London on a shoestring

Looking back I’ve done some things that now seem really scary, lived in New York in the 80s, backpacked across South America, married my ex husband, however nothing has scared me more over the last 13 years than the thought of taking my two little kids to London on my own.

There is no rational to this fear I have taken my kids on loads of adventures but one of my kids was bonkers ( he has matured into a lovely less bonkers young man) and I think I feared losing one while chasing the other.

Anyhow at thirteen and fifteen the only thing I fear is their searing disappoint at discovering how deeply uncool I am.

The other thing that has always been a concern is the cost so when I decided to take the plunge I knew we were going to have to go on a tight budget.

So the first cost cut was to go by bus…..yes bus. The last time I went on the bus to London was to see Prince in 1987. We took the Megabus from Leeds to London Victoria for £58 return for three of us including reserved seats. It took four hours forty, we slept all the way arrived refreshed.

The next big saving was accommodation, we stayed in The Generator youth hostel, close to Kings Cross and a five minute walk from Russell Sq tube. This place is fabulous, lovely staff, great  friendly atmosphere, fantastic communal areas, excellent value really tasty breakfast (£15 for three) and a bar with a really good happy hour! 

We booked a private room with shared bathroom £99 for three for one night. I thought we would struggle with the shared bathroom but we really didn’t, they were clean, never busy and everyone was wandering the corridors in towels and flip flops….nobody cared.

The first day we walked everywhere but the second day when we were a bit walked out we got an all day travel pass about £30.

Lots of places the kids wanted to see were free. They wanted to see Buckingham Palace but had no interest in going inside, we had a look at Downing Street, Trafalgar Square and watched the buskers in Covent Garden. I took them to see Harrods with strict instructions we weren’t buying anything. We spent a lot of time wondering around Westminster and then, because it had been so relevant in the last year, paid to go into Westminster Abbey £39 for three.

If you have not been inside Westminster Abbey you are missing something truly spectacular, who knew the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I is in there? We spent a good three hours in there and could have spent longer……stunning.

Food wise we found places on the hoof, my teenagers are obsessed with bao buns and ramen so it was easy. There is also a really good pizza restaurant opposite the entrance to the hostel that ticked our exhausted box.

The bus home was not as smooth running, we had booked to leave at 6pm, it was packed and in hindsight I would have booked to leave earlier. We hit a lot of traffic and the bus arrived in Leeds over an hour late, it’s a long time to be sat on a bus. My one tip if you go by bus is to book your seats.

 So there you go, a trip to London on a shoestring plus I feel have started to introduce the wonders art of travelling to my teens.