England - 15 Days

We started our trip in #london . The first four days we stayed at a VRBO near the Farringdon station. This is a really great neighbourhood to stay in. The train station makes it easy to get around and there's loads of restaurants.

Since we got into London in the afternoon, we decided to try and hit some of the sites! We ended up near #chinatown  and walked to #leicester  Square and hit up M&M World.

The next day we had a booked #warnerbrosstudiotour . This is a bit a ways from London so it is recommended to book transportation there and back. Expect an 8 hour day for this tour. Totally worth seeing though- most of the merch there cannot be found in other stores! The bus dropped us off right by the #sherlockholmesmuseum  so we decided to take advantage. This was an okay experience. I would suggest to just take a picture of the outside, head into the gift shop and not bother with the museum. Since the character is fictional, it's not like you see anything he actually used. We also went to the #monument  and #leadenhallmarket . We got there a bit late so most shops were closed but it was a great way to get a picture without a ton of people.

The next morning we headed to #hamptoncourtpalace . We had taken the train and had a booked private tour. I have a serious love for the Tudor era so this was right up my alley! We spent about 2-2 1/2 hours here and it wasn't enough time. That evening we took the #afternoonteabus  tour. This was perfect as you got afternoon tea while getting to see all the sites! It was a great way to get off our feet and still get to see the big items. I would highly recommend this tour especially around sunset as you get some incredible views!

The last day in London we moved to a hotel: Belgrave Hotel. This is a nice hotel that is nearby the Victoria train station so very handy to get around. In the morning we did a #changingoftheguardtour . This allowed us to see three different locations of the guard changes and get up close to #buckinghampalace . Then we tried to go to Kensington Palace but it was closed so we took a small walk in #kensingtongardens  to see the Princess Diana memorial. In the evening, since it was Halloween, we did a #jacktherippertour . This was a very cool walking tour that took you through some of the sites of the Jack the Ripper#murders .

For our last day before we went to #bath  we hit up #saintpaul'scathedral  and the #toweroflondon . Both of these experiences were great. When you go to the Tower of London - head to the #crownjewel's  first as the line got sooo long after we left. We ran out of time and couldn't go in the White Tower so definitely plan some time here.

The Saint Paul's Cathedral is beautiful, but we declined the audio which would've been better to have as I'm sure we missed lots of good information.

If you are planning on touring the country - consider the #britrailpass . This is primarily for tourists but you can "register" in the morning of the day you would like to use the inner-country train. It works for all trains and you can use it unlimited amounts during that day. We found this very handy as when we tried to book a train from the airport to London, we kinda got confused of the correct day pass to pick at the kiosk. One thing to note is that we upgraded to first class as we thought there would be a bit more room and storage for us. Sometimes the trains didn't have a first class section and sometimes when they did have them; we would get nothing extra, or sometimes we got a beverage like a tea or coffee or water but we did have one train from York to Cambridge where we got a food item along with tea. So it seems that not all first classes are created equal and the storage was the same as normal carriages so I'll leave it up to you to determine if you feel its worth it.