Ship ahoy or How to get to London the difficult way

[Threviel]

So, we ended up with a far too expensive hotel, Millennium Gloucester Hotel London Kensington. It seems to be in a nice neighbourhood and within walking distance of a lot of stuff. We made the mistake of order plane tickets before hotels, the Saturday to Sunday night kosts about 5000 SEK (500 freedom money). Changing plane tickets costs 3000 SEK so we ran with it. We could have chosen an hotel less central, but everyone we thought was ok was still really expensive so the cost of being central is that Sat-Sun and about 3000 SEK more for the whole week. I guess inflation will make it sound cheap in 10 years or so.

The plan for London is:

Wife, her brother with wife and our kids will come to London on the 7th. The ship arrives on the 8th and I will spend at least 3 days with the ship doing stuff. They will do the regular touristing, watching the ship come in, visiting the ship, Tussauds , Tower and so on.

On the 11th as I debark the brother in law returns home and we will be alone until we go home on the 14th. So 3-4 days. Our flight leaves at 20:45, so one day there as well.

What I want to see:
Imperial war museum (wifey enjoys this stuff as well, It's often me that drags her away)
British museum

What wife wants to see:
Notting Hill/Portobello Road (planned for the day we go home)

We plan on walking from the hotel to Harrods, then over Kensington Gardens, Buckingham palace, Parliament, Westminster and stuff. That ought to take a day even if the walk itself is about an hour.

Any other great tips?

[The Larch]

How old are the kids? Maybe a day trip to Oxford? You can tell them that it's where they shot the Harry Potter films. 

[Threviel]

How old are the kids? Maybe a day trip to Oxford? You can tell them that it's where they shot the Harry Potter films. 

5 and 8. They've seen the first few films, but I think Oxford and the countryside is a better adventure for the camper. This might be the one time we go to London as a family, we'll try to make the best of London.

Any tips for food? The oldest one is very picky. Almost only eats Pizza, pasta if the sauce is white, tacos and Peking Duck. Sometimes we get him to eat fries. He is very staunch and will go apathetic before he eats most foods.

So it's almost only junk food for the whole week. What chains should we go to and what to avoid? Where can we eat on the cheap?

[The Larch]

I'd hardly call Oxford "countryside".

[Sheilbh]

I think the IWM was recently renovated - I've only been once but thought it would be really good for kids (and I don't mean that in a negative way at all). The new-ish permanent Holocaust galleries may not be for a family trip but are, I think, incredibly well done.

Just as an FYI I'd recommend making sure you have time for the queue. It used to be a really easy open museum and I haven't been in a year but I went to an exhibition and the covid/bag search entry way was pretty busy. The queue moved quickly but it took time - that might not be an issue now as I imagine there's less covid stuff at the entry. But worth bearing in mind.

In terms of food tips (I have a shared spreadsheet with friends to collect tips for all over town ):
IWM - I'd recommend popping up towards Lower Marsh just south of Waterloo and a short walk/maybe one stop on the bus. On most days (not Sunday - not sure about Saturday) there's a food market on the street. Particularly recommend Himalayan Dumplings and Naija High Street for Nepalese dumplings or Nigerian. There's also a good coffee shop on the street (Coleman Roasters, I think). At the end of the street there's a park next to a pub which often has a pretty decent jerk stall too.

British museum - This is Bloomsbury so there's loads of places in the immediate area that are good - if not you're not far from Soho or Fitzrovia which have plenty of options. Depending on when you're there there's a really good coffee shop about a block away on Store St (Store Street Espresso, originally). If you're looking for a cheap snack/lunch and sit in a park there's normally food stalls just north of the museum on the University of London campus area.

Notting Hill/Portobello Road (planned for the day we go home) - Less sure about this area but I'd recommend popping into Books for Cooks which is, as it says in the name, a cookbook shop. What's great, though, is they have a test kitchen/cafe where they cook recipes from their massive collection of books - it changes every day based on what's in Portobello Market and it's been a few years but was incredibly cheap/good value when I was last there.

Harrods, then over Kensington Gardens, Buckingham palace, Parliament, Westminster and stuff - Food deserts and I've no idea what people do here or where they eat.

[Maladict]

Go to Hamleys if you want to spoil the kids.

[Threviel]

Thanks guys, good tips!

[Barrister]

So this is maybe so obvious maybe there's a reason you're not doing it, but the Tower of London was definitely worth it.

Buckingham Place was nice and interesting, but the Tower would beat it all to hell.

[Threviel]

Yeah, I've been to London before, in '95 or '96, I remember that the IRA had their last bombing campaign going. Class trip at the end of 9th grade. Boat that time as well, there was a ferry from Gothenburg to somewhere around London.

Some friends and I skipped Tussauds that time around also. We also missed the Tower.

I want to go there, but time is limited and since they will be going when I'm with the boat it seems wasteful that they'll go again with me. Hopefully I'll have some free time in port that I can spend with the family, but I don't know if that's the case. So the most obvious touristy stuff will already be done when I join.

[garbon]

So this is maybe so obvious maybe there's a reason you're not doing it, but the Tower of London was definitely worth it.

Buckingham Place was nice and interesting, but the Tower would beat it all to hell.

For children, sure.

On British museum,I was just there on Saturday and using the back entrance is a much quicker way to get in than the endless line in the front.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Natural History museum is probably more fun for young kids than the British museum; you may want to consider it.

[Admiral Yi]

I would want to check out The City and Canary Wharf and check out the money guys.

[The Larch]

Natural History museum is probably more fun for young kids than the British museum; you may want to consider it.

Dinos!   

[Sheilbh]

Although they moved Dippy out

I think they have a big whale now

[The Larch]

Although they moved Dippy out

I think they have a big whale now

Dippy?