- Day 1 : Flight to London
Reached London at 4pm. Checked in early to rest for the day.
We chose to stay in Hammersmith for our 3 nights in London. Hammersmith is in London Travelcard Zone 2, served by District and Piccadilly lines, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. Travelling to the major attractions is convenient, which is one of our main considerations. Piccadilly line also connects Hammersmith to Heathrow Airport with a 35 minutes travelling time. Travelling to Gatwick Airport requires an hour by tube and train.
Our accommodation in London: Heeton Concept Hotel – Luma Hammersmith. The hotel is 500m from the metro underground station, which is about an 8-minute walk away. There are shops and supermarkets at an easy walk away, so we ended up buying food back to the hotel for dinner on most days. The first few days of jetlag weren’t easy.
The room is not big but price reasonable for a London accommodation. This was our room for 3, a double bed with a sofa bed. The WC and shower are separate; the WC is located near the hotel room door and the shower is behind the sliding mirrors.
- Day 2 : London
A day out exploring Central London and its main tourist attractions.
We started the day with full English breakfast near Tower of London.
Thereafter, we walked to Tower of London and London Bridge. A pity the gloomy London weather made our photos look all grey.
The non-stop drizzles made it kind of tough for us to walk around so we decided to visit the British Museum and get indoors.
We queued for more than 45 minutes to get in without a prebooked ticket. Not sure if it is the usual crowd or it is due to the rain, the museum was pretty crowded that day. The entrance for visitors with and without pre-booked tickets are different. We were turned away from the queue at Great Russell Street and told to go to the second entrance at Montague Place instead.
Afternoon walk to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.
We decided that since it’s the festive season, we should participate in some Christmas activities. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland is a fun fair held annually from mid-November to early January. It features festive markets and rides. Entrance tickets are required for entry and these tickets exclude entry to rides or attraction. Off-peak admission is free, standard ticket is from £5.00 and peak ticket is from £7.50.
We are not fond of fun fair rides so all we got were 3 cups of hot chocolates. These were yummy!
- Day 3 : London
Breakfast at IKEA Restaurant in Hammersmith, the first IKEA restaurant on the UK high street. My regular vegetarian breakfast which included 2 vegetarian sausage, 2 tomatoes, omelette, mushrooms, baked beans and 2 hash browns for £3.60.
We spent a morning at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Admission is free and the tickets can be pre-booked online prior to the visit at Natural History Museum website for quicker access. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. A must visit for my museum-loving children and particularly the boy who is a dinophile.
Oxford Street Christmas Lights. The main shopping street in Central London has been decorated with Christmas lights during the festive season since 1959. The lights are usually turned on around first week of November till first week of January.
- Day 4 : London → Bergen
Morning flight to Bergen via Norwegian Airlines. The flight departs from Gatwick Airport. One of the easiest way to get there is via Gatwick Express from London Victoria. The non-stop train departs every 15 minutes and travelling time is around 30 minutes.
