Are you coming to London? I hope so. I've been lucky enough to live in London for eight years with kids and now for 8 months as a professional traveller. The best areas of London to visit, you may be unable to visit them all, just take your pick of those that appeal to you most, the cool areas, the historic sites, the family neighborhoods, visit the parts of London that … [Read more...]
Living in London
Living in London
We love London, to us it is home, one of our homes. We lived there full time as a young couple and with babies and young children. We took off to travel and returned to London intermittently to live as slow travellers or short - medium term residents. Living in London blog posts from over 20 years of living in London, one of us Australian, one of us from elsewhere in the UK, but loving London and London life. London, still, is where we most love to live. Hopefully our experiences of living in London with and without kids, as expats, locals, foreigners and travellers, can help you.
London’s National Gallery of Art For Kids
You will probably only see a collection of art this incredible, free, in London. If you know of any other art gallery like this please else let me know, we'd love to go. We took the kids along to London's National Gallery of Art to see if this art museum would be fun for them, would they enjoy it? It's a good place to go for a wet day in London or as an essential part of your … [Read more...]
London at Christmas Time 2019
You asked for tips on what to do in London at Christmas time, so I did a bit of hunting around to see what I could find. I've spent 8 Christmases in London as a resident and when we lived in Wales I'd come to London most years to see the lights, do some shopping, maybe take in a show. I'm sure we can help you plan on a wonderful few days or weekend in London over … [Read more...]
Budget Travel Tips for Visiting London
London has a fairly well-deserved reputation for being an expensive city to visit. If you don't have some insider know-how and few like-a-local tips, your London trip could be anything but cheap. We are Londoners, at times, we've lived and worked in London, our kids were born there, we've slow travelled in London and we've taken many a weekend or short holiday in our favourite … [Read more...]
Living Cheaply in London
The cost of living in London is billed as high and on previous visits taking rentals, lets, or AirBnb apartments we've needed a lot of cash just to support ourselves. This time, our full 5 weeks living in London gave us zero housing or accommodation costs. We've been taking care of friend's beautiful cats and borrowing their home while they're on holiday. We don't use a house … [Read more...]
Richmond, England. Photos of London Life
Richmond, England, is one of the places we call home. This pretty Thames-side town with stately architecture, passing rowers, great shops and dining along with easy access to central London is a place I always find hard to leave. Living in Richmond Upon Thames on and off since 2001 has given us fantastic opportunities, good friends and wonderful experiences. Again, we've spent … [Read more...]
Where to Eat in London on Vacation
Where to eat in London for those of us who love good food and want to keep an eye on our spending? London is one city that could destroy your trip budget in food costs, if you're not smart about where you spend. Eating out 3 times a day here, as we would in Asia, just ain't gonna happen. Accommodation in London will likely cost you an arm and a leg. On the global scale, … [Read more...]
The Grant Museum of Zoology. A Great Free London Museum For Kids
You could spend a lifetime exploring London's free museums, particularly if, like me, you have kids to educate. I've already posted about London's biggest and best free museums that appeal to kids, The Science Museum, The V&A, The National Gallery, The British Museum, The Tate Modern and the V&A's Museum of Childhood, but here's another little gem for you, The Grant … [Read more...]
The British Museum with Kids
The British Museum is billed as a place to see the world without leaving London, and it's true. The museum is a treasure house of amazing art and ancient artifacts spanning all of human history and every culture, housed in a visually spectacular and historic building in Bloomsbury, Central London. I've lost count of the number of times we've been, one visit could never do it … [Read more...]
Tate Modern Kids. Art for Kids Tour of the Tate Modern London.
Having an enjoyable and worthwhile visit to a modern art museum with kids is probably one of the harder tricks to pull off. I've only got my kids to go by. I don't know yours, sorry, but mine have zero interest in looking at paintings and art work unless something seriously kid-friendly and incredible is going on. We took the along to London's Tate Modern Museum and tried a … [Read more...]
Free Things to Do in London With Kids
Readers have been asking me for London itineraries for kids, some sort of plan to make best use of limited time in my home city. I can't really do that, the amount of time you'll want to spend at each attraction will vary enormously and the ages of your children may limit the amount of pavement pounding you can do. What I can do is give you a few suggestions, let's start with … [Read more...]
London on the Cheap.
Housing and holiday accommodation in London is pretty high up on the global price chart, nobody is arguing with that. So how on earth are we managing to live short-term ( or, enjoy a very long vacation, what they call slow travel ) in a beautiful and desirable areas of outer London, on the tube line, on just one fairly-modest salary? A look at cheap slow travel in … [Read more...]