to want to take 2 children into London by myself???

[macdoodle]

Am visiting sister just outside London - have day spare when she is in work!
We have had some lovely days out but was wondering about visiting the aquarium in London - DD1 (7 and a half) wants to be a vet or a marine biologist
Not done the train/tube thing with a older child and a baby in a buggy (DD2 is 15 months walks but obviously will need to be in buggy),DD1 is very sensible and helpful!
Is it doable, is it worth it - I will have to catch train (will need to manouver stairs it is a non wheelchair accessible station), then as far as I can see will need to get tube without changing!
AIBU or will it be fun hahahahaha?????

Do you have a light pushchair? Having said that usually someone helps at train stations. Go for it if you want to. It won't be a stress free day out, but if you're prepared for it should be okay!

Go for it! I have taken my two in (one in buggy) and the other is instructed to stick like glue to me at all times.

Re tricky step situations I turn the buggy backwards at pull it up the stairs if I have two but usually by the time I've done three steps someoene lends a hand.

I have also taken to writing my mobile phone number in ink on the back of dc's hands just in case we do get separated and someone finds them.

Have a lovely day!

I have a lightweight maclaren though DD2 is a monster weighting over 2 stone
DD1 is very sensible, she wont disappear and knows mine and her fathers mobiles off by heart (she has her own phone to contact XH only but may take it with us)!
May give it a go and be brave any hints anyone - for someone who used to live in london, but now lives in the sticks of wales I have turned into a scaredy cat country bumpkin

Natural history museum always a hit with ds1 (6.5) and free!

Where does your sister live? Only ask as nearest public transport to Aquarium is Waterloo and if you come into Waterloo (or Waterloo East) overground, or via Jubilee Line then there's step free access at Waterloo and all the way. If not there are a few escalators from the other tube lines but if DD1 is helpful then I think you'd easily manage it even if no one else bothers to stop & help (though usually people do help)

Aquarium a good choice and there is a playground and huge expanse of grass nearby for running around. Also Giraffe for child-friendly lunch.

As the escalators can be steep ones, personally I'd push DD2 to escalator then collapse buggy to travel up. Sounds like a faff but unless anyone else willing to hold erected buggy on escalator, probably safest/least stressful option. Apart from that, it should be really easy!

I've taken my sister (other way around, she was the one with the pushchair) and her older DS to the London Aquarium. It's actually perfect if you do want to do a London attraction, because as houseofmirth says, the Jubilee line extension, being new, has lifts all the way up at Waterloo. Westminster has lifts too - but if you get off there, you will have to go down the stairs at Westminster bridge.

Yeah gofor it I live in London and use the tube all the time with toddler 3 and 16 months old. On escalators I just push front wheels on and hold back and coz my dd is only 3 ask random members of public to hold hand on escalator. People are always happy to help it's just they are quite often in their own worlds on the tube and don't notice
Have a great day and look for deals on the Internet for cheaper tickets

go for itt, i do this all the time.... but I would strongly recommend you avoid rush hour as people can get quite aggressive

It's fine. I do it with four (aged 1 to 10) a lot - try the buses rather than the tube though.

It's fine as long as you keep your wits about you, I wouldn't want this to happen to you.

London Tube Advice

Go for it!

London buses have improved immeasureably in recent years, and are worth trying if you're in charge of a buggy. And each time I've taken a buggy into London I've had plenty of offers of help.

I'd go for it-when I did it with a buggy I always found people offering to help.

If you are travelling by train then have a look here www.daysoutguide.co.uk/attraction-types/2for1london.aspx - you can get 2 for 1 tickets for the aquarium which will save you around £13

If you can put your DD2 in a sling for negotiating the tube it helps. That's how I've always travelled with babies/toddlers.

It will be fine. If you need to, you can fold buggy, 7 year old can carry it up/down stairs, while you carry the "monster baby" . Try not to take with you too many non-essentials, but a spare t shirt for 7 year old might come in handy.

I wont forget when my 5 year old managed to drop his glass of water on himself in the natural history museum, and by some strange foresight I had taken a full change of clothes for him,lol. It doesnt really happen to him a lot, he is "never" clumsy, but nevertheless....

It'll be fine. You can potter up and down the southbank and there's loads to do for kids, usually street peerformers as well. Giraffe and various family friendly restaurants.
Men usually help with buggys on the steps if you hang around and wait for one to pass and ask. They usually offer anyway if you're stood there. Don't bother taking 15 month in and out of buggy, just get help carrying it with her in it. Enjoy!

Thank you all Especially thanks for that 2 for 1 link
Few questions please??
Giraffe looks fab we'll go there for lunch
So is Waterloo the best station then - my sister is in Hitchin so train to Kings X and then Northern Line direct to waterloo??
Does that sound right am looking forward to it now thank for help!

More fun could be to take the Route 59 bus from Stop R at Kings X (towards Streatham Hill/Telford Avenue) and get out at Waterloo. And you don't have to negotiate tube!

Bus is a good option especially as Waterloo is on a different bit of the Northern line to Kings X so you'd have to change trains. Bit of a faff, but doable. Check out routes here.

If you get the 59, it's pay before you board so you'll either need an oyster card, travelcard or ticket from the machine at the bus stop.

My two were born and brought up in London and DS2 was a big baby as well! If nobody offered to help with the (lightweight!) buggy I found that the best way to get up and down flights of stairs with him in the buggy was to perch it on my hip.

Have a great day out!

yes doable

i did london zoo last year with a nearly 2 and nearly 5

we took train to charing cross, then a tube to nearish london zoo, the lifts were out but i asked a very nice 30ish man to help me up the stairs with buggy and he did and then bus that dropped us off almost right by zoo

but aquarium is much easier, get off at waterloo or waterloo east and there are lifts

i always pin my mobile on the children just incase they get lost (but luckily havent yet)

i did london this year with 6mth in buggy and 3 and 6 walking

sure you will be fine

Macdoodle - if you are coming into King's X, may I recommend getting a London A-Z and looking up CORAM'S FIELDS.

And did you know, you could walk from King's X to the BRITISH MUSEUM, down Marchmont Street and the new shopping centre (loads of child-friendly place to eat in there), past Coram's Fields and then along Malet Street (quiet, leafy, pretty - with a huge Waterstone's bookshop, with a great children's section) to the back entrance of the British Museum.

Coram's Fields is amazing and surprising. It's a children's playground in the middle of London. You can only go in as an adult if accompanied by a child. It has a little zoo, lots of equipment and in Summer, there are lots of water features for the dc to play with.

Definitely worth knowing about if you are ever in the King's Cross/Euston/Russell Square area.

And, as others have said, if you do use the tube Avoid The Rush Hour. It is soul-destroying trying to get on a rush-hour tube with a buggy.

Have a lovely day.

It's fine, I use the tube a lot with a three year old and 14 month in a buggy
Definitely don't go in rush hour though

King's Cross to Waterloo is not direct on the Northern line though, you would have to go back up the Northern line to Euston or Camden, both of which have steps

Bus might be easier

Or do trains from Hitchin stop at Highbury and Islington? If so you could then get the Victoria line to Oxford Circus and the Bakerloo line to Waterloo, which sounds complicated but is actually really easy because all the platforms you change at are right next to each other. No steps on the way, just a few on the way back at Waterloo. Escalator at Waterloo, I don't find them a problem

Lot's of choice for lunch on the South Bank, Giraffe, Pizza Express, Wagamama, or take a packed lunch and sit on a bench people watching if you want to save money

TBH I would think twice about a full day out in London with only a lightweight McClaren.

I reckon your day would be less stressful if all your bags could be loaded onto the pushchair.

We have a Phil&Teds and a single kid, and bought the double attachment to store extra stuff and make walking in London more pleasant.

Londoners WILL help people struggling up stairs and stuff.

Just want to let you know, that the aquarium has a stack of building work going on at the moment and a lot of the good bits are closed and what is open is a PITA with a pushchair.