Hager’s European Vacation 2018 | Exploring London

Our European vacation was a last minute decision with us booking our flights about 4 weeks before it was time to take off. My husband and I realized the kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off school. I knew right away that meant we should go somewhere and of course my parents were on board as well. We started looking at flights from Portland, thinking we would go maybe to Hawaii. When we found that flights were cheaper to European, we started planning our trip right away. At the time, our kids were 14, 13, 12, and 10. They are very experienced travelers and were so excited for their first trip to Europe!

Our first stop on our European vacation was London. Our flights while long, were very smooth. The kids did great but of course no one really slept on the plane. We arrived in London at 9am. We went to the hotel and dropped off our bags. We were quite loopy and tired but our time in London was pretty short. We jumped right into exploring.

LONDON | EUROPEAN VACATION DAY ONE

Our first stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral. We walked through the beautiful church and the kids were in awe. It is huge! After that we headed to the Tower of London. When I was in high school I went to London, and this was one of my favorite places. I knew the kids would think it was so amazing and I was right. My kids couldn’t believe how old everything was and that it was a real fortress. We explored the Tower of London and then took some photos of Tower Bridge. After that we headed back to the hotel and crashed.

LONDON | EUROPEAN VACATION DAY TWO

Today was our only full day in London. We had to really push ourselves to get moving in the morning, but everyone was very excited for a full day of exploring. Our first stop Westminster Abbey. We took the tube to get there and the kids were surprised how much cleaner the subway was than the subway in New York City. Westminster Abbey is so beautiful. We walked through the church and the grounds. After that we headed to Buckingham Palace and to watch the Changing of the Guard. We arrived a little late so we didn’t have the greatest spot to watch, but it was still really amazing!

On the top of my parents must-do list in London was for us all to have High Tea. We choose to have high tea at The Ruben’s Hotel. The tea room was gorgeous and the food was abundant and so delicious. The kids were so amazed by the whole affair. And it for sure one of the funniest moments of the whole trip. Watching my boys try to drink tea as sophisticated as possible was so funny. The comments from my 10 year old had us dying. I highly recommend high tea with your children, no matter the age. We will always remember these 2 hours!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walk around the city. We explored Harrod’s. Wow, that is a huge store. The big boys were even able to find something very special, Off-White Shoes and Shirt. My daughter found a gorgeous floral shop to put her pointe shoes on for some photos. The decor was so over the top and so beautiful. Several streets in London were decorated for Christmas and there were light displays everywhere. It was so beautiful! After dinner, we went to see School of Rock and we all loved it so much. Those kids are so talented! It was a full day for sure.

LONDON | EUROPEAN VACATION DAY 3

We only had a few hours in the morning to explore before we hopped on the Eurostar and headed to Paris. We choose to go to Notting Hill for breakfast and to explore Portobello Road for a little bit. The shops and vendors went on forever. It was such a cool neighborhood. I would have loved to explore longer. Then we got on the train to Paris and the kids passed out!