Well at least pretend to be one!In June, three friends that I had met on my year abroad over in American came to stay for four days. We treated them to all the British classics such as Fish and Chips, Afternoon Tea and 99p Ice Creams, but what they really wanted to experience and see was London. I live around an hour and a half away from London, and although I don't go often, I wanted to show them the things I always enjoy seeing when I visit the capital city. After two days in the Midlands and with one friend leaving for the airport, on Saturday, three of us jumped on the train the Euston to sight see London. I self-nominated myself to be tour guide and show them around, so this is what I learnt acting as tour guide of London for 48 hours! If you are planning on a similar trip, or are wondering the key spots to visit in London, I hope this blog post helps! For maximum impact, after arriving in London Euston, I took them straight to Westminster tube station. Its entrance comes straight out onto the Houses of Parliament and gives a great view of Big Ben. They seemed to be pretty impressed when their first real site of London was one of the most famous landmarks. First stop was the London Eye which thankfully wasn't too busy at 11am in the morning. It was a good choice to do first was they could take in a lot of the city before exploring it further. It got a bit busier after that and we quickly found the source of the mad rush. Fresh off the results of the EU referendum the week before, there was a remain protest taking place in parliament square. We navigated the busy streets to quickly see Westminster Abbey and then walked up past Downing Street to Trafalgar Square. The protest got busier as we walked up, it was great to see such a peaceful crowd. David Cameron got a few boos outside Downing Street however! By the time we had walked up to Trafalgar Square the streets were packed and it was all a big spectacle for their first few steps in London! We then headed over to Buckingham Palace which was thankfully a bit quieter and spent some time watching the guards and enjoying the fleeting sun. We then headed back to Piccadilly Circus where Jamen attempted to recreate a photo which he has on his wall back home. We then walked through Leicester Square to Covent Garden. We then had quite a bit of time left, and I had counted off the main attractions for the day. Jamen was keen to see a Doctor Who style police box and found one in Kensington. We then headed over via the tube and although my struggle in finding it , it was right outside the tube station. A replica of course but a fun bit of novelty! We then had time to walk over to Kensington Palace, a place I had never been to before. It's pretty and had some beautiful gardens. They both seemed to be intrigued by the swans in the large pool, I mean I never did see a swan in Utah so... Kensington Palace and gardens is worth a visit if you have some time. We then headed over to Paddington to grab some dinner and got the train to my friend's home for the night who kindly offered to let us stay. The next day we headed back into London to continue the tour. We got the train back to Paddington and took the tube to Tower Hill. We spent some time getting photos of Tower Bridge which they seemed to be impressed by and then headed into the Tower of London. I wish we had had more time here as we didn't get to see everything in the 4 hours we were there. They loved the history of the tower and seeing the Crown Jewels. After that we headed to Kings Cross to see Platform 9 3/4 before we had to catch train, me back home and them the EuroStar back to Paris. Make sure you give loads of time for getting the photo as there is usually a queue, sometimes up to more than an hour wait! We waited an hour. We had to miss out on a Nando's dinner for it but at least we got the photo and also caught both of our trains! It was a great weekend showing them around the I hope this gives you some ideas about the best places to show a tourist around London. Thanks for coming to visit guys, I had a blast!
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Hi! I'm Holly, a twenty something traveller from the UK. Over the years I've been lucky enough to live and travel in many countries. I've studied in America and working holidayed in Australia and New Zealand! I currently live in South Korea. Learn more about me below!
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