This is the last leg of our 3-week trip to Europe. To be precise we were in London for 6 days. However, the 1st day we arrived to our accommodation in the evening, while had a 10am flight at Gatwick airport on our 6th day in London. Therefore realistically, we only have a 4-day visit.
Our 4-day trip in the capital city includes two days at the Theme Parks, on a Friday and Monday to avoid long queues. We left Saturday and Sunday to visit some of the main attractions for our teens in London.
Accommodation
It is not easy to find a spacious accommodation for two teens and two adults. I thought about booking a two-room apartment, but though it was more worthwhile to book a townhouse, so the two teens does not get to live in a house or townhouse that often.
We found a townhouse in the Canada Waters area. I admitted that I was over worry about whether it is safe living close to the CBD. Everybody is very kind. For instance, I got help straight away when I had trouble with the scanner in the supermarket. (Trust me, there are a couple of cities in Europe where people doesn’t like tourist).
We utilise the Go City Pass during this trip for our first three destination, as these passes saved us good amount of money for the visit.
Destination
1. Sherlock Holmes Escape Game
I utilise the Go City pass and made a booking to the escape game around one month before our arrival, we were really excited to participate in a games related to Sherlock Holmes.
The start of our visit was a classic itself. The place is situated in the W12 Shopping Centre, at a place called the Doyle’s Opticians. I pressed the buzzer and they asked about my reason for arrival. I told them to play Sherlock Holmes, and they told me I arrived to the wrong address. I was puzzled and was quite sure I was in the correct place, so we spent the next 15 minutes walked through the entire shopping centre and checked whether there is a Sherlock Holmes place. We got back to Doyle’s Opticians again, and finally they opened the door for us.
After a brief conversation, I realised that I did not read the entire confirmation email – it mentioned we have to say the secret code, “I am here for a routine examination”. Well, I guess our game already started 15 minutes early!
Finally we were able to play the “real game”, and we weren’t disappointed. There were several clues for us to move from one stage to the next stage. We made a good attempt, but we were short on time by a whisker when we arrived to the final stage. Hopefully we get a chance to come back again and complete our mission within the allocated one-hour interval.
2. Wicked The Musical
London is definitely one of the main place for great theatre play. We would not want to miss to look at some of the productions if given the chance, especially the Go City pass provide us the chance to see Wicked The Musical.
It is not enough purely havin the Go City pass on hand. The musical ticket needs to be redeemed on the exact same day of the performance. Given the ticket office opens at 11am in the morning, and head there exactly at that time, fortunately there wasn’t any queue, even though it was on a Saturday.
The performance started at 7:30pm at night, and we weren’t disappointed. The entire performance took around two and a half hours, but there was around a 15 minute break at the middle of the play, so you will be able to purchase some refreshment or take a stretch out of the seat.
3. Chessington World of Adventure
This is the final place where we utilise the Go City pass. Note that you need to make booking through the Go City app on the exact date of attendance.
Getting to the Theme Parks such as Chessington or Thorpe Park needs to get a ride on the South Western Railway service. The best way to catch the Railway (for us anyway) is to catch the train at the Waterloo station. Please read the sign carefully for the train that terminates at Chessington South. I tried to re-book the railway tickets one day before my trip in the South Western Railway website and download the SWR app from my mobile phone for ticket confirmation. If you need a Railway and Tube map, please click the link here.
We have dedicated another post for this Theme Park. Stay tune.
4. The Who Shop and Waterstones
For any die-hard fans of Doctor Who TV series, this shop at Upton Park cannot be missed. It has all the collections that a dedicated fan would dream to visit. The shop is around 10 minutes walk from Upton Park station
There is a market close to the station, known as the Queen’s market, which could be worthwhile if you are looking for some groceries.
Another place that is worthwhile to spend time on is the Waterstones. It’s probably one of the biggest book shops in the UK. We spend some time there to escape the heat, given it was around 35 degrees during summertime. It’s definitely worthwhile for a visit.
5. London Photo Shoot
Our rest of the weekend gave some quick visit to the London Bridge, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, and took the opportunity to shoot for some photos.
6. Thorpe Park
This was actually our last leg in our entire Europe trip, we want to save the best to last, and Thorpe Park would be the best place for the final day of our trip, it’s one of the biggest Theme Parks in England and this is something we do not want to miss. Similar to our route to Chessington park, we caught the Rail at Waterloo and looked for a train that terminates at Staines.
We will have a dedicated page for this theme park. Stay tune.
