May 13, 2025 • 45 mins
Nathan shares his experiences from a March 2025 trip to London with his wife Sara, where they celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and rediscovered the city after nearly two decades since their last visit.
• Dealing with unexpected travel disruptions when airport worker strikes in Germany shortened their London stay from five to three days
• Using the Discover Real London Black Cab Tour to explore hidden corners of the city with knowledgeable driver Matt
• Staying at the Conrad London St James, perfectly located across from St James's Park Tube Station
• Experiencing the ease of London's public transportation system with contactless payments
• Taking a day trip to Windsor Castle with time to explore Eton
• Enjoying memorable meals at The Guinea Grill, Borough Market, and historic pubs like The Grenadier
• Finding March to be an ideal time to visit London with fewer crowds and reasonable prices
• Embracing a slower travel pace by wandering neighbourhoods and saving major attractions for future visits
• Arranging airport transfers with XFA Cars for stress-free arrival after a long flight
If you're planning a trip to London, don't overpack your schedule. Take time to wander, look up at the architecture, and immerse yourself in each neighborhood. London rewards those who slow down and leave something for next time.
⭐️ Guest - Nathan Pickle
📝 Show Notes - Episode 149
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #138 - Explore London with Discover Real London Black Cab Tours
- Episode #134 - Expert insights on London Airport transfers and beyond with Riz of XFA Cars
- Episode #127 - London Trip Report with Melissa Jones
Need help planning your trip? Book your personalised itinerary consultation with Tracy and Doug Collins – UK travel planning experts – for tailored advice based on your travel style, interests, and timeframe. Book your consultation here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Join us for episode 149 of the UK Travel Planning
Podcast and our first tripreport of 2025.
Discover guest Nathan's topfive London experiences, top tip
for visitors, plus what he didwhere he stayed, and more during
his and wife Sarah's March tripto London.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracy Collins.
In this podcast, tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
(00:38):
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hi and welcome to another episode of the UK Travel
Planner Podcast.
As you will have learnt fromthe short intro, we have our
first trip report for 2025.
Doug and I helped Nathan planhis trip to London a few months
ago in the itinerary consult andwe were really delighted when
he agreed to come on the podcastand do a trip report when he
(01:19):
arrived back in the US.
So, without further ado, I'mgoing to just let Nathan take
the floor and explain about histrip.
So I started off, as always, byasking Nathan to introduce
himself and give a little bitabout his background, who he
traveled with and kind of thereasons for his trip to London.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yes, hi, my name is Nathan Pickle.
I am 51 years old.
I am married to my wife.
His name is Sarah.
We have boy-girl twins, williamand Caroline, that are almost
17.
We live outside of San Antonio,texas.
And, yeah, I work in thedigital health and wellness
industry and, yeah, I cameacross the podcast.
(01:56):
I was researching a trip andthat's how I got connected with
Tracy and Doug and had awonderful consult that I'm sure
we're going to talk about in aminute.
So, yeah, so I'm happy to behere.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I'm so glad that you agreed to come on the podcast,
nathan, and it was lovely whenwe met for the consult when you
said, oh, I love the podcast,I'm such a fan, because then
it's a really easy question forme to say well, you know what,
when you come back from yourtrip, would you love to do a
trip report?
So I'm so happy that you agreedto do it and it's lovely to
talk to you again.
Would you like to talk to us alittle bit about when did you go
(02:29):
to London?
And obviously I know you wentwith Sarah.
But if you want to just discussa little bit about what you
planned and I know thingschanged slightly so you had to
adjust things so do you want toexplain a little bit about what
went on?
For sure?
So do you want to explain a?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
little bit about what went on For sure.
So a little background.
So we are twins.
We knew this like way a longtime ago when they were in
kindergarten At their school.
They take a trip as juniors toItaly and Greece, okay.
And so the spring break oftheir junior year, and so we
kind of started thinking youknow what?
(03:06):
We haven't been to Europe in 19years.
Sarah and I used to live inHamburg, germany, for three
years, from 2002 to 2005.
And so we had traveled decentlyaround Europe before and a lot
to London.
I had some friends that livedthere and we just loved it, but
again, we haven't been back inalmost 20 years.
I always say, kind of kids gotin the way a little bit, but we
(03:30):
just said, oh, you know what,the twins are going to be gone,
let's take advantage of that andlet's go.
And so I think our goal andthen our goals for this trip
were kind of, I think, twofold.
Number one was to takeadvantage of the fact that you
know the twins were going to begone.
Let's go do something.
And the other part was is our20th wedding anniversary was on
(03:52):
March 12th.
It fell during that week.
We didn't realize this when wegot married that every year on
our anniversary is spring breakin America, and so we had, you
know, we never really, sarah andI never really did a whole lot
on our anniversary, other thanmaybe going to dinner, and so we
wanted to do something a littlemore special this time.
And then you know again, we, asyou alluded to, we had planned
(04:18):
to go to Hamburg, germany, first, because we have friends that
still live there it's a veryspecial place for us since we
live there and then after thatto go to London.
So that's kind of how I bookedthe trip is we left from Texas
to go to Hamburg, got there on aFriday.
We had originally planned toleave on Monday morning to go to
(04:40):
London and spend five nights inLondon, like five full days in
London.
Well, I get there and my friendpicks us up from our hotel in
Hamburg on Friday afternoon togo to his house to have dinner
with him and his wife and hiskids, and he tells me hey, I
don't know if you saw this ornot, but there's going to be a
strike, an airport worker strike, in Germany, all over Germany
(05:02):
on Monday.
And I'm like you got to bekidding me.
So I went ahead and calledLufthansa that's who had my
tickets through and theyrebooked me on Sunday.
So we were going to cut a dayshort in Hamburg, which was fine
, and it was going to give usanother day in London, which was
great.
So I extended my hotel by a dayin London, rebooked the flight,
(05:24):
worked out the leaving thehotel in Hamburg, which was fine
, and then on Sunday morningwe're packing up to go to the
airport in Germany.
I get a text on my phone fromLufthansa your flight's been
canceled.
I go huh.
And so then I call back andthere was.
(05:44):
What happened was the union,the workers?
They did a surprise strike justin Hamburg on Sunday morning
and so no flights were gettingout of Hamburg Sunday or Monday,
so we had to.
Then the quickest that theycould get us out of Hamburg was
Tuesday afternoon, and then viaBrussels.
(06:05):
We had to stop in Brussels andlay over for three hours, so we
didn't get to London until fiveo'clock-ish PM on Tuesday.
So we really missed out on twofull days in London.
Now I was a little frustratedat first, but you know what I
was like.
You know what we're in Hamburg.
We actually got to do somethings in Hamburg that we didn't
(06:27):
plan on being able to do.
We went to the place that hadmade our wedding rings and they
polished them for us and it wasreally sweet time, and so we did
a couple of things that filledthe time.
So I guess my advice to peopleis if you do, you're going to
have delays and things like that, Just try to make the best of
it, and that's what we did.
Our hotel was gracious.
We called the London Hotel andI'll talk about that in a minute
(06:49):
.
They honored our because Itried to go online and just
change my reservation and itallowed me to, or it was going
to like double the cost of mystay.
That's just how they did itwhen I went from those number of
days.
But I called the hotel and theywere so great.
They said, Mr Pickle, don'tworry about it.
And they honored my price, andso it worked out.
(07:11):
We weren't out any money.
Let's put it that way.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
That's good.
It's always a bit nervewracking when you're in the
middle of a trip and somethinghappens, or at the beginning of
a trip I know.
When we actually flew fromBrisbane to Los Angeles last
year, we were expecting to go tothe airport about.
I was about five hours beforewe would go to the airport and
we got the same that messageyour flight's been cancelled.
So it was a bit of a panic.
So we lost a day in Los Angeles, which was you know, you have
(07:38):
to make the most of it.
We changed things around and wedid stuff, and I know that's
exactly what you ended up.
You filled those three days up.
I know that.
Now what?
What was really interesting whenwe initially met and talked as
well before when you start toput your itinerary together, is
that you'd already been inLondon quite a few times and had
a lot of knowledge aboutvisiting London and visiting
(07:59):
other places in England.
So it was really lovely thatyou kind of reached out and
wanted that itinerary consultwith us.
So I guess that's somethingelse I want to talk about.
Did you find that a valuableexperience?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Because, even though, as I say, you had visited
London a number of times before,you felt that it was worthwhile
A hundred percent Because,again, even though I had been
there a few times before, I meanit had been a while, first of
all, and then you know thingshave changed, obviously.
I mean, when I lived therebefore and went there before,
you know, smartphones didn'texist, Contactless payments
(08:33):
didn't exist All of that didn'texist, right.
I mean we have a lot moreinformation now in traveling and
you know you don't carry asmuch cash I mean different
things like that.
So you guys were very helpfularound that, but also, too, I
think, your insights aroundtrips outside London, some of
the experiences regarding I'mgoing to talk about the Black
(09:00):
Cab Tour in a minute the BlackCab Tour in a minute, just
getting to and from the airport,and just that knowledge that
you guys talked to me in theconsole and provided on the
information afterwards was supervaluable, and so I highly
recommend anyone talking to youguys about that.
So I felt that that was superhelpful and it was very detailed
(09:20):
and organized right, and I meanyou were very responsive and
answered a bunch of my questionsand different things like that.
So, again, I'm going to, as Imentioned before, we're planning
another trip in March and we'llbe scheduling another consult
with you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Oh well, we're really looking forward to chatting
with you and helping you withthat trip.
I have to say, Nathan, that'sgoing to be a lot of fun and we
love doing the consults.
It's just we feel like we'vegot friends all around the world
now, which is just fantastic,and even more special when you
guys come and do a consult anddo a podcast, like you are now
as well.
So let's talk.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Well, one other thing real quick I'll add to this is
that what I and we're going totalk about this in a minute.
But we did some things that yourecommended from an experience,
and we worked with a couple ofyour partners and that gave me
confidence and peace of mindthat you had vetted it out and
(10:12):
done the research and all ofthat, that I didn't have to
worry about it and I knew I wasgoing to have a great
experiences and it by farexceeded our expectations.
So I just wanted to add that aswell and let your listeners
know.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh no, that's really good.
Well, we're very strict withhow we work with partners and we
make sure that we get to knowall our partners.
We try out the experiences.
We want to work with the bestand we get asked quite a lot of
companies to work with them.
But we're very strict.
We want to make sure that wework with the best so that you
(10:45):
guys get to experience the bestas well and make the best of
your holiday really, which iswhat we want.
So should we talk about becauseyou ended up, I guess, with the
three, four days?
Should we talk about some ofthe highlights of those of the
time that you were there?
What were the standout moments?
What are the things that Iguess you and sarah are still
talking about now?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
yeah, I think I think I wrote down.
I wrote down kind of five Okay,um, I think the first one was
the discover real London blackcab tour.
Um, and the our driver his namewas Matt and it was
unbelievable and we actuallywent.
Since we only had three daysfull days Okay, we had Wednesday
(11:24):
, thursday, friday and then wewere flying back Saturday
morning I ended up booking itand I kind of booked it last
minute because when I againrealized, okay, hey, we're going
to have less time or whatever,maybe a week before I guess, I
said you know what, let's dothis.
And we did what they call thedetour right, which is kind of
(11:47):
the hidden.
It's more of a bespoke tour.
When I booked it, ollie got intouch with me and asked me some
specific questions.
There's certain things youwanted to see.
I'm very big into music androck and roll history,
especially English bands andthings like that, and so they
(12:07):
Matt knew he's probably about myage, I guess, and he knew and
Londoner grew up in East Londonand he was just awesome.
So we went.
He picked us up at our hotel atlike seven in the morning and
it was four hours.
Long is how long the tour was.
We covered a lot of ground andwe had him pick us up and he
(12:27):
said look, this is what I kindof have in mind.
What do you think?
Let's go.
We saw so much that I had neverseen before and he ended up
suggesting he goes, I can takeyou back to your hotel, but
maybe I could drop you back offaround this side of London this
is where I was thinking and byBorough Market, and we hadn't
(12:48):
planned on going to BoroughMarket, honestly, even though
you had recommended it, justbecause of the shortness of time
.
But he dropped us off there andand um, that that's probably
number two.
Um, not, I'm not not withparticular order, I guess.
Um, but Borough Market was ahighlight.
Not in a particular order, Iguess, but Borough Market was a
highlight.
I think our hotel location wasalso the hotel itself and our
(13:10):
location.
We stayed at the Conrad Hiltonin St James, right literally
across the street from the StJames' Park tube station, and
then the half-day trip toWindsor was fabulous.
Okay, um, as another highlight.
(13:34):
And then I do think that, um,just walking around in our and
that's kind of my, our style oftravel is a little slower, maybe
, um, especially when it's justSarah and I is just walking
around and looking up, exploringside streets, popping into
shops, exploring neighborhoods,taking different forms of
(13:55):
transport to get there.
That was a big highlight and Ihighly recommend that.
I mean, I know, tracy, youalways say don't pack in too
much, don't over plan, you'regoing to wear yourself out, and
even it's hard to do that whenyou only have three days right,
but we really did do that.
Hit some plates, shops indifferent places.
(14:15):
We just had fun doing that.
It was great.
So those are probably thebiggest highlights of our trip
was just being able to do that.
We got loads of pictures fromall over the city.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That's great.
I mean you did a lot in threedays.
You say we did and I thinksometimes you know the wandering
down a street and just poppinginto a shop or popping into a
pub, which obviously you can doin London.
It's just fun.
It just makes it a little bitmore fun.
I think it's it's toooverpacked and too regimental
and I've seen itineraries withyou know like nine till ten
(14:48):
we're doing this and then 11 or12 we're doing that, but it's
never gonna work.
I would say that it's never,ever gonna work to do that.
So I know you mentioned um goingto windsor and I kind of just
I'm going to tie this in withhow you got around london.
So obviously you know use the,the tube, and you know use your
feet.
You walked around a lot and Ifind London's quite a walkable
(15:08):
city.
I mean you get yourself fromtube to tube but once you're in
an area, just explore and have awalk around.
So how did you find it gettingaround London?
And then how did you find itgetting out to Windsor to do
that visit?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, so getting around London is super easy and
again, I'm, we're, we're walkersand I'm, I'm very I'm a
decently active person, but Imean I don't average 25,000
steps a day Like I got in London.
So we were pretty worn outafter the at the end of it.
But I mean, we use the tube, weuse buses, we walked a lot.
(15:42):
You know, we hadn't I hadn'treally planned on going on a lot
of buses, but CityMapper appwas great, for we would just say
you know what, why don't wejust hop on a bus?
And since, especially since wewere one tube stop away from
Victoria, that really made iteasy.
There's so many buses that aregoing to and from Victoria.
(16:02):
You know Friday, you knowFriday, after our last afternoon
, we hadn't really had anythingplanned after the tour and we're
like you know what, we've neverreally spent that much time in
Notting Hill, and so we took thetube over to Notting Hill and
then took the bus back and itwas great, it was super easy.
Windsor was awesome.
(16:24):
So I actually booked our traintickets to Windsor ahead of time
.
I don't know if I really neededto do that.
I probably won't next timebecause it was super easy and we
actually did Victoria change atone stop, at Clapham Junction,
and then straight to EatonRiverside, and it may have been
(16:47):
a little longer than the otherroute, I think maybe by 10 or 15
minutes, but it was so easy andit's an easy train, it wasn't
crowded.
We purposely booked the firstslot at Windsor and the tour,
which I think is 9.30 in themorning and it doesn't open till
10, but you can kind of queueup around 9.30.
(17:10):
And we were actually first inline, not that it really
mattered, but it was.
We actually got there becausethere's so many trains going.
We got to Windsor on purpose.
We're kind of early risers bynature, and so we got there
pretty early, I think aroundeight maybe in the morning, and
(17:33):
so we were able to walk over toEaton across the bridge and,
like, we went to this awesomecoffee shop and had scones and
coffee and it was.
There was the school kids thatgo to Eaton College.
Around there was no tourist atall because it was a random
Thursday morning in March and sowe really had some extra time
(17:55):
to kind of explore a little bitbefore we actually did the
Windsor tour.
So it was super, it was supereasy.
I don't be intimidated.
Tell people don't beintimidated by public transport.
It's just so easy and it's easyto figure out.
And yeah, I will add thisObviously you talk about it a
(18:16):
lot in your podcast that there'sthese big debates between
Oyster Cards and contactless andall that.
So I ended up doing contactlessbecause apparently there's a way
that you can add a transportoption in your Apple wallet.
Iphone, you know, have a creditcard or a debit card attached
(18:38):
to it.
And you, I didn't even have to.
I mean I just I didn't evenhave to turn my, we didn't even
have to turn our phones on.
So when we got on the bus andthe tube, we just put our phone
by the reader and it opened thegates.
That was super easy.
And you still get the fare capsand all of that.
So that made it.
(18:58):
Um, and you still get the faircaps and all of that.
So that made it.
I mean I have wasn't having toget a card out or anything.
It was.
It was great.
It never was an issue.
I was worried about it at firstwhen I first did it, and then
it worked like it worked like acharm the whole time.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
To be honest, I think that's what we say to everybody
.
It's like, whether youcontactless or using Oyster card
, they're both really easy.
Whichever suits.
And it's always one of thebiggest bones of contention in
the Facebook group wheneveranybody asks that question, and
we just say to people, as I'mgoing to say now, just read
about both options and decidewhat works for you, because
(19:31):
whatever will work for you willwork for you.
It's absolutely fine.
What we don't do is and I'veseen this a few times we've been
told don't ever get an Oystercard.
No Londoner uses an Oyster card.
Well, actually, I have friendsthat live in London who do use
Oyster cards.
So again, it's just kind ofwhat suits you.
Yeah, it's one of those, butI'm glad it worked out.
And yeah, you wouldn't need tobook the tickets for Windsor
(19:53):
beforehand.
You could have got them becausethere's so many trains out
there, as you say and that andit is.
And we again it's anotherquestion we get asked about you
know how do I get to windsor, isit?
It's really easy.
In fact, most of the trainjourneys in the uk are not that
difficult.
Doug helps out in his uk traintravel tips uh group.
So if you're listening anything.
I'm going to travel by train.
I'm not sure you know he canhelp out with that and answer
(20:14):
questions, um, but in london andhelp, you can always ask people
as well.
People always help you out,whether it's catching the tube.
If somebody sees that you're abit confused, somebody will say,
oh, you need to hop on thisline and then change there.
It's really easy, okay.
So, nathan, you mentioned alittle bit about where you
stayed, so let's talk about youraccommodation, and I know you
(20:35):
mentioned it before the name ofit.
Is it something that a placethat you area that you'd
recommend and an accommodationthat you'd recommend?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
So again, we stayed um in theConrad London St James.
It's a Hilton property and Iget Hilton points.
I originally planned on stayingaround the Sloan square area
because we had stayed thereprior on my first trip to London
when I had graduated fromuniversity and did a trip on my
(21:04):
own.
I stayed at this little B&B offof Sloan Square and it's
reconverted into a flat now, butthey have options over there,
but we just ended up stayingthere.
I hadn't been around that areaor I hadn't remembered it that
much, and I hadn't been aroundthat area or I hadn't remembered
it that much.
But it turned out to be a verygood choice.
It was reasonably priced forthe area.
(21:25):
There's not that many hotels.
So basically, where it'slocated is literally, as I
mentioned before, across thestreet from the St James's Park
Tube Station.
We could see the top ofWestminster Abbey from our hotel
room.
You literally walk around thecorner and there's Westminster
Abbey from our hotel room.
You literally walk around thecorner and there's Westminster
Abbey and then you walk a littlebit five minutes and you're at
St James's Park.
So we would cross through StJames's Park almost every day
(21:49):
going into Mayfair.
Seeing Buckingham.
I mean you are literally rightin the center and I was worried
a little bit about, okay, isthere going to be noise?
There's a pub next door,there's one around the corner,
super quiet, because at nightthere's only a couple of hotels
around there.
So there's, I mean there was.
I mean I saw a few tourists.
There were a lot of businesstravelers in the hotel for that
(22:10):
time of year, but service wasgreat.
It was again super quiet.
But the location and I knew thisbecause you had mentioned this
as well being across the streetfrom the tube station and having
it close to your hotel after along day was really refreshing
because we knew, hey, I'm goingto get off the tube, walk a
(22:32):
little bit and I'm literallywalking upstairs and getting
into bed, and so that part yourecommend that staying close to
a tube station or a bus stopthat's close to a tube station
Highly recommend that for anyonegoing to London because it just
makes it easy.
Right Now I saw a sign, notthat it really mattered to us
(22:55):
too much.
There isn't in St James's Parktube station station.
There's not lifts, um, so youhave to be aware of that.
There may be certain stationsthat don't have lifts.
Most do um in terms of likegetting your bags, all of that,
but it was great.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Highly recommend it um, so yeah brilliant, brilliant
and also I think you know youright.
We do say that about trying tostay as close as possible to a
tube stop because I just knowmyself I kind of go off my own
experience, when I've walked25,000 steps Like I just I don't
want to is actually um, uh,we've got a link to uh which
tube stations have and haven'tgot kind of uh lifts and stuff.
(23:46):
I'll put a link to that.
It's on the I think it'stransport for london, um go app.
There should be links to thatin that um.
But what kind of links us tohow you got to the airport?
So I'm guessing, because youwere there for a few days you
didn't have a huge amount ofluggage.
But even still, when you arriveinto into london from wherever
you've been flying in from, it'slike think, right, how am I
going to get to my hotel?
(24:06):
So, so how did logistically yousort that?
Speaker 3 (24:10):
well we had.
I mean, we didn't have a hugelot of luggage, but it was heavy
, um, thanks to sarah, my wifeI'm just joking um, so I so we
had originally planned againbefore the strike and we had to
change our plans.
We were arriving on a Mondaymorning and we were just going
to.
Honestly, we were going to justtake Heathrow Express and I've
(24:52):
taken the tube from Heathrow Innand that's an option, but it
can get busy, especially ifyou've got a lot of luggage and
booked, um, a trip, a trip inwith your recommendation, with
Riz, with XFA cars, and I willtell you that was a super great.
That was the best decision wemade.
Um, and I mean, he personallypicked us up, Okay, and that
(25:14):
whole experience of how hehandles things in terms of I had
downloaded WhatsApp because myfriends in Germany use WhatsApp.
Whatsapp's not near as popularin the States as it is in Europe
.
But he said, hey, I had readthat on his website.
You know, WhatsApp is a loteasier to communicate.
(25:35):
So, and he sent me like photosand videos of a map, where to go
, a video of where to like, ofwalking through out, coming out
of the baggage claim.
I couldn't believe it.
I was just like it was supersimple.
It was like I didn't have tothink about it and we got there,
(25:55):
he, he picked us up and then itonly took like 45 to 50 minutes
and we were coming in kind ofat rush hour on a Tuesday and it
was awesome.
We talked the whole time, wehad a blast.
So it was absolutely worth alittle bit of extra money versus
(26:16):
the other options to get intoLondon.
So highly recommend that forfolks.
Now on the way back, weactually were leaving pretty
early in the morning on aSaturday and we ended up just
taking a black cab to Paddingtonearly in the morning there was
no traffic on a Saturday morningand then just took Heathrow
(26:38):
Express from Paddington back toHeathrow.
That's what we did to come backand that worked out fine.
And honestly, if you add up thecost of Heathrow Express, maybe
if you take a cab from yourhotel to Paddington or whatever,
the XFA car is probably aboutthe same price.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
And you know what.
You also miss out on theexperience of meeting Riz.
If it's Riz that picks you up,which quite a lot of times, it
is Because, honestly, he'sbecoming a I joke with him he's
becoming a bit of a minorcelebrity.
I shouldn't say minor, becausehe's probably a major celebrity
soon honestly, because he is sopopular and everybody who meets
Riz absolutely loves Riz todeath because he's just such an
(27:21):
amazing guy.
Not only is he an amazing guy,but he's so professional with
how he runs XFA cars as well and, as you say, it's so smooth.
We are traveling around.
As you know, doug and I aretraveling around a lot at the
moment and every time we land atan airport, I just want to have
Riz pick me up, because it justit's.
You know, we, we, we alwaysarrange to pick up.
There's nothing worse, evenfrom shorter flights.
I want to be met at the airport.
(27:43):
I don't want the stress ofhaving to think how am I going
to get my luggage into whereverI'm going to the hotel?
I just want to get off theplane, get my luggage and get to
the hotel.
That's just how I work and Ijust think it just makes life so
much easier and, as I say, rizis such a cool guy anyway to
meet no doubt.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
And again you've got to factor in, I mean, you know
this, when you take HeathrowExpress or the tube or whatever,
to the terminal it's a reallylong walk.
I mean I don't mind it, but forsome folks, if that's a factor
having someone meet you or dropyou off directly, when you I
mean mean literally you come outof baggage claim and he's
(28:20):
standing there and so that that,that and you just it, that
transfer and the whole process,even though maybe the drive to
London is longer than the 15minutes on Heathrow Express,
you're not factoring in how longit takes you to walk and all of
that it's going to about thesame time, if not probably a
little less, with risk exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Highly recommend the stress of it as well.
Anyway, let's, let's pivot tofood.
Let's talk about food.
You sent me some fantasticpictures and um, so we'll be
sharing those in the show notes.
Uh, so let's talk about some ofyour favorite foodie
experiences when you were inLondon.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, so just a little bit of background.
So we really enjoy when wetravel is eating local food,
right, and so, whether you know,wherever we are, we want to try
to go to some places that maybelocals go to or are recommended
to us, and so we definitely didthat and a lot of.
(29:23):
We ate at a lot of pubs justbecause, especially in London,
usually the food that we had atthe pubs was great.
For our anniversary dinner wewent to a restaurant in Mayfair
called the Guinea Grill.
It's kind of an old sort of Ididn't realize it at the time
(29:44):
sort of famous place.
We made reservations like amonth in advance and you know I
had beef Wellington for thefirst time, which was fabulous,
Service was impeccable and Ididn't see him.
But when we walked out AnthonyHopkins was walking in.
I didn't see him, my wife did,and so that was kind of a
highlight for her seeing himwalk in.
(30:06):
So yeah, that was great.
We had tea at Harrods in thefood hall, which was super fun,
just sitting down at the counter, relaxing, kind of taking it in
, just sitting down at thecounter, relaxing, kind of
taking it in the whole site ofthat.
You know a couple of pubs thatwe went to, where we had food
(30:28):
that we really like it.
I've been to the Antelopebefore.
It's in Belgravia.
Another hidden pub that Ihighly recommend is called the
Grenadier.
There's a history behind that.
You know some of theinspiration or I guess not only
from you guys telling me, uh,some ideas.
But, um, I bought a couple ofbooks, Um, one is historic pub
(30:49):
crawls through London by ThomasVosper.
Um, this book, right here I'mshowing you on the screen.
Um, that was really helpful, um, in in looking at, and then I
found that, personally, the DKguides were really good as well.
But we went to a place in thecity over by Royal Exchange, in
(31:11):
Leighton Hall Market, called theCounting House.
That was excellent, excellent.
And then Borough Market.
So, as I mentioned before, wehadn't really planned on going
there.
I don't know if it was on myconsult.
I heard this on a podcastepisode that I think it was.
Doug said that he really likedsausage rolls, and so I got a
(31:34):
sausage roll at Ginger Pig inBorough Market.
My wife got the strawberries,of course, Um, and I know those
are tourist things to do and allof that, but when we were there
in March, um, I mean there wasno lines.
I mean there were people there.
There was no lines, it was, itwas, it was great it was, and it
was on a like kind of on aFriday morning sort of, when we
were there, Um, so we also wentto an M and S food a couple of
(32:03):
those and grabbed some quickbites as well.
The coffee shop in Windsor iscalled Anytime Coffee on Eaton
High Street.
Great scones, jam and cream andall that was awesome.
We had planned on doing a teaat Fortnum and Mason in Royal
Exchange but that was on a daywe had to cancel it and so I'm
(32:33):
looking forward to we walkthrough the Royal Exchange when
we were there and saw the areaand it's beautiful and an old
building and all that.
So I hope we get to do thatnext time.
Do that next time.
But one piece of advice that Iwould give that I didn't really
think about too much was somefolks, you might want to plan a
little bit of your food sort ofin advance.
I know you don't want tooverbook and all of that, but
one night we hadn't done thatand we ended up going and
(32:56):
getting some pizza and it wasreally overpriced and it wasn't
great, and so I think you justhave to think through that a
little bit Again.
Sometimes I don't want to book,every hour, every minute have
everything reserved, but I dothink if you're looking for a
(33:17):
lot more commonplace than theyare in the States, even for just
small restaurants, I think thatjust popping in sometimes you
(33:40):
may not get a table becauserestaurants tend to be smaller.
So just something to thinkabout.
But, yeah, I would recommendall of the places that we went
to.
They were fabulous.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
That's good to hear, because I think sometimes
people's expectations aren'tparticularly high about British
cuisine, but actually there'ssome fabulous restaurants in
London, so good, reallyfantastic places to eat.
And, like you say, I think it'sgood to do a bit of research
before you go to theseparticular places that you
really want to go and eat.
Or you want to go and have anafternoon tea, because they do
get booked up and they get busy.
(34:11):
Um, because we, we love to goout and eat as well.
Um, and sunday roast comes upall the time.
I always ask but it's like youneed to book it because us brits
go out and have sunday roastout as well.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
So, um, yeah, and we were kind of bummed we weren't
there on a sunday, because wehad had sunday roast in the past
and and we also, you know, lovea good curry too and had had
been on Brick Lane a couple oftimes.
We didn't have time to do thatthis trip, but I highly
recommend that to folks.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, that'd be cool and you can.
Obviously next year, whenyou'll be back over, we'll look
in there, including some ofthose cool experiences.
Is there anything from thistrip?
Because obviously you had to,things changed quite a lot from
what you planned.
Is there anything that youwould?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
kind of change if you were, if you were kind of going
back and sorting the trip outagain, or were you happy how,
how you managed to kind of gowith things?
Yeah, I think, as I mentionedbefore, we might have planned
out at least our main meal ofthe day um a little better.
I mean, we did that once, butthe other times we didn't
Probably pack lighter Not thatwe were lugging our luggage
around that much, but probablycould have packed a little
(35:19):
lighter.
We were in early March.
So it was the weather InHamburg the first part of our
trip.
It got into the low 20 Celsius,which in sunny it was nice, and
then it was a little cooler inLondon.
So we had jackets and longpants, trousers and things like
(35:41):
that.
So we were kind of in this.
You know we had to pack forboth kind of weather, but we
could have probably packed alittle lighter.
I will say that I would have andI would recommend to folks that
they do the Discover RealLondon Black Cab Tour on their
first day versus the last.
(36:03):
We did it on our very last dayand the reason for that is that
Matt, our driver and tour guide,he told us all these places
right?
Oh, you need to go.
The best fish and chips is inEast London.
By this, you know this, youneed to do this and we didn't
have time to do all of thosethings.
So if we would have done it thetour earlier in our trip, we
(36:24):
probably would have done some ofthose things, because we're
getting, you know, up-to-daterecommendations directly from a
person that lives there.
So just that, I might'vechanged that.
I learned that a little bit.
But again, we probably we kindof had the mindset of really
just taking our time andexploring and popping into shops
(36:45):
and you know differentneighborhoods and streets, and
looking up and taking lots ofpictures.
I'm a history buff too.
I think London is so unique inthe sense that there's so many
old buildings mingled in withthe new.
It's just a great way to havethat kind of mindset.
(37:06):
Just take your time.
If you see something, stop,walk over to the side, let
everybody walk past.
You see something, stop, walkover to the side, let everybody
walk past you.
You know, look around, take abreath and I think, don't feel
so rushed.
And even in our short trip, Ithink that was something that we
accomplished, that we reallyappreciated and it made the
looking back on the picturesthat we took made the experience
(37:29):
so much better.
And the other thing too andI've always kind of had this
mentality when I've traveled todifferent destinations is I
always have the mindset if it'sa place that I like, I want to
come back.
And so we left so much to donext time with the kids.
You know I haven't talked abouta lot of the bigger sites other
than going to Windsor and Ihaven't talked about a lot of
(37:50):
the bigger sites other thangoing to Windsor because we
didn't really do that this trip.
You know we didn't go intoTower of London or Westminster
Abbey or National Gallery or StPaul's or any of that.
We walked by all of them, tooka lot of pictures and different
things like that, but we hadbeen in and toured all of those
(38:12):
places before, but we knew thatwe were going to want to bring
the kids back and do those nexttime and do some of those
experiences that you haverecommended.
So that was kind of our mindsetand it made it even a short
trip.
That was a little annoying thatwe got there two days later.
We just we filled it up andreally had a wonderful time.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
It's great and it's great to hear that as well Like
it worked out that you had sucha fabulous time in London and
that you know, even thoughyou've been there before yeah,
it was a long time ago You'dstill, there's still things
about London that are justmagical and amazing and I kind
of awe, inspiring.
I think it is just one of thosecities.
One question I did want to askbecause we've kind of touched on
(38:58):
it a lot through the throughthis chat, is the fact that you
went in march, um so and wetalked about that before I
should start recording thepodcast.
I think it's actually worth it.
You know, if, if you'relistening to the podcast now and
you're thinking, actually I'dprefer to go when it's not high
season, so kind of june, july,august, when it gets really busy
, or christmas again it's reallybusy.
So March, how did you find itoverall in March in terms of the
weather, how busy it was, kindof getting around, all those
(39:20):
sorts of things.
How did it feel generally?
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Couldn't have asked for a better time and I was a
little skeptical because in theStates we have spring break, and
spring break is kind ofthroughout the US, whether it's
grade school or college,university could be.
It's usually a week, but itstarts for some places at the
(39:46):
beginning of March all the waythrough mid-April, and I was
worried about that in terms of,you know, the amount of tourists
at certain places and how busyit might be, and it was the
exact opposite.
It was a fabulous time to go,brain thinks, but it was from
(40:16):
pretty much the forties to thelow sixties, which, um, if
you're, you know we're bringinglayers, you can take off a
jacket or whatever, beingoutside a lot.
I never got hot, um, now, ouraccommodation in London had air,
air con, um, but in Hamburg itdidn't, um, and so I also,
because I lived there for threeyears, I know that, if you don't
, my, my apartment in Hamburgdidn't have air con and there
was a few times when and so thatwas, you know, played into it
(40:39):
as well, and I had beenobviously to London several
different seasons and there's anargument for every season, but
I will say early March when wewent, was absolutely a great
time to go, and that's we'regoing to do it again next year
because of that, um, because we,and we felt it from a price
(41:00):
standpoint um, from hotels andum train tickets and different
things like that and I'm alreadylooking for next year or super
reasonable, uh, compared tomaybe December or the peak
season in summer or things likethat.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yeah, it does become really really expensive and more
crowded and less pleasant, andactually London, when it's very
hot, is, in my mind, not themost pleasant city to be in, to
be honest Not at all, becausethere's not a lot of AC around.
But what an amazing place tocelebrate your 20th wedding
anniversary.
And, as you know, when wechatted, it was also Doug and
I's 20th wedding anniversary inMarch as well.
(41:35):
Not the same day as you guys,but we're not that far away, so
congratulations on that.
So you'll be spending, hopefully, your 21st wedding anniversary
as well in the UK, which isamazing.
Now I know that you are a fanof the podcast, so you know the
(41:57):
question that's going to come upnow because I ask at the end of
every single podcast.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
So so, nathan, what would be the one tip that you
would give to someone visitingLondon for the first time?
Honestly, follow Tracy andDoug's recommendations.
I'm serious and I know that.
That, um, and you didn't pay meto say that, so it truly made a
difference.
Okay, and I, I very muchappreciate it.
My wife appreciates it.
Just follow the, follow herrecommendations and listen on
(42:20):
the podcast, use her resourcesand again, just do that and just
slow down, slow down.
Have some fun, you know.
Explore, have some fun, youknow.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Explore, don't don't overdo it and um, leave plenty
for next time.
Brilliant, oh, nathan, it'sbeen so lovely to chat to you
this week for the for thisepisode of the podcast.
I love doing trip reports and Ilove hearing about how just
your experience it was so good.
So, um, again once you'd benext year we'll be doing another
one.
So you, this isn't so you'll bea repeat offender on the
podcast.
Nathan, you're not getting awaywith it.
So this is episode 149.
(42:57):
So, goodness knows, it will bein another 12 months' time, but
fabulous to talk to you.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing your experiences
and your recommendations forLondon Brilliant.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Okay, thank you for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the
UK Travel Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favoritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(43:31):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
Join us for episode 149 of the UK Travel Planning
Podcast and our first tripreport of 2025.
Discover guest Nathan's topfive London experiences, top tip
for visitors, plus what he didwhere he stayed, and more during
his and wife Sarah's March tripto London.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracy Collins.
In this podcast, tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
(00:38):
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hi and welcome to another episode of the UK Travel
Planner Podcast.
As you will have learnt fromthe short intro, we have our
first trip report for 2025.
Doug and I helped Nathan planhis trip to London a few months
ago in the itinerary consult andwe were really delighted when
he agreed to come on the podcastand do a trip report when he
(01:19):
arrived back in the US.
So, without further ado, I'mgoing to just let Nathan take
the floor and explain about histrip.
So I started off, as always, byasking Nathan to introduce
himself and give a little bitabout his background, who he
traveled with and kind of thereasons for his trip to London.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yes, hi, my name is Nathan Pickle.
I am 51 years old.
I am married to my wife.
His name is Sarah.
We have boy-girl twins, williamand Caroline, that are almost
17.
We live outside of San Antonio,texas.
And, yeah, I work in thedigital health and wellness
industry and, yeah, I cameacross the podcast.
(01:56):
I was researching a trip andthat's how I got connected with
Tracy and Doug and had awonderful consult that I'm sure
we're going to talk about in aminute.
So, yeah, so I'm happy to behere.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I'm so glad that you agreed to come on the podcast,
nathan, and it was lovely whenwe met for the consult when you
said, oh, I love the podcast,I'm such a fan, because then
it's a really easy question forme to say well, you know what,
when you come back from yourtrip, would you love to do a
trip report?
So I'm so happy that you agreedto do it and it's lovely to
talk to you again.
Would you like to talk to us alittle bit about when did you go
(02:29):
to London?
And obviously I know you wentwith Sarah.
But if you want to just discussa little bit about what you
planned and I know thingschanged slightly so you had to
adjust things so do you want toexplain a little bit about what
went on?
For sure?
So do you want to explain a?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
little bit about what went on For sure.
So a little background.
So we are twins.
We knew this like way a longtime ago when they were in
kindergarten At their school.
They take a trip as juniors toItaly and Greece, okay.
And so the spring break oftheir junior year, and so we
kind of started thinking youknow what?
(03:06):
We haven't been to Europe in 19years.
Sarah and I used to live inHamburg, germany, for three
years, from 2002 to 2005.
And so we had traveled decentlyaround Europe before and a lot
to London.
I had some friends that livedthere and we just loved it, but
again, we haven't been back inalmost 20 years.
I always say, kind of kids gotin the way a little bit, but we
(03:30):
just said, oh, you know what,the twins are going to be gone,
let's take advantage of that andlet's go.
And so I think our goal andthen our goals for this trip
were kind of, I think, twofold.
Number one was to takeadvantage of the fact that you
know the twins were going to begone.
Let's go do something.
And the other part was is our20th wedding anniversary was on
(03:52):
March 12th.
It fell during that week.
We didn't realize this when wegot married that every year on
our anniversary is spring breakin America, and so we had, you
know, we never really, sarah andI never really did a whole lot
on our anniversary, other thanmaybe going to dinner, and so we
wanted to do something a littlemore special this time.
And then you know again, we, asyou alluded to, we had planned
(04:18):
to go to Hamburg, germany, first, because we have friends that
still live there it's a veryspecial place for us since we
live there and then after thatto go to London.
So that's kind of how I bookedthe trip is we left from Texas
to go to Hamburg, got there on aFriday.
We had originally planned toleave on Monday morning to go to
(04:40):
London and spend five nights inLondon, like five full days in
London.
Well, I get there and my friendpicks us up from our hotel in
Hamburg on Friday afternoon togo to his house to have dinner
with him and his wife and hiskids, and he tells me hey, I
don't know if you saw this ornot, but there's going to be a
strike, an airport worker strike, in Germany, all over Germany
(05:02):
on Monday.
And I'm like you got to bekidding me.
So I went ahead and calledLufthansa that's who had my
tickets through and theyrebooked me on Sunday.
So we were going to cut a dayshort in Hamburg, which was fine
, and it was going to give usanother day in London, which was
great.
So I extended my hotel by a dayin London, rebooked the flight,
(05:24):
worked out the leaving thehotel in Hamburg, which was fine
, and then on Sunday morningwe're packing up to go to the
airport in Germany.
I get a text on my phone fromLufthansa your flight's been
canceled.
I go huh.
And so then I call back andthere was.
(05:44):
What happened was the union,the workers?
They did a surprise strike justin Hamburg on Sunday morning
and so no flights were gettingout of Hamburg Sunday or Monday,
so we had to.
Then the quickest that theycould get us out of Hamburg was
Tuesday afternoon, and then viaBrussels.
(06:05):
We had to stop in Brussels andlay over for three hours, so we
didn't get to London until fiveo'clock-ish PM on Tuesday.
So we really missed out on twofull days in London.
Now I was a little frustratedat first, but you know what I
was like.
You know what we're in Hamburg.
We actually got to do somethings in Hamburg that we didn't
(06:27):
plan on being able to do.
We went to the place that hadmade our wedding rings and they
polished them for us and it wasreally sweet time, and so we did
a couple of things that filledthe time.
So I guess my advice to peopleis if you do, you're going to
have delays and things like that, Just try to make the best of
it, and that's what we did.
Our hotel was gracious.
We called the London Hotel andI'll talk about that in a minute
(06:49):
.
They honored our because Itried to go online and just
change my reservation and itallowed me to, or it was going
to like double the cost of mystay.
That's just how they did itwhen I went from those number of
days.
But I called the hotel and theywere so great.
They said, Mr Pickle, don'tworry about it.
And they honored my price, andso it worked out.
(07:11):
We weren't out any money.
Let's put it that way.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
That's good.
It's always a bit nervewracking when you're in the
middle of a trip and somethinghappens, or at the beginning of
a trip I know.
When we actually flew fromBrisbane to Los Angeles last
year, we were expecting to go tothe airport about.
I was about five hours beforewe would go to the airport and
we got the same that messageyour flight's been cancelled.
So it was a bit of a panic.
So we lost a day in Los Angeles, which was you know, you have
(07:38):
to make the most of it.
We changed things around and wedid stuff, and I know that's
exactly what you ended up.
You filled those three days up.
I know that.
Now what?
What was really interesting whenwe initially met and talked as
well before when you start toput your itinerary together, is
that you'd already been inLondon quite a few times and had
a lot of knowledge aboutvisiting London and visiting
(07:59):
other places in England.
So it was really lovely thatyou kind of reached out and
wanted that itinerary consultwith us.
So I guess that's somethingelse I want to talk about.
Did you find that a valuableexperience?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Because, even though, as I say, you had visited
London a number of times before,you felt that it was worthwhile
A hundred percent Because,again, even though I had been
there a few times before, I meanit had been a while, first of
all, and then you know thingshave changed, obviously.
I mean, when I lived therebefore and went there before,
you know, smartphones didn'texist, Contactless payments
(08:33):
didn't exist All of that didn'texist, right.
I mean we have a lot moreinformation now in traveling and
you know you don't carry asmuch cash I mean different
things like that.
So you guys were very helpfularound that, but also, too, I
think, your insights aroundtrips outside London, some of
the experiences regarding I'mgoing to talk about the Black
(09:00):
Cab Tour in a minute the BlackCab Tour in a minute, just
getting to and from the airport,and just that knowledge that
you guys talked to me in theconsole and provided on the
information afterwards was supervaluable, and so I highly
recommend anyone talking to youguys about that.
So I felt that that was superhelpful and it was very detailed
(09:20):
and organized right, and I meanyou were very responsive and
answered a bunch of my questionsand different things like that.
So, again, I'm going to, as Imentioned before, we're planning
another trip in March and we'llbe scheduling another consult
with you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Oh well, we're really looking forward to chatting
with you and helping you withthat trip.
I have to say, Nathan, that'sgoing to be a lot of fun and we
love doing the consults.
It's just we feel like we'vegot friends all around the world
now, which is just fantastic,and even more special when you
guys come and do a consult anddo a podcast, like you are now
as well.
So let's talk.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Well, one other thing real quick I'll add to this is
that what I and we're going totalk about this in a minute.
But we did some things that yourecommended from an experience,
and we worked with a couple ofyour partners and that gave me
confidence and peace of mindthat you had vetted it out and
(10:12):
done the research and all ofthat, that I didn't have to
worry about it and I knew I wasgoing to have a great
experiences and it by farexceeded our expectations.
So I just wanted to add that aswell and let your listeners
know.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh no, that's really good.
Well, we're very strict withhow we work with partners and we
make sure that we get to knowall our partners.
We try out the experiences.
We want to work with the bestand we get asked quite a lot of
companies to work with them.
But we're very strict.
We want to make sure that wework with the best so that you
(10:45):
guys get to experience the bestas well and make the best of
your holiday really, which iswhat we want.
So should we talk about becauseyou ended up, I guess, with the
three, four days?
Should we talk about some ofthe highlights of those of the
time that you were there?
What were the standout moments?
What are the things that Iguess you and sarah are still
talking about now?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
yeah, I think I think I wrote down.
I wrote down kind of five Okay,um, I think the first one was
the discover real London blackcab tour.
Um, and the our driver his namewas Matt and it was
unbelievable and we actuallywent.
Since we only had three daysfull days Okay, we had Wednesday
(11:24):
, thursday, friday and then wewere flying back Saturday
morning I ended up booking itand I kind of booked it last
minute because when I againrealized, okay, hey, we're going
to have less time or whatever,maybe a week before I guess, I
said you know what, let's dothis.
And we did what they call thedetour right, which is kind of
(11:47):
the hidden.
It's more of a bespoke tour.
When I booked it, ollie got intouch with me and asked me some
specific questions.
There's certain things youwanted to see.
I'm very big into music androck and roll history,
especially English bands andthings like that, and so they
(12:07):
Matt knew he's probably about myage, I guess, and he knew and
Londoner grew up in East Londonand he was just awesome.
So we went.
He picked us up at our hotel atlike seven in the morning and
it was four hours.
Long is how long the tour was.
We covered a lot of ground andwe had him pick us up and he
(12:27):
said look, this is what I kindof have in mind.
What do you think?
Let's go.
We saw so much that I had neverseen before and he ended up
suggesting he goes, I can takeyou back to your hotel, but
maybe I could drop you back offaround this side of London this
is where I was thinking and byBorough Market, and we hadn't
(12:48):
planned on going to BoroughMarket, honestly, even though
you had recommended it, justbecause of the shortness of time
.
But he dropped us off there andand um, that that's probably
number two.
Um, not, I'm not not withparticular order, I guess.
Um, but Borough Market was ahighlight.
Not in a particular order, Iguess, but Borough Market was a
highlight.
I think our hotel location wasalso the hotel itself and our
(13:10):
location.
We stayed at the Conrad Hiltonin St James, right literally
across the street from the StJames' Park tube station, and
then the half-day trip toWindsor was fabulous.
Okay, um, as another highlight.
(13:34):
And then I do think that, um,just walking around in our and
that's kind of my, our style oftravel is a little slower, maybe
, um, especially when it's justSarah and I is just walking
around and looking up, exploringside streets, popping into
shops, exploring neighborhoods,taking different forms of
(13:55):
transport to get there.
That was a big highlight and Ihighly recommend that.
I mean, I know, tracy, youalways say don't pack in too
much, don't over plan, you'regoing to wear yourself out, and
even it's hard to do that whenyou only have three days right,
but we really did do that.
Hit some plates, shops indifferent places.
(14:15):
We just had fun doing that.
It was great.
So those are probably thebiggest highlights of our trip
was just being able to do that.
We got loads of pictures fromall over the city.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That's great.
I mean you did a lot in threedays.
You say we did and I thinksometimes you know the wandering
down a street and just poppinginto a shop or popping into a
pub, which obviously you can doin London.
It's just fun.
It just makes it a little bitmore fun.
I think it's it's toooverpacked and too regimental
and I've seen itineraries withyou know like nine till ten
(14:48):
we're doing this and then 11 or12 we're doing that, but it's
never gonna work.
I would say that it's never,ever gonna work to do that.
So I know you mentioned um goingto windsor and I kind of just
I'm going to tie this in withhow you got around london.
So obviously you know use the,the tube, and you know use your
feet.
You walked around a lot and Ifind London's quite a walkable
(15:08):
city.
I mean you get yourself fromtube to tube but once you're in
an area, just explore and have awalk around.
So how did you find it gettingaround London?
And then how did you find itgetting out to Windsor to do
that visit?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, so getting around London is super easy and
again, I'm, we're, we're walkersand I'm, I'm very I'm a
decently active person, but Imean I don't average 25,000
steps a day Like I got in London.
So we were pretty worn outafter the at the end of it.
But I mean, we use the tube, weuse buses, we walked a lot.
(15:42):
You know, we hadn't I hadn'treally planned on going on a lot
of buses, but CityMapper appwas great, for we would just say
you know what, why don't wejust hop on a bus?
And since, especially since wewere one tube stop away from
Victoria, that really made iteasy.
There's so many buses that aregoing to and from Victoria.
(16:02):
You know Friday, you knowFriday, after our last afternoon
, we hadn't really had anythingplanned after the tour and we're
like you know what, we've neverreally spent that much time in
Notting Hill, and so we took thetube over to Notting Hill and
then took the bus back and itwas great, it was super easy.
Windsor was awesome.
(16:24):
So I actually booked our traintickets to Windsor ahead of time
.
I don't know if I really neededto do that.
I probably won't next timebecause it was super easy and we
actually did Victoria change atone stop, at Clapham Junction,
and then straight to EatonRiverside, and it may have been
(16:47):
a little longer than the otherroute, I think maybe by 10 or 15
minutes, but it was so easy andit's an easy train, it wasn't
crowded.
We purposely booked the firstslot at Windsor and the tour,
which I think is 9.30 in themorning and it doesn't open till
10, but you can kind of queueup around 9.30.
(17:10):
And we were actually first inline, not that it really
mattered, but it was.
We actually got there becausethere's so many trains going.
We got to Windsor on purpose.
We're kind of early risers bynature, and so we got there
pretty early, I think aroundeight maybe in the morning, and
(17:33):
so we were able to walk over toEaton across the bridge and,
like, we went to this awesomecoffee shop and had scones and
coffee and it was.
There was the school kids thatgo to Eaton College.
Around there was no tourist atall because it was a random
Thursday morning in March and sowe really had some extra time
(17:55):
to kind of explore a little bitbefore we actually did the
Windsor tour.
So it was super, it was supereasy.
I don't be intimidated.
Tell people don't beintimidated by public transport.
It's just so easy and it's easyto figure out.
And yeah, I will add thisObviously you talk about it a
(18:16):
lot in your podcast that there'sthese big debates between
Oyster Cards and contactless andall that.
So I ended up doing contactlessbecause apparently there's a way
that you can add a transportoption in your Apple wallet.
Iphone, you know, have a creditcard or a debit card attached
(18:38):
to it.
And you, I didn't even have to.
I mean I just I didn't evenhave to turn my, we didn't even
have to turn our phones on.
So when we got on the bus andthe tube, we just put our phone
by the reader and it opened thegates.
That was super easy.
And you still get the fare capsand all of that.
So that made it.
(18:58):
Um, and you still get the faircaps and all of that.
So that made it.
I mean I have wasn't having toget a card out or anything.
It was.
It was great.
It never was an issue.
I was worried about it at firstwhen I first did it, and then
it worked like it worked like acharm the whole time.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
To be honest, I think that's what we say to everybody
.
It's like, whether youcontactless or using Oyster card
, they're both really easy.
Whichever suits.
And it's always one of thebiggest bones of contention in
the Facebook group wheneveranybody asks that question, and
we just say to people, as I'mgoing to say now, just read
about both options and decidewhat works for you, because
(19:31):
whatever will work for you willwork for you.
It's absolutely fine.
What we don't do is and I'veseen this a few times we've been
told don't ever get an Oystercard.
No Londoner uses an Oyster card.
Well, actually, I have friendsthat live in London who do use
Oyster cards.
So again, it's just kind ofwhat suits you.
Yeah, it's one of those, butI'm glad it worked out.
And yeah, you wouldn't need tobook the tickets for Windsor
(19:53):
beforehand.
You could have got them becausethere's so many trains out
there, as you say and that andit is.
And we again it's anotherquestion we get asked about you
know how do I get to windsor, isit?
It's really easy.
In fact, most of the trainjourneys in the uk are not that
difficult.
Doug helps out in his uk traintravel tips uh group.
So if you're listening anything.
I'm going to travel by train.
I'm not sure you know he canhelp out with that and answer
(20:14):
questions, um, but in london andhelp, you can always ask people
as well.
People always help you out,whether it's catching the tube.
If somebody sees that you're abit confused, somebody will say,
oh, you need to hop on thisline and then change there.
It's really easy, okay.
So, nathan, you mentioned alittle bit about where you
stayed, so let's talk about youraccommodation, and I know you
(20:35):
mentioned it before the name ofit.
Is it something that a placethat you area that you'd
recommend and an accommodationthat you'd recommend?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
So again, we stayed um in theConrad London St James.
It's a Hilton property and Iget Hilton points.
I originally planned on stayingaround the Sloan square area
because we had stayed thereprior on my first trip to London
when I had graduated fromuniversity and did a trip on my
(21:04):
own.
I stayed at this little B&B offof Sloan Square and it's
reconverted into a flat now, butthey have options over there,
but we just ended up stayingthere.
I hadn't been around that areaor I hadn't remembered it that
much, and I hadn't been aroundthat area or I hadn't remembered
it that much.
But it turned out to be a verygood choice.
It was reasonably priced forthe area.
(21:25):
There's not that many hotels.
So basically, where it'slocated is literally, as I
mentioned before, across thestreet from the St James's Park
Tube Station.
We could see the top ofWestminster Abbey from our hotel
room.
You literally walk around thecorner and there's Westminster
Abbey from our hotel room.
You literally walk around thecorner and there's Westminster
Abbey and then you walk a littlebit five minutes and you're at
St James's Park.
So we would cross through StJames's Park almost every day
(21:49):
going into Mayfair.
Seeing Buckingham.
I mean you are literally rightin the center and I was worried
a little bit about, okay, isthere going to be noise?
There's a pub next door,there's one around the corner,
super quiet, because at nightthere's only a couple of hotels
around there.
So there's, I mean there was.
I mean I saw a few tourists.
There were a lot of businesstravelers in the hotel for that
(22:10):
time of year, but service wasgreat.
It was again super quiet.
But the location and I knew thisbecause you had mentioned this
as well being across the streetfrom the tube station and having
it close to your hotel after along day was really refreshing
because we knew, hey, I'm goingto get off the tube, walk a
(22:32):
little bit and I'm literallywalking upstairs and getting
into bed, and so that part yourecommend that staying close to
a tube station or a bus stopthat's close to a tube station
Highly recommend that for anyonegoing to London because it just
makes it easy.
Right Now I saw a sign, notthat it really mattered to us
(22:55):
too much.
There isn't in St James's Parktube station station.
There's not lifts, um, so youhave to be aware of that.
There may be certain stationsthat don't have lifts.
Most do um in terms of likegetting your bags, all of that,
but it was great.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Highly recommend it um, so yeah brilliant, brilliant
and also I think you know youright.
We do say that about trying tostay as close as possible to a
tube stop because I just knowmyself I kind of go off my own
experience, when I've walked25,000 steps Like I just I don't
want to is actually um, uh,we've got a link to uh which
tube stations have and haven'tgot kind of uh lifts and stuff.
(23:46):
I'll put a link to that.
It's on the I think it'stransport for london, um go app.
There should be links to thatin that um.
But what kind of links us tohow you got to the airport?
So I'm guessing, because youwere there for a few days you
didn't have a huge amount ofluggage.
But even still, when you arriveinto into london from wherever
you've been flying in from, it'slike think, right, how am I
going to get to my hotel?
(24:06):
So, so how did logistically yousort that?
Speaker 3 (24:10):
well we had.
I mean, we didn't have a hugelot of luggage, but it was heavy
, um, thanks to sarah, my wifeI'm just joking um, so I so we
had originally planned againbefore the strike and we had to
change our plans.
We were arriving on a Mondaymorning and we were just going
to.
Honestly, we were going to justtake Heathrow Express and I've
(24:52):
taken the tube from Heathrow Innand that's an option, but it
can get busy, especially ifyou've got a lot of luggage and
booked, um, a trip, a trip inwith your recommendation, with
Riz, with XFA cars, and I willtell you that was a super great.
That was the best decision wemade.
Um, and I mean, he personallypicked us up, Okay, and that
(25:14):
whole experience of how hehandles things in terms of I had
downloaded WhatsApp because myfriends in Germany use WhatsApp.
Whatsapp's not near as popularin the States as it is in Europe
.
But he said, hey, I had readthat on his website.
You know, WhatsApp is a loteasier to communicate.
(25:35):
So, and he sent me like photosand videos of a map, where to go
, a video of where to like, ofwalking through out, coming out
of the baggage claim.
I couldn't believe it.
I was just like it was supersimple.
It was like I didn't have tothink about it and we got there,
(25:55):
he, he picked us up and then itonly took like 45 to 50 minutes
and we were coming in kind ofat rush hour on a Tuesday and it
was awesome.
We talked the whole time, wehad a blast.
So it was absolutely worth alittle bit of extra money versus
(26:16):
the other options to get intoLondon.
So highly recommend that forfolks.
Now on the way back, weactually were leaving pretty
early in the morning on aSaturday and we ended up just
taking a black cab to Paddingtonearly in the morning there was
no traffic on a Saturday morningand then just took Heathrow
(26:38):
Express from Paddington back toHeathrow.
That's what we did to come backand that worked out fine.
And honestly, if you add up thecost of Heathrow Express, maybe
if you take a cab from yourhotel to Paddington or whatever,
the XFA car is probably aboutthe same price.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
And you know what.
You also miss out on theexperience of meeting Riz.
If it's Riz that picks you up,which quite a lot of times, it
is Because, honestly, he'sbecoming a I joke with him he's
becoming a bit of a minorcelebrity.
I shouldn't say minor, becausehe's probably a major celebrity
soon honestly, because he is sopopular and everybody who meets
Riz absolutely loves Riz todeath because he's just such an
(27:21):
amazing guy.
Not only is he an amazing guy,but he's so professional with
how he runs XFA cars as well and, as you say, it's so smooth.
We are traveling around.
As you know, doug and I aretraveling around a lot at the
moment and every time we land atan airport, I just want to have
Riz pick me up, because it justit's.
You know, we, we, we alwaysarrange to pick up.
There's nothing worse, evenfrom shorter flights.
I want to be met at the airport.
(27:43):
I don't want the stress ofhaving to think how am I going
to get my luggage into whereverI'm going to the hotel?
I just want to get off theplane, get my luggage and get to
the hotel.
That's just how I work and Ijust think it just makes life so
much easier and, as I say, rizis such a cool guy anyway to
meet no doubt.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
And again you've got to factor in, I mean, you know
this, when you take HeathrowExpress or the tube or whatever,
to the terminal it's a reallylong walk.
I mean I don't mind it, but forsome folks, if that's a factor
having someone meet you or dropyou off directly, when you I
mean mean literally you come outof baggage claim and he's
(28:20):
standing there and so that that,that and you just it, that
transfer and the whole process,even though maybe the drive to
London is longer than the 15minutes on Heathrow Express,
you're not factoring in how longit takes you to walk and all of
that it's going to about thesame time, if not probably a
little less, with risk exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Highly recommend the stress of it as well.
Anyway, let's, let's pivot tofood.
Let's talk about food.
You sent me some fantasticpictures and um, so we'll be
sharing those in the show notes.
Uh, so let's talk about some ofyour favorite foodie
experiences when you were inLondon.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, so just a little bit of background.
So we really enjoy when wetravel is eating local food,
right, and so, whether you know,wherever we are, we want to try
to go to some places that maybelocals go to or are recommended
to us, and so we definitely didthat and a lot of.
(29:23):
We ate at a lot of pubs justbecause, especially in London,
usually the food that we had atthe pubs was great.
For our anniversary dinner wewent to a restaurant in Mayfair
called the Guinea Grill.
It's kind of an old sort of Ididn't realize it at the time
(29:44):
sort of famous place.
We made reservations like amonth in advance and you know I
had beef Wellington for thefirst time, which was fabulous,
Service was impeccable and Ididn't see him.
But when we walked out AnthonyHopkins was walking in.
I didn't see him, my wife did,and so that was kind of a
highlight for her seeing himwalk in.
(30:06):
So yeah, that was great.
We had tea at Harrods in thefood hall, which was super fun,
just sitting down at the counter, relaxing, kind of taking it in
, just sitting down at thecounter, relaxing, kind of
taking it in the whole site ofthat.
You know a couple of pubs thatwe went to, where we had food
(30:28):
that we really like it.
I've been to the Antelopebefore.
It's in Belgravia.
Another hidden pub that Ihighly recommend is called the
Grenadier.
There's a history behind that.
You know some of theinspiration or I guess not only
from you guys telling me, uh,some ideas.
But, um, I bought a couple ofbooks, Um, one is historic pub
(30:49):
crawls through London by ThomasVosper.
Um, this book, right here I'mshowing you on the screen.
Um, that was really helpful, um, in in looking at, and then I
found that, personally, the DKguides were really good as well.
But we went to a place in thecity over by Royal Exchange, in
(31:11):
Leighton Hall Market, called theCounting House.
That was excellent, excellent.
And then Borough Market.
So, as I mentioned before, wehadn't really planned on going
there.
I don't know if it was on myconsult.
I heard this on a podcastepisode that I think it was.
Doug said that he really likedsausage rolls, and so I got a
(31:34):
sausage roll at Ginger Pig inBorough Market.
My wife got the strawberries,of course, Um, and I know those
are tourist things to do and allof that, but when we were there
in March, um, I mean there wasno lines.
I mean there were people there.
There was no lines, it was, itwas, it was great it was, and it
was on a like kind of on aFriday morning sort of, when we
were there, Um, so we also wentto an M and S food a couple of
(32:03):
those and grabbed some quickbites as well.
The coffee shop in Windsor iscalled Anytime Coffee on Eaton
High Street.
Great scones, jam and cream andall that was awesome.
We had planned on doing a teaat Fortnum and Mason in Royal
Exchange but that was on a daywe had to cancel it and so I'm
(32:33):
looking forward to we walkthrough the Royal Exchange when
we were there and saw the areaand it's beautiful and an old
building and all that.
So I hope we get to do thatnext time.
Do that next time.
But one piece of advice that Iwould give that I didn't really
think about too much was somefolks, you might want to plan a
little bit of your food sort ofin advance.
I know you don't want tooverbook and all of that, but
one night we hadn't done thatand we ended up going and
(32:56):
getting some pizza and it wasreally overpriced and it wasn't
great, and so I think you justhave to think through that a
little bit Again.
Sometimes I don't want to book,every hour, every minute have
everything reserved, but I dothink if you're looking for a
(33:17):
lot more commonplace than theyare in the States, even for just
small restaurants, I think thatjust popping in sometimes you
(33:40):
may not get a table becauserestaurants tend to be smaller.
So just something to thinkabout.
But, yeah, I would recommendall of the places that we went
to.
They were fabulous.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
That's good to hear, because I think sometimes
people's expectations aren'tparticularly high about British
cuisine, but actually there'ssome fabulous restaurants in
London, so good, reallyfantastic places to eat.
And, like you say, I think it'sgood to do a bit of research
before you go to theseparticular places that you
really want to go and eat.
Or you want to go and have anafternoon tea, because they do
get booked up and they get busy.
(34:11):
Um, because we, we love to goout and eat as well.
Um, and sunday roast comes upall the time.
I always ask but it's like youneed to book it because us brits
go out and have sunday roastout as well.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
So, um, yeah, and we were kind of bummed we weren't
there on a sunday, because wehad had sunday roast in the past
and and we also, you know, lovea good curry too and had had
been on Brick Lane a couple oftimes.
We didn't have time to do thatthis trip, but I highly
recommend that to folks.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, that'd be cool and you can.
Obviously next year, whenyou'll be back over, we'll look
in there, including some ofthose cool experiences.
Is there anything from thistrip?
Because obviously you had to,things changed quite a lot from
what you planned.
Is there anything that youwould?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
kind of change if you were, if you were kind of going
back and sorting the trip outagain, or were you happy how,
how you managed to kind of gowith things?
Yeah, I think, as I mentionedbefore, we might have planned
out at least our main meal ofthe day um a little better.
I mean, we did that once, butthe other times we didn't
Probably pack lighter Not thatwe were lugging our luggage
around that much, but probablycould have packed a little
(35:19):
lighter.
We were in early March.
So it was the weather InHamburg the first part of our
trip.
It got into the low 20 Celsius,which in sunny it was nice, and
then it was a little cooler inLondon.
So we had jackets and longpants, trousers and things like
(35:41):
that.
So we were kind of in this.
You know we had to pack forboth kind of weather, but we
could have probably packed alittle lighter.
I will say that I would have andI would recommend to folks that
they do the Discover RealLondon Black Cab Tour on their
first day versus the last.
(36:03):
We did it on our very last dayand the reason for that is that
Matt, our driver and tour guide,he told us all these places
right?
Oh, you need to go.
The best fish and chips is inEast London.
By this, you know this, youneed to do this and we didn't
have time to do all of thosethings.
So if we would have done it thetour earlier in our trip, we
(36:24):
probably would have done some ofthose things, because we're
getting, you know, up-to-daterecommendations directly from a
person that lives there.
So just that, I might'vechanged that.
I learned that a little bit.
But again, we probably we kindof had the mindset of really
just taking our time andexploring and popping into shops
(36:45):
and you know differentneighborhoods and streets, and
looking up and taking lots ofpictures.
I'm a history buff too.
I think London is so unique inthe sense that there's so many
old buildings mingled in withthe new.
It's just a great way to havethat kind of mindset.
(37:06):
Just take your time.
If you see something, stop,walk over to the side, let
everybody walk past.
You see something, stop, walkover to the side, let everybody
walk past you.
You know, look around, take abreath and I think, don't feel
so rushed.
And even in our short trip, Ithink that was something that we
accomplished, that we reallyappreciated and it made the
looking back on the picturesthat we took made the experience
(37:29):
so much better.
And the other thing too andI've always kind of had this
mentality when I've traveled todifferent destinations is I
always have the mindset if it'sa place that I like, I want to
come back.
And so we left so much to donext time with the kids.
You know I haven't talked abouta lot of the bigger sites other
than going to Windsor and Ihaven't talked about a lot of
(37:50):
the bigger sites other thangoing to Windsor because we
didn't really do that this trip.
You know we didn't go intoTower of London or Westminster
Abbey or National Gallery or StPaul's or any of that.
We walked by all of them, tooka lot of pictures and different
things like that, but we hadbeen in and toured all of those
(38:12):
places before, but we knew thatwe were going to want to bring
the kids back and do those nexttime and do some of those
experiences that you haverecommended.
So that was kind of our mindsetand it made it even a short
trip.
That was a little annoying thatwe got there two days later.
We just we filled it up andreally had a wonderful time.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
It's great and it's great to hear that as well Like
it worked out that you had sucha fabulous time in London and
that you know, even thoughyou've been there before yeah,
it was a long time ago You'dstill, there's still things
about London that are justmagical and amazing and I kind
of awe, inspiring.
I think it is just one of thosecities.
One question I did want to askbecause we've kind of touched on
(38:58):
it a lot through the throughthis chat, is the fact that you
went in march, um so and wetalked about that before I
should start recording thepodcast.
I think it's actually worth it.
You know, if, if you'relistening to the podcast now and
you're thinking, actually I'dprefer to go when it's not high
season, so kind of june, july,august, when it gets really busy
, or christmas again it's reallybusy.
So March, how did you find itoverall in March in terms of the
weather, how busy it was, kindof getting around, all those
(39:20):
sorts of things.
How did it feel generally?
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Couldn't have asked for a better time and I was a
little skeptical because in theStates we have spring break, and
spring break is kind ofthroughout the US, whether it's
grade school or college,university could be.
It's usually a week, but itstarts for some places at the
(39:46):
beginning of March all the waythrough mid-April, and I was
worried about that in terms of,you know, the amount of tourists
at certain places and how busyit might be, and it was the
exact opposite.
It was a fabulous time to go,brain thinks, but it was from
(40:16):
pretty much the forties to thelow sixties, which, um, if
you're, you know we're bringinglayers, you can take off a
jacket or whatever, beingoutside a lot.
I never got hot, um, now, ouraccommodation in London had air,
air con, um, but in Hamburg itdidn't, um, and so I also,
because I lived there for threeyears, I know that, if you don't
, my, my apartment in Hamburgdidn't have air con and there
was a few times when and so thatwas, you know, played into it
(40:39):
as well, and I had beenobviously to London several
different seasons and there's anargument for every season, but
I will say early March when wewent, was absolutely a great
time to go, and that's we'regoing to do it again next year
because of that, um, because we,and we felt it from a price
(41:00):
standpoint um, from hotels andum train tickets and different
things like that and I'm alreadylooking for next year or super
reasonable, uh, compared tomaybe December or the peak
season in summer or things likethat.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yeah, it does become really really expensive and more
crowded and less pleasant, andactually London, when it's very
hot, is, in my mind, not themost pleasant city to be in, to
be honest Not at all, becausethere's not a lot of AC around.
But what an amazing place tocelebrate your 20th wedding
anniversary.
And, as you know, when wechatted, it was also Doug and
I's 20th wedding anniversary inMarch as well.
(41:35):
Not the same day as you guys,but we're not that far away, so
congratulations on that.
So you'll be spending, hopefully, your 21st wedding anniversary
as well in the UK, which isamazing.
Now I know that you are a fanof the podcast, so you know the
(41:57):
question that's going to come upnow because I ask at the end of
every single podcast.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
So so, nathan, what would be the one tip that you
would give to someone visitingLondon for the first time?
Honestly, follow Tracy andDoug's recommendations.
I'm serious and I know that.
That, um, and you didn't pay meto say that, so it truly made a
difference.
Okay, and I, I very muchappreciate it.
My wife appreciates it.
Just follow the, follow herrecommendations and listen on
(42:20):
the podcast, use her resourcesand again, just do that and just
slow down, slow down.
Have some fun, you know.
Explore, have some fun, youknow.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Explore, don't don't overdo it and um, leave plenty
for next time.
Brilliant, oh, nathan, it'sbeen so lovely to chat to you
this week for the for thisepisode of the podcast.
I love doing trip reports and Ilove hearing about how just
your experience it was so good.
So, um, again once you'd benext year we'll be doing another
one.
So you, this isn't so you'll bea repeat offender on the
podcast.
Nathan, you're not getting awaywith it.
So this is episode 149.
(42:57):
So, goodness knows, it will bein another 12 months' time, but
fabulous to talk to you.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing your experiences
and your recommendations forLondon Brilliant.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Okay, thank you for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the
UK Travel Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favoritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(43:31):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
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