Our First London Trip

There was a time in my life when it felt like I was visiting London every few months. I’d never been to the capital as a kid, so as a young adult I loved getting to know the city, which was just a few hours' train journey away.

Me and Jono had been talking about visiting for ages, and with some time off booked we decided now was a good time to get back to the capital!

One place I’d never been to in London was Camden, so we got ourselves a night at the Camden Enterprise Hotel (above the pub!) and made an itinerary of fun things to do.

We booked duo tickets with Hull Trains to save 33%, and set off nice and early from Hull at 8.30am, I had lots of fun telling Jono all kinds of boring things, like how Howden train station is in the middle of nowhere and how Doncaster station didn’t used to have lifts and I got stuck taking huge cases home from uni up and down the stairs.

Arriving in London, our first stop was Borough Market! Both being big foodies with big appetites, we loved this enclave close to London Bridge station, which had lots of choices from all over the world, with me grabbing some awesome noodles and Jono going for some pasta.

We then headed for a walk down the bank and went for some drinks with a great view!

Unfortunately, we planned for a boat trip next but things didn’t go quite to plan! We hadn’t really scheduled anything in for that afternoon and were kinda at a loose end. We booked a last minute boat trip that we thought was an hour down the river and back… but was actually only 5 mins across to the Tower of London!

After mooching around the City, taking in the Walkie Talkie and some other bits and bobs like Leadenhall Market, we headed back across to a pub for a few drinks before we went to the Shard for cocktails.

Unfortunately.. We came undone again! We booked Bar 31 at the Shard, assuming it was on the 31st floor. Nope… Bar 31 is is the basement of the Shard! So we skipped the cocktails and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, which was at the Paternoster Chop House, best known for being the home of First Dates before the show moved up to Manchester.

We got dressed up and headed over to the restaurant… but it wasn’t where we thought it was! In the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral was... Happenence?! Turns out the restaurant had actually moved, so we hot-footed it (me in my heels!) down the road to its new location!

Even though the overall experience wasn’t quite the same, we still had a really delicious meal so I’d recommend it if you fancy some fancy-ish food in London. I had a nice lamb shank while Jono went for the chicken, finished off with a chocolate fondant for me and ice cream for Jono.

Luckily, after our meal Jono had managed to book a last minute 10pm table at the super swanky Ting restaurant at the Shard, so we managed to still get in those amazing London views cheaper than the ticket price!

We had a really nice walk over to the South Bank before we had some cocktails and bar snacks (free of charge, an absolute miracle) before heading back on the tube to Camden, where luckily an amazingly comfortable bed awaited us - rounding off the day having walked a good 20,000 steps each.

The next day we had a bit more of a plan, we’d booked a table at the Greenberry Cafe in nearby Primrose Hill and had a really delicious brunch. After that, we headed around the pretty streets of the borough, like Chalcot Crescent, and headed up the hill to the amazing view of the city’s skyline.

After a walk round the park we headed down to Regent’s Canal and took in the boats and mansions as we walked up to Camden Lock, taking in Little Venice and a stop at the Primrose Bakery for cute Halloween cupcakes.

We eventually got to Camden Market, which I didn’t realise was so big! We got a bit lost going through all the different alleyways and halls filled with clothing and trinkets and bric a brac, but it was so much fun, there was so much to see and do!

It wouldn't be a trip to Camden without visiting a boozer, so we went for a trip to a pub for nachos for lunch, then in the afternoon we walked back down to Regent’s Park, with a somewhat emotional trip to the small but interesting Jewish Museum London along the way.

We rounded off the trip (and other 20,000 steps that day) with a walk round an autumnal Regent’s Park, a break for hot chocolate and our cupcakes, then back up the canal to Camden Town for the Cheese Bar at the market - a small restaurant offering dishes and cheeseboards made exclusively with British cheeses. We feasted and realised there was actually such a thing as too much cheese - who would have thought it?! Cheesepuffs were amazing though!

A few glasses of wine at Kings Cross later and we were back on our Hull Train!

I think we learned a few lessons on the trip, one of which was maybe to do a bit more research! I think we were a bit out of practise with organising holidays after the pandemic, and a quick check on TripAdvisor would have told us Bar 31 at the Shard wasn’t on the 31st floor!

But we still had a great time, with lots of fun and some really nice food, some great sights and some new corners of London explored.