3-day London Mother-Daughter Trip Summer Guide
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Short & Sweet
- Trip: 3 day Mother-Daughter Trip in London, England following 4 days in Paris
- Highlights: Notting Hill with Phoebe Bridgers Pop-up, Kensington Palace Gardens, Hadestown in the West End, a stroll through St. James’ Park, and finally walking the Tower Bridge
- Costs
- Out of pocket costs for flights, trains, and hotels– $756 and 315K points
- Cost of activities — $243
- We only ate out a few times because the club lounges offered breakfast and heavy hors d’oeuvres every night
Mother-Daughter Trip Continued
This is a continuation of our mother-daughter trip, where we spent 4 days in Paris. I found a great flight home direct to RDU from LHR. We love trains, and taking the Eurostar is part of the fun.
3 Day London Itinerary
| Day 5 | Early Eurostar to London Wallace Collection Selfridges/Jellycat Soho Hyatt club lounge |
| Day 6 | Notting Hill — Phoebe Bridgers pop-up Kensington Palace Hadestown in West End |
| Day 7 | Westminster & St. James’s Park Big Ben Uber Boat Tate Modern Borough Market Tower Bridge to Tower of London |
| Day 8 | Slow morning, breakfast, cab to airport, fly home |
Getting There
We booked our Eurostar train a few months before our trip for about $100 per person in Plus. This car had wider seats and included breakfast and drinks. We took the RER directly to Gare du Nord and had no trouble navigating the station. Though I am glad we got there early because security was quite long, and I’m afraid we would have missed our train had we not arrived 2 hours early.
Weather & Packing:
Thankfully, the weather was much cooler in London after the heatwave in Paris. We brought umbrellas and raincoats but did not need them.
We packed shorts, loose t-shirts, and linen dresses. And I’m very glad I had my Hoka sneakers for all the cobblestone walking.
Must haves
- Good walking shoes
- Umbrellas
- Have a credit card set up on tap to pay for London transit
Hotel
We stayed for 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency London Churchill for 35k per night, a category 7 Hyatt property. On my last trip to London, I stayed at the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars, which was a category 5 at the time (now a 6). I was really excited to stay at this location because I loved the Blackfriars area, and I had read that the Marylebone neighborhood was even better. Plus, this would be the highest category Hyatt we have stayed in so far since the Thompson in NYC (Cat 6). The hotel did not disappoint. Even though our room wasn’t ready when we arrived, they held our bags and gave us access to the lounge. They called to let us know the room was ready and even moved our bags to it for us. We had a twin room on the lower floor facing the alley, so we did not hear any noise or have people walking past the window. The lounge was great, again, enough food for a dinner most nights. We had breakfast in the dining room downstairs. It was a g very nice buffet with actual espresso drinks (not from an automatic machine).
Getting Around
London is a huge city, but the transit system makes it very doable. There is an Oyster Card that can be purchased and loaded with money to tap into the Underground or Buses, but for the last 2 trips, we added a credit card to our transit. While London is famous for the Underground, there are bus stops at almost every corner. The tube is great if you need to cross town or get to the airport, but we used the buses for everything. Plus, we would sit at the top to take in the city’s view as we traveled. Finally, there is a daily cap on how much the transit system will charge. We used Apple Maps, which gave us information on delays and timing.
Notes on neighborhoods and regions
When researching London, I noticed that it is divided in many ways. Zones, Areas, Boroughs, Inner/Outer, North/South/East/West. Maybe if I were a local, I’d understand it, but I don’t think I do. I have just focused on neighborhoods. During our past visits, we were in the tourist areas, including Westminster, the City of London, and Kensington, with a stopover in Richmond.
For this trip, we focused on Marylebone, Mayfair, Notting Hill, South Kensington, and Southwark.
Itinerary Details
One of the goals of this trip was to explore parts of London we’d not really had time to visit before. The location of our hotel in the Marylebone area was perfect for this.
Day 5:
From the Eurostar terminal in St Pancras, we took the tube, which put us just a few blocks from the hotel. They allowed us to leave our bags and have a snack in the lounge while waiting for our room.
Around the corner from our hotel was the Wallace Collection, a free museum that is a converted private home.
We always like to check out any Jellycat displays, and the Selfridges was just a few blocks away. My daughter had been begging for a special pair of shoes, which we found, and also grabbed a “toasty” and a coffee. She enjoyed walking around the shopping area near our hotel, with a stop at Brandy Melville (of course) and at Daunt Books.
Again, this Hyatt lounge had a great spread of food, and we didn’t need to go out after a long day of travel.
Day 6:
If you saw my Spotify Wrapped, you’d learn I have a few artists that I listen to obsessively with my girls. Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers are in the top 2 positions for about 2 years running. A bit before we arrived in London, it was announced there would be a pop-up event for the release of her new single, Lost Boys. It worked out perfectly because we had planned to visit Notting Hill on this trip.
We were up pretty early to get breakfast in the dining area. This was a great perk of our Hyatt status because there was an assortment of hot and cold foods and actually handmade espresso drinks.
We took the bus to Notting Hill, and, thankfully, Rough Trade West, the record store hosting the pop-up, was just off Portobello Road. She sat in the line while I walked around the stalls that were about to open up. I grabbed us both a cold drink at Joe and the Juice, and after she got all her Phoebe Bridgers goodies, we had lunch at a fantastic plant-based restaurant called Holy Carrot. We strolled around a bit more, taking photos of the area and trying to peek into the secret gardens.
In the afternoon, we walked through Kensington Gardens and did a quick self-guided tour of the palace. This is my second trip to Kensington Palace, and it was fun to walk through it again after finishing the TV series Victoria.
We rested for a bit at the hotel and again took advantage of the “free” dinner at the hotel before heading to the West End for a show. My daughter requested Hadestown. I’m not ready to admit how much I cried at this show. Interestingly, at intermission, someone was walking around the theater selling ice cream. I was grateful to get a little snack without leaving the theater. We took the bus home and it was fun riding at the top of the double-decker bus on the way back to the hotel at night.
We were a bit hungry after the show, and I remembered I had a $50 statement credit on my Hyatt Business credit card. We had a delicious free snack to tide us over until breakfast.
Day 7:
The weather was forecast to be pretty cool in the morning. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we took the bus close to Westminster, grabbed a few coffees from Ole & Steen, and walked past Big Ben to St. James’ Park. We spent some time with the geese, though we definitely did not feed them, and then walked to the river for an Uber boat ride. There are many private companies that offer Thames river tours, but London Transit has an Uber-affiliated boat service that is much less expensive. There are several stops along the river on both sides, making for a more scenic option.
We got off at the Shakespeare Theater and the Tate Modern, another free museum in London, for some free air conditioning and another coffee break. From there, we walked to the Bourogh Market to get some chocolate strawberries.
I have been to the Tower of London several times, but never managed to walk across the Tower Bridge. With our Royal Palaces family pass, we were able to cross the bridge, free to the public, and then skip the line to stroll through the Tower of London again. I’m a little embarrassed about my obsession with Tudor history and how much I managed to explain to my daughter as we walked around.
We had a flight the next day and opted for an early night in for a movie, Kill Bill Part 1, and room service.
Day 8:
I love public transit as much as the next person, but LHR is quite far from central London. With all the savings on the trip, I splurged for a cab, and we got dropped off right at our terminal. We were loaded down with skin care from Paris, and it was nice to have free checked bags with our points booking with AA.
Points & Miles Details
| Points | Out of pocket costs | Value* | |
| RDU to CGD on Air France | 82K Amex MR points to Flying Blue | $313 | $1400 |
| LHR to RDU on AA | 60K Citi Points to AA | $210 | $1600 |
| Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile 4 nights | 68K Hyatt points (Chase/Bilt) | $0 | $1000 |
| Hyatt Regency London Churchill 3 nights | 105K Hyatt Points (Chase/Bilt) | $0 | $1050 |
| Eurostar Train | N/A | $200 | $200 |
| Giverny Train | N/A | $33 | $33 |
| $756 in out of pocket costs | $5286 estimated trip value |
*Trip Value is based on the equivalent cash price. This will vary wildly depending on the time of year and how advanced the trip was booked. Many points & miles people calculate CPP (cents per point). I don’t typically do that (see here).
If you are interested in learning more about Points and Miles, check out my Points and Miles 101 post!
Activity Costs
Based on one adult and one 15 year old
| Royal Palaces Membership (Kensington Palace and Tower of London) | $100 |
| Hadestown tickets | $143 |
| $243 total for Activities |
Favorite Things
My favorite part of this trip was the location of the Hyatt Regency Churchill. It felt like we were in a local neighborhood, and I did not miss the tourist crowds.
Lessons Learned
On prior trips, we relied on the tube for most of our transit, but the bus is less expensive, has more stops and more frequent service, and offers a real-time view of the city as you move.
Conclusions
One-on-one trips have been a great way to connect with my kids and get us out of our element. And, it gives them a chance to be the lead on a trip, which can be really empowering for a teenager. If you did get a chance, take a look at the first part of this Mother-Daughter trip, when we spent 4 days in the Paris heatwave.
Ready to dive into Points and Miles? Start with my Points and Miles 101 and Multipliers & Points Potential.
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