Travelling in London safely during COVID*

Travelling in London safely during COVID

The last year has been so unpredictable and strange for most of us in a way!  We had planned a lot of trips but unfortunately due to COVID-19 and travel restrictions, we have had to cancel most of it. We were lucky to have organised a short break to Skipton in Yorkshire Dales during the summer of last year and just before #lockdown3 happened, to London.

Our trip to London was essential, mainly to sort out official documents. We initially had big plans to sightsee all the main attractions but decided we were going to shorten our trip and travel as safely as we could.  We took the train and arrived at Euston, walked as much as we could, took the underground when it was not as busy, booked a day sightseeing bus tour with The Original Tour, shopped at Harrods and visited museums and as many outdoor parks as we could.

Although our trip took place last year, we have had to delay the release of our post to coincide with the restriction being lifted and venues opening up again.  If you have a trip to London planned and  if you are travelling from overseas, you can get international drivers license quickly, then keep on reading to find out how you can travel to London safely as a family during COVID.

Travelling with family is never easy, as a mum, I often carry a large suitcase full of clothes, essentials from snacks, water, medical supplies to books to keep them entertained especially when we travel and this time, spare masks as well in case they lost the one they had. We took the train down to Euston Train Station and luckily Avanti allocated each of us our own seats with lots of spacing in between the passengers. it was low peak time, and the train, as well as the train station, was not as busy. Finding a place to stay in London is important especially if you are travelling with family hence if you do own any property in London, best to list it under GuestReady which allows you to rent the property hassle-free.

We walked as much as well could and even used the underground once to get to the Embassy.  I would suggest that you pre-book a table at restaurants as well as if you are planning to visit the museums as well as other famous London attractions.

What did we think of Travelling in London during Covid?

My children are always buzzing with energy and we decided to explore a lot of the local parks while we were in London. Something which I never did when I travelled on my own to London.  We stayed at the Premier Inn close to the London Eye, so it was quite easy for us to walk to most places.  We visited St James’ Park which was walking distance from where we stayed as well as Hyde Park which is a great location for kids to spend a few good hours walking around being entertained by super friendly squirrels. This is a great spot to have your lunch if you are thinking of having a picnic especially if the weather calls for it.

I love shopping and always try to stop off at Harrods whenever I visit London, this time it was as special as the Christmas decorations were already out. Adults were asked to wear masks and there were lots of sanitising stations around the shop. Kids enjoyed the stroll and we even had lunch at The Harrods Brasserie which served some delicious food. Most restaurants we visited asked you to either fill in a form or check-in to the Track and Trace App, so they could contact you again if there were any cases.

We wanted to continue to explore the sights of the city but our children got tired of walking, so we decided to get a tour of the city on The Original Tour Bus. The buses are double-decker which meant that if it rained we could stay on the lower deck or head to the open deck when the weather was better. We were also given disposable headphone each which allowed us to identify important landmarks through the audio commentary.  There were a total of 11 different languages on our route ie English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, Mandarin, Arabic and Brazilian Portuguese.

Our hop-on and off family bus pass helped us to avoid the hassle of public transport and safely discover the city from a whole new perspective. Our route was the yellow route, so we got to see famous landmarks such as the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral, London Eye, The Shard, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

Here is a map of our route, this may change so best to see what is the updated route on their website. There are designated stop areas around the city, I would recommend checking the start and end time on their website. You can purchase the tickets online and a voucher will be emailed to you. The ticket generally is valid for 6-months. The London Day Tour also includes the River Cruise but at the moment due to COVID, the river cruise only runs between Friday to Sunday.  So if you have booked your ticket on a weekday (as we did) the river cruise is unavailable.

There are many different tours available, we picked the London Day Tour.  Their busses start around 10am and end around 5 pm, depending on where you start and stop.  Having the option on getting off and on at different location meant that our day was more flexible.

The Original Bus T&C

1. The Original Tour bus tickets are valid for 6 months from the date of purchase. Please note these tickets are not valid on Christmas Day 25th December. Tickets redeemed in the days before the 25th will ‘jump’ Christmas Day and begin again on the 26th so they will still get their full validity.

2. Validate your ticket in London when you are ready to begin your tour. You can use your ticket for the length of time on your ticket once you have validated it.

3. Seats on the top deck are on a first-come-first-served basis.

4. The free hop-on hop-off river cruise is only available with a valid 24 hour ticket for The Original Tour London. Do note that City Cruises will be only sailing Friday to Sunday until further notice.

As you can see, we had a wonderful time in London despite the restrictions and us not being able to head to all the places we wanted to initially. Both our children spotted all the famous landmarks and enjoyed the city as we much as we possibly could in a safe way. We can’t wait to go back to London to experience the theatre as well as participate in other tours. Fingers crossed things will get better in 2022.

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*We were gifted a London Day Tour family pass in return for the feature.  All opinions are our own.