The England, Scotland and France Trip Recap
I am sharing all the fun details, recommendations and travel tips from my recent 2 week adventure to England, Scotland and France with my boyfriend, James! 🖤
Flights
I highly recommend flying out of Boston directly to London if you’re not a huge fan of flying! James is 6’4 and does not comfortably fit in an airplane seat, so we found the quickest flight. BOS to Heathrow is only a 6 hour flight - it is the shortest travel time from the US to London. However regardless of flight time, flying overnight in general is a pain in itself. Who the fuck can sleep on a plane?! Here’s my list of must-have flight items to keep in your carry on:
And your favorite skincare item(s) in travel size
London, England
We arrived in London at 3am EST but it was 8am GMT, so it was time to rally on 2 hours of sleep. The excitement of arriving keeps you going! It took 2 trains from the airport to get to the middle of the city. Our hotel was in the Westminister area which made it very easy to walk everywhere! We stayed at The Westminster London, Curio Collection by Hilton which was walking distance to:
10min walk to Westminster Abbey
12min walk to Big Ben
20min walk to Buckingham Palace
18min walk to St. James’s Park
23min walk to the London Eye
40min walk to The British Museum - close to SOHO and the University of London which is a cool place to explore while you’re in this area
40min walk to Borough Market (famous chocolate covered strawberries), the London Eye is on this route
45min walk to London Bridge, just passed the Borough Market
50min walk to The Crown Jewels, cross the London Bridge coming from the Borough Market
1hr walk to St. Paul’s Cathedral
This may be stating the obvious but go eat at a pub while in London! There are pubs literally everywhere, pick one. I’ve heard The Black Dog is a good one. 👀
English Afternoon Tea Experience ☕️
I probably scrolled TikTok for HOURS looking for the perfect afternoon tea time. We finally decided on The Rosebery located in the Mandarin Oriental hotel because we wanted a fancier experience and to explore Hyde Park. It was incredible!! Expensive, but incredible. There are definitely great, less expensive options out there, but if you’re in the mood to treat yo’self, we highly recommend The Rosebery.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London | The Making of Harry Potter ✨
If you are a Harry Potter fan, buy the tickets. Enough said here.
Disclaimer that shocked us: “Warner Bros. Studio Tour London” is actually, in fact, not in London. It is about an hour outside of London, in Watford. Buy tickets way in advance and plan travel accordingly! We bought our tickets 6 weeks out and there was only 1 tour time left for our preferred day.
Manchester, England
After spending a full 3 days in London (and we could of stayed longer), we took a train to Manchester. Manchester was our least favorite city of all 4 we visited on this trip BUT if you are a Man-U fan, this is obviously the home city. We caught up on laundry and sleep in our Airbnb apartment during our first day in Manchester, which was needed because we literally went balls to the wall in London since arriving in the UK. We discovered Nando’s Peri Peri sauce for the first time here, IYKYK. James had a premier league football game on his bucket list so we went all out for the Manchester United v. Liverpool rivalry match the next day.
Premier League Match Experience ⚽️
HIGHLY RECOMMEND purchasing Matchday Hospitality Tickets to get the full experience. They are PRICEY, but they are worth it. With hospitality tickets, you are invited to the Lancashire Cricket country club for a luxury pre-game celebration that includes an open bar, 3-course meal, and entertainment three hours before match time. Your actual game tickets are included within this all-inclusive package price as well. We had an absolute fucking hay day at this event. After, we walked a few blocks up to Old Trafford Stadium for the game. Manchester United ended up tying their rival Liverpool 2-2. This day ended up being one of my boyfriend’s favorite days of the whole trip.
Edinburgh, Scotland
The morning after the Manchester United match, we took another train a few hours up to Scotland (very hungover). Scotland is just one of those really magical places. There were miles and miles of green rolling grass hills of sheep farms, slightly rainy and foggy in a mystical way, and the architecture made me feel like I time traveled back hundreds of years. We (Jim) dragged our luggage across cobblestone streets and up and down endless stairs to our Airbnb that had the perfect view of the Edinburgh Castle. We were there in April, so let it be known this time of year is very rainy and cold.
The City of Edinburgh 🏰
Explore Royal Mile and do a tour of the Edinburgh Castle!! While you’re at it try some haggis, just don’t Google what is it.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, walk through Greyfriars Graveyard. J.K Rowling took character name inspiration for her books from this graveyard. The gravestones of Robert Potter, Sirius Black and Tom Riddell can be found here! The gravestone of Greyfriars Bobby (Kellen Eschman and Lexi Rominger if either of you are reading this, this link is NOT for you!!) can also be found here, a dog’s grave. Bobby’s story has got to be one of the saddest dog stories in the history of dog stories. When I tell you I bawled my eyes out looking at his tombstone with all the sticks people have brought to his grave…I actually cried. And now you will too, here’s a picture:
“Let his loyalty & devotion be a lesson to us all”
The Scottish Highlands 🏔
Okay we pulled a full blown tourist moment and booked a day trip tour with Get Your Guide that turned out to be INCREDIBLE. I was picturing this to be something my grandparents’ would book and it was exactly that, but in the best way. By this point in the trip, I was getting really sick from going to the Manchester United game in the cold rain and just being sleep deprived. But this trip was perfect because I was able to sleep on the bus tour in between stops (which sounds pitiful). Yes, it indeed was a charter bus tour type of day trip. But I’m telling you - incredible.
Paris, France
Paris fucking France. Are you kidding me. I love this city! I don’t get the hate. I hear all the time “Paris is so overrated” “I didn’t love Paris as much as I thought I would” “The Eiffel Tower is underwhelming” What. The. Hell. I couldn’t disagree more. I’ve gone to Paris twice in the last 2 years, and it still gave me that same feeling I got during my first visit. There’s a quote by Ernest Hemingway that puts these feelings into words, “Paris is so very beautiful that it satisfies something in you that is always hungry in America.”
We flew from EDI to CDG as it was the fastest way of travel. In total, it only took about 3.5 hours of travel from the time we left our Airbnb in Edinburgh to the moment our Uber dropped us off at our hotel in Paris. We stayed at La Bourdonnais, a 4-star boutique hotel by the Eiffel Tower. I found this was the best bang for our budget by this point in the trip considering anything close to the Eiffel Tower can be thousands of dollars a night to stay.
Things To Do in Paris 📝
Le Louvre
To my surprise, you could spend a full day in the Louvre. It is huge!! My advice is to pick the things you want to see beforehand and stick to a plan. The Mona Lisa is here so obviously go see her, just know everyone else will also be trying to see her too.
Eiffel Tower in the daytime
Go see the Eiffel Tower in the daytime and hangout in the lawn area. So many locals bring bottles of champagne, baguettes, and blankets to have a little picnic here. It’s the best, what more could you want?
Les Invalides
So much history is here! Not only is it beautiful, but it also houses the Musée de l'Armée and the tomb of Napoleon. This was a must-see for James as a US veteran. Personally I felt like I was on a history class field trip (which is my own circle of hell), but it was still very cool to see and I still recommend.
Notre-Dame
Sadly still under construction, but of course worth seeing the outside and reading about its history especially in the recent years following the fire. They are hoping to reopen to the public in December of 2024.
Eiffel Tower at night
The Eiffel Tower ✨sparkles✨ every hour on the hour for 5 minutes starting at dusk and ending at 11pm (I think it runs longer in the summer). Every. Single. Night. I never get tired of seeing it.
On our first night in Paris, we got dropped off at our hotel at 10:45pm. By the time we got checked-in and dropped our luggage off in our room, we ran down the block at 10:58pm to catch the last sparkling Eiffel Tower moment of the night. Core memory.
Seine River cruise
I’ve done a seine river cruise during the day and at night, both are amazing experiences! During the day allows you to see more of Paris, but at night you get that sparkling Eiffel Tower moment on the water so…
The Gardens
Paris has some beautiful gardens that are worth visiting and sitting in the famous green chairs just to people watch (or pigeon watch if you’re me). We did the Tuileries Garden and the Luxembourg Garden.
Restaurant Recommendations in Paris 🍷
A yummy Italian restaurant to go to after long hours in the Louvre! And we walked through the Tuileries Garden after. Loulou’s is a great central location to this area. Jett and Pookie recommended this one on TikTok (@campbellhuntpuckett) so I had to add it to my list.
One of our favorites; a casual Michelin-starred restaurant with the best view of the Eiffel Tower if you sit outside. And it was so delicious! 20 Eiffel is where I got this fucking iconic video:
Early June hosts a rotation of traveling chefs and it is the cutest little wine bar restaurant EVA. Really cool atmosphere and experience. Unfortunately, it was closed the four days we were in Paris because they were doing a pop-up in Manhattan… 🙃 I will be dreaming about my first time there until I am able to return.
You have to go to this cocktail bar after dinner at Early June, it’s just right around the corner. It’s literally rated in the World’s Top 50 Best Bars. The whole damn world.
Cafe de Flore or Cafe deux Maggots
These famous cafes are right next to each other and basically gives the same vibe and experience. The point is to go and order the famous hot chocolate + croissant combo. Imma hold your hand when I say this…it’s life changing.
I wanted to pick a classic fancy Eiffel Tower view restaurant for Jim’s 34th birthday and last night of our trip. I debated between Monsieur Bleu and Les Ombres, but ultimately went with another recommendation from Jett and Pookie. We were VERY HAPPY with the final decision, it was our favorite dinner of the entire trip. The view of the Eiffel Tower was also so amazing per usual. Unbeknownst to me, Paris is home of the rose-ringed parakeet (?) so there was literally flocks of beautiful little green parakeets flying around. I felt like I was in a damn Romcom. My apple martini and pinot noir had me giggling and stumbling the whole walk back to our hotel.
By the time we got to Monsieur Bleu I was ordering everything off the menu. Seriously so yummy. Allison and I like to call this portion of a trip the “money isn’t real” part when you are at the end of a vacation and have already spent so much, what’s a little more at this point right? Girl math. Jim’s wallet (and logic) says otherwise. 😬 But it was so good!!
Girl Dinner Picnic
Highly recommend crafting yourself a girl dinner and doing a picnic on the Eiffel Tower lawn one evening. It’s cheap, it’s romantic, and its own experience. We went to a local grocery store and picked up the essentials for us: strawberries (you have to have the strawberries in France trust me on this), macrons, a fresh warm baguette, butter, wine, cheese, and a charcuterie meat. *Chef’s kiss*
The End
To end our two week trip, we took the bullet train back to London from Paris to catch our flight back to the states. We got one more cheap (but amazing) European coffee & croissant and said So Long, London. 👋
