Look out London, we're coming!

[Train567]

I'm on the train to London with my boys. We haven't been further than 30 miles from our home town since February 2020 due to a combination of covid, ds1 having an operation last summer, ds2 having quite extreme covid anxiety, one thing after another. I am beyond excited.

If you're on a West Coast mainline train this afternoon and there's a really annoying woman on there who can't sit still, keeps getting up to the toilet and the restaurant car, keeps asking how long till we get there, that's me. I'm sorry. I am so excited.

We're only in London for 3 days, just got a couple of low key things planned, but we're all so excited to just be away from home. 2 whole years since we went anywhere, who would ever have believed it?

Ha ha! Have lots of fun!

Have a lovely time!

Oh superb! Welcome and have a lovely time. London Mumsnet is fab at giving suggestions if you need it but sounds like you’ve got it covered.

Ah, i hope you enjoy it!

I did similar two weeks ago, i got on a train for the first time since covid and went off to the south for a long holiday. Ashamed to say i was nearly in tears at first as so low since lockdowns, etc, i was quite frightened.

But god it did me so much good to get out again and sit amongst human beings and hear them breathe and laugh and even occasionally cough! I does really help with confidence after such a long, drawn out, unnatural experience, so try to make the most of it.

Enjoy! What are your low key things?

Have a lovely time! London won’t mind at all unless you stand on the wrong side of the escalator.

Yay!! Have a fabulous time. London is amazing, so much to do and so much to see.

Have a great time! Let us know what you get up to.

Have an amazing time OP. I've just been away and it's great to be free!

We're going on Tower Bridge and the London Eye. So not low key as such, just trying not to fit lots of things into our trip and get stressed. Lots of down time, time in the hotel, time for wandering around.
An actual hotel, apart from weekends at my parents I haven't slept anywhere apart from my house in 2 years. I'll probably be too hyper to sleep. Spending the whole 3 days in the hotel would be exciting enough.

I'm mildly stressed about getting us all on the tube, the teens need to pay but the 9 yr old doesn't, is that right? I've got a couple of ancient oyster cards and my contactless bank card, I'm sure we'll manage.

I'm too excited to be actually stressed, it's all going to be great.

Apart from the kids sniping about legroom under the table on the train, that's not great. I think I'll go off to the restaurant car again and leave them to it for a while.

Oh Tower Bridge is my favourite and very reasonably priced! Enjoy OP.

Ahh enjoy. Here are a couple of places you might enjoy:
Postal museum
Transport museum
The imagine children's festival at the Royal Festival Hall South Bank

Have you booked the eye op? The older kids will need the oysters, the 9yo goes through the family barrier with you.

Have a great time!

london parks are lovely, visit the mad squirrels at Hyde Park :D

Yes teens have to pay but 9yr old doesn’t - just walk through the accessible gate together on your swipe. I’d also recommend downloading Citymapper if you haven’t got it. It’s great for getting around and gives you all the transport options and walking directions too.

Have a great time!

@Nitgel

london parks are lovely, visit the mad squirrels at Hyde Park :D

And the cheeky noisy parakeets in Kensington Park who have learned that visitors often have food and don’t mind being photo ops . On the left, walking towards the Peter Pan statue.

If the teens have their own credit/debit cards they can swipe themselves through barriers and onto buses. Otherwise check how much is on the old oysters and top them up.

While you are at Tower Bridge and if you can afford it then HMS Belfast is terrific. If the guns were fired the shots would travel about 20 miles!!! The Tower of London is also wonderful to visit, but again pricey.

Other amazing museums which they might enjoy are the Museum of London, the Imperial War Museum, Maritime Museum Greenwich. Plus the usual South Kensington suspects. All free, do check on line if you need to book entry times.

Have a great time.

I'm in London: welcome! When you've done the Eye, do take a stroll along the river on the South Bank towards/past the South Bank Centre and under the bridges with the bookstalls.
I know it's a touristy bit of town, and I've lived here quite a long time, but I still love it.

Depending on the age of the teens look up concession fares. Before mine got 11-15 zip oysters I think I remember a ticket person at an underground station applying a child concession to a regular Oyster card on a temporary basis. If you've got a bit of time do some research on fares and fare caps - no point spending more than you need to.

@IntermittentParps

I'm in London: welcome! When you've done the Eye, do take a stroll along the river on the South Bank towards/past the South Bank Centre and under the bridges with the bookstalls. I know it's a touristy bit of town, and I've lived here quite a long time, but I still love it.

And if the skateboarders are out it’s like your very own Winter Olympics, but without the snow......

I love the skateboarders

I assume you know about the 2 for 1 deals available for the London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge etc available with your train tickets?

Sounds great! If your teens are 11-17, then get paper travel cards at child /young person rate, otherwise you’ll be paying the adult rate on the old oysters. Or it sounds like you can get a child discount applied to the oysters. But don’t just start tapping them unless you want to pay adult fares!

9yr old is free on the tube and buses, just walk through the luggage/pushchair wide barrier with him/her.