Queenstown

We’d arrived! 26hrs later and 6am on the dot. London Baby!
Gatwick airport was very quite on a brisk early Sunday morning. Our tired, red-eyed faces were graced with the fresh, brisk air of London’s winter as we downed our long desired coffees and set on off to navigate the intrinsic railway network of London.
We managed to make the 40 minute express train ride into London Victoria station without any qualms. Passing all the quaint terraces homes and small towns outside London
We purchases our unlimited underground railway passes for the week’s adventures and after taking several wrong turns with our massive winter packed suitcase in tow, we finally managed to find our way to the correct train, next stop; Earl’s Court, our home for the next 7 days.

Earl’s Court is a stunning suburb just south of Kensington, full of incredible old terrace mansions, now operating as various hotels and bed & breakfasts. From the moment we walked out of the station we were taken in by this place. As we lugged our monster suitcases to a little luggage storage place near our Airbnb, we couldn’t wait to get out and explore this place. We had a few hours to kill before our little apartment was ready so with excited/quite exhausted spirits we set off on foot towards Hyde park.

After dreading the prior weather forecast of rain, London really turned it on for us with sunshine and clear skies. We strolled through the surprisingly massive Hyde park, from one end to the other. What better way to stretch out the legs after more than 24 hours of travelling.
We were taken away by the beauty of Hyde park. Even in Winter with it’s bare trees it was quite stunning. We managed the lengthy walk to the other side where we discovered London’s Winter Wonderland. This picturesque winter show was something to behold. Smells of delicious BBQ mixed with fresh cinnamon donuts assaulted our noses as we wandered the many stores serving up delicious food & drinks. We started off with a steaming hot cup of spiced mulled wine which warmed your entire body before moving on to shishkebabs, German sausages and hot Nutella crepes. We mossed on out of the wonderland going against the crowds and crowds of people heading in for their Sunday afternoon. With our Airbnb still not quite ready we set of to tick more major tourist hotspots. This one was a big one, Buckingham Palace.

We weren’t really expecting to head here on day 1, tired and sleep walking, but we were in the area so why not?
Buckingham palace is one of those places we thought we’d seen lot of after binging the entire 3rd season of The Crown, but it’s sheer size when you actually walk up to it’s front gate is pretty impressive. Jo was in her element! We snapped the essential photos, waved to Lizzy and kept moving, we were craving a bit of horizontal time.
Our Airbnb still wasn’t quite ready so it was to the classic English pub down a cobble stone side ally while we waited. Rested and refreshed we picked up our massive bags and headed to our apartment for hot showers and a chillout.
The time difference was catching up to us and with sunset at 4:00pm it wasn’t long before we started falling like flies for bed. We were all in bed by 6:30pm an that was it. A great sunny start to our London leg of the trip!

Asher ☺️Read more