Institute, the the National Film Theatre.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can stop off at a pub along the way because of course we have many.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so it's a really nice way to sort of while your way along.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: And if something takes your interest and you want to pop into the gallery or you want to get to London Bridge at the end and sort of have a wander round borough market, then you've got all of those different options available to just sort of peel off and do something as you fancy.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the other one I would recommend that isn't mentioned so much is um head on the northern line up to Angel.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you'll be in an area, it's called the Angel Islington, so you'll be in the general Islington area.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you're into your shopping, there's lots of lovely boutiques around this area.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And there's also um uh a little side street called Camden Passage, um, which will have antique fairs, has beautiful little cafes, has um lovely uh little uh antique markets that happen and boutique shops.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um you can really feel like you're doing London as a local would do, um, which I think gives you the authentic London experience.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing I would say is pick a park and go to it.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've got so many lovely parks.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you do Regents Park, you can tie in London Zoo.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you go to Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens, you can tie in Kensington Palace if you want to.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and if you don't fancy doing all of that and it just happens to be a beautiful day, whatever time of year, and it's just a nice opportunity to wander around, take in some of the local nature, have a coffee, have a sit-down and a read, um, and really just change the pace of your trip for a bit.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: And if the if the sun is out and it's a little bit uh warm, you're gonna see uh most of London out there on a deck chair, won't you?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: We take our opportunities where we can.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, get a bit of sunshine and get out there on the deck chair, especially if it's a long weekend.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: I just always think you just see the parks full of all Londoners outside enjoying the the sunshine, especially after the the dark and long winter that you that you have that I don't have anymore, thank goodness.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: But um, it's it's always that looking forward to spring and then into summer and getting out and about.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, one of my favourites is uh I've mentioned it before is Greenwich Park.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: I love Greenwich Park going there and having a wander around there.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's lovely, it's a beautiful area down there.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's a nice boat trip as well uh to go down there.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, yeah, you could also one thing that I love doing uh to slow in the pace down is booking an afternoon tea or somewhere nice and just uh enjoying a leisurely um eating some lovely food, having some nice cups of tea, and just um just enjoying that experience, I think, is is a lovely kind of bit of a breather.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um so and there's lots of obviously lots of places and opportunities to do that in London as well.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm I'm trying to choose at the minute the the many afternoon teas I'd like to do when I'm over there.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, definitely.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Afternoon tea, yes, it you're right, it does change that pace, it makes you feel a little bit special.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's it's something that you can um, you know, depending on the venue and the type of afternoon tea you're going for, there's a wide choice available.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you're right, it's so difficult to choose.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you want a relaxed one, um, the one for me, and yes, gonna plug this and show my bias a little bit.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: We have a Kensington Palace tour that includes an afternoon tea and a raw walking tour.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you get to while away your morning with a fabulous guide who will take you on a leisurely walk through um Hyde Park in Kensington Gardens, will do some lots of rural history with you along the way because there's lots to see and discover.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you go into this beautiful space which has been newly renovated called the Orangery, um, which comes from the early 1700s, the building.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's fantastic.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's just it's so beautiful and airy in a light space, and the staff there really do treat you well.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: You have this wonderful afternoon tea, they cater for all kinds of different dietary requirements, which is a bonus as well.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and after that, you get to joy spend your afternoon going and enjoying the palace, so you get you know, a really nice little little day out um that finishes off with you in this just glorious grand space.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you get to be treated like royalty a little bit, but you know, without feeling like you've got to be too dressed up, you can be you can still be quite casual about it.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's nice.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like the sound of it, and I like the fact that you know, if you if you include an um any walks and devour tours in your London itinerary, how well balanced they are and how well they fit together.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and then also it takes off a lot of the heat off you trying to get tickets for things or um thinking about standing in long lines to get into different places.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I and I think that's that's important to think about, you know, if you've only got a short number of uh days in London, um, you want to make the most of it, um, which I kind of is another question we get asked all the time is, and I I'll ask you this one as well, Becky, is what do you think people should lock into their itinerary before they arrive in London?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: And what things um do you think they can be a little bit more flexible about?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I know this definitely will also depend on the time of year, but um, but I think it's worth kind of, you know, if people want to do a a tour or they want to do a specific afternoon tea, you know, those are are worth booking in advance for sure.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, definitely.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Tours, afternoon teas, any special occasion dinners that you might have planned.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if you if you're really wanting to go um, you know, uh on the on the higher end of fine dining and restaurants, definitely lock in those bookings as soon as you can.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: The tours I would say definitely, and try and fit them in earlier on in your itinerary rather than towards the end, so that as your trip progresses and you're getting towards the end of your trip, you're leaving your spots open to maybe kind to do things at a at that much more of a relaxed pace, um, you know, before you know you go and you fly back or however you're travelling.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think it's really nice to give yourself a relaxed tail-off end to your trip rather than just sort of you know being at it all the time until the very end, and then you know, you're getting on your plane and wishing you had another holiday to recover from the holiday.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's it it that's why I say and it it it is exhausted.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: London is exhausted.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like there's there's such a lot to do and see, and um, when you you put your itinerary together, you know, like and I'm kind of swinging back to from what we said right at the beginning, is like, you know, think about giving yourself that downtime just to actually um breathe and then experience the city, whether that's just going for a stroll along the river, whether that's um sitting in a in a nice cafe and having a cup of tea and a and a slice of cake, whether that is um, you know, going on the river on a boat or walking through one of the parks.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's like give yourself the time to do that, because I think that that's that's really important to do.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um what about like flexibility?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say to for what sort of things can they be flexible about to think?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um definitely museum visits.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: So with our major museums and art galleries, unless you're wanting to go and see a paid exhibition, um, the main collections are free and you know they're they're open most days 10am till 5, 6 pm for most sites, although some galleries will have a late opening if you want to do something in the early evening.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: And really, with those, if you're seeing the main collections at, you know, say the uh the National Gallery or the National Portrait Gallery or the British Museum, um, then most of the time, um, unless it's a really, really busy time of year, you can just go and walk in.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you would like to tie those into an itinerary, they do have options that you can go in and book in time slots.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: And if that gives you peace of mind, then go for it.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: But if you'd rather leave it kind of open as to what you see and when, and you know, what you kind of fancy on the day, you know, because everyone's moods change in the moment when you're here, um, then you can be rest assured for those kind of places or for the the the uh the Victorian Albert Museum or the Science Museum Um or the Natural History Museum in Kensington.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you can you can rest assured that you can you can just pop out into those places where you want.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, though if it does pique your interest and it sparks you further and you want to have a look at the paid exhibitions, um, a lot of the time, especially during weekdays, um, you'll be able to find uh time slots for those paid exhibitions online at the last minute or at the ticket desk at the gallery.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you can still do that as an extra thing on the day if you'd like to.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, that's uh that's great advice, Becky.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if um we're gonna finish the podcast with my uh usual question.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um in this case, it is if you have one piece of advice to someone building their first London itinerary, what would it be?
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um great question.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think as we've said throughout this this discussion, uh, you know, pace yourself, be realistic about what you can do and the time that you have, and take that downtime.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Really do you plan that into your itinerary so you get the best of both worlds, you get to be on the go and and doing lots of wonderful things and seeing lots of landmarks and having lots of wonderful experiences.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: But even if it's just going and sitting in a local coffee shop of a morning and having your breakfast there and just watching the world go by from a lovely vantage point, um, you know, make sure that you you give yourself the time for that as well, because you will feel so much better for it in yourself, but you will also really feel like you're soaking in the atmosphere of a city.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes even Londoners will be so quick to rush to things in our busy lives that we need to remind ourselves to stop and do that too.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: That that's absolutely true.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's a very good piece of advice, uh Becky.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much uh for once again coming on the podcast.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Tracy.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's always a pleasure to chat.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um hopefully I'll catch up, I'll catch up with you in London in a few months' time.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very much looking forward to that.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that'd be great.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully, some of you guys listening to the podcast will be coming on some of the tours.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: You never know.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: You might meet myself or Becky.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: We might be Becky would be host of the tour.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: I might just be on the tour.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it that would be so cool, wouldn't it?
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but as usual, I'll post that would be really cool.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh thanks so much, Becky, for coming on, as I say.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I will link to uh walks into Vower Tours uh who you work for and who are kindly sponsoring the podcast uh at the moment.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a massive thank you uh from uh from myself and Doug for for that because um it means the world to us um having a sponsor like you guys.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we we love the work that we you do.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um we we're very much uh lovers of walks and devour tours.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: We have never had bad one, we've always met amazing guides.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so we are really happy to to promote you guys on the on the podcast and say, come on, book book with walks and devour.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: They're absolutely brilliant.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I will link to your tours on in the show notes, which are uktravelplanning.com forward slash episode 189.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: I can't believe we're on episode 189, Becky.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: 200 soon.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you to 200.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's brilliant.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh 200 will be in May.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: So um I shall be asking our listeners to um leave us messages for their favourite episodes, and I may actually interview a few people as well, which I did for the hundredth episode.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but until next week, I'm gonna say bye to Becky for now.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh everybody, I will be back next week.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, as always, happy UK travel planning.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app?
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: But as always, that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning.