One of my favorite things about five-star hotels is the breakfast. For the first time since we got to London, we slept late and then dressed to head down to breakfast. Our only concrete plan for the day was our engagement dinner in the evening so we spent the day as tourists.
We walked through St. James Park to meet up with our friends to say a final goodbye to our friends who were flying back home that afternoon. Jacob had been to London a few years ago and fell in love with Pimms so we got a pitcher to share. St. James Park has a cafe with quick-service food and cocktails. When we ordered Pimms cups for four people, the girl who worked there asked if we would like to order a pitcher instead and Jacob’s eyes lit up when he found out he could order one!
I learned that every park has a little cafe or two and often sell Pimms so we made a deal that if we see one we have to order a Pimms because it’s a drink that is hard to find in the States and is very delicious! From there we made our way to the London Eye to view the city from up high. London weather is very bizarre because it was sunny one minute and then started to rain while we were in line to get on the London Eye. It’s definitely a touristy thing to do but you have to do it at least once.
Jacob chose our hotel because it was in walking distance to Buckingham Palace so we made our way there next! We took the long way to see as much of London as we could.
At this time we were weeks away from the Coronation so streets were starting to get blocked off for the preparations.
We made our way back to the hotel to get ready for our engagement dinner at Petrus, a Gordon Ramsey, Michelin star restaurant. It is a fixed menu that was delicious and a wonderful experience!
Day 5 was a day that involved almost every method of transportation to make happen! This was a surprise day that Jacob had planned for us. I had no idea where we were going and the plan was just to follow along to see where we ended up. We had to take a train to Paddington Station to take a train on Great Western Railway, the UK version of Amtrak. We had such great luck our whole time with public transportation until our first train was delayed. Poor Jacob was freaking out the whole time because we were missing our connecting train to get where we needed to go. Finally, after the delay, we got to Paddington Station and took a later train on the Great Western Railway to get where we needed to go. We were supposed to meet up with some friends who would join us on our adventure. They took our original train to the secret destination and we planned to meet up with them when we finally arrived.
Truthfully, I loved every minute of being on the train that took us further out of the city and into the country. I learned later that Jacob was trying to squeeze in a day of going to Bath for a day but we just didn’t have the time. Once again, we had to transfer trains and it took us another hour further out of London making me even more confused where we were going. We then met up with our friends and a private driver picked us up from the train station to take us to our destination. Sounds fancy but there are no Ubers or taxis in the small country town so Jacob arranged for a driver months in advance. A short drive and we arrived at Stourhead…
As a group, we started to tour the grounds and when we turned a corner, we came to the Temple of Apollo. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books and movies that Jacob and I watched together early on in our relationship. I thought the surprise was that he took me to a filming location of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie.
However, when we walked around the Temple of Apollo I saw the doors open with a table covered in white tablecloth. A bucket of champagne on ice and red rose petals on the table. The breath literally left my body and I knew what was happening but I could not believe it. Jacob then got on one knee and asked the question I had been wanting to say yes to for a very long time…
Our friends joined us on this day trip because our friend Bekah is a professional photographer so Jacob had paid her ahead of time to capture the moment. I immediately started to cry tears of joy and could barely hear the words Jacob was saying as he was asking me to marry him because I was so overcome with emotions. We had talked about marriage for a long time and the pandemic pushed our timeline back. We decided to wait for the world to open back up to make our engagement and wedding special.
A BIG thank you to the staff at Stourhead for making our special day even more special. Jacob had been exchanging emails with them for months leading up to this day and the staff went above and beyond to make sure every detail was perfect. We had a guide walk around the estate with us to let us into blocked-off areas to take photos and keep other guests on the other side of lawn to make sure we could have the estate to ourselves.
The Stourhead team wrote us a lovely card congratulating us on our engagement!
To make our day more special, Jacob ordered a reprint of the 1894 edition of Pride and Prejudice to gift me to celebrate our special day. I’ve been collecting Jane Austen books for more than a decade now and I am so happy to add this one to our collection.
After we walked around the grounds of the Stourhead National Trust, we met up with our driver to go back to the train station. A few hours later, we got to Paddington Station and this time we could actually walk around it. I was in awe of the public transportation in England and it is so easy to navigate. Couldn’t leave without saying hello to Paddington Bear!
It had been a long day so the four of us went to dinner at Wagamama and I learned that Jacob had planned ahead to schedule our engagement celebration dinner for the next night knowing we would be a lot to fit into one day. The day started off with train delays, pouring rain midday and I wouldn’t change a thing! I’m so happy we got to experience this day with our friends and we are engaged!
Jacob had one last surprise for us planned. We had checked out of our hotel that morning and left our luggage at the front desk. What I didn’t know is that he had booked us a suite at the Royal Horseguards Hotel right on the River Thames.
Our alarms went off very early that Monday morning because we had tickets to the Harry Potter Studios. Even though it is called the Harry Potter Studios London, it is not in London. Luckily, there are many ways to get there from London such as a bus, train, or Uber. We took an Uber from our hotel so we didn’t have to worry about travel logistics, but you can learn more about transportation to the Studios here.
When you first walk in, it’s just as magical as you think it is going to be. They invested so much time and energy to make every part of the lobby magical. We got there early to eat at the Studios before we started the official tour. We got tickets for the Afternoon Tea and I highly recommend splurging and getting the champagne add-on! The Afternoon Tea is set up next to the food court and designed to feel like you are at a little restaurant in Hogsmeade. No detail is overlooked from the food to the cauldron of sugar cubes! I found it to be worth the money and we left very full!
After tea, we then went through the doors to start the tour. I won’t give too much away but you start off in the Great Hall set and I was blown away by how big and magical it felt the minute we walked through the doors. The Hall had movie props set up and it really felt like we were at Hogwarts. The floors are the original stone from the first movie and were chosen so the stone would naturally age over time as they continued to film.
The Tour is designed so that you can walk through the rooms of sets and props at your own pace. There are areas with demonstrations to learn how they created magic in the films like the letters through the mail slot in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Halfway through the tour, there is a quick-service cafe to grab lunch and some butterbeer! The cafe patio lets out to the back lot where you can walk through 4 Privet Drive. There are also great photo opportunities in front of the Knight Bus and the Greenhouse sets before heading back inside for the second half of the studio tour. There really is so much to look at and it could take you days to see everything!
There is a great gift shop at the Hogwarts Express that has one-of-a-kind merchandise I haven’t seen before!
Walk through Diagon Alley that looks just like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. I seriously could not tell the difference between the two! The last stop is Ollivanders before you walk into a very large multi-room gift shop!
After the tour, we headed back to the food hall to grab dinner before taking an Uber back to our hotel. We found it hard to go back to our hotel and leave the magic behind!
I grabbed a Red Bull from the hotel market on our way out the door to day 2 of the Star Wars Celebration. The time difference and late nights started to get to me but we pushed on! We spent most of the day in line to meet the voice actors and other Star Wars actors. While standing around, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) came walking by asking how our day was going which was such a cool moment. We binged The Clone Wars before going to London so it was really cool to chat with the voice actor who voices the droids.
That night, we had tickets for a booze cruise down the River Thames with some of our friends. The best part of the boat ride was the views of London so after an hour we hopped off at the midway point and looked for our friends at a more lively bar. We took the Tube to The Cocktail Club to meet up with some other friends. Drinks on the boat were nice but we had a lot of fun trying all of the creative cocktails on the menu and dancing.
DAY 3
It was the last day of the convention so I grabbed us croissants and a Red Bull for me to eat for breakfast on our way to the convention center. It was the last day of the convention so I grabbed us croissants and a Red Bull for me to eat for breakfast on our way to the convention center. We met a few more celebrities and hung out with our friends some more before heading back to the hotel to order in. We needed a quiet night in after a busy few days and ordered dinner on Deliveroo, their version of UberEats. I highly recommend Chicken Hub, not sure if it was because we were so hungry or if it’s the greatest fast food we ever ate! The time change was finally hitting us so we enjoyed going to bed early because we had something exciting planned for day 4!
Hello friends! I’m finally sitting down to share all the fun we had on our London trip in April. We found a way to pack as much as possible into this trip. It helps that Jake had been before for a weeklong work trip so he knew the area a bit. We spent hours planning our days before getting on our flight to ensure we could do a lot in a day without feeling too tired.
If you follow along on Instagram, you will know that the reason for the trip was to attend Star Wars Celebration. At first, when Jake proposed going to the convention a year ago, I politely declined because I didn’t want my first trip to a place I’d dreamed about going to for a Star Wars convention. Turns out, the convention was real but it was not the real reason to go to London. Jake had been planning this trip to get me to London to propose in a beautiful and romantic setting. More on that in a later post!
TRAVEL DAY
We took a red eye to London which I highly recommend! The goal was to sleep on the flight to help with the time change but with my bad back I found it hard to get comfortable but everyone else was snoring away on that flight. We landed in London early in the morning and were at our hotel, Aloft, by noon. We booked a hotel near the convention center so we were close which meant little travel time and being able to sleep late. We grabbed lunch at the hotel and took a walk around the area to do some sightseeing. I took a little nap before we headed out to meet up with friends for dinner and drinks at Canary Wharf. We wanted a chill night with some friends because we knew we would have to be up early for the convention the next day.
One thing I am so happy we did was purchase an Oyster card, their version of a metro card. They are easy to buy and reload making getting around very easy. The public transportation system makes so much sense and is easy to navigate. The fares are also very low so get the Citymapper app and plan your route!
DAY 1
Up early to go to Star Wars Celebration! If you are not familiar, it’s a very large gathering of Star Wars fans which Jake is. A lot of his friends came out of the local Pennsylvania Star Wars club when he first moved here so it was nice to meet up with friends and make some new ones. Lots of panels, exhibits, and booths to look at. For Star Wars fans, it’s their version of Black Friday/ Christmas all in one! The convention was fun but I was more excited about the after-party!
A tradition during Star Wars Celebration is that every night there are different parties and the first night was the big Bash. The rooftop bar, Crossrail Place Roof Garden, was ours for the night with Star Wars themed drinks and lots of laughs with friends, new and old.
What I Wore
Packing for this trip took a lot of planning to create a capsule wardrobe to fit everything in my suitcase. I splurged on a black leather jacket from Zara and it was perfect for the ever-changing weather conditions in London. I knew we would be going out a lot during our trip so I bought a pair of leather boots with a comfortable size heel to dress up jeans for nights like the Bash and also looked nice with a dress for a fancy dinner. I brought two pairs of jeans, one dark denim and, black jeans, and brought plenty of sweaters and tops to layer.
Jake recently had to work out of the New York City office for a few days which meant he had to get a hotel room. Since my work schedule at the moment is flexible, I decided to be his plus 1. While he at work, I could spend the day in the city and meet up with him for dinner later. I took the train with him to NYC on Sunday afternoon and we made our way to the Knickerbocker Hotel near his office. Jake has stayed at this hotel a few times for work and we booked this hotel for our Valentine’s Day NYC trip last year. It’s in Times Square and is a very nice luxury hotel that can be affordable depending on what type of room you get. We were upgraded to a Junior Suite since we were a returning guest which was really nice! After a work Zoom meeting in the room, we walked to the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It’s similar to the gift shops at Harry Potter world at Universal theme parks. When we looked online, the virtual reality experiences were sold out a week in advance so be sure to plan in way advance! There is also a virtual queue to get into the store and you have to sign up in person at the store. No biggie, but we were told once we got there that sign ups for the virtual line start first thing in the morning and sell out fast. so we waited less than 10 minutes in the walk-in line. I’m sure it depends on the day but be sure to get there in the morning and get on the virtual line so you have a guaranteed time just to walk in. It seems annoying, but it was so nice to have room in the store to walk around and see everything without bumping into people. There are two floors to shop and I wanted everything! I took a ton of photos to send to my friends and family and felt like a little kid while walking through the store. It truly is a very magical place! We will definitely be coming back to walk through it again and for me to buy more things LOL! By the checkout, there is a Butterbeer Bar that is SO cute! We each got a Butterbeer and a tasty themed cupcake.
Since Jake had to be in the office early the next day, we got Five Guys to-go on our walk back to the hotel and ate dinner in our room. While Jake worked on his laptop preparing for a meeting, I got to enjoy our king size bed to myself for a bit before I passed out. The next morning we were both up early and when Jake went to work, I went down to get breakfast at the hotel. After a tasty breakfast, I stopped at Starbucks to get a coffee and went to Bryant Park to read for a while. Most trips to New York are busy days filled with lots of things to do. It was nice to have a trip where I had downtime and could sit in a park and people watch. I didn’t have much planned for the day but wanted to just walk around the city. After sitting in Bryant Park for a few hours, I had to walk through the New York Public Library. It’s one of those places you need to go at least once!
From there, I walked down 5th Avenue and popped in and out of stores as I made my way to Central Park. I walked around the park for a while until I found a good spot to sit down and read my book for a few hours. It was so calming to be able to sit on a bench, listen to someone playing music, hearing bits and pieces of peoples conversation as they walked past me. The weather was warm and sunny with a slight breeze.
I made my way back to the hotel to rest a bit before Jake got out of work. Another nice perk of getting a hotel room! We both changed outfits before walking to dinner at The Smith. To be completely honest, I only picked this restaurant for dinner because the day before we had walked past it and I thought it looked pretty! I posted a picture of the bar on my Instagram story and had a flood of messages come in about NYC locals and friends who have been there before. The food was delicious! To start, I got a glass of wine and Jake got a cocktail with a heavy pour. We ordered crab cakes as an appetizer, for the main course, I got the salmon and Jake ordered squid ink pasta Of course we both had to get dessert! I ordered a vanilla fudge sundae and Jake got a mini blueberry pie. I’m not a big dessert person but that was beyond yummy!
When we got back to the room, I took a bubble bath and watched Bridget Jones Diary while Jake got some work done. After a long day, I was excited to get into bed and watch movies in our big bed. Talk about a relaxing way to end the day!
On Tuesday, we got a late check out so I slept in a little and brought my book with me to breakfast. I spent an hour or so reading my book and enjoying my coffee after I finished eating. After this trip, I’ve become a cup and saucer type of gal! It’s so chic to use for morning coffee. Jake stopped by on his lunch break to pick up my overnight bag and he checked out of the hotel. After walking 27,000 steps the day before, I didn’t want to do too much walking so I walked around Times Square which looks so different since we were there a year ago. I remember going at least once a year as a little kid and there were so many stores. Now with the pandemic, most businesses are gone. It was also very warm that day so I walked towards Herald Square and popped into some stores to get a break from the heat. I spent a few hours at Macy’s because it is so iconic and got some inspiration to redo our master bedroom bedding. I was sending pictures to my friend and mom of different comforters and cute home items. My feet needed a break so I walked to Bryant Park and sat at a table for an hour while I read my book waiting for Jake to finish up with work. Luckily, he didn’t have to work late so we had time for dinner at a small dinner near Penn Station and got to our train on time.
Even though this was technically a work trip, I am so happy I went with Jake for a solo trip to walk around New York City. It’s a city my family and I went at least once a year growing up because we lived so close in New Jersey. Those were always day trips so we all would wake up early to drive into the city and then kind of be limited on staying where we parked. This is the second time I’ve been to New York City and had a hotel room to be able to have a slow morning and be able to come back to the room to relax before heading out again. Seriously, it’s a game changer! I knew that I could have gone to the MET or seen a show by myself while Jake was at work, but I honestly had such a fun time just walking around and sitting in parks. Hopefully next trip will be for pleasure for the both of us!
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