Our 72-hour Stopover in London: Letting the Kids Take the Wheel

This is the next installment in a series of posts on my recent trip to Europe. See my previous posts: Back from another  family reunion: galloping through Europe and driving my husband crazy , 24 hours in NYC with kids (plus review of Hyatt Place New York Midtown-South) , Our JFK-BRU economy flight on Brussels Airlines: Ok, not great , Our two nights in enchanting city of Bruges, plus day trip to Dunkirk , Cash vs. points: Choosing between hotel Die Swaene and Crowne Plaza Brugge , Polish mountain town of Zakopane: Postcard views and affordable prices and Comparing Ryanair to Wizz Air during our recent trip to Europe

First things first. No, we didn’t let our kids drive in London, I was speaking metaphorically. Anyway, as a regular mom trying hard not to raise spoiled brats, I’m used to saying No to my kids. A lot.  Can we buy a bigger house? Nope. Can we please buy annual passes to Disney every year? That’s a no from me, dawg.

But there are times I’m happy to say Yes, and planning a stopover in London was one of those times. This was a request from my son who really wanted to stop in London two years ago, during our trip to visit my relatives. We ended up going to Paris (my daughter’s request), mainly because the flight schedule was better. But I made a promise to my son to include a London stopover the next time we were in Europe, and I kept my word.

This actually worked out quite well, since we were able to fly from Europe to Tampa nonstop, a rare treat. Other than that, I wasn’t super excited about adding London. My husband and I did visit it two decades ago and to be honest, I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. It’s just not a place I was eager to return to, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to let my kids plan the itinerary.

We had three nights/two full days in London, and I wanted to block off one morning to visit our friends in Essex. Since London was my son’s idea, he got to pick two activities, and to make things fair, I told my daughter she could pick one activity as well. That would completely fill up our time in London and to be honest, I was nervous that this super fast pace would drive everyone crazy.

It didn’t help that London would be our last stop during the trip, and I knew we would be dead tired by then and ready to go home. However, I’m happy to report that everything worked out perfectly, which rarely happens. It took a lot of planning, of course, and there were a few minor hiccups. For example, our flight from Krakow was delayed, and then we were stuck in immigration line for an hour. As a  result, we got to our hotel at 10:30 pm, completely exhausted. But we all got decent sleep and by morning we were ready to explore this exciting city.

Review of Comfort Inn Victoria 

I used Choice points  to book Comfort Inn Victoria The cost was 30k points per night/per room, and we booked two rooms. The points were obtained from sign-up bonuses on two co-branded Choice credit cards with $95 annual fee (non-affiliate link). Right now the offer is down, but keep an eye on it since it’s periodically raised to 90k points.

In short, I could not be happier with my  choice of hotel, pun intended. The location of this property was just about ideal. You can walk to/from Victoria station, which is very convenient for those taking Gatwick Express train from the airport. Also, our bus tour to Stonehenge left from Victoria bus station, and we were able to walk there as well.

Despite the proximity to a major train station, the hotel is located in a  nice neighborhood and the area feels very safe. There is even a pub next door, though we sadly didn’t have time to partake.

  The lobby was quite small, but cosy:

The rooms are very small too, but again, sufficient as long as you only have two people. My husband and daughter took the room with two double beds which could technically fit all of us. But there is no way I would attempt that, as we would be on top of each other. My son and I got what the hotel defines as a one-bedroom suite. Hmm..

 

In reality, it’s just a slightly bigger room with one double bed and a sleeper chair, no partition of any kind. Those crazy Brits.

 

The bathroom was tiny, but very clean:

There was a kettle (tea bags and coffee included) and free bottles of water:

One important amenity the room didn’t have was a fridge. Also, there was no ice machine in the hotel either. It wasn’t a deal breaker for us, but may be for some folks.

The view from the room:

The curtains kept the room dark and the A/C worked very well. As a result, we got very good sleep, which was the main purpose of the hotel on this particular trip. For that reason, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Ignore terrible reviews on Trip Advisor, as most of them were written before the hotel was remodeled. Don’t get me wrong, it is definitely a basic property, but it delivers where it counts.

The location to me is the biggest selling point of all. One issue is the fact that you can only reserve it on points 100 days before your stay. Here is a trick for you: reserve the rooms you want via refundable rate in advance, and then cancel and rebook them on points later. Of course, there is always a chance that Choice program will jack up the award rates, so there is some risk involved. But we can’t have everything, can we? Right now this hotel is a relative bargain, especially if Victoria station neighborhood is convenient in regards to your sightseeing plans. Renting an apartment with A/C would cost us $1,500 for three nights, so I’m not complaining.

There was a very pleasant surprise during check-in: turns out our breakfast was included in award rate. My confirmation page didn’t indicate that, and normally breakfast buffet costs around $17 extra per person, which isn’t bad for London. And honestly, I made peace with the fact that we would pay it because our schedule was very tight and there was no time to look for food in the morning. So naturally, I was quite happy not to shell out extra money.

The breakfast wasn’t anything special, but was good enough. Fresh pancakes, cereal, yogurt,  pastries, fresh fruit, juices, coffee and so on.

No complaints

The front desk clerks were all very friendly, and I had no issues leaving a bag of our dirty clothes to be picked up by one of London laundry services. Super convenient, and a huge time saver. I give this hotel thumbs up, way up (as long as you don’t need luxury or fridge).

 

What we did in and around London

1) Private Doctor Who walking tour

This was my son’s number one request.  At the time of booking, the price was $180 for the whole group, but looks like it has gone up to $198. There is a Doctor Who group tour that costs  $22 per person, but it’s only offered on Sundays. It didn’t fit our schedule, otherwise I would opt for it to save cash.

That said, I could not recommend our private tour highly enough. This was the absolute highlight of our stay in London, and I’m not even that big of  a “Doctor Who” fan. Our guide Dewey was so much fun, and really went out of his way to make it enjoyable for the whole family. His enthusiasm for London and “Doctor Who” things in particular  was infectious. I forgot to ask permission to include his photo on the blog, but here is a screenshot of Dewey from Viator.com:

First he took us on a tube ride and told the history of one of the oldest stations in London.  

We then went to Earl’s Court to get  a photo of our kids in a police box that represents Tardis in the “Doctor Who” series.

BTW, while the tour has a “Doctor Who” slant,  it’s really an excursion of London. As a  result, you get to see all the famous landmarks:

Big Ben

London Eye

We were super fortunate to have good weather during our stay in London

When I asked Dewey to add a ride aboard a double decker bus for the kids, he not only delivered, but found one of the oldest buses still in service. So cool!

At the end of the tour he found us a black cab, which was a neat (if a bit pricey) way to get back to our hotel. But when in London… The friendly cab driver told us a lot of interesting facts during our ride, so it was totally worth the $50 fee.

Overall, I can’t say enough good things about this Doctor Who tour, and if you decide to take it, ask for Dewey. You won’t regret it! My son said it was the coolest travel experience he ever had in his life, so far.

2) An afternoon day trip to Stonehenge 

We did this excursion right after our Doctor Who tour. We only had time to briefly stop at our hotel to use a bathroom and grab a few snacks for the long bus ride. Fortunately, as I’ve said earlier, the starting point for our  tour bus to  Stonehenge. was located only few minutes from Comfort Inn Victoria. I was very glad my son asked me to add it, as I was actually quite excited to see this famous landmark myself. The cost was $83 per person, but Capital One cash back+Amex discount made the price a bit more palatable. The fee included the entry ticket, so it’s quite a good value IMO.

The tour took close to 7 hours, and we were back in London around 8 pm. It’s 2.5 hours each way to Stonehenge from Victoria bus station, so we had around 2 hours to get dinner and do sightseeing. My husband took advantage of the long bus ride to get his customary daily nap.

Stonehenge is a place many tourists find disappointing, but I found it fascinating. It helps to read up on it and watch YouTube videos on various theories of its intended purpose ahead of time.  Otherwise, it looks like a bunch of big rocks.

But obviously, these aren’t just rocks that happen to be 5,000 years old, but a marvel of engineering. The site likely served as an astronomical observatory and a burial place. A new study also suggests that The Stonehenge was built to amplify sound during ancient ruling-class rituals. 

What’s equally fascinating is the fact that according to DNA research, its builders vanished shortly after the site was erected, and a recent theory claims that  early strain of black plague was responsible. It’s possible it was brought to the British isles by Yamnaya culture, but nobody knows for sure. At any rate, Stonehenege is so much more than a pile of big rocks.

There are ultra-expensive tours that allow you to walk right next to the giant stones, but it wasn’t in our budget. I honestly feel like generic-access  tours are good enough unless you are looking for bragging rights.

You have to walk about a mile to the actual site (or take a shuttle) from the tourist center that has bathrooms, a gift shop and a few places to dine. This is actually a good idea, as it keeps the area right next to Stonehenge unspoiled. I would hate to see it turn into an amusement park.

If you have extra time in London, I highly recommend including Stonehenge to your itinerary. It’s one of the “greats” of the ancient world.

3) The Who Shop and museum 

Originally, I told my son we would not be able to go there, since The Who Shop is located quite far from the central London. But  I’ve changed my  mind and decided to add it after all. It was on our way back from Essex, so additional cost/time investment  would be minimal. It was a surprise, and my son had no idea that we would be going there after visiting our friends.

When the taxi dropped us off near the shop, a double decker bus was blocking the entrance.  My son was a bit grumpy when he got out of the car and said he just wanted to go back to the hotel. I told him to wait  a  bit, and then the bus moved and revealed our surprise.

You should have seen my son’s face. Talk about turning the frown upside down. I just wish I recorded his reaction on video. The museum portion is only open on certain days and you have to reserve a 25-minute time slot  via email or phone call. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos inside. The museum has quite a few Doctor Who props and costumes that the owner bought during various auctions.

It is a neat place, but I’m not sure it’s worth a long tube ride from central London unless you are a hardcore Doctor Who fan. It was definitely worth it for my son  and fortunately, it was on our way back from Essex, so I just had to add this stop. We bought him a lot of junk here, like this $65 Statue of Liberty, inspired by “Weeping Angels” episode. It’s now my son’s  prized possession, and he still hasn’t removed it from the package months later.

My daughter got this overpriced backpack that looks like Tardis police box:

Unlike my son, she is definitely using her souvenir

4) Going to His Majesty theater to see “Phantom of the opera”

This was my daughter’s pick, and she loved every minute of the performance. NYC Broadway run of the show has ended, but you could still catch a live performance in certain cities in Europe this summer. Personally, I would choose British Museum, but a deal is deal. We were actually 10 minutes late due to crazy traffic, but the attendant quietly ushered us to our seats, and for that I was grateful.

This is such a cool theater, very “old world”-esque. Of course, it means no A/C and very few bathrooms. But just look at the decor:

I bought the cheapest available seats ($65 per person), but surprisingly, we still had a very good view of the stage. To be honest, I wasn’t super excited by my daughter’s pick, as I’ve already seen The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, but I really enjoyed it. And she absolutely loved every minute of it, which was the goal.

Final thoughts

This stop was added primarily for my son, but everyone in the family ended up having a great time. To me it was a reminder to keep an open mind and positive attitude when it comes to travel. London is most definitely not a cheap place to visit, but by using hotel points like we did, you can  take the sting out of high costs. Keeping the visit brief and running around like lunatics (guilty!) also helps.

I have to give my kids a lot of credit, they did a fantastic job planning our London itinerary. I’m too much of a control freak to let them do this every time we go somewhere, but I’m much more open to let them take the wheel now and again.

For one, it encourages them to do research on the destination and filter activities down to what interests them the most. Fortunately, London truly has something for everyone, and next time I’m absolutely including British Museum. Oh yes, there will be next time.

P.S. I wanted to include a plug for my fellow Belarusian travel content creator, who had to flee from my home country due to political repressions. Him and his family (wife, two kids and a giant dog) have been driving around Europe and posting amazing videos on YouTube. Here is one on London. It’s in Russian, but you can use English subtitles. Enjoy!