July 2023 | Our itinerary
After our 11 day British Isles Norwegian Cruise was complete, we had 2 more places to visit before it was time to head home. Since our cruise ended in Southampton, we decided it would be crazy if we didn't go to London, England. So that's exactly what we did!
Day 1:
Once we got off the cruise ship, we took a taxi from the Southampton Port to the Southampton train station. This was only about a 5 minute drive which was super convenient. Once we arrived there, I watched the bags while Alec grabbed himself an Americano from Starbucks just across the way. For this particular train ride, we did buy our tickets in advance which you don’t necessarily have to do but definitely made the morning less stressful.
Around 9:15am we made our way inside the train station, scanning our tickets and running to the restroom one more time before boarding. At 9:30am on the dot, the train arrived and we struggled to get on. Since it was a weekday, the train was quite full and having 2 large suitcases + a carryon was a lot but somehow we managed to get on before the doors shut. Unfortunately from that stop onwards it didn’t get any less crowded and there was really no good area for our giant bags. Therefore sadly Alec had to stand the full hour and a half with the 2 large suitcases in the entryway/bathroom area while I snagged a seat (specifically for expectant mothers) with the carry-on suitcase at my feet. Totally not the most ideal situation but we made it work.
Once we arrived to the Waterloo station in London around 11am, we quickly got off the train and were on the hunt for a luggage store company. These are super common at the train stations in Europe and are a great way to store your luggage while exploring the city for a couple of hours. It did seem super secure and safe however I would not have felt as comfortable leaving our suitcases there if they weren't all locked. Shoutout to Beis for creating the most beautiful, efficient, and practical suitcases of all time! The cost for us to leave 3 suitcases for 3 hours came out to be $X total, which was super worth it to us to get to leave our baggage behind ;) and explore London handsfree!
After we finished paying, we headed out of the station and straight towards Big Ben + Westminster Abbey. On our walk over we also happened to pass by the London Eye which is located right on the water and in front of a beautiful park. Since this was just a quick stop before our final destination on this trip, we only had about 3 hours to see all we could. So we really booked it all over the city to all of the most famous + historical sites we could before making our way back to Waterloo to catch our next train. After we snagged some pictures of all of those monumental landmarks, we decided to stop for a quick bite to eat.
As we wandered the streets of London, we stumbled across this super cute cafe tucked in an alleyway about 5 minutes from Big Ben called Old Queen Street Cafe. It was also right across from St. James's Park which was a lovely lush park right in the heart of the city. Since we stopped in before noon, they were still on their breakfast menu so Alec ordered the Eggs Benedict while I had the Apple & Cinnamon Bircher (which is like oatmeal) + greek yogurt. As we both enjoyed our tasty dishes, we paid the tab and headed to the palace!
It was only about a 10 minute walk along St James's Park to Buckingham Palace but boy was it crowded! If we had to compare London to any city in the U.S. it would be New York for the amount of people + tourist attractions. Once we walked through the black and gold gates and in front of the palace, we couldn't believe we were getting to see such a monumental building in person. Such a surreal moment + Alec was enamored with the lawn work surrounding the palace. He was very tempted to take a patch of the precious green grass home with us but alas decided against it. After we walked around the outside a bit, got some pictures, and saw someone famous drive into the castle (we aren't sure who it was but every around was cheering), we decided to make our way to Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time left before we needed to be back at the train station so we just quickly walked through the area site seeing + people watching along the way. After walking across the Hungerford Bridge, we were basically back to where we started in the Jubilee Gardens in front of the London Eye. We stopped for a quick bathroom break (which of course we had to pay 1 Euro for each) before our time in London had quickly come to an end.
Once we made it back to the Waterloo train station, we picked up our luggage, and made our way to the Tube. From there we had to take the Tube from Waterloo to Kings Cross which took about 30 minutes. Then when we got to Kings Cross we snagged a quick bite to eat from Mi + Me before going through the check in process for our Eurostar Train from Kings Cross to Paris, France. The check in process here is similar to an airport (but not as intense I would say). Just be sure to give yourself ample amount of time especially if French isn't your first language or if you are traveling in a bigger party.
You start by getting into a line to scan your boarding pass/ticket. From there you have to go through a metal scanner and then have your passport checked and stamped. So overall not many steps but as you can imagine a lot of people take the train from London to Paris so the lines were pretty long. The station recommends you arrive to Kings Cross at least an hour and a half before your train actually leaves and I would say that is pretty accurate. Once you are through the check in process, there is a large sitting area with restrooms + convenient stores where you wait before your train's departure. Then 15 minutes before your train leaves, the screens display your gate number and everyone stands up to get on the escalators to go upstairs to get onto the train. When you get upstairs you have to find your train number then quickly hop in line to get on. Once you are on the train you must scout, like an eagle, for spots for your luggage. Like I mentioned previously we had 3 suitcases (2 large and 1 carryon) but luckily Alec was able to find just enough space for them all (on the train behind us) so we were set!
When you travel with Eurostar Trains, your seats are assigned so luckily we didn't have to fight for our seats or anything like that. Once our bags were up we both sat down and enjoyed the about 2 hour long ride from England to France. Since most of the ride is underground & you can't see much we decided to watch the classic Disney Paris film, Ratatouille. On board there are also restrooms + a place to buy little snacks and drinks, so of course we had to indulge a bit on our way to PARIS, FRANCE!
Some other things we would have loved to do/see but just didn't have time:
For all the details on our trip to Paris, be sure to check out that blog post where we share everything from what we did, to where we ate, everything we saw, + so much more!
Where to stay
Where to eat
Coffee + Breakfast
Brunch + Lunch
Dinner + Drinks
*places we ate at
What to do
*things we did
What to wear
Overall the weather in London in the summertime is pretty warm but nothing like a Texas summer. They also have a little bit more of a lighter breeze so just keep that in mind when planning your outfit to explore the historic city. Here's what we wore when visiting London, England in the middle of July-
His | |
Hers |
xo,
The Stegalls
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can watch our full vlog on our 3 hour visit to London, England!
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