I had to do a quick visa run out of the Schengen zone because my student visa to Spain got messed up by my embassy. As annoyed as I was to change my entire flight pattern, I was excited to get a quick layover in London since I had (surprisingly) never been there. It’s pretty easy to book stopovers on British Airways and take advantage of a little time in the city.

Days OOO: 0/1

Budget Style: Budget friendly with a side of pretentious tea-time

Where I stayed: N/A

What I did:

Hours 1-2: Get through customs (have to show your flight out of the UK), buy a ticket on the Stansted Express into London as well as an Oyster card to ride the tube/rail/DLR. If you have a reservation for lunch, ask them to watch your luggage while you explore!

Hours 3-4: Explore the sites
I walked from Knightsbridge to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, then down to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben / Parliament. Although the guy at the hotel told me rain wasn’t in the forecast, it rained anyway. Amateur hour not having my raincoat on me. If the weather was better maybe I wouldn’t have ducked into a pub. Oh well! Beer.

Hours 5-6: Shopping on Oxford Street… or see more sights
I had to buy clothes I was willing to destroy with tomatoes at Tomatina festival in Spain the next day… So it was off to Primark for the first time. I also visited a few other shops to browse window displays and London looks.

If I didn’t need clothes I would have definitely gone to the Tower of London.

Hours 7-9: A fashionista’s high tea in Knightsbridge at The Berkeley Hotel
…I cant rave enough about this. They model all of their biscuits off of recent couture runway looks and it’s amazing. Very girly. Although I saw guys there I wouldn’t ever subject the men in my life to how cute this is. Another great high tea with more of an Anchorman ‘apartment smelling of rich mahogany’ experience is at Browns Hotel. Both of these require a reservation and a bit of a pocketbook. I mean… we were greeted at Browns with a guy wearing a freakin top-hat when I went.

Hours 10-12: Take the DLR to London City Airport (allow more time for Heathrow/Gatwick/Stansted)