England – March 2023
While most of Florida either stayed home or went to Colorado. We decided to head off to England. There were tons of English Premier, Champion’s League, FA Cup and Europa games to choose from. So……we had so many things to do and choose from. Weather is crappy compared to Florida but so many things to see, do and visit.
There are flights direct from Tampa to London which makes the trip super easy. We weren’t the only one’s with the plan for London as we had several friends on the same flight headed to London and other cities in Europe.
We were headed straight for Leeds once we touched down in London. We took a train and spent about 2 1/2 hours headed to the city of Leeds. Luckily we had the Premier League Panini Sticker Books that keep the boys super occupied on the train rather then them playing on their ipads the entire ride. The boys love them and they learn all the players names, numbers, teams and positions while keeping them occupied for almost the whole train ride. Unfortunately, they are much more expensive in the states then in England and they only seem available online.
We stayed at a wonderful hotel called Dakota Leeds which I highly recommend. The lobby was cute and intimate. The rooms were clean, modern and spacious. The lobby bar was warm and inviting. We dropped our bags off and took a stroll through the city.
We then found The Ivy Asia for dinner. It had a very interesting decor and really drew us in. Music was a bit loud for dinner as it was difficult to hear someone speaking but it was a very cool atmosphere and the food was pretty good. The staff was extremely nice. A little slow on the drinks but that’s just because we’re used to fast service. The food and drinks had a very cool presentation and we absolutely enjoyed it!
We slept in pretty good and barely made breakfast since they shit down at 10:30. But we made it and then walked around Leeds a bit more. We then had to head to the stadium which was about a 50 minute walk. What better way to see ALL of Leeds then to walk it.
Leeds was playing against Brighton and we couldn’t wait to root our American boys on. They have Brendan Aaronson, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie. Although they really needed to win to keep from relegation. We were stoked to be there!
Leeds ended up tying Brighton. So not the best result but still a point.
We then headed on a train to London where we booked the Flemings Mayfair. The location is amazing. It’s on a quieter street in Mayfair but you have all the best shopping, restaurants and bars a few blocks from you. We also like to walk and explore the city. The only way to see everything. So we were in a perfect location to walk to Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Big Ben, London Dungeon and all the touristy sites you should see while in London. The rooms at the Mayfair were REALLY small. So we actually had to book an additional room while we were staying there. The 4 of us just couldn’t squeeze into one room. The extra room they gave us felt even smaller with super low ceilings. BUT we don’t spend much time in the rooms so it worked since the location was amazing.
We walked about 45 minutes to the London Dungeon. You see all the greatest hits on your walk there so we stopped to snap all the fun photo ops. Kids absolutely LOVED the London Dungeon. Its starts with a boat ride into the depths of the dungeon and then you tour through all the different historical times of London. Some kids might get spooked and others will think it’s hilarious. You know your kids best.
On our next day we went to the Borough Market for lunch and headed to tour the Tower of London. We really enjoyed our stroll through the market. Highly recommend as it has something for everyone. Alen and Kristiano loved the paella, Maksim loved the caviar and I enjoyed the mushroom risotto which were all at different vendors. We picked up drinks and desserts as well before heading to Tower of London.
We did the kids tour and they really enjoyed walking through the different areas and exploring the history and seeing all the ancient walls within the Tower of London. They were obsessed with the Crown Jewels. We rode that little escalator about 10 times for them to look at every detail of each crown and jewel. As the Royal Family is prepping for the Coronation in May….one of the crowns was pulled from being displayed and had a sign up that it was “in use” for the coronation. I did get a small clip of the displayed Crown Jewels before a security guard said no video.
We then had to head up to Manchester as we were going to see the Manchester City Champion’s League Game vs Leipzig. We arrived at the train station and lugged our luggage about 17 minutes to our hotel which was very nice and a little hidden from the busy street. It was called Stock Exchange and they had a very warm welcome for us. They had a whole “check-in” room with tea, cookies and champagne. It was quite lovely and the staff were very welcoming. The room was super spacious and they had already placed a rollaway bed in the room for us. The bathroom was HUGE and had a soaking tub plus a shower. The onsite restaurant for meals was such a massive gorgeous space with super high ceilings. The bar felt like a speakeasy and had live music. It all was very nice. It really was blissful but we headed out straight away.
We then found that there was also a Dakota Hotel in Manchester so we had dinner there prior to going to the Manchester City game. We had a great meal with small bites and some great cocktails. The Dakota brand of hotels really impressed me while I was in England.
We walked about 45 minutes to the Eithiad Stadium and it was quite a cold evening. The stadium was quite impressive and we stopped by the merchandise store and then they had some fun photo op areas before entering the stadium.
We got to see an incredible win for Man City. They beat RB Leipzig 7-0 and Erling Haaland scored 5 goals. We also sat and saw the snow start to just pour down. It was and exciting game to be at and to see some of the boys’ favorite players was equally as exciting.
The next day we took a tour of Old Trafford Stadium. We didn’t get to see Manchester United play but we did do the next best thing and visit their stadium. We did walk from our hotel to the stadium. It wasn’t as easy as Man City’s stadium. We had a sidewalk until we didn’t and we got stuck walking along a bike lane off the highway. Needless to say, we got a taxi for the ride back. But we did make it safely. They give you time windows. We got there with plenty of time and started walking the Manchester United museum while we awaited our “time” to be called. We heard the announcement for 1:20, 1:30 and we were 1:40. We didn’t hear it. It was 1:55 at this point so we just headed downstairs. One guy yelled at us becuase we were in the 1:50 timeslot. We didn’t even hear that time be called. While we’re waiting, we heard the 2:00 slot. Sooooo….it was very inconsistent. Just be sure to start asking if you don’t hear your time called so you don’t get scolded, lol. A nice gentleman caught us up with our group and it was a nice tour. We went through some history, the locker room, the field, the bench and the press room.
That evening we headed back to London on the train as we were going to catch the Arsenal vs Sporting Lisbon game at Emirates Stadium the following day. Our plans changed becuase we were supposed to see Liverpool vs Fulham but the FA Cup created delays and postponed that game. So we were able to snag the Arsenal tickets and I booked Hyatt Regency at the Churchill very last minute. We got in pretty late. It was around 10:00 PM. We have always raved about Hyatt as they treat loyalty customers extremely well. Not that night. They were not accommodating, helpful or even lenient. We have the globalist status which guarantees you an upgrade as when you’re traveling with kids, a little extra room is nice when you can give it. They didn’t extend anything to us and I had to book another room as they are quite adamant on the occupancy in their rooms. So they wouldn’t give us our upgrade and made us book another room. Regardless that there were TONS of rooms still available online for the upgrades. Then our key wouldn’t work, TWICE!! So we had to go back to the front desk from the 8th floor, twice. It was an extremely frustrating evening.
The next morning, we went to breakfast which ends at 10:30. We got there at 10:05 and the hostess said she couldn’t seat us because breakfast was over. Wait, we have 25 more minutes. She started arguing with us as we were just staring at the sign on her desk that also said 10:30. She went to get someone and they said, “sorry, we’ll get you seated right away as breakfast is over at 10:30.” It was just one thing after the next at that hotel. I was so annoyed that I cancelled our Scotland Yard reservation for the next few days and we booked Grosvenor House Suites on Park Lane. And I’m SOOOOOO happy I did. It was an awesome hotel. Quiet but in the perfect location. The staff were amazing and bumped us from a one bedroom studio to a two bedroom suite. No customer loyalty with this boutique hotel, they just gave it to us. From one extreme to the next. IN the room were cookies, chips, water, wine and converters. It was such a pleasant experience. Nitin at the front desk was so sweet. He gave both boys an Arsenal scarf before heading to the game. Janus helped us book some great restaurants and Mostapha was so helpful with everything as well. Every single person we came across was so nice, helpful, genuine and just good people. We found our spot whenever we go back to London. The location is right across from Hyde Park. It’s about 10 minutes from the metro and just blocks from Mayfair restaurants and shopping.
I really don’t care about rooms and upgrades. But when you have a loyal customer with the top tier customer status and you are so unwelcoming and unhelpful, it’s not cool. We barely spend anytime in the room. We are gone all day when we go visit cities. But they wouldn’t budge on anything and they just wanted us to spend more money. That’s all it felt like. So anyone who this might help…..doesn’t matter how small your kids are….they are very stern on their room occupancy.
Anyways, we went to the Arsenal vs Sporting Lisbon Europa game and saw them lose in penalty kicks. It was a great game. Good goals but unfortunately they lost it at the end.
After many games and sight seeing. We booked some plays. We went and saw Back to the Future, The Musical which was super cute. It was at the Adephi Theatre situated in the Soho District of London. Random story, Kim Kardashian and her entourage were in attendance. The sweet family of 3 from Texas who sat next to us were actually relocated from their original seats to accommodate Ms. Kardashian and her crew which happened to be in the row behind us. I was hoping she would change my view about her. But she didn’t. She was on her phone throughout the show and her entourage of about 12-15 people left at intermission. Rude. Especially since the theatre relocated guests for her.
We also went and saw Wicked The Musical at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in the West End district of London. It was super cute and I love to hear the Witch’s side of the story. Boys weren’t as thrilled about the shows. They much prefer the soccer games, lol!
We finished our last day with another game to the Emirates Stadium to see Arsenal take on Crystal Palace. They won 4-1 and it was a very exciting game with lots of goals.
The weather was wet and cold but nothing we didn’t expect. The majority of people were mostly friendly and it was pretty busy for March. London is super easy to access from the states, extremely easy to get around via the Metro, trains and taxis. Tons of food options for any budget and so much to see and do with kids. If you don’t mind gloomy weather and jackets….it’s definitely worth a visit with kids. We had an incredible time and the boys can’t wait to head back for some more games.
