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Best Things to Do in London: 10 Experiences Worth Adding to Your Itinerary · UK Travel Planning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracy Collins.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: In this podcast, 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.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Hi and welcome to episode 54 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me this week.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: It's great to have you here again.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I just want to say a huge thank you to those of you who are joining us on a weekly basis to listen to the podcast.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: We really appreciate it, and so this week I thought I would chat about my favorite experiences in London.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: As most of you will know if you've ever listened to the podcast before and if you haven't welcome to this episode I've spent the last three months in Europe.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Majority of the time has been in the UK 10 out of the 12 weeks in the UK and quite a significant amount of that time has been spent in London.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: So I thought I would talk about my favorite experiences of the last few months in London, because I've had some fantastic experiences, done some really amazing things which I'd not done before So some new things been on some fantastic tours and really had a really, really good time.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So I thought it would be a good opportunity to kind of talk through those things that I've really enjoyed and potentially maybe give you some inspiration for your own trip and things that maybe you hadn't thought about, that you might want to include in your own itinerary for London.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: So, without further ado, oh, i will just mention as well that these are in no particular order And I'm going to go through all 10, give you kind of a brief introduction, a brief kind of summary of what I did And hopefully at another point I will have more in-depth podcast about some of these experiences.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: But, as I say, i thought today would be a good chance to give you a bit of an introduction.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: And number 10 is I'm going to talk about a photo shoot in London, and I've actually been really happy and lucky enough to catch up with Dommie from Scaling Studio, who has done three photo shoots actually now for myself and Doug, in London.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: So after I've talked through the top 10 things, there is an interview with Dommie where we talk about the experience of having a photo shoot in London.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: So do stay tuned for that, because it was a brilliant catch up with her and say we really enjoyed having a chat.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: So, anyway, let's talk about the top experiences.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So my favourite over this last few months has been my visits to the Tower of London.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Now, i've been at the Tower of London many, many times.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Before This trip I was lucky enough to do the opening ceremony again, which I did last year when I was here.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I did that and I've managed to do that again this year And I absolutely love it because you get to go into the Tower of London early kind of VIP.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: You get to see the opening ceremony, so it's very special to get to go into the dual room first, so you know getting there before all the crowds arrive.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: But what I did recently in fact just about 10 days ago it was the first opportunity I had to go to the ceremony of the keys, which is the closing ceremony at the Tower of London.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Now that ceremony is being carried out now for around 700 years every single night.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: So there is a set routine of what happens during the ceremony of the keys, the actual closing of the Tower of London.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: I did this tour with walks same as the opening ceremony with two group walks.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: So thanks very much to Walks for inviting me to do this tour.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Now I'll tell you what was really special about it is this is a VIP experience.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: I have to tell you.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: We were met by a Yeoman order, so we met Matt, yeoman order Matt, who we spent.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: There's 14 of us.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: We spent one and a half hours in the company of Matt Yeoman order at the Tower of London and he showed us around.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: So we actually learned a lot of the history.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: He was able to tell us things and show us things that you can't do when you've got thousands of people wandering around the Tower of London.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I have never been to Tower of London where there was just me, 13 other people, any Yeoman order, Because by that point everybody had left.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: So it was just awesome.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: The Tower of London, it was amazing, absolutely fantastic.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: He also had the keys for the chapel.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: We were able to go.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: I cannot tell you how excited I was about this.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: We were able to go into the chapel.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: We're able to see everything in the chat, but Matt talked us through what we're looking at.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: So obviously you've got the final rest in pace of Anne Boleyn Just amazing.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I can't even go into it because it was just so fantastic.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: But believe me, if you get opportunity to attend the ceremony of the keys, do that.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I've got photographs up to that point.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: But when it comes to the ceremony of the keys, you cannot record, you cannot take photographs.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: It's really a unique event and your name actually gets put in a book at the Tower of London.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: So I will link to that.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: If you want to book that tour, it does get booked up very much in advance.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: It's not held over the winter.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I think the second of November is the last day that it's going to be held, that you can do the tour with walks.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: You can kind of try and book it yourself.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: I think it's £5 for just to regulate, just go in without having the tour.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: But honestly, if you get an opportunity, this is an experience like no other.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Second thing I want to talk about second favourite experience was I was able to spend some time at the V&A Museum in South Kenting.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Now I've been to many of the museums before in London.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: The V&A is my favourite.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: I have to say I'm late, i guess, to go into the V&A because it was not a museum that they explored before, but I'm absolutely in love with it, absolutely in love with it.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: So it was named the V&A in 1899 when a foundation stone was laid by Queen Victoria, and obviously it's called V&A Victorian Albert, so after Queen Victoria and her husband Albert.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Then it's a museum for art, design and performance, and so my favourite things to do if you go to V&A are cast courts, which has.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: It was kind of constructed and built in 1873.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: There's a couple of cast courts and it has copies of some of the world's most significant works of art, including reproductions of Michelangelo's, michelangelo's, david Chibet, these gates of paradise Just copies of art and architecture from around the world which was really popular in, obviously, the Victorian era, where people couldn't necessarily travel.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Go there, it's free, it's fantastic.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I could spend my life in the cast courts in particular.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: There's also that's the fashion through the ages You can go and have a look at if you're interested in.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Also got the cafe, which is very, very pretty I will put a picture in the show notes and the shop, the shop at the V&A is absolutely fantastic.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: So if you're going to go to the V&A, give yourself a good few hours.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, wonderful.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: And I said, there's obviously lots and lots of museums in London that you can visit, but that for me at the moment is absolutely my favourite, so I highly recommend it.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: So third favourite experience that you can have in London is to go somewhere to have a good view of London, because obviously you're walking around at all time, you don't necessarily see it from up high.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: I have three favourites for this.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: So you've got the Sky Garden, which is free, the London Eye or the Shard.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: So the Shard, unfortunately this time I did have booked for the view from the Shard But because I think that I don't know, the cancelled that So I wasn't able to go that.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: I have been up the Shard before.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: So you get a great view.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Sky Garden, you get a fantastic view, tower of London, tower Bridge, which again you get from the Shard, i guess.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Look in the opposite direction, because on the opposite sides of the Thames And then the London Eye, which I can happily go on the London Eye every time I'm in London, fantastic.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Again, people will say to me oh, i prefer this or I prefer the other.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: So I just want to actually say to you you get different views.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: The Sky Garden and the Shard, you get views, as say, of Tower of London, tower Bridge.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: If you go on the London Eye, you get views all the way down the Thames.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: You get Westminster, big Bend, fantastic views.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: So if you have the opportunity I'd recommend booking one of those.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: So, say, the Sky Garden is free, but you have to book that in advance Because they're very popular slots for that And the London Eye and the Shard are kind of paid.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: So another Shard you can get through.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: You can kind of book that through the website And also the London Eye I've got I'll put some links to where you can book for the London Eye.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: So that's my third.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Fourth one is Changing of the Guard.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Now, the last time I'd done the Changing of the Guard I think I was quite young, so it was really good fun to go to see the Changing of the Guard Again.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Go to Westminster Barracks you can see there St James's Palace.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Go to the Hot Horse Guards and see the guards on the horses there, and obviously booking a palace.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: So I'd recommend doing that.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Book a tour again There's Walks to a Tour which includes the Changing of the Guard.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Or obviously find out if you want to do it independently.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: I've got a guide to that.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Also, find out if it's actually on the day that you want to do it, because it's not necessarily on every single day.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: My fifth favourite experience this time was to take a London bus.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Now there's three different ways you can take a London bus.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: One is you can take the regular London bus, any red London bus, and hop on and just take a ride through London that way.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Another way you can do, that is, you can take a hop on, hop off bus.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: So this time I decided to try the big bus.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I did the red route and the blue route.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I have to say I found the red route much faster.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: I went through central, from Big Ben round London Eye, round to Tower Bridge and then back round via St Paul, so that was quite a good circuit and we weren't stuck in traffic that way, so I actually enjoyed that.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: The blue route was a bit longer and we did get stuck a bit in traffic, so we hopped off partway along the route.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: But I would recommend it though, because one of the good things about one of those hop on, hop off buses is actually that you can hop on and hop off where you want.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: It's a good way to orientate yourself.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: If you're new to London and you're not sure where everything is, you'll actually see that you do the red route, that things aren't too far apart.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Obviously, the blue route will take you to places like Kensington, so a little bit further afield.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: And the third type of bus that I did this time was I did Bridget's Bakery Bus, which was really good fun.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I did that with my friend Tracy, also called Tracy a big shout out to Tracy And we did afternoon tea in the Bridget's Bakery Bus, had a tour around London.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Thoroughly enjoyed that.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: That was a lot of fun.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I'd recommend, if you fancy having an afternoon tea in a different environment, go Bridget's Bakery Bus, do the tour around London while you're enjoying your cake and your sandwiches and your cup of tea.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: So that was really good fun, right, okay, the sixth favourite activity or experience I had in London recently There's something I always do when I'm in London, to be honest is I love to take a ride on the Thames.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: So whether you take an Uber boat down to Greenwich or whether you just whether you book a cruise down the Thames, i'd highly recommend it.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: It's just a wonderful way to get away from kind of the craziness of the streets and just kind of chill out as you sail down the Thames and you get a different view of London because you've got the Bridges, you've got the architecture from, you're seeing from the Thames.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: So I'd recommend doing that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: So my favourite is probably go from Westminster to Dantley Greenwich Pier, get off at Greenwich, have a wander around Greenwich and then jump back on either Uber or take a cruise.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: There's certainly lots of options And, like I say, for the hop on and hop off buses and for the cruisers, i have got articles which kind of compare the different ones so you can see what would suit you.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: But, as I say, definitely great ways to get around London and to give you kind of a different perspective.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: So my seventh favourite experience this time was food tours.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I went on, i was very lucky to go on a few food tours.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: The first one I did was a Pints and Pubs tour which was visiting historic pubs around the city of London Excellent tour again.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: This is another walk through.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: It was absolutely fantastic.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I loved it.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: You get, as well as trying different, finding out about all these historic pubs that I didn't, some of them honestly go down like a little alleyway and there's this pub that's been there since 13 something And you'll find out famous people that drank in that pub as well.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: You get to try some of the different beers and also the food which I thought was great.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: So you think have things like pork pie or sausage roll, but my absolute favourite, i have to tell you, was the Scotch egg, which was, i think, the third or fourth pub that we went to.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: We all agreed the English people who were on the tour.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It was the best Scotch egg that we had ever tasted.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: So if you want to try some traditional English food and you really want to try some of these pubs, want to find out where some of these is, start because I'm not going to tell you where these pubs are you have to go on the tour.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, i'll put some photos in the show notes so you can have a look at some of these pubs.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Brilliant, but really, really good too.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: And the second food tour that I did this time was a tour of Borough Market.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Wow, wow, again It.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: You know Borough Market.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I've been to numerous times before and I have got a couple of my favorite places to go to there, but it was really good to sample quite a few different dishes.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: So, obviously, we had some fish and chips, i had oyster, we had sausage roll, we had The humble crumble, which was the best crumble I've ever had in my life, and it was very, very Instagram worthy, i have to tell you.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, again, as I say, there will be photos of this in the show notes.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry that I can't show you over a podcast, but, believe me, the food was amazing and also we learned a lot of the history of that area as well, which was something that I I wasn't as aware of as I really should have been, but that was good and around so that So that Cathedral and some other kind of historic Information about that area is a clink prison, so you learn all about that on the tour as well.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: So that was really really enjoyable.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: So my eighth favorite experience this trip was actually some of the things that I hadn't done before, Because obviously I've lived in London before and I've traveled to London numerous times, but there's so much to do in London that actually some things may.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: We got moved down the list, so I was very happy when I got an invite To pay for a tour wasn't a free pay for a tour of Buckingham Palace.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: So in April I had a tour along with about I think there was about 15 of us on that tour Of Buckingham Palace, which was fantastic Friday afternoon It was Friday afternoon, sat afternoon We had an excellent guide and we saw these rooms that I'd just seen on television before, which it was great.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: It was really good, a really interesting, and so I'd highly recommend, if you get the opportunity to do a tour of Buckingham Palace say.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: That was a small.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like somewhat open and where there'll be lots and lots of thousands of people descend, and it was actually a small group tour.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: It was quite pricey, i'm not gonna lie.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: It was quite expensive, so I did think twice, but again It was.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: It was really interesting and, yeah, really good experience.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I've also visited the Royal Muse and that was just before the coronation, so I got to see they were preparing the different carriages, so that was interesting.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: I Also visited Westminster Abbey and managed to go to the, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee galleries, which You have to pay extra for, but I'd highly recommend that you do.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: You can't take photographs up there, but really, really interesting.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna tell you what you can see up there, but I'd highly recommend, if you go into Westminster Abbey, do a tour always.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: I always do a tour because you're gonna learn a far more than you would if you don't.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Or you just got the earphones in and go up to the.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Pay extra for the, the Diamond Jubilee galleries, because highly, highly recommend it.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: And then the other new thing that I got to do This time actually was because I had a London pass.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I Decided to do the Tower Bridge experience.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: So that was really interesting because obviously I've seen Tower Bridge my entire life but I've never climbed up it.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: So you get to go up to the top of Tower Bridge, you get to walk over this glass Ceiling and see all the cars below you.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: So if you're not too keen on heights, maybe don't don't walk on that glass ceiling because it is a bit Disconcerting to start with.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: But I took some really great videos and we're walking over it.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: So I recommend doing that so you can actually find out about the history of Of Tower Bridge and how it was built.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: That was a really interesting experience.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: My ninth Favorite experience I say these are not in any particular order was a day trip, actually from London.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: So I do recommend, if you're in London, consider a day trip if you've got time.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: There's lots of, lots of different places that you can go to from London.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: But my favorite and this last few months and I know I talked about it And a podcast when I talked about the first sort of three weeks my trip was a day trip with John England tours And we went to Hever Castle and item mode.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: So that was a full day tour with John and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed that.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: It was really really good.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: I learned a lot about the history.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I learned a lot about those buildings and about the castle and about about You know and blame and her connection to Hever Castle item was excellent.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: It was just really really good.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: If you got interested in medieval history And John made it really really interesting.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: So, honestly, if you are in London, you're planning to visit London, you have an interest in history.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: I want to learn more about English history, then absolutely I highly recommend contacting John England Of John England tours and and booking a time with them so that you can go and learn a little bit more About English history.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: So now I often talk to a lot of Americans who are coming over to the UK.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: You know, if, if you're coming from from America and you're listening to this and you think, and actually, no, i want to listen, i want to learn a little bit more about about English history.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I am interested in the Tudors, i'm interested in medieval history.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Then on John England tours is the tour to do In Southeast England and Kent.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: So you can actually listen to John as well at episodes 41, 19 and episode 6.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: So got plenty of episodes where John's been on the podcast to talk about his tours, so I'd highly recommend that.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: That leads me to number 10 of my favorite experiences and that is my photo shoot with Dommy of Scaling's studio.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: So I was very lucky on this trip in that in April I had a photo shoot with Dommy in Notting Hill and had probably one of my favorite photos I've ever had taken just a notting hill is a beautiful, beautiful area for that.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: And and then in Recently, a couple weeks ago, when Doug was here, we had a photo shoot together in Westminster, which is great.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, what more iconic place can you have a photo shoot in London?
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: So we've got some fantastic photos with Big Ben in the background.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: We've got some lovely ones at a red telephone box.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: We've got some with Westminster Abbey.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: So what a wonderful way, to you know, for us to remember our trip.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: So you know we enjoy the travel, but it's just amazing to look at the memories that we're going to have of this trip.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: So thank you very much, dommie from Scaling Studio.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: And actually the next part of the podcast I'm actually going to talk to Dommie so you can find out all about how you can put your own photo shoot in London.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: So, as I said, for my top 10 experiences in London, one of those is to have a photo shoot, and so today I've managed to get Dommie, who is our preferred partner for UK travel planning, to come and talk to us, to add that bit to the podcast, for a little bit more information about why it is so special and why it is one of the best experiences that you can have in London.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: So, dommie, would you like to introduce yourself?
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: Of course.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: So thank you for having me for your podcast.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: My name is Dommie and I am holiday photographer in London, so I take care of people who are visiting London.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: So I'm physical here with you and I'm taking pictures of you.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: So I show you the best spot where to go from family photo shoot or for couple photo shoot or for even solo, and then I show you everything and take photos and we have so much fun.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: So you have someone here who cannot be your insta friend And if you have any question and, for example, something happened and you need someone friend that you can trust, i am here and I can help you.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and for me, for Doug personally, obviously.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: We've done three photo shoots with you now.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: So Doug and I had one last year around the Tower of London, which was fantastic.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: And then I was very, very lucky and very spoiled And I felt amazing that I had a photo shoot with you in Notting Hill which is an area of London that I absolutely love in April when it was a little bit cooler, and I've had some fantastic feedback about those photographs, which is just so lovely, because I'm not necessarily a confident person in front of the camera, but you do an amazing job.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: And then just last week, doug and I had a photo shoot with you in Westminster.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: So for us it's really special to have that, because we can remember those experiences and we have the photographs now.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to get some of those put up in our apartment And I guess that's the sort of feedback you get from people coming to.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: London.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, and usually it's happening.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: This early time is like the feedback I'm getting is like before there is someone booked me, or when they booked there is like oh don't me, but I don't know how to pause.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: I'm not feeling comfortable with this on the front of the camera, but that's, you have rights to feel like that.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: And you have rights to feel like that because, like, you know me from the screen, you don't know me when we met, and then just give me like around 10, 15 minutes every time when we go to the next spot, next spot, i'm going to guide you Absolutely.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: After like 10, 15 minutes, you start feeling so much more comfortable.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Just really comfortable doing it.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: And I mean I've seen the difference with the three photo shoots, so how much more confident was there?
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: on the third one, walking through, you know, a Westminster, it was like it was me, you know, and even when we're not in Hill I was far more confident.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, because you feel you make me feel at ease, you make the dog feel at ease, and that's certainly the feedback that from you know people on the Facebook group of email and then they said, oh, we've loved our photoshoot with Domi because not only do we get lovely photographs at the end and fantastic memories, but she makes it such a lovely process and we really enjoy it.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: And obviously you know the best places to take the photos as well, don't you?
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a photographer in London for like almost six years now, so I get my time to learn all the best places and as well, like, i'm always asking you, because the photo shoot is not for me, it's for you.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: So I'm always asking the client, my clients, my guests where would you like to take pictures?
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: if you have any special requests, for example, your first time in London, so probably you want to go Big Bend, yes, yes, how a bridge.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: And then so yeah, i was double checked with the clients who like, oh, do you have any special requests where you want to take pictures?
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: Which kind of photo shoot?
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Who is going to join for the photo shoot?
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: For example, like small babies we might find different location for, like older teenagers We can find different locations.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, i always try to accommodate everyone.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: Absolutely Depends on the small babies to others.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: So everyone is welcome to our session.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: And also I want to say, because in the last session that we did, i actually changed dresses.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: So and that was something I was I'd spoken to Tommy about, i'd spoken to him and said, well, i want to change outfit.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: And I was a bit like, where am I going to go to get changed?
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: But you know, the best place is to go and get changed.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: And I was able to easily go quickly into a coffee shop which you knew and get changed, come out and then do the second half of the photo shoot in a different outfit.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: So this is like when we have photo shoots for like one and a half hour, two hours or three hours, like I don't really want you to have the same outfits for that time, because I want people to.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: When you post pictures on your social media, i want you to be oh, you have a photo shoot this day, this is the way this day, and we just did everything during one day.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: So I want you to change the outfits So it gives different vibe and different like look.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: So that's why I always suggest you like OK, we can bring more outfits and then we can go and change some coffee shop, restaurant, hotels I know the places where it's OK to do that And so if you have any like special requests and you want to change the outfit, just let me know how many outfits you have And then when I plan the photo shoot, i also OK, this is like you want to change here and here and here.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: I was like OK, so we can go there and there and there.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: So I organize everything like this small details, so you don't really have to worry about anything.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And that's it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: And then, obviously afterwards, when we've done the photo shoot, then you send us the pictures to choose from.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: So we chose, and that's how it goes.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: You kind of choose the pictures that you like.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: So it depends on the package, like because I have so many different packages.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Some people like they would only know editing, for example, they have they know how to edit, or they have special like way of editing.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: So I don't mind and send you all everything not editing photos in the high resolution, and I send this with 24 hours.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Ok, if someone wants to like dummy, i am on vacation.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: I don't want to bother myself with choosing which kind of photos I want to edit, just choose for me.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: So then I as well take care of this, i choose the pictures, which one to edit, and I send with one week, yeah yeah, and then, and then, obviously those images are good enough resolution that you can make them and to blow them up, and because I'm going to do that when I get back to Australia.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: So some of the pictures that I want to get made bigger because it's so nice and lovely.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's also you have to be careful for that because some of the printer they are more like worse quality The photo is.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: You can do, yeah, but you have to just make sure like the printer, the company where you're going to print the pictures, they provide the like good quality, because my photos, like I provide from my side, but just make sure like the company where you're going also provide the high quality.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: OK, yeah, that's good to know.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: So anybody coming to London, obviously I recommend say, one of the top experiences that you can have with your London is to have a photo shoot with dummy.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: It just is a fantastic way to you know, immortalize your memories, isn't it?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: You know you can look back on that trip that you've had with.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: It was a trip of a lifetime to London.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: You've got, they've got the memories and you can, you can, look at those for years to come.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: So how do people go about booking with you, domi?
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: And so you can go to my website, studiocom.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: We're going to add this link later and then you can choose.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: I have so many packages.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: I have packages for one person, for couple, for family, for the shoot.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: You choose package.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: Which one is going to suit you the best.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: Choose the day, choose the hour, and then you can make the booking.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: And also I have two options of payments So you can pay deposit now and later.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: When is the meeting for the show time, that we pay the rest, so you can pay everything automatically.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: You don't have to bring the cash and as well, we have a gift for absolutely.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, we do special offer for those Those of you following the podcast or in our Facebook group.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: So if you're listening to this podcast and not a member of the Facebook group, i would pop over, because you never know what's going to come up in the Facebook group as well.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: But it's a special offer.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: So you give 10 extra images, that's correct, and then 10% discount as well.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Is that offer?
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Is that got a deadline on that offer for 10% off?
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Tommy, yes, so for you the deadline will be like general deadline is still June and of the June, but because of you and our great corporation, i will be very happy to offer for your followers, for your clients and the end of September.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, excellent, so 30th of September.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: Excellent.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: So that'll be 10% off, as well as the 10 extra images.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: So you know you need to get your book with Tommy and have your photos taken when you're in London, and I will put a link to Tommy's website on the show notes for this episode with everything else we've kind of talked about in the episode, but specifically that you can actually pop over to have a look at what Tommy offers, and on the website there's some excellent photographs of people that she's taken, not just me and Doug, but also a lot of the other kinds of families, couples.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I know you've done some wedding proposals as well, haven't you?
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, that's my favorite one Because people who are coming, the clients I have, they are very positive vibe because they are on holiday.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: This is the first time.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: It's like a big trip for many People.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: For example, for you will be a big trip to London.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: I like the people that are coming with the positive vibe.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: I showed the big when they're like, oh my God, there's a long big band And as well.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: I have so many people who like the woman they always dreamed to be proposed in London.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: So I contact the gentleman or the lady and then we organize everything and then we do the surprise pose as well And it's so exciting and a little bit stressful.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: He's going to say, yes, but I really like it And that's good, and everybody said yes.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: So far.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: At the moment we are thinking good things.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: That's good.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Personally, I have no idea what to do if someone says no.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I'm sure they won't, I'm sure it'll always go really well.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: So if you're thinking about doing a proposal, then you can contact Dommie and she'll organize all of that with you when you're in London.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: And we all want to see the photos as well, because it'd be amazing.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: But yeah, is there anything else you want to share with us today, Dommie?
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: I know we have got a previous podcast as well episode where I chat to you about kind of everything behind the scenes and how long you've been in London and how you set up the business, which is really interesting, And I'm very keen I always say as well to support a local business, a female run business as well.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: I'm really, really keen, And this lady works extremely hard, really really hard, and has set up an excellent business in London.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: So this is the person you want if you want to have a photo taken in London, a photo shoot.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, thank you so much And as well.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: What did you just say?
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: Like this is great, super, when you're coming to London and come by so many, plenty of stuff, like small stuff put on your room or something.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: But I think picture is so magical because you touch the moment of now, when the children are small and they're teenagers, or when you're like just get married with your partner.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: And the thing is so magical when you're like back to the picture for next, like 20 or 30 years, and your children might say, like thank you for doing this, thank you for organizing this.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: So it's more than just a picture, it's like memories for forever.
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: So I highly recommend it to do everyone, because this moment maybe you'll be not back to London anymore or you know something, you're going to change your plans and go to another part of the world.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: Your children they're not going to be any more like two or three years old.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: So I think it's such a great idea to always, when you travel, to capture the moments of your holidays and treat this like the best souvenir.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Absolutely Yeah.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: thanks so much, Domi, for coming on the podcast again.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: It's great to talk to you.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Thank you, bye, bye.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me for episode 54 of the UK Travel and Planning podcast.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: You can find links to all the experiences that I talked about in this episode at uktravelplanetcom.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Forward slash episode 54.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Also, please check out our new London Travel and Planning website too, for further ideas, inspiration and practical tips.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: That's at londontravelplanetcom.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: If you've enjoyed this episode, please consider, you know, supporting us via the tip, your guide button on our website, or perhaps becoming a monthly sponsor of our podcast, just like Danielle Nowotny who just did this this week.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, danielle.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: We really appreciate your support.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: And if that just leaves me to say for this week, as usual, happy UK Travel Planning.