It's London baby! (Help me plan)

[AinmÁlainn]

I haven't been to London in about 25 years but I've got tickets to a show recording in pinewood studios that the kids would love so I'm trying to work out how doable it is. I can get well priced flights to Luton and have found a decent family room in a hotel near Pinewood. I need to work out activities for between our flight landing (9.30am) and having to be in Pinewood (4pm - really 3.30 as we have to drop our bags at the hotel, seems we can't bring any bags to the recording) and then the following day until we need to be on the Luton express at 4pm.

Dc are 13 and 11 and pretty much up for anything. I thought Tower of London and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park but I'm open to all ideas, and knowledge of what's reasonable/doable. Please help me work out an itinerary!

Sorry if I am understanding correctly, you land at Luton airport at 9.30 and you need to be at Pinewood Studios (which is near Slough, right?) for 3.30.

As a Londoner I would say you've no time to pop to the Olympic park.

Land 9.30
Catch train to central london by 10
In central london around 10.30 (if things go smoothly)
It takes at least and hour and a half to get from central london to Pinewood. Let alone from Stratford that would be about 2 hours.

Day 2 you could do one of those places before heading back to Luton.

Download the Citymapper app to work out how to get around - its excellent.

Personally I would readjust your expectations- do underestimate how long it takes to travel across London from one side to the other and in from Luton etc.

Good luck.

• don't underestimate

Thank you, that's absolutely what I need, someone who knows London telling me what's realistic! I was thinking of one activity each day. I don't want to waste time getting somewhere only to leave again almost immediately. Yes, Pinewood is near Slough.

If I were you I'd get in from Luton to central London and do something bang in the middle. My teens like dim sum in china town for example and, if you're like that sort of thing, you can visit Covent Garden (good teen shops if they like that thing) or even spend a pile at the m&m shop Leicester Square or drag them around fortnum and mason if that is what you'd like. Then make your way leisurely after you've eaten lunch towards pinewood.

Then day 2 get up in good time and you could manage the Tower of London quite comfortably.

Last summer we brought our teens to London. We did a river cruise first linked with a trip to The Shard. Both booked through theviewfromtheshard.com The cruise leaves from quay near The Shard goes down the river as far as Greenwich and returns to near The Shard. We had a fantastic tour guide who made it really interesting for all of us. Arrive early so you are at top of queue to get seats at front of boat. Great to look down from The Shard afterwards at all the points of interest from the boat trip and see them from a different perspective. They take your photo on arrival at The Shard - lovely family keepsakes, would recommend.

They enjoyed a visit to the M&M store near Leicester Square.

Covent Garden is always enjoyable, the markets are great and the street entertainment is usually superb.

We did some shows too.

We didn't have enough time to do The Tower tour but we did walk around the perimeter one afternoon and admire the wildflower display (Bloom) with a quick trip to the souvenir shop.

Street food was fantastic in various places. Spitalfields Market was good, fantastic sculpture all around the outside and a Hotel Chocolat little shop across the road, avoid the seated restaurants (unless you are happy to wipe down tables, download a menu to your smartphones, place you order through your smartphone, go separately to a bar counter for drinks and pay a 15% service for the privilege of doing the waitstaff's job for them). Go to the little food trucks and use the communal tables instead.

Another visit we did a few years earlier we did the London duck tour, loved it, a visit to the V&A Museum of Childhood and a trip to the Sylvanian Family shop.

Londontown.com is a useful website.

Enjoy your trip

OK, brilliant, thanks for the additional advice. New idea is train from Luton to St Pancras, walk over to the British Museum for a couple of hours and then out to hotel/Pinewood. Early start the next day and train in to do a river cruise from Westminster to Tower Bridge and then into the Tower for as long as we want (Shard tour looks amazing but sadly not available at the right times). Then back to St Pancras via the Harry Potter shop and on to Luton. We'll pick up food along the way. I'm not too bothered about shopping as time is fairly limited so would like to see things we can't replicate elsewhere.

Does that sound reasonable?

That sounds good. Have fun.