You have to purchase your tickets in advance to get onto the Euro Star, and this is the BEST way to travel to London from Paris. I made the mistake of purchasing our tickets a week before our trip, the tickets for a party of 3 (with a lap kid) was almost $700.00. When I checked a month prior, it was only going to cost us less than $200 round trip. BIG difference! Lesson learned. Don't make the same mistake I did!
Besides your ticket, you need to arrive at least 45 minutes to an hour before your train leaves. There is a long line to get through Customs (forms need to be filled out) and through baggage security. If you are traveling with lots of bags like we were, be prepared! The train we took was the newer model, with automatic sliding doors within the cabins, and more luxurious seats. There is food on board, but selection is minimal. After a little over 2 hours, we arrived in London with an extra hour to spare (time change!). We arrived at St Pancras terminal in London where all metro, trains, subway, you name it flows through. This station is very different from Paris- bigger, busier. Once you get out of the train and make your way out to either the Underground or the buses, make sure you get an Oyster card. You have to scan your card at every entrance and exit (or you will get fined). The hubs put the daily maximum on our cards which allowed us unlimited usage for only 7 Pounds.
After a quick train ride from the station, we met a very sweet lady that helped us with our bags, stroller, and to find the double decker red bus. People in London are so much nicer than Paris! We got to our hotel and the nice lady who checked us in gave the girls a little stuffed animal.
Day 4 - arrive in London via Euro Star. Check in at hotel Novotel Waterloo, same hotel chain as the first hotel we stayed at, but a bit nicer. We walked to grab breakfast at a cute little spot called The Queen's Cafe. Delicious! The girls shared a dish with eggs and beans (weird but it was good), the Hubs had something delicious that I can't really recall because I had the eggs benedict and it was amazing! Madison was awake at least to have something to eat, but fell asleep on our walk to Kensington Palace. The LONG walk from the Metro (Google Maps let us out a little too!) to Kensington Palace was freezing and so windy. We finally made it to the Palace and did the tour. We woke up the Nocturnal baby and both kids enjoyed walking through the castle and exploring! One of our favorite spots of the tour was a exhibition of Princess Diana's dresses. WOW. The girls just wanted to snap a photo in front of every single one. The history in that place is just awe-inspiring. Luckily I was all caught up on Netflix Original Show, The Crown, to understand a little bit of history! We ended the tour in the cafe and the girls purchased matching heart lockets. Then we braved the cold wind yet again to Oxford Street where we went crazy at Lush! Keira and I are obsessed with Lush. She was wearing festive glittery Christmas antlers that the workers thought was so adorable she got a free bath bomb from them! After about an hour in the store and a big bag of goodies, we walked down Regent Street and took our dinner from Brew Dog to go (we were exhausted since we were up at 4:30am). I had to cave and take an Uber back to the hotel, which we all dozed off for a quick second before getting back to our hotel. We retired early because we were THAT tired!
- What we missed on my agenda for the day: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the Christmas Markets. Eh, there's still tomorrow!
Day 5- I woke everyone up a little early so we could get started on our day! The plan was to head to head East towards Burrough Market which opened at 9:30am! I wanted to get there right at opening so we left a little earlier so I could grab coffee at Montmouth Coffee- delish! The Market was everything everyone talked about. Great shops, lots of free tasting! I came home with so much goodies I already knew I had to purchase another luggage to take everything home in. We had a quick bite at the market at one of the stalls that served this amazing mussels and a rice/chicken curry dish. OH My GAAAHHHH was it delicious! With full tummies, we had to head back into the main part of the city to Fortnum and Mason so I can have my much anticipated Afternoon Tea (bad idea to go with a full stomach!) I purchased quite a few teas, and luckily they have an online ordering system- because I need to get more! I'm so happy to have experienced this with Keira. Nocturnal baby was asleep during the whole thing- again! After tea, we decided to head over to London Tower to see the crown jewels. This was one thing Keira was excited about, but unfortunately we weren't able to get in because we got there too late. Apparently it takes about 3 hours to see everything and with the cost to get in, it wasn't worth it. The view of London Bridge was beautiful! We made it up to Keira by purchasing her very own crown at the gift shop and then heading back to Regent Street to Hamley's! At this point, we had to wake Madison up so she didn't miss the 6 stories of toys! The girls came out pretty happy with all their stuff! Afterwards, we headed out, got some great photos of the different lit up streets, purchased a new luggage, and Uber'd it back to the hotel. I had every intention of heading back out, but again, the tiredness kicked in and our train ride to Paris was even earlier than the first!
-What we missed on my agenda for the day: Somerset House Ice Skating, London Bridge Towers, Harrod's, Christmas Markets. A second trip for Jack & I is now cultivating!
Day 6- Euro Star back to Paris. The train ride was much earlier than the first, no customs, and the train itself was very outdated. This train also made frequent stops- so took us an hour more to get back to Paris. Upon arriving, we took an Uber to Vienna House Dream Castle. Disneyland is always so magical, and although the park itself was absolutely beautiful and spacious, I wasn't all that impressed. The parade was great- like all other parades. We rode the same rides we did back home, but they did't have a lot of rides to begin with. They did, however, have more play structures. Jack did ride Indian Jones roller coaster which he said was amazing. Madison stayed awake for the entire duration we were at the park, which wasn't that long. Unfortunately, we decided to head out of the park and back to the outlets, a train stop away. After doing some shopping, we headed back to Disney Village to grab some souvenirs, then to the hotel. I crashed. Jack had to grab dinner (Paris does not do a lot of take out, by the way!) Our hotel was not offering room service that evening due to an oven breaking which made Jack's evening more difficult.
-What we missed on the agenda for the day: Nothing. What I would have done differently- stayed in London and skipped the park. But, the girls had a blast and I did get to say we went to Disneyland in Paris.
I wanted to arrive at the airport early to do some last minute shopping. Although I had planned it, there was a ton of traffic which took our shuttle an extra 30-45 minutes to get there. Once we arrived, I had to check in, do the VAT tax scans, go through security check point, and by this time, our plan was boarding. They even do random security checks, so we heard Jack's name on the overhead system for him. Mental note, when traveling from Paris De Gaulle, give yourself an extra 4 hours!
Overall, the trip with the girls was amazing. Madison may not remember this, but I know Keira will remember parts of it, and Jack and I, of course, will remember it all! It was difficult getting around the Metro with a stroller, but after awhile, we got used to it! Would I go back? Most definitely! With the kids? Sure, why not!
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