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Trip Report - London itinerary and tips from the Bruns family · UK Travel Planning

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the UK Tablet Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: You guys is a founder of the UK Tradel Panny website, I see colleagues, K podcast, I see chests, I see guys, travel tests, and our general ideas as well as interviews with a variety of guests and share their knowledge and experience at UK Travel.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities, the ice agents, from a historic associate beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to episode 28 of the UK Travel Planner Podcast.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: This week I'm really excited to have Rob Bruns.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: He was going to talk about his itinerary for London from his trip last year.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Now, those some of you may have heard that Rob on the podcast episode number 18, where he talked about the full itinerary.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: He was in the UK for four weeks with his family.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: But because after an hour and a half we couldn't fit in London, we decided that we'd do it as another podcast.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome back, Rob.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: So pleased to have you.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Would you like to introduce yourself and kind of just tell us about where you live, who you are, where you went in the UK, who you went with, just a whole lot of background would be great.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm glad to be back, Tracy.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um we'll we'll try to keep this one a little bit shorter than an hour and a half, right?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'm Rob.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm a middle school teacher here in Columbia, Missouri, in the US.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh went to the UK with my lovely wife Heather, who is also a middle school teacher, and our now 12-year-old son Beckett, who was 11 at the time.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we had a trip planned back in 2020, and then of course it got canceled and moved to 2021, and then it got canceled and moved again to 2022, and we finally made it.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we spent four weeks there, along with um about a week in London, uh, which actually was at the tail end of our four-week Odyssey through the UK.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: So you um you landed at Heathrow, that's right, and then you did your kind of drive-in trip for the three weeks and uh up through England and Scotland and then back down to London?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, yep, we we were in London for about, oh gosh, maybe like three, four hours at the very beginning there, until we jumped on the train to uh to York.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then about yeah, about three weeks on the road, turned the car in in Oxford and got a car into London where we spent the next uh the next week.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: We were tired by then, let me tell you.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I bet you I know I know we we met up with you in Whitby um when you were on your kind of way up to Scotland, weren't you, at that point?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: So if anybody wants to kind of hear about the through the previous three weeks before you arrived in London, episode 18 is the one to listen to for all of Rob's information about that part of the trip.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um so let's focus on London.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: So people often, we always get asked about London because I think people find it overwhelming plan in London.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: I know it can be pretty overwhelming plan in the whole country, but I think London, because a lot spend a few days in London, they kind of go, How am I gonna fit everything in?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: So so talk me through how you planned your London part.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, I guess the first thing I need to tell people, you're not gonna fit everything in.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I think the quicker you can come to that kind of realization that you're not gonna see everything that you want to see, um, the better off you're gonna be.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because yeah, it's it's overwhelming.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, I think, extra overwhelming for us because we did do it at the end.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of forget why we decided to do that.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um because we were we were tired after three weeks of jetting around uh the UK.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but um kind of the same way I planned the whole trip.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And again, this I think was a suggestion by either you and Doug or somebody in the group of making a list, you know, brainstorming all the places you think you want to see.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, since I was going with my wife and my son, you know, asking them, of course, my wife had a lot more input into that than my 11-year-old, uh, because you didn't know really what was there.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but generating that that wish list, and then the next step, getting those maps out and uh and seeing where everything is in relationship to each other.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I had I did it all on the computer.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: I took little screenshots of different parts of London and and just started on the computer kind of putting little stars where things were and watching where the clusters were forming and kind of where we started.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's a really good idea because a lot of places are close close together, so you can kind of do a whole day itinerary around one particular area, and that also stops this kind of having to go from one part of London to another, wasting time getting from one place to the other, because you're better off actually planning a day, you know.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: I often talk people that you know, go to the Tower of London, um, walk across the bridge, go to Borough Market for lunch, walk back over a Millennium Bridge to St.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Paul's.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you can then go at the Sky Garden.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's lots of places around there.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you could actually develop a whole itinerary around that day.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: So um what were the I have to ask you, what were the kind of what were the top places that you really wanted to go and see?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I had been in London myself about I think like almost 30 years ago, right after college.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I, you know, wanted to see some things that I hadn't seen.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um we actually went out of London on several days.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of my big things, we were big Harry Potter fans, so we knew we wanted to go to the studios, of course.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which turned turned into a day trip.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then my my wife, who had never been there, her her big things, he was she wanted to go to Windsor.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh big royal fan.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my son, one of the places that he did choose on his own was he wanted to go to Wimbledon.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: He plays tennis.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're all kind of tennis fans, so that that was on our list.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then, you know, my wife was like, you know, well, whatever you can figure out that we can see, um, let's go.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And again, she realized we weren't going to be able to see everything we wanted to see either.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we knew we were gonna be at the end of the trip as well, and we knew we were gonna be tired.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there are a lot of things we actually did put on the itinerary.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you mentioned St.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Paul's, we never made it there.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, there's several things we had on the itinerary that we didn't make it, um, but we knew ahead of time that we wanted to enjoy this last week of being together on this adventure, and there were just gonna be some things that fell by the wayside.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, and I think it's important as well.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think um, because it is so tempting for the entire itinerary, really, but London in particular to put too much in and to kind of um kind of think that you can do more than you can in a day, uh, because it's exhausting, absolutely exhausting.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I I think people genuinely don't realise how exhausting London is.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: The amount of walking that you do.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, even if you're jumping in cabs or getting the tube from place to place, there's still a lot of walking around the area.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: So it, you know, it it really is something you've got to think really carefully about how much realistically you can manage as a family or as a person when it comes to getting around.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think that's uh really important.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I I'm gonna so you you did a couple of day trips.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Did you take the train out to to Harry Potter Studios and to Windsor, Rob?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we um jumped onto the train and took it to uh what Watford Junction?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, yeah.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we uh and gosh, you know, this was the time of the the train strikes, and luckily that one was a day that was was still okay and untouched, so we were excited about that.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: And yep, just grabbed the uh the bus that they have from Watford Junction into the studios.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was easy.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, you know, when we talked last the other podcast, we had an amazingly charmed vacation, other than one little incident in Edinburgh that we will not talk about.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I mean everything just always worked out for us the entire time, which I I wish that for everybody who who goes traveling like this.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, we spent the day there.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think we arrived probably about 9:30, 10 o'clock, and we're there until like three in the afternoon.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we can spend a day there.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we uh Doug and I have been in numerous times, and we still spend hours and hours there.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously they change things as well, different themes, so you kind of get a different experience when you go.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Even the last time we went, it changed from the previous time that we'd been there.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it's a it's a and it's a very popular day trip.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: So um, and obviously you went out to Windsor.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Did you go out for the the day out to to Windsor as well?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: Was that did you get the train out?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we did.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: We uh got a train from Waterloo and took that into Windsor.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think we got there around, I think we had entry around 10 o'clock or so at Windsor Castle.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Stayed there for a while.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we had lunch, uh, tried, you know, food is always on the top of everybody's list.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: We we discovered, oh gosh, what is it, Nando's, the chicken place?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Nando's that was a hit with our son.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's it's a hit with Doug and I have a thing about going to every Nando's around the UK, mainly because I I really like the minty peas that they do.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's good, I have to say.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: But when we go back, we will be going to Nando's.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that is also the day, just because of again, kind of plotting things on the map.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: We took a train then from Windsor in the afternoon after lunch to Wimbledon.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, perfect.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh hit Wimbledon in the museum, and it was actually pretty cool because this was the Friday before opening play on Monday.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So there's the hustle and bustle of everything getting ready.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we couldn't go like onto the court or anything like that, but um, that was fun, and then yeah, took the underground, I think, back into Camden Town.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a long day, but we hit Windsor and Wimbledon, and then I think we had a pretty good fun night at Camdenton when we got home that day.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's actually well planned as well, because you kind of did that circuit.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so kind of making use of the time.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, so do you want to talk through um your other days?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: What sort of things did you do?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you went over, did you did you do Harry Potter with another something else that day, or was that Harry Potter kind of the main part of that day?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Sounds like it was most of your day anyway.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was our main our main deal that day.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: We actually, so the first day we arrived, well, we arrived in the evening from Oxford and just kind of moved into our our verbo, started some laundry, hit up the Sainsberries for food and all that, and just kind of went over our plan for the next seven days.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the next morning we were up and at it, and we kind of did what you were talking about earlier.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: We did the the Tower of London Tower Bridge, went over to Borough Market.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um oh, and then we came back and did the whole tower bridge walking across the glass, which was great.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Did you enjoy the food at Borough Market?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we yeah, the market's we're we're a foodie family, so we you know, food is a big part of our life.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when we went to Borough Market, it was like, oh, it's the promised land.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was a little overwhelming at first.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing with Camden Market, which we probably visited probably three or four times while we were there in London.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because the stalls, I mean, and it's crowded and the choices are endless.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but we had lunch at Borough Market.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's where Beckett says he's had the greatest.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Out of all the cool food from all over the world, you could get there.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's where he says he got the best mac and cheese in the world was Borough Market.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um well, there you go.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you like mac and cheese, go to Borough Market.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think um I'm actually gonna plan uh this year to do a food tour of Borough Market.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think to me, I think that's gonna be because I also love food.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and I think I'm gonna just book that because then I'll have somebody who knows the different places to go.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um so uh and and maybe can try lots of different things.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something I'm definitely gonna book on.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll I might take I'll take lots of videos and pictures and I'll report back on now.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Can you because you can spend so much time just kind of wandering around going, oh my gosh, I don't know what to pick.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, what's over here, what's over there?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you can spend some time just kind of walking around looking at everything.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I think that that was our first day.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: We did a lot that first day.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think we were pretty exhausted.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we did jump on um the big bus tour, I think that evening, because we were we were just like, let somebody else drive us around.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we didn't know how much we were gonna see within the next you know five, six days.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we thought that would be a good way to kind of see some things.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was think they're a good idea.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because like you say, you can sit back and you get to see kind of a lot of the main highlights and the main buildings, the main landmarks, and that's what I remember going to New York a few years ago and arriving later on in the day, and that's what we did.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: We just jumped on the the bus and went around New York, and it was a great way to see the city.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think for London as well, day that you arrive, maybe get if you if you've got time, get on the bus or go on a a boat uh tour or um yeah, other bus.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a it's a really good use of time.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: As you say, you get to see, you don't know exactly what you're gonna maybe able to fit in.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: And you probably went past guest and past St.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: Paul's then, so maybe you know you'd see it from the outside.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: So how was the next day after that?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: What did you do?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: The next day was Harry Potter, so that was our next day.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then the next day was let's see, we did Windsor and Wimbledon, and then evening at uh Camden Market.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: We we ate a lot that evening.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then the next day, let's see, we headed to Westminster Abbey.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: That was kind of definitely you know one of the traditional spots that I think everybody has that you know my wife was like, that's that's definitely one that we need to hit.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it's so interesting as well.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um obviously because of the Queen's Pass initiative, we've seen a bit more of Westminster Abbey on the TV.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it um, yeah, I don't know, it was a bit poignant of uh when I was looking at it thinking, oh I was I was in there, I was walking down that you know what I mean?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: You saw all those pictures and it Yes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a place you know people see on TV or in books.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then we were able to walk around and point out people to our son that even our son, you know, even our son knows who Isaac Newton is, or uh, you know, some of the authors that are buried there.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um we all enjoyed that.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then um that was the day we had tea, the our big our big splurge at um it was the Charlie and the chocolate factory tea at one Aldwidge.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that was not as good as Chatsworth House, uh, but it was a pretty good one.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh lots of sweets.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think Beckett had six or seven mugs of hot chocolate, they treated him very well there.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then we went we went back to Camden Town for a nap because that evening we also went to the Lion King.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we wanted to make sure we were awake.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you you did a lot that day.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: You really did.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: You would have needed all that that that hot chocolate, all the chocolate to have kept him going.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it I mean, we didn't get home, I think, that night until I was just looking at pictures yesterday.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we got off the the tube until like quarter to eleven in Camden Town.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, you know, I mean it was still hopping, of course, it was Saturday night in Camden Town, so we just kind of hung out and walked around the main or one of the main streets there, and then of course Beckett spotted the the bubble cones or the bubble waffles.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, but we so you know we did have some things, you know, like from our Instagram, you know, list, you know, you see all the hot spots to go get stuff.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I think what you need to do is um share all of those places with me.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I've got the list.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um and when I'm in London this yeah, so I'll be staying down in London for with with some friends.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'll go and hit all those spots and get some I'll be putting them on my Instagram.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh well, yes.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean we've got pictures of all the food, so it'll be easy to go through.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Brilliant.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure people'll love that.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um whether you've got kids or not, you're gonna need I got a bubble waffle too.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, no one's gonna ask the next day, so that's a Saturday night.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: So next day we we slept in a little bit.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not surprised.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you were there in summer, so it'd be still it's light until until late.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's the freakish wonderful thing about the summertime.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: That extra light, well, even in the morning, you know.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Day starts early and it goes long, so it was it was lovely.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh so we were recording the episode yesterday and just saying, because who went up to Orkney, which is is really, really far north, obviously, uh off island off the north of Scotland.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think it got dark.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, yeah.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it does it it keeps you excited, you know, that light and the body, all how that works.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um you just felt energized as long as the light was out, you're ready to go.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: That and your bubble waffles and you're sorted.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the next morning we went right back to Camden Town actually for breakfast.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we we had to find, we finally decided we needed to buy an extra suitcase to haul stuff home.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So went back to Camden Town, got breakfast, found a suitcase, did some window shopping at the cool, cool shops that they have there.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, walked along the locks.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: We actually there was a I'm sure there's a special name for the boats that are along the canal there, but we actually got to see the locks in action and how they work, so that was kind of cool for all of us.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then this day, so it was another kind of big splurge.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm the the baker in the family.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm a little bit of a GBBO nut.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you've heard about the big London bake.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think I might have mentioned it to you, but I don't know if you've heard about it.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I hadn't, I hadn't heard about it.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: There are two locations in London, there's an east and a south one.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's basically a recreation of the great British bake-off.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um which is an excellent idea for whoever came up with it.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you go and you make a little reservation, and you can do it on your own or with uh with a group.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the three of us went, it was like late afternoon, and they have all the equipment and the recipe and the ingredients, and they basically reenact an episode of the Great British Bake Off with you baking whatever they had planned.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And since it was the Jubilee, the the thing that we baked was a Jubilee crown cake, I think they called it.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Did you win?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: We got third, we should have won.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, no, I'm serious.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: They I mean they they had this lovely lady who you know kind of mc'd the whole event and judged the cakes at the end.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the thing that sunk us, Tracy, was the oven, and I felt like we were actually on the TV show because you see people on the TV show sometimes not turn their ovens on.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody else there was British, so they knew what they were doing.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: And as poor Americans, I thought the oven was on.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And after about 15 minutes, I'm like, I don't smell the cake.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, and our oven wasn't on.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we we we got behind.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I had an ice, a warm cake, uh which if you watch the show or you know, bathe yourself, you know that's never good.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: I just think you have to go back and do it again.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: You have to have another go next time that you're back.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, because I she made the comment that we we our flavors were good, they were the best, but since like the middle was like a molten volcano, you know, we came in third.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we're still proud of our third place finish.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I love the photo.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: I've got the photo of you guys standing there.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: So it's you know it's great.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would highly, you know, we were looking for excuse, excuse me, some some experiences.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're very yes, you know, yes, we kind of want to do stuff when we travel.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so this this was great.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I would definitely recommend this if you know you're out there and you enjoy baking or you love the show or you just want to do something new.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: This this was fabulous.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: I can't say enough about it.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then you get to take, they give you a cool little box to take your creation home, which we ate on it for the next two days.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty cool.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's how how long in advance did you have to book that, Rob?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I it was a few months ahead.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can't remember for this one.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, but I most of our stuff was booked um at least three to six months ahead of time.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because you're you're very organized, I have to say.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: That was that was one thing with itinerary consult with you.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a teacher, we gotta be organized.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, I'm I was also teacher and I'm not as well organized as you are, I have to tell you.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I tried to be.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: I I that is my goal in 2023 to be a bit more organized.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I I think I just simply juggle far too many things, and then I I I don't know, here then everywhere in my brain, I think.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: But um so after the the the bake off day, that was the Sunday.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then we had one last day.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was a Sunday, and then Monday was our last day, and for for a long time we kind of struggled with what to do with that last day, because you're like, this is it.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is like the last day, not just in London, but the whole the whole shebang.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you had mentioned during our our itinerary review, um, had mentioned Greenwich, yes, which I had never visited when I had been there many years ago.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and Heather being she's a social studies history teacher, you know, she's like, you know, let's I really want to go there.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, she teaches sixth graders, which those are about 11, 12 year olds, and they always start off at the beginning of the year with some basic map skill review, and she's like, I want a picture on the Prime Meridian.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: I need to, I need to have that.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we we got up that morning and jumped on.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: That was our, I think our first and only uh boat trip, but we jumped on the Uber boat, took it up to Greenwich, uh, went up to the Royal Observatory, spent about an hour or so there.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: That was actually, you know, I'm a science teacher, so I enjoyed the science-y part of all of that as well.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we jumped on the boat back to London.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so much more you can do in Greenwich.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's the Painted Hall, what is it, the cutter shark?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the cut there's the Cutney Sark boat, the the um the boat um scenes of the tulip staircase, then the painted hall, which is absolutely stunning.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and the naval college.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: So yes, you you can spend a whole day in Greenwich doing all those things.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was hard to a point to go, oh, we're you we came just for this, and then we were leaving.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: But like you said, that's a good excuse to have to come back.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we headed back into London that day, and boy, did we walk.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we just hit the road.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: I got out the map and said, Well, what do you guys want to see?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's our last day.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so we kind of hit some of the highlights, you know, Piccadilly Circus and walked down Regent Street and hit um Seville Royal and Soho and Carnaby Street.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Beckett wanted to go to Hamley's, that was on his list.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: He had somehow found that out online about the toy store, so we hit Hamley's.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he also found out that there was an MBA store.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: He's a basketball player, so we hit the MBA store.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was in Soho.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then we hit the British Museum.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that day it was kind of rainy overcast, but also warm.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so you probably know what the British Museum was like inside.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was a little, a little stuffy, and after, you know, four weeks on the road.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we didn't last very long in there, but again, you know, Heather teaches uh ancient civilization.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we kind of like picked out our specific parts of the museum we wanted to.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a good idea.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I do every time I go to the British Museum.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't think you could do it, you could do it all.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: You just have to kind of what are the particular areas that you you want to go and have a look at?
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody wants to see the Rosetta Stones, that's kind of everybody goes, that's the was it busiest.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I think that's it.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's a really good idea.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: So so and then that was it.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Then you flew out the next day.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Was that that was that it?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was pretty much it.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: We we headed back to Camden Town and went to the market again.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and hit the uh was it Hans, Hans, and Gretel um in Camden Market where you can get the that's another crazy place to get ice cream.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, yep.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: We we got ice cream at least every other day somewhere over the four weeks.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just total random story.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: They so you know Wendy's the fast food restaurant?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: So there's one in Camden Town, and we were after the British Museum, gonna go to Herod's and go buy some food and go have a picnic in the park, but we were we were so exhausted, we were like, okay, forget that.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're just we're gonna go get some easy food, we're gonna go get a meal deal on Sainsbury's or Tesco or something.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, we got off the underground, spied the Wendy's, and we're like, you know, this is horrible.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: On our last day in the UK, we're going to Wendy's.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: And we walk up to Wendy's, go to like walk through the doors, and there's like these people standing there, and they're like, wait, you can't come in.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, We we can't.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we strike at this conversation, and these people and they're like, Well, we're opening tomorrow.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, Oh, we're we're leaving tomorrow.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it so happened that this is like the second or third Wendy's that they are like relaunching in the UK, and they were having a soft opening for the employees and their families.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the manager of the restaurant's like, Well, you know what?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: These Americans are leaving tomorrow back to the US.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Let's have them come in and test test our Wendy's out.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we got invited in to the soft opening of the Wendy's in Camden Town and got a free meal and hung out with the employees.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: Brilliant.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: So how and how was the food?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: Was it was it was it as good as the Wendy's in the States?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I think the he didn't introduce him as such, but I'm pretty sure the head honcho of Wendy's UK was there, and he came up to our table and asked us, like, okay, so how does this compare?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, it tastes just like home.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think he was he was happy with that.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, that's that's a kind of that's a cool, cool last evening.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it kind of puts quite nicely into conversation about food because we've kind of mentioned Borough Market, we've mentioned the bubble cones, we've mentioned Hansel of Gretel for ice cream.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: What were your other main, when you were in London, what were the other main places uh or ex food experiences that you had that you'd recommend?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, we ate a lot at Camden Market, honestly.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was so nice and close to where we were staying, um, that we ate there quite frequently.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as far as ice cream goes, um, I want to say it was Chinchin Labs or something like that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was in Camden Market as well.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: They make the ice cream kind of like right there in front of you with dry ice.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: That was really yummy and good.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: There's a little Italian restaurant we found.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to send you the name.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I wrote it down.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was just down the road from our verbo.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many really good places to eat in Camden Town.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was kind of easy to walk out the door and brilliant pick something, and it was gonna be good.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, we ate a lot on the move, to be honest.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um by the time we were in London, we kind of, like I said, we were we were tired, we were happy to be there.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I know people talk about London being an expensive city.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that's kind of up to, you know, choices you make.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: And by you know, by the time we got to London, we were very well acquainted with the the meal deal.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think we probably got meal deals at least once a day for for lunch.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we splurged on the Charlie and Chocolate Factory tea, uh, ate a lot out at the markets.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that's a that's a great tip.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I've got a couple of articles.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: I've got one on three three things to do in London, because there are actually quite a lot of free things you can do, but also one on kind of how to like budget things that so how to budget for London.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: And one of those things I kind of recommend is you know, go for the meal deals.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: Great way to save money.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when you're a middle class family with a kid, I mean, you're watching your budget, and like I said, this is towards the end.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we're trying to be mindful of that.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: And really, I have the the meal deals are great.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, we we picked up dinner, you know, I'm sure once or twice while we were there.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: We picked up dinner at the Sainsbury's near where the verbo was, popped some stuff in the oven in the microwave.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and that's advantageous, obviously, because you chose to stay in a in a verbo.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: So so tell us a little bit about the verbo that you that you stayed in.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: So you were obviously in Camden.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which you know wasn't our original choice.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm trying to remember the first iteration of the trip back in 2020.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember where we were um staying, but that that's a toughie to find accommodations in London because again, it is it is expensive.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we knew we were gonna need laundry by then.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, we were trying to find something for us that was affordable, and we knew that we wanted to be able to eat in breakfast andor you know dinner a few times.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so I probably went through three or four different Airbnbs or verbos um in the London area and trying to figure out, like you said, the distances from everywhere.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so the one in Camden Town was kind of the last one we had reserved that we were still like we were drawn to it the more we investigated the Camden Town area.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and this Virgo was like literally 10 seconds from the an overground station, two minutes to the tube station, a minute or two from a Sainsbury's, uh a large one, yeah, um, restaurants everywhere.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the canal, which this was and this was an area that I did not ever uh get a chance to see when I was there.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just it was just seemed like a cool place.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we kind of just went on blind faith and it turned out to be lovely.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say it worked out really it worked out really well, and I think the the key, a lot of it is you you know, thinking about those things, you know, you're near um markets for food, you're near supermarket for food, you're close to um transportation, which is huge, because I I just and I always say that to people is that if you imagine you've been out all day, you don't want to get back by tube and then have a 25-minute walk, much accommodation, you're just too child.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and that was such a lovely feeling to get to the tube station and know we had like oh barely a five-minute walk.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you didn't do any tours or anything when you were about over?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: We definitely considered, and I had I had probably never even thought of it until uh meeting you guys and becoming a part of uh the community you've built.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, we we kind of like being on our own.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think when we go back, um, we would definitely like to try some tours, but our for our quote, you know, first time, yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: We just we kind of like the adventure of just going and being on our time, our own time frame.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but my wife and I definitely look forward to taking some some tours as as we hopefully get our get a chance to go back in the future a few more times.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I hope so.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: That would be great.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: So um I know before Christmas you were you sent me a picture of a uh present that you bought for your son, um which which was which was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um and what a good sport you was for you what walked to school, is that right?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, souvenirs, so souvenirs um for us at least mainly consisted of thankfully our son loves to read, and we all we all love to read.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, he wanted to buy books wherever we went.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so books and t-shirts, and and of course, you know, he loves his hoodies, so that's kind of why we had to buy the extra suitcase because those hoodies take up so much space.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: There's only so many you can wear on an aeroplane.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we were out, I think it might have been the day of going to the Lion King, and we noticed on the tube map on the platform that there was a station called Tuding Beck, and our son's name is Beckett.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: And oh my gosh, we just laughed hysterically because you know he's an 11, 12-year-old boy.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: So uh for Christmas, we're like, oh well, we need some sort of um keepsake, and you know, I don't know what I thought I was gonna be able to find online, but you figure you can find almost everything online.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I didn't, and so I just I made designed him a t-shirt um with the underground station logo and tooting beck on it.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just so cool.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's brilliant.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: We we found he found actually several stores during the four weeks throughout the UK that were either called Beck or Beck's, yeah, or or Beckett.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: There was a Beckett tea room, a Beck's tea room, and so we were always on the lookout for anything that was kind of related to his name.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, when we found the underground station, that was like again perfect.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: Did you have two of them standing beside the sign, or did you not manage that?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, he we we have pictures of yes, the the map, and we never actually went to the station itself.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_04: Ah, okay, okay.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: But we have pictures next to the map in the tube there.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's really good.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: So was there anything that you bought Sylvania's wise?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, um, you know, Beckett likes his hoodies and his books and stuff.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: Does was anything new and Heather bought in particular?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we had to decide, so you know, since we've been married, we've always done uh magnets.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we have so many magnets that we were like, you know, we need to come up with something new for this trip.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think very early on when we were in York, we found these these coasters, and we said, Oh, coasters.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: We don't really have coasters in our house.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do coasters.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we now have oh gosh, they're like behind me on the coffee table.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: There must be like 30, 40 coasters from all over the UK, including places in London.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: So the coasters kind of became our yeah, and they're easy to take back because the light does not.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: I know we we collect and fridge magnets, so that's brilliant.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think we're gonna wrap up, um, Rob.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that's been brilliant because you've given us a really good kind of is there anything else that you kind of think I've missed out?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because I I know I'd sent you a few questions beforehand.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think we've kind of gone through everything pretty well.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and um, you know, I always ask the one question at the end of what I when I have a chat to anybody on a podcast.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I asked you the same question about kind of your overall trip to the UK, but I'm gonna ask it for this as well.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: Is there any tips um that you would share from this or your number one tip for anyone visiting London for the first time?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, something I did write down was, and and this went for our whole entire trip, and and maybe it's because we also had to cancel and postpone our trip several times.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we watched a lot of documentaries and films, movies and stuff before we went.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, if you're if you're traveling with kids, um, you know, depending on their age, they have such a hard time sometimes making connections with, you know, the places you're going.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't, you know, he's 11 and 12, and I still don't think he fully understands, like, you know, we flew over an ocean and we were, you know, even though he could see it on a map, you know, that that's hard, I think, for for young kids to comprehend.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: The other big thing is, you know, have a plan, but just be open to not following the plan.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because I'll tell you, like my my wife, you know, the entire trip, she really enjoyed when we got to London.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: She was like, oh yeah, this is different.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is very fast-paced, very crowded.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a different energy, I think, especially since we had been all around the countryside and in much slower locales beforehand.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and like you said, realizing that you're gonna do a lot of walking, um, and to pace yourself and don't don't overdo it, because you can't enjoy it if you're exhausted and your feet hurt and all that other stuff.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: So no, I think that I think that's really good.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I what I loved about your trip as well as the fact that you did get the time to you you had three weeks to actually explore the the UK and and you didn't um because you were like there for a long time, you could you didn't just spend your time in London, but even when you were in London for the seven days that you got out to to see other things as well.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um because I often say to people, you know, London, London's wonderful, I love London, but it is not representative, it's like any big city around the world, it's not necessarily representative of of the country.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's not, you know, majority of people don't live in London.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and you'll you'll get as you travel around the UK, you'll hear, you know, different accents.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm from the north of the UK, so I sound very different from people that live in London um or live in Scotland or live in Wales, or yeah, so um, and I think getting out and actually meeting more people outside of London as well is is brilliant, brilliant.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: And having the opportunity for for Beckett to do that as well is it's brilliant.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: So um, so when are you coming back?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I tell you, so I mean we are racking up the miles on our American Air Alliance credit card.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you, Chase.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: We are we're uh we got a plan.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um we excellent, you know.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, Beckett is well, he's got we've got him, you know, six more years, you know, yeah, yeah, uh, before he's off to do whatever he's gonna do.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so he really um wants to come back, but he also he was very bummed that we we did not get out of the UK.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted really to go to Paris as well, which at one point was part of our itinerary.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, but again, starting to think like, oh gosh, how exhausted are we going to be?
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: We ended up taking that off the itinerary to his sadness.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, the two big things we'd like to do over the next six years is is to take him kind of on a train ride around Europe and let him hit kind of the you know the traditional hot spots.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um Yeah, we did that with our daughter uh I think two years in a row when she was about I think 11 and 12, and then the next year she said, Don't don't do that again.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to go and sit on a beach somewhere.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, I know, and and that's where Heather and I are at right now.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're just you know, we're we're getting to the point where we just want to go back to England and and sit.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um and watch the world go by.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the other big thing is we'd we'd love to do a a Christmas trip.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: We've never, you know, we've never gone anywhere during Christmas other than you know, locally and whether it's York or someplace else that, yeah, not necessarily London.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we want to be in London during Christmas, but maybe York and hit London for a day.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: But we're thinking Christmas next next year, Christmas 2024.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're hoping 20 we're hoping to get over uh both of us at the end of the year for Christmas.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: I actually I love London at Christmas.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's probably my favorite time to be in London, but yeah, it it is very busy, but it's just magical.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: And this year, when you saw well, last year, 2022, all the snow, I was like, oh, get me over to London.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: I actually looked at flights.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: Dude was like, look at flights, and I was like, how expensive.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, we're gonna wrap up this episode.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to say thank you so much, Rob, for coming on.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I just want to say to everybody who's listening that um I'm gonna ask Rob for some photographs from his trip, um, which he he gave me a photo on episode 18.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: We've got pictures of the kind of his trip around England and Scotland.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: So um we'll get some pictures of some of the fantastic places that Rob visited in London.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we'll also have links in the show notes for uh all the places that uh Rob mentioned uh in the episode.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um as always, so you can find that at uktravelplanning.com forward slash episode 28.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that just leaves me to say for for this week's episode.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much again, Rob, and happy UK travel planning to everybody.