How to Plan a Trip to London (or anywhere else)
With my trip to London fast approaching, a new job on the horizon, and student loans about to come due, I've gotten a lot of questions about how I was able to afford this trip to London. Here's what I didn't do. I DIDN'T go into debt. I DIDN'T make sacrifices or trade-offs on what I wanted to do. I DIDN'T use some kind of travel dark magic to get great deals on almost everything.In fact, I used the same method I talked about last week in my article about How I Afford To Travel.Well, that method and LOTS of research.See, unless you're going through a travel agent, it's not always the easiest to find deals. Today, I want to walk you through the resources I used, and show you how YOU can plan a trip to London without all the stress, anxiety, and headaches that typically come with planning a vacation.I've got to be honest with you guys, I haven't stressed once.Why?Because I gave myself TIME.That's my biggest recommendation for anyone trying to plan a trip to London, or Paris, or Sydney, or literally anywhere else in the world. Give yourself time to comb through your options. Because, as you're about to read, there are a ton of them out there for you to use.
*This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you buy anything I recommend through Home Is Where The Suitcase Is, I receive a small amount of money, at no extra cost to you.
Flights
I recently discovered Skyscanner (I know, I’m super late to the game). What I really loved about using this site was how SIMPLE it was. Much like Google Flights, it gives you the option to look at whole months or specific dates. It also offers you a wide variety of filters, including what time of day you want to leave and how many stops or lack thereof you want. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe they also check more airlines and combinations than Google Flights does, so you’re more likely to get a better price.My only complaint was that the month overviews didn’t provide me with specific prices like Google Flights does; it simply gave me a color indicator of what days appeared to be the least expensive to fly on. I ended up toggling between the two because Google Flights gave me a better overview, but Skyscanner gave me better prices.My Recommendation: Use Google Flights to check what dates are the best for your budget and use Skyscanner to actually book the flights. Also, don’t search for specific airports. Put in the name of the city you’re going to (for example, London has around 4 or 5 major airports) and Skyscanner will check every airport in and around that city. I’ve flown out of Gatwick, Heathrow, and Stanstead depending on the time of year and the place I’m coming from.
Skyscanner has so many filters you can use to make sure your flight is EXACTLY the one you want. It also offers you a variety of options across the top of the listings.
Accommodation
Whenever I book my accommodations, I always check both Booking.com and Airbnb. For this trip, I happened to go with Airbnb because I found an amazing deal on a private room in a flat with a mother and her young daughter. For security’s sake, I won’t include the link to her listing now (as a rule, I don’t give details out about where I’ll be going/staying until AFTER I’ve been there - I strongly recommend you do the same).Booking.com is also a great resource for travelers. The amount of filters you can sort through means that I find exactly what I’m looking for every single time. My biggest struggle is not booking spontaneous trips to Lisbon because it found me an amazing deal on a top floor hotel room with gorgeous views (I’m definitely not still hung up on that, what are you talking about?).
Activities
ShowsYou can’t go to London without seeing a show. It’s basically the theatre capital of the world. The one show I couldn’t leave London without seeing is War Horse. I feel like I’ve just it missed every. single. time. I’ve gone in the last three years. So this time, I booked my ticket the second my friend texted me and asked if I’d be interested.My absolute FAVORITE site for finding reasonably priced theatre tickets is called TodayTix. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, but I’ve been using them for years. It’s both a website you can browse on your computer and an app you can download on your phone. They are, hands down, the reason I’ve been able to see so much amazing theatre during my time in London.Another great option for decently priced tickets is the TKTS kiosk in Leicester Square. They have some awesome day-of deals for West End productions, especially closer to showtimes, that TodayTix may not pick up on. If you’re in the area, and willing to brave the line, it’s definitely worth checking out.
This site is essential for planning a trip to London. If you create an account on this site (totally free, and you can hook it up to your Facebook), then you can actually save the shows you want to see instead of always needing to scroll through the listings.
Putting together an itineraryWhen in doubt, PLAN. IT. OUT. Everyone who knows me knows that I have lists on lists. I have lists of my lists. I’m a planner. That’s because I know what can happen to you financially when you don’t plan out your trip.You come home and your little vacation has put you in some big debt.I know. I’ve been there. My last long-distance trip was to Los Angeles in February and I spent waaay too much money. I didn’t think about how I was going to get around, or where I was going to go. I just went. But if I had planned a little in advance, I could have saved myself so much money.For this trip to London, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. I put together a Google Doc of all the places I wanted to go/eat/take photos/you name it. It was a giant, page-and-a-half bulleted list. It was beautiful. I then created my own Google Map and pinned every single location I wanted to go to. This showed me not only the physical location of where I wanted to go, but also how it related in location to everything else on my list. From there, I was able to give myself a rough idea of what could be done in a day. Because who wants to go to London only to spend the majority of their time on the Tube or bus?
Again, I’m going to keep my list private because it has my itinerary on it, but this is what my map looks like! The red/pink pins are everywhere I want to go in the seven days I’m there...wish me luck…
DaytripI’ve decided to get out of the city for a day and go to Oxford, largely due to this amazing little guide Alannah Lawrie put together on her website. Oxford is a place I’ve wanted to visit for a few years now but never had the right opportunity. For my transportation, I looked on Trainline.com to see different prices for coach and train tickets. Transportation in England isn’t cheap, but it’s also not super expensive. Look online in advance so you can figure out what day is going to be the cheapest to travel. I was able to plan the rest of my trip around the day trip I’m going to take and book my ticket in advance of the day itself.
This is my favorite search engine for finding transportation around England.
Asking people for recommendations on FacebookI’m lucky to be part of some amazing Facebook groups dedicated to empowering and supporting female travelers and digital nomads. Besides getting inspiration to pursue my dreams on the daily, I also had access to some great minds to pick about where to go and what to do beyond what you see on your typical bus tour. Some of these suggestions included going to Kew Gardens, the Barbican Conservatory, and Camden Market.Don't be afraid to ask for other people’s opinions! Facebook has a great status option where you can ask for recommendations in a certain area. It's a great way to get some fresh ideas on things to do (be it in London, Bali, or even your hometown)!
Packing
I’ll be releasing a full London Packing List next week while I’m away, but I'll say now that this trip is super interesting for me. It’s the first extended trip I’m taking to a place that’s cooler (temperature-wise) in about two years. Not only am I packing warmer and bulkier clothes, I’m also doing a couple of photo-shoots that involve different looks and color schemes.Needless to say, I’m going to be packing a lot for this trip.Whether I’ll be able to fit it all in my carry-on suitcase is to be determined. But I think this time I may have to bite the bullet and pay to check a bag. The great thing about Virgin Atlantic/Delta, the airline I’m using for this trip, is that it’s less than $100 each way to check a bag.
Buying
I actually did a fair bit of shopping for this trip, because I’ve realized there is definitely some merit to traveling smarter, not harder. Here are a couple of items that I’ve invested in:A New Backpack: I love my Marvel backpack more than anything, but it’s getting old, there are holes in the bottom, and one of the straps is starting to break. For trips like this, I typically need my backpack to be my personal item so my L.L. Bean backpack is out of the picture (can’t fit under the seat). Instead, I bought this amazing backpack on Amazon and it has everything I need - namely, a dedicated lower section that’s specifically designed for easy access to my camera. It’s super well padded so nothing will get damaged, and it has a little organizer that I can just pull out and grab my camera, extra lens, charger, etc. You could say I’m in love.Packing Cubes: You guys, I caved. I’ve read for years that packing cubes make your life and travels so much easier so I’m trying them out. I bought this set on Amazon because they were cheap and had good reviews. Want to know if they actually work? Check back next week to read my full review of them in my London Packing List article.A Neck Pillow: I. Don’t. Sleep. On. Airplanes. It’s a very well-known fact that I can’t sleep in public places, and my experience with neck pillows in the past has left a lot to be desired. But I’m giving it one more shot. This pillow has nearly 2,000 reviews and almost all of them are positive. I also liked that it came with an eye mask and ear plugs because it means that I don’t have to go to CVS (for my British readers, it’s our version of Boots). Yes, I really am this lazy in real life. Cross your fingers on this one. It’s honestly a toss-up as to whether it will work for me.
There you have it folks. Was it a lot of planning? Yes. Absolutely.But this trip is going to be fantastic, I can feel it.Are you planning a trip to London or anywhere else in the world? Drop me a line via the comments below or through the Contact page! My biggest goal here is to help YOU travel responsibly and stress-free. That means that my brain is yours to pick!And be sure to check back in the coming weeks for my complete London Packing List and other articles on what to do and how to save money. Or, if you're lazy like me, leave your email in the box on the side of (or below) this article for AUTOMATIC updates whenever I post a new article (what?!).